News Trend Eating My Way Through Christmas Day|Actual

This Christmas was a little different at our house. My third-born managed to make her way home from South Korea several days ahead of Santa but my second-born is stiuck in Ohio until the 27th.

Which led us to postpone our gift-giving ceremonies for a few days

Which meant we had a few holes in our normal Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities.

Which we decided to fill with food.

Alright, admittedly, at our house - and probably yours too - food is a big part of every Christmas. But this year, we pulled out all the stops to treat ourselves to some extra yummy meals. And while we all know that food can never fill in the empty space of a missing loved one, we gave it our best shot.

* * * * *

^ Christmas Eve Dinner

My oldest daughter suggested a change from our traditional appetizer buffet: Chinese take out. Mad genius. We placed an order at a neighborhood restaurant called Lotus and picked up our food on the way home from church.

Lo Mein

Orange Chicken

Kung Pao Prawns

Beef Broccoli

Egg Rolls

Steamed Rice

A fun way to kick off a day of serious eating, and we?Ll definitely do it again next year. Our only regret? When it comes to American Chinese delicacies, there?S a clear champion. Shoulda just gone to Panda Express.

^Christmas Breakfast

What do you do when half the family wants French toast for Christmas breakfast and the other half wants waffles? I?Ll tell you what you do; you make both. And a big ol? Heap of bacon to go with.

No regrets.

^Christmas Lunch

Charcuterie boards are the post-terkini solution to a quick and delicious meal. Grab an assortment of meats, cheeses, crackers, spreads, fruits, and nuts; style your heart out; and serve.

We didn?T think we were hungry but we pretty much demolished the entire arrangement.

^Christmas Dinner

We take our holiday food traditions quite seriously and do not tamper unnecessarily with the menu or the recipes.

Grilled flank steak

Roasted green beans

Macaroni cheese

Green bean casserole

Mashed potatoes gravy

Predictable, perhaps, but thoroughly enjoyable.  I ate every bite.

^Christmas Dessert

Gone are the days when my young daughters began consuming candy at nine o’clock on Christmas morning and by dinner time, had zero appetite for sweets. Not that there’s anything wrong with eating handfuls of peanut m&ms while still wearing your pajamas but now we can enjoy swanky treats like this chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache filling and raspberries on the side.

And that’s fun too.

* * * * *

So although we are still counting down the days till we are all together again, and we watch wistfully as our presents sit under the tree for a few extra days, we definitely made the best of it by eating our way through Christmas Day in fine style.

News Trend My Dining Room|Actual

My dining room is a busy place at Christmas time. Full of meals, snowflakes, and holiday decor, it?S a space with stories to tell.

^ After a night spent roaming around the internet and looking at china cupboard Christmas vignettes, I convinced myself that I couldn?T live without several hundred dollars? Worth of new serving pieces and an onslaught of shimmering baubles that would make even Santa blush. I filled several online shopping carts to the brim, but stopped short of pulling the triggers and decided to sleep on my bright ideas.

The next morning, I impulsively emptied out my cupboard, took my three favorite platters and centered them on each shelf, from smallest at the top to biggest at the bottom. Inspired by a set of wooden bowls and a pair of brass deer I had bought over the summer, I realized I had the core components of a forest vibe.

Within an hour, I had shuffled through my storage cabinet, selected a handful of other pieces that fit the theme, finished off the arrangement, and found inner peace.

Then I went and deleted every single one of those shopping carts that I?D filled the night before, and enjoyed my make-it-work moment.

^ To anchor this flurry of snowflakes in the window, I sent my husband out to the yard and asked him to find me a big stick.

Seriously.

And I think that?S a good start to any project.

^ The dining room table often turns into my gift wrap staging area and this year was no exception. What did happen differently was that I was late to the gift-wrapping game and my fore-thinking daughters had knocked back our gift wrap supply to shockingly few leftovers.  Rather than having my choice of the peach, gray, and glittering whites that we picked out before Thanksgiving,Ii was left with a few rolls of odds and ends, and a heap of scraps.

Ditto that on the ribbon selection.

Whatever.

Laying aside any expectations of grandeur, I worked with a passionless determination to get every box wrapped in something and tied up with anything long enough to tie into a bow.

Only when I laid my stash out in the table and took in the sight as a whole did I realize that somehow, the scrappy and uncoordinated presents were beautiful together. What a fun surprise.

^ Every year, I tell myself that I?M going to buy a proper luxe bouquet for Christmas. Maybe some stunning red roses, or a mixed bouquet with white lilies, white hydrangea and red berries, or even something dramatic featuring tall spiky brown branches. I dare myself to buy something unexpected, unpredictable, and maybe even downright unique.

But I never do.

Every year, I buy red tulips for my Christmas table and I am always glad. They make me happy. .

^ Look among the heaps of gifts I bought this year for my family. See the brown tissue paper package in the lower right corner?

That is a gift for me.

This may be purely selfish and quite out of step with the true spirit of the season, but while I?M Christmas shopping, I often stumble across some beautiful thing that I cannot live without. And even though I feel a wee bit bad about it, I buy it.

