Sarah — my friend who’s a super cook, former caterer and an Episcopal priest — 
gave bottles of cranberry homemade liqueur for Christmas presents this past holiay season. So lovely! I thought they’d make great Valentine Day’s gifts, too — the red is such a gorgeous deep color. The recipe is from Cooking Light and needs to be started three weeks ahead of time, so this is the perfect weekend to gather supplies and get started. Since cherries and raspberries are the traditional red fruits associated with Valentine’s, I wonder if you could use those instead of cranberries. If anybody tries that, please pass the results along! Sarah put the liqueur in these very cool bottles and added the cocktail recipe — delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries
- 3 cups vodka
Preparation
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and cool completely. Place cranberries in a food processor; process 2 minutes or until finely chopped. Combine sugar mixture and cranberries in a large bowl; stir in vodka. Pour vodka mixture into clean jars; secure with lids. Let stand 3 weeks in a cool, dark place, shaking every other day. Strain cranberry mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Carefully pour liqueur into clean bottles. Note: Liqueur can be stored refrigerated or at room temperature for up to a year.
My wonderful yet workaholic husband actually took a few days off recently and we headed to Nashville, Tennessee, for time with family, friends and a peacefully quiet hotel room. We like Embassy Suites — the two rooms to spread out in, the consistent quality of service and 
cleanliness and of course the free drinks and snacks in the afternoon. (What? 
We’re easily impressed!) We loved this bar-food gizmo set up in the lobby for the daily happy hour. It had all sorts of crackers, pretzels, nuts, candy and mixes for do-it-yourself creating — the perfect accompaniment for beer and lazy discussions about where to go and who to see and what to eat later that night. Good times! It doesn’t take much to amuse us when it’s just the two of us on vacation. If we have access to real coffee (me), Diet Dr Pepper (him), reliable Internet and plenty of newspapers, we’re content. Throw in good restaurants and time to do whatever we want whenever we want to and we’ve gone beyond content and straight into happpy. And by the way, one thing we did while on vacation was catch “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” If you haven’t seen it yet, go immediately. It’s a moving and powerful story you’ll think about long after you leave the theater. I was disappointed it didn’t garner more awards at the Golden Globes, but I’m hopeful it will clean up at the Oscars — it’s that good.
This is our house. Okay, not really. But it’s a house my husband 
found and wanted me to look at it and think about, which is a big deal for us because we don’t have an “our” house. The house we live in now is the one my ex- husband and I bought when we first moved to Alabama almost 15 years ago. He and I got divorced shortly after, so for most of those 15 years my two daughters and I have lived there in single-parent female-centric bliss. Now my husband and I have been married for 4 1/2 years, the girls are pretty much out on their own (one married with her own home and the other a college senior) and it’s time for our own place. I mean, he’s a great sport and hasn’t minded that the house is full of girly stuff and remnants of my ex-husband and doesn’t really reflect his style at all. So when he said, “Hey, I found a house I like. Let me show you,” I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I love this house! I love all the little nooks and crannies. I love that it looks different and comfortable all at the same time. Of course, I’d change 
Welcome to the fifth day of Cathy’s New Year Countdown. It’s been nice to take a couple days off of shopping for/making/eating holiday goodies, but the break is over and it’s back to the kitchen for New Year’s. I know, I know — you were just there a few days ago. But listen. My friend Cheryl has the perfect and most delicious recipe for the remaining festivities, whether you’re going to a party and need to take something or hosting a party and need to feed the multitude. It’s good for football munching and open-house buffets. It’s even perfect to give as New Year’s gifts like you said you’d do instead of giving Christmas gifts. (Remember you said that?) Plus, you’ve probably got all the ingredients on hand already, especially if your friend’s civic club was selling pecans this fall and you mistakenly bought six bags and wondered what you’d ever do with them. Now you know. Here’s the recipe, and check back tomorrow for the sixth day in Cathy’s New Year Countdown.
I wasn’t going to reveal this to everybody but my husband said I had to since 
the blogosphere is all about honesty and sincerity and thruthiness — right? — so the plain simple fact is I only put our tree up yesterday. Yesterday. As in four days before Christmas. I know, I know. Friends were shocked and appalled. Family members kept checking in anxiously on my (non) progress. How did this happen? I’m not quite sure. It’s not that I’m anti-tree. I put my mom’s up for her. I oohed and ahhed over everybody else’s trees. I just never got around to doing my own. I didn’t do it the weekend after Thanksgiving because I was gone and I was gone the next weekend, too, and then I had the Sinus Infection From Hell and then suddenly it seemed too close to time 
to take it down to put it up. And I was sort of approaching it as an experiment: How would I feel if I didn’t put a tree up? As Dec. 25 got closer, I got my answer: Not good. So up it went on Monday and everybody has been properly impressed. I have had the stockings up since Dec. 1, though, so there you are. And here’s the thing: Our Christmas tree is not one of those beautifully color-coordinated and themed trees. I think those are pretty, but I don’t do it myself. Nope. Our tree is like a family scrapbook — one with green stickery things that the cats climb up. We’ve got 20-year-old kindergarten wreaths and baby Jesuses sharing branch time with vacation souvenirs and mementos of favorite things and good times. Now, that’s a Christmas tree.
