Christmas Food for Susan and Marcia

Susan Buckhart adds this to family Christmas traditions:
  My mom and dad made cioppino every year for either Chritstmas or New Years. We always celebrated with our big meal on Christmas Eve because my grandmother worked on Christmas day (at least when we were young) and we've always just kept it that way. My grandfather (my mother's step father) was a very serious hunter. He was also a want-to-be Italian. For many Christmas Eve's when we were young and at my grandparent's we had a big pot of polenta made by my grandfather. He would stir it (we all had to take turns) for what seemed like hours until the spoon stood straight up in the middle of the pot. When it was time to eat he would pour it out on a big flat wood board and it was such a perfect consistency that it never dripped off the side of the flat board. We would all sit around the table watching him pour it and holding our breath until the polenta came to a stop right at the edge of the board. We would have the polenta with pheasant or dove that my grandfather had hunted. My grandmother would cook the pheasant or dove (or whatever wild bird he would come home with) in a big cast iron pot with tomatoes and mushrooms. I can still smell the amazing aroma of my her kitchen. For breakfast my dad would cut the polenta in strips and fry it in butter and serve it with maple syrup. It's a really good memory