I Have No Idea What To Bring To The First Christmas Party This Year

Every year, my Mom's side of the family has a great big get together. It's out on their land in the boonies, and they have it in a big semi heated metal barn like building.  There are always a ton of people there, some relatives, some friends.  In fact, a lot of them.... I don't even know.  I'm sure they don't know me either, though.

So it's a lot of cousins, cousins we call Aunt/Uncle, you get it.  It's always a little strange for Husbando, because he doesn't have a big family - and now that his parents are both gone, he has even less.  But then we roll up to this party and I have about seventy thousand cousins and family all over the place.  He can't keep them all straight.

It's a pretty bomb ass party if I do say so myself.  There are plenty of drinks, a ton of food, and kids running everywhere.  I think sometimes they even have the radio on.  You can imagine it, beer in coozies, somebody brought turkey casserole, there's a side of the room where some people smoke, somebody's dog is wandering around, etc.

The party is always a pot luck kind of thing - everybody brings a little something.  Some people make things like dips or cookies or beans or something.  Some people bring stuff that they just bought from the store, which is fine, too.  Whatever you have time to contribute, you know?

Most years I try to make something - I've made buffalo chicken dip (the Trisha recipe), I've made garlic potatoes, chili, brownies, it's always something different.  I don't really have a "go to" dish to bring.  I feel like I should have one, though!  Surely I have a specialty.  Something I make must be good enough to share, right?  But part of me is tempted to just take the easy way out and grab a meat/cheese platter.  Those things are always good to bring, and it's not like we don't eat on those all the time.

I just don't know what I want to do.  Do you have a "go to" pot luck staple you bring to parties like this? Maybe it's something you always buy from the store or maybe it's something you make every year?  Like, "It wouldn't be a party if we didn't have your ham and beans" or whatever. Or are you like me, and it's a different thing every year?

Give me some suggestions about what I should make/buy.  What do you do when you bring something to a party?

Partingly yours,

Behka