The Thanksgiving & Christmas Season Is Here, Be Prepared!

Christmas is my favorite holiday. My kids love it, and some of our most cherished family times have been during the Christmas season. The Thanksgiving & Christmas Season is here, be prepared.

I love to decorate early to enjoy the beauty and festive feeling as long as possible. I remind myself of the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior and how He died for us. For me, this season is a time of hope. Jesus came into this world, and because of Him I can live my life knowing there is more beyond this world.

Thanksgiving

When Thanksgiving arrives early, it means the Christmas season lasts longer, and I can decorate and begin to celebrate. I love Thanksgiving as well because it is a family gathering sans presents. Thanksgiving allows the kids to be home, and family togetherness provides smiles, laughter, love, giving, taking, frustrations, stress, and arguments, you name it. The one word to sum it up is memories.

My heart is full, and my decorating juices begin to flow. I love to host anything during the Thanksgiving & Christmas holiday season. Our homes shine with glowing candles, and the smell of Frasier-Fir envelopes our surroundings. 

The Joy of the Pre-Party-Prep

While living in Johns Creek, I hosted a Christmas party every year. I loved to do this. In preparation, I floated around in a cheery, upbeat, stress-free, jovial mood because everything was so easy, and my husband loved me during this pre-party occasion. If you believe this, I am sorry to have misled you. 

I am a nightmare before a party. My husband would rather have a root canal than be around me pre-party. I am a bit intense. If you are the same way, thank you. If not, I strive to be like you. I clean and decorate my own house, and this takes time. However, I tend to wait until the last minute to clean, which only ramps up the stress & agitation. My husband will choose to recycle one beer can to evade my presence and use the recycling center as his excuse to avoid me. I don’t blame him.

Food & Drink

What helps me get ready is my experience from the prior years. I never knew how grateful I would be for the picture my husband took of me once just before our guests arrived. Some of the food I prepared was on the table, and now I have a record of the menu for future parties. 

I always keep notes about what I plan to serve. My two staples are beef tenderloin, best recipe ever, and colossal shrimp with extra-hot & regular cocktail sauce. Beyond that, I try to be creative and guess what people will eat. Our experience with the cocktails is similar. I never know what people will be in the mood to drink, and it changes every year. Side note; after several years, I now ask people to bring their own wine. 

One of my best girlfriends brought a Cosmo Bar one year, and it was a huge hit! Another awesome friend makes a festive gin or vodka drink shown above. I have made limoncello (six months prior), and it was awesome. It was a lot of work, but I made it ahead of time, and it was a lot of fun. The party was a blast and went really late that year! I think, ha.

Heavy Appetizers

The secret to my Christmas party was keeping the menus from year to year and knowing which foods were a hit and which were duds. I used name tag holders to identify all the menu items on the table, and friends typically loved all my food, or so they told me.

My excuse for not being Joe Chef is I burn out after my Christmas party. I am not much of a cook over the next year, or ever, tee hee. Although, I can make a mean appetizer.

Entertaining

In summary, what works for me as a host is to get ahead of it. Serve food you can make ahead and clean your fridge out for space. My epic fail is always the cleaning. I want to clean one or two days prior, and it takes me a long time to do it to my liking. Sybil and her personalities surface, hence my husbands exit strategy. 

The Annual Christmas Party changed after our move back to the lake house. Having the kind of party I used to is more difficult now, because of the travel for most of our friends and neighbors. I now host smaller gatherings. I typically host my family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I use my same menus, ramp up the Thanksgiving Cocktail Bar a bit and always have clean sheets for those who need to stay the night.

Greatest Recipe Ever…I call it Beach Towel Tenderloin

Some hints for this recipe: depending on when you are serving the meat, the time you take it out of the fridge matters. When I have an early dinner planned for the next day, I take it out about 11pm the night before so it is room temperature when I put it in the oven. I cook it about 27 minutes so it is done, even though my husband likes it mooing. Tenderloins have a large center, and the rare meet will be there.

I love this recipe because I make the marinade a day or two ahead. I put the meat in a zip lock baggie, pour the marinade over the tenderloin, double the baggie and flatten it out so the entire tenderloin gets covered with the marinade. I can cook it in the morning and let it bake on the counter all day. I wrap it in aluminum foil and tighly cover it with the towel. Before guests arrive, I use an electric knife, slice it thin and typically have some slider potato rolls out for sandwiches. It’s delicious, and I always include horseradish sauce and or gravy. Yum.