This year, my family decided to all come to Los Angeles for Christmas. it was a great place for everyone to come and get out of the colder climates that some of them live in. Aside from a couple days of rain, for the most part the forecast was clear and sunny, just as predicted. As the years progress, we all have obligations to alternate who are holidays are spent with. Is it family, friends, or significant other’s families, or a vacation getaway? how does one spread the love?

For the mere fact that I do not run a 7 bedroom B&B, despite popular belief, my boyfriend and I hosted Christmas this year and had some out of the ordinary things to figure out. Since some were staying at hotels nearby, we wanted to have a few meals other than just the big Christmas Eve dinner. I planned a buffet style, casual dinner for us on one of the first nights everyone was in town. Aside from the Christmas Eve dinner, we also hosted a Christmas Day brunch. There were some toddlers involved (my neice and nephew) so we needed to have some kind of Christmas morning gathering so that Santa’s visit could be appreciated. Below are some menus I put together for the 2 dinner events. It was ambitious on my part and took some planning and prep, but was definitely worth it. Overall, everything went smoothly. The gourmande in me always goes a little overboard I admit, but the holidays are as good a time as any to celebrate, especially among loved ones.

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My favorite aspect of Thanksgiving is that it is a holiday based around plentiful and luxurious foods.  I love how people who aren’t normally inspired to cook, want to get involved and experiment.  I also enjoy sharing and exposing favorite foods to people.  I was deemed the kitchen sergeant.  Everyone wants to help so i had to delegate.  Thankfully, i never felt separated from the group since the house is so open and airy and the kitchen really felt like the central, congregating area.  There’s nothing worse than feeling like a kitchen slave.  For those who can’t cook or have no interest, i have no shame in putting them on cleanup duty.

Thanksgiving 2007 was yet another memorable Thanksgiving event.  For the past few years, I have opted to spend Thanksgiving among friends.  Traveling faraway that weekend is on my least favorite things to-do list.  I usually spend Christmas with my family and feel like I get more relaxed, quality time with them.  This year the same core group that I have been having turkey day with decided to rent a friend’s mid-century modern Alexander home in Palm Springs for a few nights.  Lucky for us their rental became available. I had been searching online with various rental companies and after reading small print and asking some questions a quick, affordable weekend getaway was looking more like a down payment on a Prius.

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Entertaining can be a very intimidating and daunting task for many people. My enjoyment of inviting people over was born partially out of necessity, as most things are.  Endless nights of bar-hopping, fine dining at not-so-fine establishments, and empty vintage pocketbooks doesn’t sound that appealing when you reach the age where the expression “house rich, cash poor” actually makes sense.  

The first thing to go is the group dinners and nights out when an easy $100 can be spent on dinner and wine and a couple of cocktails.  Maybe not even the cocktails.  Ok-$150 if you are being extra smart and taking a cab too since you just threw back a recipe for heartburn and became a hazard to anyone else on the road.  Minding my retirement funds and paying a mortgage have limited this particular aspect of my social life.  

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