Christmas Eve

The girls' first Shirley Temples by the tree

I'm posting some photos of Christmas and Christmas Eve a little behind schedule.  But the fact that I'm late about it means I had a great Christmas.  Just the kind of Christmas I needed.  Busy, bustling with anticipation  for weeks until Christmas morning when I just get to sit back and relax and watch the enjoyment on the faces of my loved ones.  After all the work preparing for Christmas I spend the days after just being lazy and eating good food!  It's a wonderful stay-cation in our house the days after Christmas.  I curled up on the floor with a pillow every afternoon for a cat nap.  I was fantastically lazy.

But before then...I was a Christmas mad-woman.  After our Christmas party I had just two days to prepare for our own big Christmas Eve dinner.  I brined our turkey on Monday so it would be ready for the oven on Christmas Eve morning.

Christmas Eve is just as much fun and just as special of a day for our family as Christmas Day is.  My childhood was full of Christmas Eve memories.  It was an evening I looked forward to all year long.  As an adult, with my own family and being so far away from our extended family; it's very important to create our own traditions and hold true to them every year.  We started making a big Christmas Eve dinner in the Philippines and it's become a tradition.  Here in Ethiopia, I've made a traditional American Thanksgiving meal on Christmas Eve for the last two years.

I started the mood off on Christmas Eve morning with a little hot chocolate picnic in the family room for the girls.  They drank it with peppermint sticks and cinnamon sugar toast.  When they saw the tray coming up the stairs they cheered.

This year Christmas Eve was just the five of us.  The anticipation and excitement was so thick in the air I could taste it.  The girls all got their fancy Christmas dresses on early in the morning to be ready for our big Christmas dinner.  I donned a frock as well but quickly topped it with an apron to get to work in the kitchen.  Justin worked most of the day on Christmas Eve so as he was kissing me goodbye with is coffee in hand, I was pulling out our bird and chopping onions for the stuffing.

Along with Christmas Eve dinner, I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.  Something I've been doing for years.  Making them the night before and just popping them in that morning makes my life easier.

The turkey was stuffed and in the oven by 9:30AM which left plenty of time for all the rest of the meal.  Addie helped me peel the potatoes for the big bowl of mashed potatoes.  Turns out she's completely capable of mashing them as well with my hand mixer.  This year I was very excited to learn that my KitchenAid hand mixer makes smoother fluffier potatoes than my big stand mixer.

During the entire process of preparing the meal, our Christmas music is playing and I'm sipping wine.  At some point Bella came skipping into the kitchen and cheerfully asked me. "Can I help you with anything Mommy?", which brought me to tears.  Such generosity and joy on Christmas Eve and a little bit of wine in my system and I was a blubbery idiot.  All the girls helped and it is that much more fun to have my sweet daughters hands in the kitchen helping and making messes with me.

Sneaking bites of the sweet potato casserole.  That was me.

Justin kept the girls entertained during the last painful hour waiting for dinner.  They read fairy tales and danced to Christmas music.

The girls were giddy to cut into the turkey.  Justin and I as well.  We get one turkey a year and it's such a glorious treat in Ethiopia.  To prepare a traditional American meal like this in Addis, is no small feat.  It's a lot of work but totally worth it.

 Ashlynn sneaked into the turkey before it was served and just kept saying, "more", and picking off bites.  We had to steer her towards the table.  A spoonful of sweet potato casserole had her interested until she discovered the holy grail of a turkey meal-the mashed potatoes and gravy!  Once she discovered gravy, it was game over for all other options.  The girls adored the turkey and sweet potatoes while Justin and I oohed and aaahed over the stuffing.  As a kid I hate the stuff, what was I thinking?!  It's perfection with gravy on top.  Oh man, we were in a food coma pretty quick.

Addie wrote a beautiful note for Santa Claus and carefully laid out cookies for him and a carrot for the reindeer.

Addie and Bella giggled in their beds for a few minutes after bedtime and Addie even had to peak downstairs with the pretenses of getting more water.  But once they were out, they were out and Justin and I could enjoy a slice a pie (pecan pumpkin perfection) and watch thirty minutes of It's a Wonderful Life (our Christmas Even tradition) before we were about ready to pass out.

