FOAS, what a lovely dinner. And I love your beautiful china and the simplicity of your plating. The food speaks for itself. Perfect.

Lucky for you that your wife didn't want the marrow. More for you.

A cookbook of your mom's cookies. Now that is a special gift.

Ann

Elegant, and very sophisticated.

The menu selections are very well thought out as well as executed.

I am sure your guests were impressed with the seasonally graceful delicious experience.

dcarch

Guess you got that new oven put in at the last minute. : ) Seem to remember one that wouldn't fit a couple of years ago.

Your dinner looks and sounds wonderful. Never had marrow bones before and I'm curious/wondering what they taste like.

The cookbook is way too cool for sure. I/we have some hand written recipe from both of my Grandmothers. Really should get them copied onto acid free paper as some are going on 30 plus years old. Cookies, canning, and some family favorites that they always made way back when.

No major drama here with cooking this year. Just the regular way to much of everything! That's okay, leftovers for me or the freezer. Guess the funniest thing was my DN who is 1.5 years old now kept going to the oven and saying no, no, no, hot. It was that or ball or "pup"(puppy) for the all the dogs that were here. Oh, she has ma/mom down too. LOL

David

My holiday cooking was pretty easy this year as the dinner was out at my sisters place. All I was asked to do was make the mashed turnip (rutabaga) and bring it along which I did with aplomb, a tater masher and finally moms electric handmixer to ensure there were no lumps LOL

I also helped mom along by making the traditional trifle under her instructions. I was quite surprised she remembered each step and got told I wasn't adding enough sherry to the cake on the bottom and to add more.

I love it. Those courses were perfectly matched, and they look great. Got to use those marrow spoons!

And I thought you'd be posting about how you had to cook Christmas dinner on a camp stove. I guess you got the new oven hooked up in time.

Looks delicious! I love marrow, though DH won't touch it. I eat all the marrow out of his osso bucco bones as I plate it. When I confessed this, he said, "Oh, I thought that's how they come." :-)
We've finally finished our extension, at least enough to use it. (Still need to paint the door and window frames, the skirtings and varnish the doors.) So we had DH's family up for Christmas (I don't have any family left). It was great, with DH's 1 yr old nephew being cute, and his brother's MIL who is visiting from Czech Republic. We stayed with her when we were visiting Europe last year so it was lovely to be able to return the hospitality.
The weather was not too hot, about 32C, with a nice breeze in the afternoon. I got up early to put the turkey on the barbecue (we have a new one with a hood for roasting) on the deck, what a struggle carrying it out! It started off as a 20lb-er before I stuffed it with bread stuffing in one end and sausagemeat stuffing in the other. I got lots of compliments on the sausagemeat stuffing, which was MIL's recipe with a few twists (sausagemeat, finely diced onion, white raisins, fresh breadcrumbs, parsley, egg, salt and pepper, and I subbed dried cranberries for half the white raisins and added pistachios and grated lemon rind). Took about 4 hours on the gas barbecue and the kitchen didn't heat up :-).
Also had fresh brussels sprouts cooked with pancetta, honeyed carrots, roasted potatoes (which turned out really well), cranberries, bread sauce, gravy, bacon rolls and chippolata sausages which SIL cooked on the barbecue while I did the last minute stuff in the kitchen. SIL also brought a glazed ham which we heated in the barbecue after the turkey came off to rest, and I had some of Glenda_al's pickled pineapple to serve with it.
SIL brought bruschetta and vol au vents for pre-dinner nibblies and other SIL made tiramisu, chocolate cake and fruit salad for dessert, and MIL brought her yummy trifle.
My Christmas baking went amazingly well this year, which was a blessing as I was very short of time to do it. I made nine different kinds of cookies with about 10 dozen of each kind, all in one day- whew! Also baked eight stained glass window fruit cakes which the family enjoys.
We ate to a standstill and had a lovely day, all together as DD came over from Melbourne and it was a really good time.

