How about a pot pie? Ina Garten's recipe is fabulous. The recipe is a lot easier than it looks and makes a lot. I have frozen hals the pies when it has been just the two of us. Chicken Pot Pie 2005, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved Serves:4 individual pot pies Ingredients • 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on • 3 tablespoons olive oil • Kosher salt • Freshly ground black pepper • 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade • 2 chicken bouillon cubes • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter • 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions) • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour • 1/4 cup heavy cream • 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups) • 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions • 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves • For the pastry: • 3 cups all-purpose flour • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening • 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced • 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water • 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash • Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken. In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well. For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot. Or maybe a Quiche and Salad? Or Pasta with Vodka Cream Sauce and a salad? Both easily prepared ahead and re\-heated. Linda

This link is to a Niman Ranch website in which they reproduce a recipe from Molly Stevens' great cookbook, All About Braising. It's for a fancy pot roast called Estouffade de Noel, or Christmas Estouffade. Naturally they call for Niman Ranch products, and I'm sure they're excellent, but I have made this Estouffade before with ordinary supermarket meats and it has come out absolutely delicious. One advantage to it is that it can be for the most part cooked a day or two in advance, so your last minute task is simply to reheat it and cook up some sort of noodle to soak up the scrumptious juices. It's fabulous. Very rich and elegant but not at all stuffy or fussy. The pig's foot does make the dish rich, but you needn't bother picking off the meat and chopping it up at the end if you don't want to. (My dog did appreciate the pig foot, though.) Here is a link that might be useful: Estouffade de Noel

I wish we had the luxury at our house to spend the evening reading, but alas, we host Christmas Eve for my parents, then head off to 9pm Mass b/c it's the most beautiful of all the Masses at our church. By the time we get home, the kids are exhausted and headed to bed, while dh and I (well, ME) stay up wrapping gifts and putting out those and the Santa gifts under the tree. But, the idea of spending the evening quietly reading sounds amazing to me as I am a voracious reader. I used to give all of my kids books in their stockings each year, but sadly, my boys do not like reading (one has a learning disability) so I rarely do it for them anymore. Last year, I did give them both books, but my older son never even read the one I gave him but *I* read it just a couple of months ago (The Outsiders). Thankfully my girls like to read, so I still give them books. Bothell, that is a lovely idea. My kids each get an ornament every year. This was a tradition MIL had with her kids. She carefully labeled each one with their name and the year (she has five kids). When dh and I got married, she sent us his box of ornaments. Many of them adorn our tree every year - we don't have room for all of them b/c now my kids' ornaments have taken over. I do the same thing, label them with name and year, and they each have their own storage bins. I love your idea to pair ornaments with books. How fun!

(Sort of) sorry to add a bit more stress, on you who "work", as in being employed for essential compensation. One more reason to be thankfully retired, not having to juggle the timing of when to celebrate holidays. Could you use a Christmas gift from ole ... (let's call it "old" this time - as it involves suggestions/((advice)) from one who claims to be a senior) ... old joyful/joyfuelled. Sometimes I approach a smoker, usually one standing the required 75 feet or so outside the door of a store or mall and with a smile and a bit of a lilt in my voice, I say that how s/he chooses to live his/her life is their business ... but ... how would s/he like to retire early? As you can imagine, I receive a variety of responses, but try to keep the conversation in a humorous, light-hearted fashion. Perhaps it's substantially curiosity, coupled with their impression that it looks as though this (old) guy isn't about give them a hard time, but quite a few are willing to pursue the conversation. I suggest that they write down the cost of their smoking for at least a month, but I suggest that a quarter or a half or a year may be better ... and give thought to whether they might like to retire early ... and whether transferring a good (and increasing?) portion of that money to investing for an earlier retirement might be a good idea? Plus ... it's been pretty well established that non-smoking may add years, and more than likely healthier years, at that, to one's life. If the conversation is going well I may ask whether they might be interested in using some of their spare time to start a new hobby. As a financial planner for some time, I've suggested to quite a few people that learning how money works can be an interesting hobby - and it pays well! As does learning about taxes! Back to old joyful's gift to you. If you're a smoker - you might like to consider the message so far as part of it. Is it time to have a hard look at the results of Christmas at your home/in your extended family connection, as to whether, in the light of remembering that much of the media advertising related to the season pretty well paints a picture of Christmas as equalling shopping ... ... the gifts that are exchanged really provide sufficient value to the recipients among your family and loved ones to make them worth their cost?? Many families choose to choose names and give to only one adult, and others choose to concentrate on gatherings of loved ones. Some choose also to agree among their connected ones to devote a percentage of their Christmas giving to helping needy fellow humans. For a number, they might be tempted to reconsider the above ... when the credit card statements arrive in the new year. (Anyone up for an addition to the new year's resolution list?). If you don't/aren't able to pay the credit card bill in full each month, if you don't know the rate of interest you're assessed ... in your wise and effective management of your money, it's important that you find out! On many store-issued cards it's often up near 30% annual rate, compounded monthly, and on bank-issued and similar agencies, up just under 20% - but several percentage points higher on cash advances. For those of you with ongoinng balances owing on your credit card(s) ... how faithful are you at fulfilling promises that you make to yourself?? If your record is bad - ignore what I'm about to say - please - please!!! Quite likely your bank/credit union may be willing to lend you money at 5% or less: less if you have collateral or co-singer (who'll have to pay if you default!). Your promise is to buy no more using the card till the loan is paid off ... ... and after that, your iron-clad promise to yourself is that those amounts owing must be paid in full every billing period!! Anyone who fails should have arranged with four friends to give him/(her?) a kick in the rump every month so long as that new credit card balance runs over that month. The lower rate if interest will enable the loan to be paid off much earlier! And don't e.g me started on these horrible pay day loans - $20. fee to borrow $200. for up to two weeeks?!?! Horrible! I hope that you all have a joyful, companionable and blessed Christmas/holiday and a new year that brings the fulfilment of one/some of your dreams ... and the envisioning of some new and worthwhile ones! Remember, please ... learning how money works is an interesting hobby - that pays well. Taxes, too. old joyful (ole joyfuelled)