I heard a little rustling down stairs later that night and had to go see if Santa had found us in Ethiopia.  Sure enough, he did and he filled the stockings and tree.  I didn't sleep much that night after that!  I couldn't wait for Christmas Day.

Christmas party report-out

The last three weeks flew by and I didn't have a chance to post anything about our Christmas party (or Christmas for that matter).  It was so much fun and everyone was in the holiday spirit.  The entire day with people bustling about, jovial laughing, glasses clinking, and all the delicious food smells made me that much more excited for Christmas.

The party was a potluck which is wonderful for two reasons.  I don't have to break my back to provide enough food for everyone and I get to taste everyone else's cooking.  Some highlights from the food brought by others were the cheesy baked grits, BBQ green beans, spinach dip, and potato salad.

Our traditional Christmas cookies, pecan crescents, nutted thimbles and almond rocca

I prepared desserts for the party. I made lavender lemon bars and ginger oatmeal cream pies along with all the usual Christmas desserts I make.  Once again the flourless chocolate peppermint patt

y cake flew off the table.  I should have made two of those.

The pretty candy cane cake was delicious and gorgeous.  Such a  treat for anyone who loves candy canes. I tried my hand at homemade old fashioned fudge this year since it's one of my absolute favorite holiday treats.  After plenty of frustration I was able to produce two batches, one salted dark chocolate and the other mint chocolate.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it because it was gone rather quickly!

Making old fashioned fudge at this high of altitude proved more difficult than I imagined.  

I don't have any photos of the real food, mostly because it flew off the platters.  I made two rosemary roasted pork loins, two batches of curried chicken rolls and two batches of scalloped potatoes.  As well as smoked salmon dip, and roasted red pepper and goat cheese terrine.  I'll be honest, it wasn't enough.  I should have had a few other main course selections because they didn't last on the table more than ten minutes.  Maybe something easy like lasagna or a rice dish.  Even a pasta salad would have added something hardy to the table.

But the drinks were flowing and no one seemed to complain of the food going so fast.  It was nice because it was an open house so people trickled in all afternoon with dishes to add to the table.

I have so much fun planning the drink menu for parties now.  People enjoy the details and like to have instructions for a pre-planned cocktail.  I really had no idea how much people would enjoy the cocktail I chose.  Now I know to prepare for twice as many ingredients for the drinks.

 Non alcoholic spiced fruit wassail.  A fun option for something kid friendly and festive. If people wanted they could add a dash of bourbon or rum.  But I think it tasted great all on it's own.  It was super easy to make and I omitted any additional sugar in the recipe.  For a drink that combines three store bought fruit juices, it definitely doesn't need any extra sugar.

Spiced Fruit Wassail from Of Tide and Thyme cookbook
2 1/4 cups pineapple juice
2 quarts apple juice or cider
1 cup lemon juice
2 cups orange juice
a little cheesecloth bundle of cinnamon bark and cloves tied up tight (1/2 cup bark or a few cinnamon sticks and 2 Tbsp whole cloves)

Just add all the ingredients and let it simmer with the spices for a few hours.  Be prepared for this to go quickly.  I doubled this recipe and I should have doubled it again!  The kids loved the red and white striped straws.

Cinnamon apple martini.  This was a huge hit among the adults, men and women alike.  I came up with this recipe because I ordered two pounds of cinnamon red hot candy for Christmas.  I knew I wanted to create a cocktail that used these spicy candies I just didn't know what it was until three days before the party.  As I searched online, I realized I would never have just the right ingredients for some of the cocktail recipes I was finding.  But I wasn't deterred.  This is what cooking in Ethiopia is all about-substitution.  So, I used what I had and it was simple and delicious.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Apple Martinis
1 bottle vodka
1 and a half cups cinnamon red hot candies
1 bottle of cranberry apple juice
ice

Two days before the party I poured the vodka over the red hot candies in a decanter and let them dissolve. Swirl and stir the candies from the bottom often.  You could pour the candies straight into the bottle of vodka to make it even easier.  Just use a funnel.  After almost all the candies were dissolved, I strained the cinnamon infused vodka over a fine mesh strainer to remove the waxy like candy coatings that were left in the alcohol.  You're left with a lovely red sweet cinnamon vodka.

