By Cheryl Ryan
I hope you have everything ready and are feeling at peace with whatever modifications you’ve had to make this year.
Honestly, if I haven’t thought of a perfect gift yet I won’t and if it’s not ordered it won’t arrive on time anyway. So I’ve moved on to tweaking my menus. I’m determined not to spend too much time in the kitchen because I’ve already logged more hours this year than in the past 10 combined.
With kitchen fatigue in mind, I’m thinking maybe this Cioppino with a salad and crusty bread. And I may make a batch of lentil soup to have around for lunches. We won’t be making our fam favorite wine cookies because they take too long and we don’t want to eat them all by ourselves, which we would, but if your in the mood they’re really good.
Hopefully, less time in the kitchen will give me more time to play games. We’re a game playing family and some of our favorites are Codenames and Catchphrase but we’re going a little deeper this year and dusting off the chess set because, you know, Queen’s Gambit.
While searching for our old chess set I found Clue and Backgammon which I’m hoping to talk someone into playing with me for nostalgias sake.
One thing that didn’t change this year, in spite of my newly acquired online shopping skills, was the amount of stuff that I bought for myself. I really don’t like to shop but for some reason each holiday I buy more stuff for myself than I do all year long. This year was no exception and the focus was on ill-fitting golf equipment. Yep, I’ve taken up Covid golf and had to return most everything I bought. We’ll see how this goes.
Are you feeling the same excitement about the arrival of each holiday card as I am? Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen as many people this year but it just feels so much more meaningful. Thanks to all of you that sent one!
I wish you and your families a warm, lovely holiday this year. I know it will look different but I hope that whatever it looks like brings you joy.
If you have any great games or favorite recipes I hope you’ll share them with us as we all put the finishing touches on our holiday plans.