The few days before Christmas are some of the best – as long as you’ve planned and are not jumping into panic mode. Believe me, there have been many times in the past when I was in that mode—finishing up the crochet runner for part of my mom’s Christmas gift and still sewing a special shirt for my dad, with embroidery on the yoke. Not only did I love crafting (mostly crocheting and sewing) these specialty gifts, but my family expected them!

Those days are gone. Dad is in assisted care living, and Mom passed in 2010. It’s hard to believe this January she’ll be gone for 16 years. She was my best friend and my avid supporter. Some days, it hits me just how special those days were.

I no longer make homemade gifts for family; the kids have their own traditions, and they live far away. Even the grandkids are grown! But it doesn’t stop me from appreciating the few days leading up to Christmas.

This week, starting today, we’re celebrating our 53^rd anniversary. As always, candle votives that we lit on our first wedding anniversary will be lit again, for the 53^rd time, and we’ll celebrate with a special dinner, cooked and served, right here at home.

Christmas Eve is always so special – the anticipation of Christmas morning (though we no longer exchange gifts). The twinkling lights, the Christmas tree, a special dinner, and just the two of us to celebrate the eve of Christ’s birth.

And of course, Christmas Day. We usually have family or friends over to celebrate the day with a nice dinner. Usually it’s prime rib; this year, however, it’s going to be holiday brisket. Easy-peasy…

Monday

It’s our anniversary, and we always fix a special brunch. Mostly, it’s croissants with lox, scrambled eggs, Parmesan cheese sauce, orange slices, and our favorite, orange champagne. These are not mimosas. It’s orange champagne from Wein’s Winery in Temecula, CA (which we are members of).

We always prepare a special menu where we make appetizers, stop, eat, enjoy, and then clean. Onto the starters – usually a salad served at the dinner table when we light our candles. After we eat, it’s time to clean up and start cooking the entrée. We do this procedure throughout the meal, just enjoying cooking together as we fix, eat, and clean. It may sound boring to many when it’s so much easier to go out for dinner, but this is tradition, and I can count on one hand the number of times we went out in our 53 years together.

Appetizer
Baked Brie w/ Baguette & Crackers
Chilled Champagne

Starter
Christmas Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
Chilled Cucumber Water

Entrée
Scallops Meunière
Green Beans Almondine
Homemade Dinner Rolls
Crisp Chilled White Wine

Dessert
Champagne Sorbet

Tuesday

Tonight, we’re having chicken. I was looking for a simple entrée to serve with these amazing side dishes. I didn’t want a complicated recipe, but something easy, without a sauce, and that would add a nice texture to complement the potatoes and salad.

These mini-scalloped Hasselback potatoes beckoned me to try them the moment I saw the recipe. They look scrumptious. As with this style, the potatoes are sliced thinly, but not all the way through. When they’re baked with a sauce, they open and soak up all that delicious goodness! This recipe is from How Sweet Eats.

I knew right away that the potatoes would pair well with this salad recipe from Simply 2 Moms. The salad would be equally good served as a meal, all by itself, with dinner rolls! The pears are poached in wine, and roasted sweet potatoes and red onion. However, I’m omitting the sweet potatoes tonight. With a combination of baby arugula, kale (spinach in my case), goat cheese, walnuts, and, of course, the pears, it has to be delicious. And if that weren’t enough, the champagne pear vinaigrette sends this salad over the top.

Cheesy Chicken Schnitzel
Mini Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes
Roasted Pear Winter Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

Wednesday

Merry Christmas Eve! In the past, we’ve fixed many things, including baked pork chops, Asian-influenced meals, and potato soup. I’m breaking from the mold this year and making Fettuccine from Plays Well with Butter. The Holiday movie rom-com inspires this recipe, ‘The Holiday.’ And you can bet, it’s a movie I watch almost every Christmas!

To add some freshness to this meal, it’s got to be Caesar salad, a recipe from Love and Lemons, which I’m sure will be delicious and a perfect complement to our Christmas Eve meal.

Of course, you’ve got to have garlic toast, crunchy, buttery, and garlicky!

Nancy Meyers’ Christmas Fettuccine From ‘The Holiday’
Caesar Salad
Garlic Toast

Thursday

Merry Christmas! Goodies galore, gifts – nil, love – aplenty. It’ll be a heartwarming day beginning with a special brunch with plenty of coffee, and maybe Christmas Cranberry Orange Shrubs with Fresh Rosemary. Later, we’ll break out the munchies to nibble on until dinner.

I finally convinced hubby this year to serve brisket, a recipe from StoneGable, that I’ve wanted to try for much longer than I’d like to admit. But it seems every year, prime rib wins out, which is a great choice. This recipe appears effortless; you can make it ahead and then reheat.

Three ingredients are called for: the brisket, onion soup mix, and cranberry sauce. How easy is that? Add to the slow cooker and let it do all the work, and making this recipe the day before means less work on Christmas day!

The potato stacks are calling my name – yes, they are! With all the goodies one would expect from butter, whipping cream, gruyere, and Parmesan cheese, how could this recipe go wrong? Stack the ingredients in layers in a muffin tin and let the oven do the work! This recipe is from the Recipe Critic.

Onto the salad – not just another garden variety, but another salad boasting pears. This recipe from How Sweet Eats starts with candied walnuts, arugula, pears, and asiago cheese, then is dressed with a spiced orange vinaigrette. If that doesn’t say Christmas, I don’t know what does!

Asparagus is the vegetable of choice this year. And, this recipe from Baker by Nature is super easy, and having made it previously, it is delicious. It’ll pair nicely with all the other dishes, which makes it a winner!

Make-Ahead Holiday Beef Brisket
Cheesy P otato Stacks
Winter Pear Salad with Spiced Orange Vinaigrette
Lemon Garlic and Parmesan Asparagus
Dinner Rolls

Friday

This week is all about rich foods. And we don’t plan to stop because we have leftovers. From Mix and Match Mama, these leftover brisket cranberry sliders are on the menu. We’re talking caramelized onion, leftover brisket, cranberry sauce (which is already in the brisket recipe), BBQ sauce, spicy mustard, and gruyere cheese – oh my! And all this goodness is served on Hawaiian sweet rolls – it’s all in there…

To round out the meal, oven fries – simple, easy, and crispy!

Cranberry Brisket Sliders
Oven Fries

Saturday

With the last of the brisket, we are serving up tacos – with all the toppings, including fresh cranberry salsa, a recipe from All Recipes. These will definitely be one-of-a-kind tacos I’ve never tried before. They sound great and super easy. With all the cooking this week, easy is in the forecast!