Tag Archives: holidays

Valentine’s Day

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Back when my two now-23-and-25-year-old daughters were in high school, our house was one of those where all the kids gathered for after-parties — after graduation, after prom, after band banquet, after whatever. I got pretty good at figuring out how to feed dozens of kids — little weiners and chocolate-chip cookies always were big hits — and enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, I sort of miss those days. But Younger Daughter brought them back this weekend when she hosted a party for the girls in the high-school percussion ensemble she’s working with this semester. She planned the menu and did a great job of combining healthy with Valentine’s indulgence: Carrot and celery sticks with no-fat vegetable dip, tortilla and pita chips with salsa and spinach-cheese dip, raspberry squares, Valentine’s fortune cookies, iced and decorated sugar cookies and No-Pudge Fudge cupcakes, vegetable and turkey rollups, pimento cheese (necessary for all Southern parties, you know), olives, Red Velvet cake balls and a chocolate fountain with pretzels, marshmallows and fresh pineapple and strawberries. And she used what we had around the house for decor — red candles, various heart-shaped items and the cards and boxes of candy that were the party favors. And all I had to do was help with food prep and then I got to go watch the Olympics opening ceremonies on TV while YD took care of everything else — she and the girls even cleaned up afterwards. And one of the best parts? Leftover sugar cookies for breakfast the next morning!

And check out my weekly newspaper column about everybody’s favorite love holiday at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100212/ARTICLES/2125000

Holidays

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Happy first Monday of 2010! With folks sort of starting to get back in the normal routine, some people are clinging to their Christmas decorations by pointing out that Jan. 6, or Epiphany, is still part of the season — a valid argument, but one that exceedingly gets pushed out of the way by the retail holiday rush. Dear Husband and I were out and about on New Year’s Day and spied these competing holiday displays: Valentine’s Day versus Easter, in the same store. With Christmas and New Year’s on sale just a couple aisles over. What’s a shopper to do???

Mississippi

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This is why I love Christmas in Mississippi. Look at this gorgeous old house, with its classically festive holiday decorations of red and green — enlivened by the riot of pansies planted in the front yard. It’s like, “Christmas is here, but spring is coming!” Although I have to say that the past few days here in the South have been sort of wintry — chilly with a chance of freezing. Younger Daughter has been in Maine visiting her uncle and aunt there in the Frozen North, but I believe it’s been only minimally colder here. Then again, what do I know? Anything below 85 degrees is sweater weather to me.

New Year’s

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Happy New Year! Hope it’s a fabulous one for you and your family. And if you’re taking a break from football today, go to http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100101/ARTICLES/1015000 to read my weekly newspaper column that includes resolutions folks sent me from all over. See if yours made it in, and thanks to everybody who helped me with this project. And here’s hoping your favorite teams win — as long as those teams are SEC, of course!

Happy New Year!

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May your journey through 2010 be filled with new adventures shared with your favorite people! Happy New Year!

Weddings

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I love holiday weddings! It probably goes back to my own parents’ wedding on Dec. 18, 1955. I wasn’t there but I’ve always been entranced by my mom’s description of her bridesmaids carrying muffs with holly sprigs pinned to them — how romantic and lovely is that? So I was tickled when Younger Daughter asked me to go with her to a friend’s wedding that was the weekend before Christmas. Her friends had so many sweet touches to the ceremony — a processional of guitar music, simple and classic knee-length bridesmaids’ dresses, a swirly logo on the invitations and programs — that I should have known the reception would be equally classic. It was at Locust Hill, an outstanding historic house in Tuscumbia, Alabama — a town full of outstanding historic houses. I especially was enthralled with the entryway, where a holiday-decorated antique sidebar held scrapbook pages for guests to sign plus photos of the couple. And the groom’s cake was fun with its fishing theme. Now, I can hear some of you non-Southern folks scratching your heads and wondering what a “groom’s cake” is. While it’s true that this tradition of honoring the groom with his own cake is no longer confined to states that consider Jefferson Davis’ birthday an official holiday, it’s still not a common tradition outside of the South. And I’m not even sure why it’s such a Southern thing, sort of like cheese straws and using the word “tea” to mean “a tall glass of cold iced sweet goodness.” But I’m glad weddings are celebrated everywhere. Even where nobody knows what a groom’s cake is.

Holidays

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Happy Holidays! I am still here but, as most of the blogosphere has been doing for the past few weeks, I’ve been lazy.  Very, very lazy — computerwise. When it comes down to choosing between enjoying a mug of hot cocoa with the umpteenth replay of “Christmas Vacation” (I love that movie!) and actually logging on and putting my brain into gear and thinking my way past the visions of sugar plums dancing in my head (and the baking and cleaning and organizing and wrapping and …) — I’ve been choosing the easy way out. But no more! Time to get back to normal. Time to put away Christmas things. Time to … oh, who am I kidding? It’s still the holidays, our little tree is still up and I’m still eating sugar cookies and cheese balls and the last of the Chex Mix. But I will do better about blogging. Promise.

So how was y’all’s Christmas? Hope everybody had a good one. Kudos to those who, like Older Daughter, had four celebrations on that one day. She and my son-in-law and grandson Capt. Adorable made it to all of them, although the day of travel left the 21-month-old Captain dazed and confused.

Christmas

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Hope you have a wonderfully merry Christmas -- and keep a sense of wonder and delight just like grandson Capt. Adorable.

Christmas

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What says “holidays” better than food, family and friends — especially if that food includes all the Christmas cookies you ever wanted to eat? This year my cooking club, the Gingers (Girls In Need of Gourmet Experience Really Soon), came to my house for lunch and a cookie exchange. I went with red and white and borrowed my mom’s Christmas tableware (thanks, Mom!) for an easy meal of soup, cheese, crackers and muffins. (And, by the way, I have a great soup recipe: Find a caterer or restaurant who makes excellent soup and become a regular and valued customer. Works every time.) Then it was time to distribute our cookie choices. Yum!!! Just imagine having six people each give you a dozen of the most delicious Christmas cookies you’ve ever tasted — unbelievable. We all agreed this definitely will be an annual event for us. And in honor of the Gingers coming to my house, I put up a cooking table-top tree for them. It wasn’t difficult to find miniature decorations for it — for some reason, many of the ornaments I have for our big tree revolve around food and drink. Go figure. I had some vintage cooking utensils from my mom’s antiques shop and other leftovers from when the Gingers decorated a 15-footer for the annual Christmas-tree display at our local arts center a couple years ago, so the little cooking tree came together easily. The only downside is it makes me hungry every time I look at — but that’s not a problem when you have a practically endless supply of cookies in the house.

Christmas Decor

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I am a lazy Christmas person. Don’t get me wrong — I love silver bells and starry nights and sugar cookies — but I’m not very good at the decking-the-halls part. Luckily, I know people who are — people who excel at Christmas. Like my friend Evelyn. I love the dinner table she set and the way she’s festived-up her living room with rich red and gold accents and a touch of green. This is how you do Christmas. I just light a lot of candles and hope the twinkle lights cover up the cat hair.