Sara's Cinnamon Apple Martini
1 shot cran-apple juice
1 shot cinnamon vodka.

Shake with an ice cube and serve with the ice.  The colder the better. Serve in short martini glasses.  I like stemless just because they can serve as a pretty glass for lots of cocktails, not just martinis.  I loved this drink for the flavor, but also for the festive red color.  Gorgeous!

Hot Chocolate bar.  This is such a fun concept and I could have done so much more when it comes to options for this drink but I decided to pay tribute to one of our favorite decadent desserts we enjoyed in South Africa.  Thick hot chocolate served with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.  It's really quite simple.  Soft peppermint sticks and peppermint Schnapps for the adults made the drink more holiday festive.  This was a huge hit for the kids.  Those peppermint sticks went quick!

I cheated on this drink and used pre-made cocoa drink powder and just added water.  I made it nice and thick and added vanilla to the mix.  The pot sat on the stove simmering during the party so people just had to bring a mug to the kitchen and get a ladle of cocoa and a scoop of ice cream.  Pure decadence.

The gingerbread people kits were a hit and I think it saved some mess and heartache from the parents about this or that.  All I had to do was life the box of kits outside and let the kids have-at it.  One mom helped snip the ends of the frosting bags with scissors but after that, I didn't hear any issues.

We had a silly white elephant gift exchange and 24 people participated by bringing a gift.  I ended up with a lovely latte style coffee mug which seemed unbelievable after seeing a can of boiled peanuts opened as well as a umbrella hat and a dust pan.  Justin came away with a new mop!  HA!  I liked how the game brought everyone at the party together.  Lots of our friends from all sorts of different places in Addis all got to know one another better when you're stealing one another gifts and laughing at the hilarity of some of them.  Such fun.

All in all, the party was a success, thanks to all our enthusiastic friends who brought good food and plenty of wine.  What a way to kick of the holiday party season!

decorating for Christmas and other holiday musings

We pulled out our Christmas tree and all the trimmings the day after Thanksgiving.  Justin took the day off to make it an extra long weekend and the girls were bubbling over with excitement.  I, on the other hand was deep in the throws of the nastiest flu bug this side of the Nile.  But I was still in the sore throat achy phase of the virus at that point, so I made a cup of hot tea and joined in the festivities of decorating.

Felt mistletoe!  So we will always have a smooching doorway!

Every year, I am amazed at how many Christmas decorations we've accumulated over the years. Most of them being special heirlooms or homemade items like the gorgeous stockings my mother-in-law painstakingly spends half a year creating for each member of the family.  They are the items that I panic over misplacing every year.  Then we pull them out of their special bag and count them (4 right now, as Ashlynn's is still a work in progress) and breath a sigh of relief that they hadn't gotten lost over the year.

I've realized since living in this huge African concrete mansion, that having a fireplace with a grand mantel is a must for me now.  It's the perfect place to arrange spring flowers, picture frames, pumpkins or in the case of this time of year; stockings, Santa's sleigh, a little forest of trees and my snowman collection.

Okay, so I may overdo it a bit in the Christmas decoration department, maybe in the Christmas baking, party planning and caroling departments too.  Alright, I overdo Christmas entirely.  But really, what's overdone?  Overdone to me is all the holiday displays at the supermarkets in the US or the shopping events at the malls.  It's the Christmas print paper towels and all the commercialism that the holiday has turned into.  Christmas for us is what we make of it, IN. OUR. HOME.  There is no outside Christmas here in Ethiopia.  So really, I don't think of it as overdone in our family.  I think of it as being done right.

Santa's sleigh was my mother's and it housed her Santa collection when I was little.  Proud to have it in our collection now.

Justin brought his little German gem home after a business trip last year.  It's my new favorite!

Entrenching my children in family traditions is my job as their mother.  My own Christmas memories are grounded in the anticipation of doing the same things every year with my family.  Trekking to a farm to cut down the family tree, baking Christmas cookies with my mom and my sisters, picking out gifts for one another at the local craft bazaars or markets and celebrating with our extended family. Those memories are precious to me and helped me want to establish our own family traditions for our children.  Being overseas, has helped force us to create those memories at home and I know our girls can sense the excitement every year when we get out the butter to soften and pick our gingerbread house template.  They gaze at the tree and sing right along with Justin and I as we play our Christmas music.

