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1/1/2009 - Moments with MarthaMOMENTS WITH MARTHA Martha Green They’re here! The holidays that is. When I walked into Lowes last August and found Christmas decorations already on display, I was flabbergasted! I didn’t even want to start thinking about Thanksgiving or Christmas. The holidays were still a long way off – but now they are actually here. In fact, Thanksgiving will just be over by the time you are reading this column. And you know that means Christmas is just around the corner. Food is the main thing that comes to my mind when it is the Christmas time of year. My friends and I have long since decided that Christmas is a time for us to laugh and be together, and we have stopped worrying about purchasing expensive gifts for each other. Instead, a shared meal – the perfect gift for me – has become a frequent means of celebrating the holidays and our lives together. Susan Rosenblum is a fabulous cook, so we suggested that she have us over for dinner. We all ate wonderful food and laughed the night away as we always do when we are together. Anita DeBois is one of the funniest people I know, always entertaining us with our favorite impressions that she just has to give. Thus, another dinner resulted in the most marvelous evening with good food and a lot of laughter, the best gift for the soul to my way of thinking. My beautiful friend Cindy Maiberger has the cleverest way of putting tables and little favors together so yet another dinner was most appropriate. Dinner at Cindy’s is never disappointing because she goes out of her way to do the little things that make you feel extra special. Most of the time we all have a tree. So much time and care is spent in selecting the right tree and the ornaments to fill it and decorate the rest of our homes. They are carefully packed away each year so that we can bring them out each Christmas and be rewarded with those special memories of how we came to have them. So are you getting the picture here? This does not need to be an expensive time of the year and shouldn’t bring panic to our lives. This is a special time of the year filled with special memories and special times with special people. You can make sure your holiday season is exactly like this. First you have to commit to using what you have. Your beautiful home for one, and your God-given talents for another. See – you’re already more prepared for the holidays than you know. Have you ever been disappointed when someone shows up with a plate of cookies, a cake, or a pie? How about when the phone rings and it’s someone with an invitation to come to dinner? I bet not. In fact, these are the things that make me the happiest. So get to it. Get in the spirit. Decide right now the guests you want to have for your first dinner party of the season. Now let me share with you an idea that will set you apart a little bit as a hostess. I try to send my guests home with a little “goodie” that they can enjoy the next morning and, hopefully, fondly remember their time at my home. Try this fruitcake recipe. (Even if you don’t like fruitcake you will love this one.) It will keep for several months in the refrigerator. It is a no-bake recipe, and you can form it into any shape and size that you like. Enjoy. < Back |