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Whadda ya know, more of my Christmas decorations. Woo-hoo! Today’s fare is my prized Christmas Village. I’ve collected village pieces for years. I actually was given my first house in Dec 1992 from a dear lady named Claire. I didn’t start putting up a Christmas Village until maybe 1997 or 1998. Somewhere around that time. And it’s just grown over the years.


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Now I have three Christmas Villages. The Victorian village, which I have around the mantle. A woodsy village which has deer, bear, log homes and a rustic woodsy look. And finally, my sweets village. The sweets village has gingerbread houses, a gumdrop shop, snowmen, a Christmas coffee shop and all sorts of yummy houses with candy pieces hung on them. (Not real candy) This year I only put up the Victorian village.


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Jas is here today and will stay through tomorrow, returning to her mother at noon on Christmas day. In honor of her being here for Christmas Eve we have decided to have a small Christmas Eve buffet tonight. Normally we have a party every Christmas Eve with a huge buffet spread out. It’s really something to behold. The hubster smokes a pork butt for pulled pork sandwiches, and smoked teriyaki chicken wings as well as BBQ chicken wings. And we have the best homemade spinach artichoke dip in the world (which can be found in my cookbook by the way). And tons, absolutely tons of other foods. This year we aren’t making as much as we normally do, but there will be two kinds of smoked chicken wings, mini weenies in BBQ sauce, spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips, pies, cookies, veggies and ranch dip and a host of other nibbles. Then on Christmas morning, every year, the hubster makes the most magnificent cinnamon buns (also found in my cookbook thank you very much). They look and taste like Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls. They are to die for. And yes, the hubster is making those in the morning. Come on by about 8am, will toss a roll slathered with cream cheese icing your way and a cup of java.


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As for Christmas Day, the menu has varied over the years. There was the year the hubster smoked a crown roast of pork. He had to do it in the garage because there was a blizzard outside. It was kind of funny because our neighbor, Max, came over to let us know our garage was on fire because he saw smoke billowing out of the garage door. It was just the smoke from the smoker. That was also the year that we ate the sides at Christmas dinner and had to eat the pork later around nine at night because the pork took so long to cook due to the cold temps. And we have done spiral sliced honey hams in the past as well as a smoked or fried turkey a time or two. Our favorite seems to be Prime Rib! That is what we had last year and will be making this year. The hubster is smoking a prime rib roast. I am making homemade cranberry/orange sauce along with killer mashed potatoes. Killer mashed potatoes are fingerling potatoes, mashed with a small amount of cream cheese, sour cream, butter and heavy cream. To die for! We will make a merlot reduction sauce for the potatoes and to drizzle over the beef, should anyone want to. I personally will just be using a small amount of horseradish for my beef. And then there are the baby portabella mushrooms sautéed with fresh garlic and shallots, finished off with a white wine reduction. Not to be forgotten is the french green beans and sour dough rolls. I blanch the thin, tender green beans and then just before dinner is served I sauté the green beans in a small amount of olive oil with fresh herbs, kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper, just until tender-crisp. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. We go all out for Christmas day dinner. Greg likes to make a homemade coconut cake for dessert but this year, since we are going out of town the day after Christmas, we will just be having the pies, leftover from Christmas Eve. And somewhere in between all of the cooking and eating we will manage to open a few presents.

Now I'd better quit blogging and get in that kitchen and start cooking. I hope Santa brings you everything you want. Don't forget to leave him some milk and cookies. And as my kids always did, some carrots for the reindeer because they have the hardest job of all.
Merry Christmas!