Oweeee, my mouth is watering and I have already HAD breakfast! These menu ideas and traditional menus are awesome. It�s so interesting to see what everyone has for their traditional meals at this holiday! Since my family members are scattered all over the place in different locations, we are not having any type of traditional meal, and I�ve been in a sour mood because of this separation during the holidays. We will have only our youngest son here with his new wife visiting from Chicago, and she eats only vegetarian, so I�m trying to come up with menu ideas that will please her, as well as DH and son, who are big meat eaters. Will probably do some type of local fish, to please son who can�t find it in Chicago, and lots of yummy vegetable sides. Suggestions are always welcome! All your menus sound wonderful!

emagineer - This is from the blog Cote de Texas that I provided a link to in my post. Since it's been all about "Something's Gotta Give" I thought that Nancy Meyers' follow up movie "The Holiday" needed a closer look. Just as the star of Something's Gotta Give was the Hamptons house itself, the star of the "The Holiday" wasn't really Cameron Diaz or Kate Winslet, but their two homes, one in Los Angeles and one in the English Countryside, respectively. And in another connection between the two movies, the production team was led Jon Hutman - but Beth Rubino, so wonderful on the set of SGG, was absent for The Holiday. And just as with Something's Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers' personal interior designer has photos of "The Holiday" houses on his web site, but he is not mentioned in the film credits. The Holiday, coming so soon after Something's Gotta Give received a lot of prepublicity hype concerning its premise: two women swap houses for the Christmas vacation and both find love. For lovers of the SGG house, a new Nancy Meyers movie about TWO houses was almost too good to be true ! Jim

Here's more info on what are usually called Twelfth Night Revels: This by Virginia Marin The Twelfth Day of Christmas, celebrated as the Feast of Epiphany in many parts of the world is often as important as Christmas. Epiphany falls twelve days after Christmas which, if one counts correctly, is January 6th. It is traditionally when the Magi, or the Three Wise Men, arrive from the East bearing gifts for the Christ Child. In some countries, it is traditional to give and receive gifts on Epiphany rather than on Christmas, in honor of this event. The Vigil of Epiphany, January 5th, is known as Twelfth Night. This day has become quite popular in the United States for gala celebrations. The home festivities are often taken into the streets where the mood is Mardi Gras-like. Indeed, in some locals, Twelfth Night is the early beginning of the Lenten celebration. But, public Twelfth Night celebrations are far removed from the deeply religious meanings associated with the Vigil of Epiphany. The Catholic Church, and some others, celebrate the Vigil of Epiphany as well as Epiphany with Mass, and a change in the liturgical colors of vestments and altar coverings. A public Twelfth Night, on the other hand, looks back to a pagan celebration filled with merrymaking when the Bean-King was crowned. The festivities derive from the Saturnalia of ancient Rome which occured during the same time as Christian celebrations. Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night, was named and written for the festivities of the Pagan Twelfth Night revels. Today, traditional celebrants of Twelfth Night partake of a cake in which a few beans were inserted prior to baking. The first male and female to find a bean in their piece of cake are crowned King and Queen for the night. The cake is decorated in traditional colors of purple, green, and gold icing. Purple represents Justice, green represents Faith, and gold represents Power. It is customary for the King and Queen to host next year's Twelfth Night party. Twelfth Night parties are similar to a masquarade in that participants wear costume and may often be masked. Three favorite costumes are those depicting the Magi--Casper, King of Tarsus; Melchoir, King of Arabia; and Balthasar, King of Saba. Some of the King costumes are extremely ornate with jewels, and fur. Of course, each wears a crown. The names of Epiphany change somewhat with different cultures. Some places retain the 5th-Century French and English name of Feast of Fools. In Spanish cultures it is known as Three Kings' Day. In Eastern Orthodox churches, Epiphany is known as Theophany. Epiphany, therefore, traditions differs from country to country.

We are a BJs family because the store is closer to us and less jammed packed so I also took advantage of a few easy-button menu items: frozen mini-quiches and a premade cheese/meat/cracker platter for appetizers; a large bag of peeled, cooked frozen shrimp that only require thawing, a giant bag of frozen peas and of course several bottles of wine that are cheaper than at regular stores. My dad surprised us with an Omaha Steaks combo package so lots of easy pre-frozen steaks, chops and kielbasa that only have to be tossed on the grill-I bought a few more steaks to be sure we have enough but again, simple simple simple. Pre-mixed baby greens/spinach salad to which I'll add shredded cheese, walnut bits and grape tomatoes (all purchased already shredded/bitt-ed and tomatoed :), potatoes for baking and frozen loaves of garlic bread to heat up. For dessert I bought a bakery apple pie, DIL's bringing a chocolate cream pie, SIL's bringing cookies and the Omaha Steaks combo included a cheesecake so all set there. We even have a Keurig at the house so I don't even have to make after dinner coffee! My daughter got inspired and made a batch of coquito and I've got the makings for pina coladas as well as various other booze and mixers and of course tons of soda and water. I plan to hang out, enjoy myself and NOT spend Christmas catering my own holiday LOL. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and warm blessings to everyone regardless of your spiritual path.