Joyeux Noël à mes amis Canadiens,
Wishing you a Wonderful Peaceful Holiday~

Now tell me how you will be celebrating?
What are you having for Christmas dinner?
Joyeux Noel~

Scarlett,
We're having jeune dindon avec la sauce cranberges (translation: turkey with cranberry sauce). Dinner will be at Aunt Liz's house. The whole family will be there from far away places in the USA like San Diego and Boston. We're waiting for Santa and hoping for some snow. Right now it's cold out but still green in southern Ontario (about 1 hour from Detroit). How will you be celebrating?

The visitors came and went and my husband and I will be having a peaceful dinner together in our little Shangri-la. Rain is likely here on the west coast.

Merry Christmas to you.

I do wish all of you all the best on this Christmas morning !

We had pouring rain all day yesterday in Montreal; half of our snow has melted............

According to the weather guy, to qualify for a white Christmas there must be at least 1 inch of snow covering the ground. Guess what when we looked outside at 5:30 am? One inch of snow. It was perfect (except for the 5:30 am thing).

As my hostess puts it, "We're having 19 for dinner." But that's not exactly what you meant, I think. Turkey, squash, mashed potatoes -- probably an apple pie from the store, because the oldest one in the group is past the stage where she still makes pies. She comes from a farm with here own trees, and so got really good at pie making. But now the grocery store bakery is really good, too.

These folks are all one family; I'm attending with my grown daughter, as the only two non-family. They will have Brussels Sprouts, too, just to tease me.

Then tomorrow, another turkey dinner, with my most current former wife and our son. No Brussels Sprouts, and no apple pie, probably.

And then on Saturday, January 3, another turkey dinner, with my first former wife, and our daughter.

Real live turkeys, not related to the one we will be eating, will be looking in the door from the back deck, where they come for handouts from the family kitchen. These people raise various birds, mostly for eating but they got to know these six turkeys too well, so they made it safely past thanksgiving and now past Christmas.

Two little train torips and one little bus trip involed; 40 minutes each way, for two days, on a commuter train to Oakville today and tomorrow, and the commuter bus to Newmarket, where we'll be picked up and taken to Turkeyville by car.

And I'll walk over to Allan Gardens, a giant indoor conservatory of plants and flowers today, in downtown Toronto, and visit with the gardner looking after the place today, who is a friend, and the co-owner of Turkeyville, and the current husband of my ex-wive.

One of the few things open in Toronto today. From there to the GO train to a turkey in Burlington.

BAK

Having a fairly quiet day here in Toronto! My family is coming tomorrow - including the two littlest grandbabies. They're all arriving for brunch shortly after noon. It's an eclectic group, to say the least - all my grown-up kids, their own rapidly-growing kids, and my ex, plus his spouse and THEIR two kids. My sweetie is with his family in British Columbia for the next few days, but he'll be home in time for New Year's Eve and we can have our own private belated Christmas then.
The menu for brunch is the same as it's been for years, because nobody will let me change it. It's also a bit eclectic - bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese, a scrambled-egg-cheese-and-bacon casserole, and a Malaysian dish called nasi goreng which is basically fried rice with lots of stuff in it. And every kind of cookie you can imagine, for dessert, along with pumpkin doughnuts, and a gingerbread house that the kids can tear apart. I'm into the cooking and baking marathon at the moment.
Happy holidays to everybody!

Merry Christmas!

I live in Winnipeg and will be having Christmas dinner at my Aunt's farm. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Merry Christmas to you!!
Just popping in (taking my head out of the oven!) to say hello, thank you for the lovely and lively descriptions of your holidays, far from where I am celebrating mine!
Snow sounds good, ours was interesting, sunny for a while, then of course, just as we walked out the door with Pup, it started to flurry. Which ended when we got back from our walk, that turned out to be merry from all the happy people we passed with their pups! You see, Santa brought Pup a red velvet collar with bells on it and he loves to wear it and loves it when people compliment him on it.
Now-back to food!
My head was in the oven with that pesky turkey, who seemed to have grown overnight! 10 lbs just for the two of us?? AND all the trimmings, which in this case, are Southern stuff, cornbread stuffing, petit pois, Pommes gratin ( southern French?) and apple cranberry chutney with Vintage Port and lots of chocolate for dessert.
Then for the rest of the year we will work this off, in order to eat like this again next year-when our son who is living in Japan will be with us and my daughter who lives in the South will be with us, because we will be living in the South too!
so this is a bittersweet Christmas, my last for a while in NYC..
BAK, I love a man who has good relationships with ALL of his ex-wives..shows you are a good person
Not sure what kind of husband it makes you but you do sound like a good person LOL
The turkeys! We were walking at a friends house not too long ago, in NJ and wild turkeys came running through their property. Now this is not more than half an hour from Downtown Manhattan! What a fun sight to see!
I hope all your Christmas wishes come true~ see you in the New Year~Scarlett

Merry Christmas to everyone!. I just got home from my best friend's place. She invites me every year to her family gathering....so now I'm considered one of the family. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, corn, peas....and lots of gravy. Oh so good!. We have a phrase that we now use year round when we eat too much. We say we are "Christmas dinner full" and that certainly applied today. And then there were all the goodies.
NO snow in Burlington, Ont, but great for driving. BAK, did I pass you on the QEW?
Scarlett, my pup also has a red collar with bells, but I'm not so sure she likes it. I can tell where she is...I just listen for her jingling. Next year will be a big difference for your pup.
Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year to everyone.

Mmmm, cornbread stuffing sounds delicious! Is it? Our chicken is still in the oven (and Brussel sprouts are on the stove).

It didn't rain much here after all. More like a blustery April day, only colder. A few trees in town are in blossom!

Cornbread stuffing is a taste from my childhood, in NC. You just make usual bread stuffing but add cornbread to it, makes it a little sweet..tasty
I also add toasted walnuts.
Christmas Dinner full is so perfect a description...blech~

Hope that you had a very very Merry Christmas Scarlett!!!
Your postings on Fodors are always a joy to read!!

Hope that everyone else had a happy Christmas too!! [BAK you are amazing - how do you keep your family straight??]

Ours was OK considering the poor health of some of the senior members of our family.
Because we are still maintain our very European traditions, our main celebration is on Christmas Eve, and we have tons of food but the main dish is usually fish. So I had herbed pan-fried sole, and baked halibut with tomatoes (marinated with herbs and white wine), along with roast potatoes, carrots with rosemary, peas and mushrooms, for appetizer - shrimp appetizers, and a mushroom soup. White wine (a chilled French, 1997 Bourgogne Aligote) to wash it all down. Cookies and booze flavoured coffee for dessert.

Yes I cooked on Christmas Day as well. To avoid the mess of a whole turkey, bought turkey breasts and baked them. Brussel sprouts too, and sweet potatoes, Caesar salad rounded out the meal.

Forgot to mention breakfast - just hubby and me, made pancakes with a twist - yeast-based batter (makes them light & fluffy), and a fruit salad.

Now we are resting and anticipating New Year's - wonder what 2004 will bring?? And what resolutions should I make (to break!!).

Thank you Borealis! I am so happy to hear that your Dad was able to give you that hug and love for Christmas, sort of makes store bought gifts seem so much less precious, no?
I wish you more of the same for the New Year~