As of 4:30 PM yesterday, my house is nearly back to normal. With a boat-load of help from Connor, Christmas is packed up and put back in the crawl space.

I still need to clean up my sitting room, which served as “the wrapping station” this year. Since I was using a walker during the time I was wrapping, it looks as though a bomb went off in that area. I’ll get that cleaned up today and all the regular “decor” put back into place. Then I am done!

So what’s with that photo above, taken of stacks of apples at Costco, you ask?

You see, my husband, David, eats an apple every single morning. Seriously! Every. Day. He rarely gets sick, so I suppose it is true, an apple a day does keep the doctor away.

Costco sells apples in these wonderful little domed containers.  Back in October, I began to save them with the thought that they would be perfect to hold and store Christmas ornaments.

They are perfect!

The space between every two apple rounds doesn’t not come up completely, so you can even place long ornaments there and take up two spaces.

Next, I placed a sheet of bubble wrap on top to prevent items from slipping and jiggling. Then I just closed and sealed the lid, and everything is safe and sound.

Turns out, the container is perfect for my delicate bottle brush trees too. No crushed or damaged trees to deal with next year!

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Being laid up this Christmas forced me to slow down, take it easy, and back off on the usual excess.

I’m sure you are now expecting me to say something along the lines of, “Man, slowing down and taking it easy sure did feel great! I’m going to try and do that next year and in all the years to come!”

Um, No!  In fact, it didn’t feel all that good. I love going crazy at Christmas! I thrive in the excess, the excitement and the commotion. I am in my element in the hustle and the bustle.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas.

How could I not? My injury is minor compared to what it could have been! Both of my kids are home, which is, and will always be, the best present of all! We still went to Christmas Eve mass and had my mom and sister over for Christmas Eve dinner.  We still relaxed and hung out on Christmas day with my dad.

But, I’d planned to do so much more. Create, grocery shop for, and execute two big meals. Decorate more! Be creative and make more crafty Pinterest-worthy homemade stuff.

That’s OK. Next year!

So, this year, instead of the usual crown pork roast on Christmas Eve, we had a HoneyBaked Ham. (Thank you, sweet Amy, for picking that up for me!) We served the ham on King’s Hawaiian rolls with my homemade mustards and horseradish.

Marissa and Connor worked together to make our favorite Brussels Sprout Salad plus a Haricot Verts Salad.

Sloane brought over a bread pudding and I made a simple rum sauce for it. We served that along with the Freezer Eggnog Pie for dessert.

All of it was simple, festive, easy, and delicious.

Sadly, we did not have our traditional potato rolls and they were sorely missed.  Thankfully, I did have enough of the dough leftover from Thanksgiving, that I had frozen, so we still had our traditional Cinnamon Rolls and Brown Sugar Bacon on Christmas morning.  Only difference – Marissa made the sweet rolls this year ~ and they were perfect!

Above you can see her mixing the cinnamon and sugar together before sprinkling onto the dough she rolled out into the perfect 10-inch by 16-inch rectangle.  There on the island, in the background, is the bacon, ready for the oven.

And instead of the usual beef tenderloin for Christmas dinner, we had fondue! Blue Cheese Fondue, and it was delicious and fun! Marissa made the fondue and Connor helped with the dippers, the prep, and clean up.

I have the best kids in the world!

Yes, I adore them, today and everyday! They even posed, trying to reenact a portrait that they sat for some 19 years ago. At 21, Connor doesn’t quite have that 2-year-old pout down anymore, but they’re still cute!

OK, enough about how fabulous my kids are and what we ate!

Time to get down to business – the tablescapes!

Since I wasn’t able to help much with clean-up, I went low-key on that too. None of the usual hand-washing of dishes on Christmas Eve, everything was dishwasher-safe.

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She Cooks She Made Something!

Yeah, I was going to say that I cooked, but then as I was typing up the recipe, I realized I didn’t really cook at all, but I did put together a freezer pie! No true cooking involved, but I did stand at the kitchen counter, use the walker to maneuver around the kitchen and pantry and I made something from scratch! That’s saying something after two full weeks of kitchen nothingness!