Our friends Ginna and Charlie in Tupelo, Mississippi, have the loveliest house 
and it practically glows at Christmastime. Their festive holiday mantle makes me happy just looking at it, although Ginna disavows any credit and says a decorating friend of hers put it together. But Ginna’s the one who bought the raw ingredients, so I think she deserves all kudos. We stopped by to see Ginna and Charlie this past Sunday afternoon in our search for dry martinis and good company. Ginna was finishing one last bunch of holiday goodies and congratulating herself on having the tree up, the presents bought, the presents wrapped and even the stocking stuffers successfully hidden away — unusual for her, she said. Of course, Charlie had done his part by spending all afternoon raking and bagging leaves. Let’s see, they had been busy and productive and had their Christmas to-do list all checked off, while my husband and had been driving around talking about all the things we had to do and bumming drinks off of people. Hmm …
I’ll admit that I usually spend December evenings curled up on the
couch watching Bing Crosby movies in my pajamas and eating the best part of Chex Mix — the burned crunchy bits at the bottom of the pan, but the invitation to a Christmas party in Huntsville, Alabama, for this past Saturday night said dress to impress. Marlene, the hostess, wanted a glam cocktail party, so my husband and I tried our best. How do you think we did? My husband always looks so spiffy in a suit. For the party, he went with classic all black and since he couldn’t find his Christmas tie, he substituted his Beatles one for a festive touch. My dress was a two-year-old (three? four?)
black halter from the sadly now-defunct Parisian’s, with the added feature of not being tight or binding in any way — my only prerequisite for party clothes. All I can say is, 
“Damn. We look good!” Marlene kept the festivities to proper cocktail hours so we could go out to eat or whatever afterwards, but before we did that, John and I stopped by my daughter and son-in-law’s apartment for a quick snuggle with almost 9-months-old grandson. Good company, good food and good baby time to top it off. Could it get any better?
In Day No. 8 of Cathy’s 12 Days Before Christmas Countdown, it’s time to look at the original holiday-simplification guide, “Unplug the Christmas Machine.” Even though it’s almost 20 years old, this book remains the signature how-to for scaling back and cutting down. But you’ll find more here than tips on re-using wrapping paper and getting decorations out of your own backyard. In fact, the rest of the title says it all: “A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back in the Season.” Authors Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli show you how to identify and make time for what’s truly important to your own family’s holiday celebrations and gives you permission to ditch the rest. Isn’t that the kind of Christmas we all want? And we’re talking real-life here. For instance, the authors warn you that while deciding to forgo massive present-opening on Dec. 25 could be a good thing and spiritually satisfying, you might find yourselves sitting around staring at each other without anything else to do. Awkward! And while it 
reads a bit dated — it was written, after all, before laptops, cell phones and Blackberries became essential family tools — the core message still is relevant: To get the most out of Christmas, you’ve got to regain control of it. It might be too late for this year — you’ve already gotten all your Christmas chores done for this year, haven’t you? — but reward yourself by getting a head start on Christmas 2009. More good news? You won’t derail your new holiday frugality when you buy this book because as an older paperback, it’s only about $10 at most online booksellers — less if you buy it used. It’ll be a $10 you’ll never regret (unlike the $10 I spent on Max Factor Lipfinity Lipstick Sweet 55, but who knew?). Check back on Christmas Countdown Day No. 7 for one of the best online sites I’ve found for Christmas shopping.
There’s just something special about holiday hospitality. When my
friend Evelyn recently hosted the December meeting of our four-woman book club, the other three of us practically refused to get up from her elegant red and gold dinner table when we were finished eating. She made us feel so pampered that only the promise of opening presents in front of the fire — and, oh, yeah, discussing our book of the month — made us leave. I love the way she used simple solid red napkins and plates to create such a festive and sophisticated look, proving once again my grandmother’s timeless advice to always buy red things — they’re good for three out of four seasons, which is a record you cannot beat.
Kaye and its older sibling, the 1942 “Holi
Shining faces … precious voices … proud parents … Is there anything more moving during the holidays than children’s Christmas choirs? Not much. And it’s especially heartwarming when you don’t even have a child up there and you haven’t spent the past three months in frantic dashes to rehearsals or the past three days in frantic hunts for a white blouse that everybody can agree on (ah, memories!) — you simply can sit back and enjoy. And that’s what I did this past weekend at the annual Community Choir Christmas Concert sponsored by the Rotary Club in Manchester, Tennessee. This is my dad’s project. He’s been organizing this concert for the past 14 years — combining choir music and Rotary, two of his favorite things. He loves it and everybody who comes to listen feels blessed. I’ll bet there were concerts like 
this everywhere this past weekend, along with open houses, parades and parties as December deepens and the 25th gets closer and free weekends and evenings get scarce. A side benefit to all the activity? Catching up with folks you may only see once a year. Several of my high-school classmates sing in the community choir, so we all go out afterwards. I know what you’re thinking when you look at this pic: “There is no way these people graduated high school 33 years ago! They are far too young and hip to be 50-plus!” Thank you for the compliment. And in fact you would think that if you had heard our conversation — riding new Harley-Davidsons (and this was not the lone male alum, either), installing environmentally friendly pool-filtration systems, eating the raw-food way and discussing details of the upcoming class-reunion Caribbean cruise. And of course there were a few grandbaby pics passed around.
Coffee with Cathy 