Sunday, December 30, 2007

A Cardboard Christmas

After all my family finally made it into Chicago and after we hit the grocery store for supplies, Christmas Eve meant staying in with the heat turned way up and an impromptu Jell-O recipe. It's melon flavored Jell-O with maraschino cherries and I call it Holiday Melonjello (pronounced me-lawn-je-low). The holly-like appearance was purely accidental. Since all us kids are past the legal drinking age, Santa now gets cookies and Mistletoe Mojitos. Liquoring him up makes him even more giving.

I have yet to purchase a real life tree. Every year I say I will and end up not. This artificial number has been the stand-in for the past couple years and I think it's pretty darn cute. It's small enough to stand on a table (or, in this case, on an ottoman) and it breaks in two for easily folding and storage. Paired with a softly scented "Tree" candle by Slatkin & Co. that Porcelain graciously picked up for me, this fir is almost as good as the real thing. I found all the shiny silver wildlife-inspired ornaments on my last trip to the Brown Elephant. See a detail HERE. And what goes perfectly with a faux tree, you may ask. A faux fire, of course. I prefer the kind that plays on the TV set, the DVD on loop variety which also plays traditional holiday tunes. That's how we roll at Cardboard's house.

The main show at dinner was turkey (and Celebration Roast for my vegetarian sister). There were mashed potatoes with an amazing shiitake mushroom recipe lifted from Porcelain & Hardwood. They also gave me a deliciously modified recipe for the most intense stuffing I've ever seen or been blessed to taste. Seen above is Bamboo's Spicy Broccoli (so much of the yum) and the jellied cranberry goo, straight from the can. Sadly, I drank too large a glass of egg nog with my pie and ended up, as my sister so giddily told her boyfriend on the phone, "barfing." Merry Christmas!

My sister and Mama C headed home a few short days after the 25th. It was lovely to have them although I feel a little guilty that we we didn't get out more. But I have a feeling that hanging around the house, snacking, and playing Snatch & Bang! (I swear that's not dirty) was exactly what they wanted to do too.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely! It was the best Christmas! Good food, fun games and great company! Too bad I didn't leave this cold and cough in Chicago, but that's the price of winter, I guess...

Happy New Year, Cardboard and Porcelain!