I made a quick and easy Eggnog Pie. The recipe makes two pies, so one went to our Annual Lorts’ Christmas Party last night, and the other will be served either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, here at home.

Lorts is my mom’s maiden name, she is the oldest of eight, so it’s quite the bash! My Uncle Mike (#6 of the 8) and Aunt Sylvia always host in their beautiful Paradise Valley home. There were three generations represented. My mom’s generation, mine, and my kids’. We do the “white elephant gift stealing thing” which, as you might imagine, gets a bit out of hand. Good Times!

Then this morning, Marissa, Connor, and my daughter-from-another-mother, Alyse, went to Oink Café for breakfast. There, the four of us split two bacon doughnuts. Yes, you heard that right, Maple Glazed Bacon Doughnuts! So rich and decadent that half if more than enough! OH, SO Good!!!

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Due to my fractured pelvis, Christmas decorating has been severely scaled back this year. In fact, if it weren’t for the help of my very patient (I can be kinda bossy, I’ve been told on more than one occasion) and ultra kind BFF, Peggy, there may not have been much more than a tree. Peggy decorated at least six different areas of the house for me in those first couple of days after my return home from the hospital.

Another day, I had my dad take me to Home Depot to buy a couple fresh evergreen garlands and a huge boxful of free fresh cut greens (cast off trimmings from trees they had sold) and a couple handfuls of little tree truck rounds that had also been discarded.

I used the fresh greens throughout the house and put the rest in the canvas cart on the front porch.

A couple other new additions to the porch are this vintage sled and ice skates, not that we’ve ever had or will every have enough snow or ice to sled or skate here in the desert, but they do look darn cute and festive.

Plus, this huge red lantern I found for a steal, back in November, at Home Goods.

Come on in. The first thing you’ll see is the decked out Chinese wine barrel that sits in the center of the entry.

Atop it is a cute and easy idea I stole from Pinterest. So easy – just use double-sided tape on a candle, then sprinkle glitter on the tape. Turns a plain-Jane candle into a Christmas candle in a matter of minutes.  After the holiday, just peel off the tape.

If you venture in a little further, you’ll run into the sofa table. One of the garlands graces it, along with a few more new little touches.

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On Saturday, the names of those lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy were released. As soon as I saw it, I posted this on my Facebook page.

The post recieved a huge response, but one of the first and the most inspiring came from my friend of more than three decades, Nancy Jones. Nancy is the mother of 7-year old Zada. Here is what she said:

“The names have now been posted. The ages as well … many around Zada’s age. Zada and I will write all the names on paper and cut each one out and put each inside a little clear crystal ball ornament, so we shall always remember them.”

I responded:

“I plan to do the same thing! Thank you, sweet Nancy, for a wonderful and beautiful idea and a way to remember. xoxo”

So I went to work typing out each name. Green ink for the adults. Blue for the little boys. And pink for the little girls. I printed them wirelessly, but had to wait for Dave to return from the office to go upstairs to retrieve them for me. I was anxious for those couple of hours, wishing I could get up those damn stairs myself. I wanted, I felt as though I needed, to do this now!

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Here, all on one page, are my 12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen. Enjoy!

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:

Homemade Irish Cream

A Jar of Vanilla Sea Salt

Tins of Bacon Toffee

Rum Glazed Eggnog Bread

Fennel Cured Salmon

Spicy Guinness Mustard

Two Jars of Mustard

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Homemade Kahlua Liqueur

Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub

Cranberry Citrus Vodka

and a bottle of Tomato Dust

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Hallelujah!
Day 12 has finally arrived.
I wasn’t positive I was going to make it!
But I did!

