Holiday Central

The key to making your holiday dreams come true

In so many ways, the kitchen is the heart of the home. And when the holidays roll around, the kitchen is—or should be—Christmas Central.

Your kitchen is your number-one resource for holiday celebration and decoration. It’s your comforting place to nurture relationships—with people related by blood and those you choose to welcome into our lives. It’s rich with possibilities for gift giving, for expressing thanks, for reaching out to others and showing love to them. It’s also an ideal place to connect with children, passing along the experience of Christmas and recovering a little of the child in you at the same time.

Or it can be all those things . . . if you don’t let the busyness of the season or your own inflated expectations or your kitchen insecurities overwhelm you.

But that’s the problem, isn’t it? So many women I know long to have the kind of delicious, fragrant, fun, and festive holiday I’ve just described. They pore over magazines, delighting in the beautiful images and ideas. But that stuff doesn’t happen in their own homes—not the way they’d hoped. And they cite any number of reasons.

“My kitchen’s (or my house) is too small.”

“I’m not much of a cook.”

“The idea of entertaining scares me to death.”

“The kids are too small—they’re all underfoot.”

“The kids are all grown—why bother?”

“I don’t have kids—I don’t even have a family!”

“Money’s tight.”

And then there’s the perennial, “I’m just too busy!”

We’re all too busy—with jobs, with kids, with other obligations.

There really are a million excuses—good ones! A million valid reasons to just pick up a dozen cupcakes at the bakery for a child’s party or a loaf of store-bought bread for a potluck and order the turkey-and-dressing package from the supermarket for Christmas dinner.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking shortcuts. In fact, I think shortcuts can be crucial in making the Christmas Kitchen a real possibility in many people’s lives. (You’ll find a lot of them in this book!) Not everything needs to be made from scratch. Not everything needs to be done the way Grandma did it . . . or even the way you’ve been told is the “right way.” And not everyone is in a position to throw a big party or even stage a traditional Christmas dinner.

But if you’ve picked up this book, I know something about you. I know you don’t really want a prefab, carryout, catch-as-catch-can Christmas season. You certainly don’t want a hectic, stressful, overworked holiday season where you wear yourself out meeting everyone’s unrealistic expectations. Instead, you dream about a Christmas that is beautiful, special, warm, and delicious . . . and as stress-free as possible. In some part of your heart, the Christmas Kitchen lives in all its intoxicating glory, and I’m here to tell you it can be part of your life—regardless of your circumstances, your kitchen skills, or your time limitations, and with far less stress and work than you ever expected.

The Christmas Kitchen, you see, isn’t just a collection of appliances, recipes, and techniques. It’s really a state of mind and heart, and the best way to get there is to adjust your thinking.

How?

A good place to start is to let go of perfection. Perfectionism can paralyze you, while an attitude of “good enough” can set you free.

Next, I encourage you to embrace the principle of true hospitality—not performing for others or impressing them or “entertaining” them, but using your home and your life (including your kitchen) to communicate to people how much you value them.[1] And it’s not just something you do for guests, but also for your family . . . and for yourself!

I hope you’ll also promise yourself, no matter what, to enjoy the experience of Christmas . . . to laugh and celebrate and sometimes sit in silent wonder. It would be such a shame to be so caught up in activities, kitchen or otherwise, that you end up missing Christmas in your heart.

And finally, when you’ve wrapped your mind around a different approach to a beautiful Christmas, I urge you to start simply . . . but simply start. That’s so important! Take just one step beyond dreaming and do just one delicious thing to make your Christmas season merry and bright.

It really doesn’t have to be much. Maybe your one thing will be to just sit quietly, read this book, and dream while sipping a warm mug of holiday cider.

But that’s the beauty of it—because once you do that one simple thing, I predict you’ll find yourself wanting to do something else. And before you know it, your kitchen really will be Christmas Central, a true gathering place for making memories and serving up holiday joy for family and friends old and new.

Are you ready? I am. Let’s take our first simple step into the Christmas Kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Seasonal Sip—Blushing Mulled Cider (with red wine)

Start your season simply and warmly with a quiet moment and a mug of holiday cider. Wait till the kids are napping, turn off the phone, and take fifteen minutes to dream. The aroma alone will help put you in the holiday spirit.

1½ quarts apple cider

2 cups cranberry juice cocktail or cherry cider

2 cups of red wine (optional)

¼ cup or less brown sugar

1 spice packet (recipe below)

1 large orange, sliced

Combine ciders, wine and sugar in a saucepan. Add spice packet. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved and cider is hot. Fish out the spice packet after about 30 minutes. Makes about 6 mugs of hot drink.

Simple Idea

You can make this delicious beverage in a slow cooker. Just combine the ingredients and simmer on high for 3 hours. Remove spice bag and keep warm.

Simpler Idea

If you don’t want to make up the spice packets, just put 1 tsp. whole allspice, 1 tsp. whole cloves, and a cinnamon stick in a tea ball or coffee filter. You can even use ground spices in a pinch. Tie the filter into a bundle with twine or dental floss and add to cider.

Spice Packets for Cider and More

These little bundles make wonderful gifts—but I also love to keep them ready for a delicious cup of cider at home.

1 Tbsp. whole allspice

1 Tbsp. cloves

2 Tbsp. cinnamon sticks, broken up (place in plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin or edge of a plate)

1½ tsp. orange peel

1½ tsp. lemon peel

¾ tsp. black peppercorns

12 6-inch squares of cheesecloth

Kitchen twine, food-safe ribbon, or unwaxed dental floss

Mix spices and peels together in a bowl. For each packet, use 2 cheesecloth squares and position kitty-corner on top of each other so that 8 points are visible. Place 1/6 of the spice mixture in the middle of the doubled square and tie into a bundle with the twine, ribbon, or floss, leaving one end of the twine longer for dipping. To give as a gift, place several spice bundles in a small tin and tie it with a bow and several strips of cinnamon. Add a sticker with the following directions: “Place bundle in 2 quarts of hot cider or apple juice. Add ¼ cup brown sugar if desired. Heat at least 20 minutes.” Recipe makes 6 bundles, each enough for 2 quarts or more of cider.

Simple Hint

To dry orange peel, finely chop the peel, spread it on parchment paper laid on a cookie sheet, and heat in a warm oven (about 250º) until dry. Shake the cookie sheet occasionally to make sure the peel dries evenly.

Simpler Hint

To make individual-sized packets, combine 2–3 pieces whole allspice, 2–3 whole cloves, a ½-inch piece of stick cinnamon, a pinch of orange or lemon peel, and 1–2 black peppercorns in each cheesecloth bundle. Pour cider in a mug, add a little cranberry juice if you want, and add the spice bundle. Microwave on high 3 minutes, then let spices steep a few more minutes. Sweeten to taste, and enjoy.