Building our own amazing Christmas also helps Justin and I feel a little less homesick during the holidays.  Knowing that we can give our children and ourselves a merry Christmas makes being away just a tiny bit easier.

The wreath I picked up in Manila at a manufacturers that produced Christmas decorations for William Sonoma.

cookie memories

Last year my husband was raving about his favorite Christmas cookie.  It was a cookie that his late Grandmother made every year.  To hear him talk about it, she made tin after tin of these and they were everyone's favorites.  He was able to ask his Dad a few questions about the recipe. Turns out no one had the recipe and Grandma likely never used one after doing it from memory all those years.  But I was told that the dough was made with cream cheese that it was a Russian cookie.  It was rolled with walnuts in the middle and coated with powdered sugar.

Going on this information, I did a little research and was able find quite a few recipes that matched this description.  Turns out this cookie is very common and there is a version of it in Germany, Russia and Poland.  It's called a kolacki or kolacky, which essentially means cookie.

I set to work last year attempting to recreate this special memory for Justin.  Last year he got a little misty biting into the Polish Kolackis I made.  They tasted like the best of his childhood Christmas memories and I couldn't have been happier.  He packaged them up in a air tight container because the longer they sat and softened, the more they tasted just right!

The Polish Kolacki has joyfully been added to our Christmas cookie line-up and I made them a little bit earlier this year so Justin can enjoy them and "age" them throughout the next two weeks so they are just right for him.

The dough is very simple to make and the walnut filling is basic as well.  The challenging part of this cookie is the assembly.  I believe it's supposed to be more rolled and tube-like than the ones I am making.  I found baking them at a higher temperature prevented the dough from flattening a bit but I'm still working on the presentation.  They sure taste good!

Super excited for Justin to get home from work today and have his special cookies waiting for him.

Sara's attempt at recreating Grandma's Polish Kolacki recipe

 Dough

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (1/8 at high altitude)

Walnut Filling

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar (1/4 brown ¼ white)

2 cups ground walnuts

1 tablespoon butter

Dash of vanilla

Pinch of salt

Powdered sugar for rolling/dusting

Walnut Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cook over low heat just until the butter has melted. Cool before using or store covered in the refrigerator and rewarm slightly when ready to use. 

In a large bowl, mix butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine flour, salt and baking powder, and add to butter mixture, blending well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. 

Heat oven to 370 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust work surface with equal parts granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar. Take dough out of refrigerator and roll to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a pizza or pastry wheel, cut into 3-inch squares. 

Place a rounded teaspoon of filling  at one corner and roll away from you (no need to tuck in the ends). Place seam side down on the baking sheet and shape into a crescent. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake 12 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Cool completely and store covered. Dust with confectioners' sugar when ready to serve. 

I regret not making notes about this recipe last year.  I'm certain I discovered these things last year but since I didn't write them down I had to discover them all over again.  

The dough gets sticky very quickly and you need to use powdered sugar on your work surface instead of flour.  

The thinner you can get the little squares, the better.  I also like working with

2 inch squares better.

Use a very small amount of walnut filling because it oozes out of the ends.  

Definitely bake them with the seam side down or towards the side. If you don't the corners spread open.  

Some of my ugly first attempts today.  Could have been avoided with notes from last year.

first annual Christmas party

If you didn't already know it, I really love to throw parties.  This year we decided to host a Christmas party, open house potluck style.  I made all the desserts and cocktails and everyone else brought side dishes.

Campfire cake-6 layers of chocolate cake with toasted marshmallow filling and malted milk chocolate frosting.  Perfect!

It was a gorgeous afternoon and Christmas music played merrily.  We had a huge crowd and everyone enjoyed homemade hot buttered rum as well as whiskey sours and Manhattans (the two drinks I learned to mix two days before the party).  Playing bartender was so much fun.

I made Christmas cookies and pie as well as two cakes and a huge plate of almond rocca.  I love sampling all the snacks people brought.  Friends of ours brought an amazing homemade olive tapenade and another good friend made mini pizzas in the shape of Christmas trees!  There was a ton of food and with everyone lubricated from liquor or wine, the party was a blast.

It won't be the last Christmas party we host.  I hope we can make it an annual event.