FOAS, your meal looks both delicious and elegant. The cookbook is a treasure.

PK, love the story about the trifle needing more sherry. Your mom is woman after my heart.

Colleen, your meal sounds amazing. Your cooking always does!

I was invited to have dinner with long time friends (30 years) as my children did not come home for Christmas. I brought dolmas as a late afternoon snack which we ate with an assortment of cheeses, pate, and crackers while we sampled assorted wines and other libations throughout our lazy day.

I acted as sous chef and did a lot of chopping and sauteing to earn my place at the table. My friends made a wonderful bread-less dressing made of dried fruit soaked in brandy, apples, onions, and cranberries. I await the recipe. There were brussels sprouts with pancetta and a couple of cranberry sauces. And turkey. Dessert was this wonderfully moist gingerbread from Nigella Lawson.

Fresh Gingerbread with Lemon Icing Epicurious : November 2003
by Nigella Lawson
How to Be a Domestic Goddess

Yield: Makes 20 squares

For the gingerbread:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely grated
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
2 large eggs, beaten to mix
1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour

roasting pan, approximately 12 x 8 x 2 inches, greased and lined with foil or parchment paper

For the icing:

1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon warm water

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

In a saucepan, melt the butter along with the sugar, syrup, molasses, ginger, and cinnamon. Off the heat, add the milk, eggs, and baking soda in its water.

Measure the flour out into a bowl and pour in the liquid ingredients, beating until very well mixed (it will be a very liquid batter). Pour it into the pan and bake for 3/4 - 1 hour until risen and firm. Be careful not to overcook it, as it is nicer a little stickier, and anyway it will carry on cooking as it cools.

And when it is cool, get on with the icing. Whisk the lemon juice into the confectioners' sugar first, then gradually add the water. You want a good, thick icing, so go cautiously and be prepared not to add all the water. Spread over the cooled gingerbread with a palette knife, and leave to set before cutting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gingerbread (Epicurious)

That looks beautiful and delicious! The lobster cakes look amazing and the table is lovely. For what it's worth, I wouldn't have touched the marrow either, it falls into that hazy category of food I'm scared of.

FOAS, that looks amazing and delicious.

I didn't do much actual cooking, but we spent Christmas eve making a yule log

complete with meringue mushrooms, marzipan acorns, and a candy glass spider and web for which I suffered a minor battle wound (300 degree sugar is like the demon spawn of lava and superglue!)

Wow Jessica. You went all out with your realistic looking log!
I've never seen one any detail like that. I'd skip the molten spider web next year :)

Thanks for the comments and for sharing your meals. David, this isn't the first time you've impressed me with your memory. Yes, I blew up that 27" oven in the 24" hole months ago. [The wiring in my house is atrocious and likely to blame. I couldn't tell you how many times I blew circuit breakers cooking this Christmas dinner, even when I took the lobster cakes to a back bedroom to cook on the griddle. Bathroom lights shut down on my MIL, dining likes unconvincingly saying "I think I can I know I can" every time another appliance turned on...] So I've been without an oven other than my toaster oven ever since. Been saying I'll hook up the new oven for weeks now, specifically every day since Friday. Ummm, maybe today! In the meantime, the toaster oven was all I needed for the bones.

Jessica, what can I say. Amazing! I've been wanting to try that for years now. Some day. Some day when Christmas isn't a last minute rush starting on the 24th. I pray that year comes. And if my Buche de Noel comes out half as nice as yours did, I'll just sit back and stare at it for a few days.

Jessica, that is a beautiful yule log! Yet another thing I would like to take on one of these years.

FOAS, I only had a toaster oven up at the lake until I bought a new free standing range a year before I sold the place. My place was so old that it still had fuses. I went through many when making a big dinner. LOL Toaster ovens, roasters, and electric fry pans in various places....so I can relate to your story. Hope you don't have any major challenges when you get to putting that oven in.

David