I exercised my sadistic streak this year in planning the menu for Christmas dinner. I decided that instead of planning around guests' food requirements or preferences, I would intentionally make sure each guest found at least one item in the spread he or she cannot or will not eat.

Daughter and her boyfriend are vegetarians - we had three types of meat.

Grandaughter is allergic to tree nuts - we had walnut brownies and German chocolate cake with pecans in the frosting.

Step-daughter is allergic to anything in the nightshade family - we had bell peppers in one dish, tomatoes in another, and potatoes in a third.

Step-daughter's husband hates onions - guess what was in the pot roast.

Step-son will only eat chicken if it's fried - I made sure we had some nice baked chicken.

Step-son's wife won't touch pork - we had ham.

Step-son's wife's mother is lactose intolerant - we had real whipped cream for the pumpkin pie.