Yay for me!
And yay for you, 12 gifts from the kitchen.
I hope you’ve made at least one! If not, this may be the one to make…

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:

A bottle of Homemade Irish Cream
A Jar of Vanilla Sea Salt
Tins of Bacon Toffee
Rum Glazed Eggnog Bread
Fennel Cured Salmon
Spicy Guinness Mustard
Two Jars of Mustard
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Homemade Kahlua Liqueur
Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust

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Fleur de Sel (Flower of Salt) is French sea salt that is hand-harvested by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt from the sea before it sinks to the bottom of large salt evaporation ponds. Traditional French fleur de sel is collected off the coast of Brittany, most notably in the town of Guérande, making Fleur de Sel de Guérande the most revered of all sea salts.

I’ve used Fleur de Sel de Guérande to make my Vanilla Fleur de Sel before, but it is a bit too pricey to use for multiple gift giving. A more budget-conscience but still very lovely salt to use is Pink Hawaiian Alaea Sea Salt. It is conveniently found at Cost Plus World Market in a 1-pound bag. While you are there picking up the salt, grab a couple vanilla beans as well. That’s all you’ll need for this Eleventh Day of Christmas Gift.

That’s right, only two ingredients to make this gift, the easiest of the dozen!

On the eleventh day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:

A Jar of Vanilla Sea Salt
Tins of Bacon Toffee
Rum Glazed Eggnog Bread
Fennel Cured Salmon
Spicy Guinness Mustard
Two Jars of Mustard
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Homemade Kahlua Liqueur
Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust

Vanilla Sea Salt is a wonderful condiment to have and to give. It brings out subtle flavors in sweet and savory dishes from seafood, poultry, salads, and vegetables to sweet breads, chocolate, and popcorn. I love how it brings a delicate sweet tone to foods without adding a drop of sugar.

It is perfect for making salted vanilla bean caramels and is an extravagant addition to the extravagance of Foie Gras.

Or how about using for a Vanilla Fleur de Sel, Chocolate, and Caramel Buttercream? Now that’s what I’m talking about!

Most importantly, you can not beat it as a margarita glass rimmer. Especially on Elote’s De Lujo Margarita. The vanilla salt on the rim brings out and enhances the warm vanilla flavor already present in the margarita – awesome stuff!

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These pinwheels are an adorable, festive, and savory appetizer fit for any holiday table. When I made them for the Christmas Craft Party, I wasn’t able to find the lovely green spinach tortillas. I hope you will search them out if you whip this up for Christmas, the mix of green and white tortillas makes for a lovely presentation.

Tomorrow and Saturday – the last two days of my 12 days of Gifts from the Kitchen series. Hope you’re excited!

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I am writing this from a hospital bed on Sunday evening. What happened, you ask?

Yeah, um, I kinda fell, about 20 feet off an extension ladder while putting up Christmas lights… no big deal.

OK, it is a little bit of a big deal. I fractured my pelvic bone in two places. Wanna hear the whole sordid story?

Sure you do! We all know how people love to tell their accident stories to anyone within ear shot. Of course, I do too, so here goes.

Let me begin by acknowledging that we all have our fears and phobias. I, for instance, am deathly afraid of fire. Strange for someone who uses fire in the form of a gas range everyday, but I’m not afraid of that sort of controlled fire.

I’m afraid of fire in fireplaces, or campfires, the sort of fires that can easily and quickly get out of control and rapidly spread. In fact, thirteen years ago when we moved into the home we now live in, I insisted, against a lot of opposition, that we switch from a real Christmas tree to a fake Christmas tree because the house is a 2-story and I couldn’t even think of the kids sleeping upstairs with a real (and eventually dry, crispy, fire hazard) tree downstairs.

That said, let me quickly assure you that I am not in the hospital due to a fire. I mention the whole fear and phobia thing to let you know that my husband, Dave, is afraid of heights.

Because of that, every Christmas when we put up the lights on our house, he puts up all the lights except for the ones on the two high gables. I climb the extension ladder and put those portions up. He deals with extending the huge ladder and I climb it and put up those lights. He also holds the ladder while I climb up and while I’m up there… holding it the entire time, until I descend. Above is a 2008 photo of the side gable, which I did first this year and, as usual, all went well and without incident.

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