Steven's Adventures In Holidayland

Hello everyone out in Blogland.
The holidays are on us now like beige on uncooked quinoa, white on rice, cat hair on...well...everything we own. But I'm not discouraged - far from it.
You know why? Because, except for our second (legal in the state of Connecticut) anniversary on December 28th - not to be confused with the twenty-eighth (actual) anniversary that we celebrate on December 25th (I know...VERY confusing), Jae and I tend to keep our holiday gift giving to a minimum.
And, except for a holiday open house that usually happens on Christmas Day, we tend to be frugal gift givers and prefer to give all our friends of our hospitality and good cheer by going all out for said gathering. Meaning? SHOPPING OVER! Buying, not so much, but the choosing of perfect gifts is taken care of and now I get to plan the menu for the open house instead of worrying about silly things like gifting. Let me know if you can come!

My mother, may she rest peacefully, had a saying about me - "Ain't nothing like a nice Jewish boy making pretty for Christmas!"
She truly enjoyed watching me decorate Jae's and my home(s) for the holiday season. I've always said that it was for my husband's benefit - ours is a mixed marriage - but to be completely honest and above board SHHHH...he couldn't care less! Sure, he likes the house to look festive but couldn't give a fig how it gets that way.
I think its like a lot of things in our relationship over the years. He's been brilliant enough to "become" inept at certain things like cooking, designing, laundry, sewing and the like so that his controlling and energetic husband will take over so "it can be done right". What a fool I've been. It's okay...I love it and he is my biggest fan.

One of my favorite stories is about the year that I was on the national tour of Phantom of the Opera and Jae was hired to join us in New Orleans to work as a dresser for our stay which encompassed Christmas and New Year's that year. YES! A dresser. He had actually worked as a dresser when we lived in Chicago and had been the dresser of Rudolf Nureyev whenever he would come to town. Dressers SEW. Let it go, Steven, let it go.
Well, before Jae left New York he pre-mailed a box of ornaments for the requisite tree that we would have in New Orleans. Our apartment there was HUGE and had eighteen foot ceilings, the box got lost in the mail and I bought a tree that was at least ten feet tall!

So, here's a little tip for all of you that get trees that are too big for what you have to put on it:

MESSIAH ORNAMENTS
What you need:
A musical score or a photocopy of the first page of the Hallelujah Chorus from G.F. Handel's Messiah
1 roll dark red (or green or red and green, brown...whatever) wired ribbon
Instructions:
Take your page to a local copy center and ask them to copy the music onto BOTH sides of about 30 - 40 sheets of natural color, parchment paper.

Go home and roll up these sheets from both short ends toward the middle in a scroll that looks like an "S"

Cut lengths of ribbon long enough to wrap around these scrolls and to make a decorative bow.
Now you have 30 - 40 new ornaments that you don't even have to hang on the tree; just stick them in among the branches!

You also have the option of tying bunches of cinnamon sticks together and attaching them to the tree. The 99 cent store usually has bags of them for sale - though, not around the holidays, go figure!
And of course, there are those old fragrant standbys, clove studded oranges. But I never stop there. Try studding lemons and limes as well; they are beautiful and smell amazing.

Now, I'm sure you have lots to do to prepare for the days ahead. Let me know if I can be of any help. I've got some amazing, yet inexpensive recipes that might wow your guests and families. If you need anything...just ask!

Thanks for stopping by!
- SSG