Looking Back

It was a beautiful Christmas.  The trees..

 ...the tags.  

Thank you Des for teaching me how to make them, and for giving me the confidence to go off in my own directions.  Next year we're having another gift tag making workshop...in July.  Mark your calendar.

Our party was great fun - 

and there was barely a scrap of food left.  That made me so happy!

Leslie made chocolate mousse with real moose.  Oops, I mean with real gold leaf sprinkled on top.  It was fabulous and gorgeous.  It disappeared so fast! 

Everything that would hold still got garlanded and lit and wrapped with ribbon:

Brit and I made peppermint bark, and granola, and butter toffee, and wrapped them with cellophane and bright ribbons.  Gifts for her friends - I think we have a new tradition.  Brit?

Early in the season for inspiration we went to the Flower Mart.

 And to Ron Morgan's.  He is walking talking inspiration.  If you go to one of his classes and don't come away inspired, you weren't paying attention.  

It was a Christmas filled with friends...

...and family.  

It was a wonderful year.

The Gift of Memory

Long before Christmas, a box arrived from my friend Aileen.  You'll remember her, so many of my favorite things to cook have come from her.

She has decided not to have a tree anymore.  After years of collecting ornaments.  And she decided to give them to me.  Lucky me!

Thank you Aileen.  Every time I look at our tree I think of you - of biking in Morocco, of picking green beans at Round Swamp.  Of biking to Shelter Island coated in bug spray.  Of my first cosmo (but not my last), and the recipe you coaxed out of the reluctant bartender.  Of long summer evenings listening to the waves and watching the fireflies.  

Thank you.  For your memories, for the memories we share.  

It is the most wonderful time of the year.

Last Thoughts on Christmas

I'm not as bad (or good depending on your viewpoint) as my friend Sue who puts up eleven trees (!) but I did have three this year - a garden tree, a kitchen tree, and a traditional tree. And a garland hung with travel ornaments. But this year the kitchen tree was my favorite. As I was hanging the ornaments I thought "this would be better if the ornaments were related" and so:

Breakfast:

Milk, pancakes, toaster, and lots of caffeine.

Baked things and sweets:

cookies, cakes, ice cream. 

Junk food:

Hamburgers and hot dogs, french fries, pizza and pretzels.

Cheese and wine. 

And you have no doubt noticed cocktails sprinkled liberally all around the tree.

So my friend Cathy comes over and I show her (she also thinks this sort of thing is fun. If you don't, then why have you read so far? Go mess something up). 

Cathy takes a tour around my tree, gets a big smile, and says "It's just like your day!"

I so love my friends. Thank you to everyone who made this the Best Christmas Ever.

The trouble with Christmas trees

...is that they can take over your life. And you garage, and your closets...

I have a friend who puts up eleven trees. She starts the day after Thanksgiving and has a crew.They are beautiful (the trees, not the crew), and the ornaments are so thick that you almost can't see the trees.

I'm not in her league, but I do have three trees and I'm contemplating a fourth. The main tall tree...

a kitchen tree (in the kitchen, of course)

with food-ish ornaments. Don't laugh, this is the season of ish. 

and a garden tree, of course.

I wonder how this guy really trims this tree? I'm guessing a much taller ladder...and someone to climb it.

 All just out of camera rangeWhen I first saw this shot, I thought the tree was on the table and he was a really tiny guy. 

And you think I have a Christmas tree problem!