Merry Christmas to those who love this holiday. Happy Hanukkah to those who love this holiday. Happy winter to everyone!
It's a beautiful morning. Blue skies, just enough bite in the air to make you feel appropriately cold for this season.
Good morning, chickens.
Good morning European Starlings.
Breakfast time. Ed comes down, but he isn't hungry. This is not unusual. I learned in our first months together that a set eating schedule works for him... most of the time. His appetite at breakfast fluctuates. Chocolate and pear panettone notwithstanding. Hungry or not, he is sweetly accommodating for a self-timed photo. I insist on it because as the designated photographer on holidays, you rarely see me in any of the photos. So I insert this one -- to prove that I was there!
The day is very very full. I dont have many traditions exactly because everything that I ever did for Christmas, I invented, or adopted from what books or magazines suggested. And then, certain things stuck. And one of them is making a yule log, from a Gourmet recipe dating back to 2000. (I tried earlier ones, but this one was the best, in my opinion.)
Yule logs aren't hard to make, but they do take time.The flourless cake has to be baked early. And it has to cool before the cream is spread. And then it has to set before the ganache frosts the exterior. I've done it often enough that I should remember to get started immediately after breakfast. But, I linger over emails and such and it's nearly noon by the time I put it in the oven.
When it's out, I let it rest and Ed and I go for a walk. The sun is out and there is still enough snow on the ground to make us happy to be out among the trees.
Still, I have to rush him when we gets back. His job is to tidy up, To break up just a few more boxes. To vacuum. Me, I have to really speed it up as well in the kitchen.
(Here are the stages of yule log making:)
For the main course, I want to roast up a chicken (Ina Garten'srecipe because her stuff is always very straightforward), along with potatoes (these are J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's -- his are never easy, but always good), beans, salads, scallops for the pescatarian... In other words, there's stuff to do!
The young family arrives around 4. There's time to sneak in presents around my cooking imperatives. And in fact this is easy, because the boys' tables with their legos and city tracks (and the girl's "airplane seat" for her doll) are greeted with enthusiasm and so the three are kept busy by the new additions, while I work fast to throw things together for a 6:30 meal.
(the doll was sneaked in by mom from home)
(too, there are always snacks, and new books added to their collections...)
Yes, the grownups also do their gift exchange. All except for Ed, who is part of the giving team but absolutely refuses to ever be on the receiving end of things. My daughters learned early on not to try to coax him into even useful presents. Over the years I've come to appreciate not ever worrying about pleasing him with gifts (nor does he ever buy presents for me). I have others on my lists. That feels plenty!
The last stage of buche prep is working on a good presentation. The kids help with this: they hit it with "snow," and lay down the branches I'd picked from farmette lands. And add berries.
Dinner is only five minutes late! Amazing.
The details of this day sound... well, ordinary. And yet, there is absolutely nothing ordinary about it. Yesterday, Snowdrop told me -- Gaga, I changed my mind. I do believe in Santa Claus. I know what she is telling me: she sees the magic of this holiday. This morning "miraculously," a much, much wanted cat (from the shelter, not from the farmette!) appeared underneath their tree. They all know this cat is from their parents, but the fact that there is this animal they've wanted since September, when their other cat died -- well, it may as well have come from the North Pole.
I hope your day had at least a hint of magic. And love. Lots and lots of love...