And somehow it helps soothe my guilty conscious if I tuck it away till Christmastime, and then wrap it up and give it to myself as a proper present.

Love your neighbors as you love yourself, right?

Inside this year?S package was a white quartz coaster from Anthropologie. It?S now unwrapped and sitting on my nightstand, where I use it every night for my glass of water.

And every time I look at it, I remember that I gave it for myself as a Christmas gift.

I have zero regrets.

^ Of all the holiday treasures that pass through my dining room each Christmas, the paper snowflakes must be my favorite. Magic can be worked from humble paper and string and a bit of tape.

And if you don?T believe me, I invite you to come to my dining room and see for yourself.

News Trend Sugar Cookies|Actual

My youngest daughter has been itching to decorate some Christmas sugar cookies.

So I whipped up a double batch of my mom's favorite recipe and went to work with a rolling pin and a handful of our favorite cookie cutters. As the cookies cooled, I pulled together a bowl full of buttercream frosting.

Then I left my daughter alone in the kitchen. Armed with three squeeze bottles and four bottles of food coloring, she went to work.

I'd say we make a pretty good team.

News Trend The Magic of Phở|Actual

As the name of the restaurant promises, this food is "good phở you."

When you go out for a bowl of phở

In your own little American world

But the tastes and textures of the soup

Along with a plate of fresh spring rolls

Transport you across the ocean to Danang

And make you feel strangely at home

That is when you know

Vietnam has stolen your heart.

News Trend Style By Gracie |Actual

My dog, Gracie, undoubtedly has a strong visual aesthetic and a keen eye for details.

That’s the only explanation I can find for the way she artfully places her beloved rawhide chips here and there around the house. Sometimes she leaves them layered in the bed covers, or peeking out from under a couch,  or tucked under a pillow. This one (shown above) positioned in harmonious arrangement with the rug at the foot of my bed, picks up the color of the nearby throw and adds a lovely detail to one of her favorite sleeping spots.

My dog, Gracie, is a clever little stylist and that is just one of the many things I love about her.

News Trend A Perfect Christmas|Actual

^ My Christmas Eve began with some maddeningly crumbly cookie dough,

^ a shortage of wrapping paper that forced me to MacGyver together a few patchwork presentations,

^ a sick husband who missed out on Christmas Eve worship,

^ and a failed post-church photo shoot.

Shoot. I really needed a good photo to send out with my annual holiday letter.

I began to seriously wonder if my Christmas cards will ever get mailed this year

^

But it was on Christmas morning, when the ceremonial cinnamon roll landed on my breakfast plate in two pieces (though still tasting of heaven), when the message finally got through to me.

This was not going to be a perfect Christmas.

* * * * *

Now, I've been around the holiday block a few times and I know perfectly well that there is no such thing as a perfect Christmas.

There's always something to take the edge off the holiness, and that's just part of being human.

But this year, more than ever, I'm aware of people who are hurting at Christmas time.

Grieving

Lonely

Afraid

Broke

Sick

Imprisoned

Homeless

Defenseless

Hopeless

And suddenly, the tiny imperfections in my day took on new meaning. In fact, I no longer saw them as imperfections at all - more like pinholes through which I could see beyond my fairy tale and into the stark reality of other's lives.

^ Our brightly colored and childishly festive stockings still clashed with this year's minimalistic gold and white decor,

^ my carefully staged branch of eucalyptus turned out to be wilted,

^ and my Christmas dinner didn't come together quite as beautifully as I'd hoped.

But as my imperfect Christmas unfolded, my heart turned outward and my thoughts traveled to friends, loved ones, even perfect strangers, whose day was much more humble than mine.

And that made my celebration something much closer to perfect after all.

P.S We finally nailed the family photo on Christmas afternoon. I may just get those cards out!!

News Trend Empty Vessel|Actual

"The empty vessel makes the loudest sound." - William Shakespeare

^ For my Christmas gift to myself this year, I decided to whip up a freshly styled cabinet full of  drinking glasses.

^ I treated myself to these copper mugs last year, so it's only fitting that they served as my inspiration for this year's indulgence.

^ Working off the copper theme, I couldn't resist the copper-colored flutes that will rock my morning orange juice. Also, those handmade babies of recycled glass, each one slightly wonky in its own way, really make my day.

 ^ The classic French tumblers in large and small were already in my inventory; I just rounded each set out to a full six. And the white mugs are tried and true basics that match my basic white dinnerware. Needed to happen.

^ My humble collection of six wine glasses grew to a respectable twelve. Still, I saved all my wonky leftovers from other sets so that goblet-loving guests can choose between standard or custom models.

^ My upgraded collection of empty vessels is mostly practical and pleasing, at least to my eye. Best of all, I can just imagine my mother - a longstanding lover of matching glassware sets - beaming down from heaven and saying, "It's about time."

* * * * *

My 2016 New Year's resolution rocked it out.

Well. It wasn't so much of a typical resolution to do this or not to that. It was more of a philosophy for living and it served me well.

No Day But Today.

My goal for the year was to seize the day. I'm at a point in my life where I'm no longer willing to put any of my hopes and dreams on a back burner and patiently wait for the time to be "right," whatever that means.

As of January 1, 2016, I was all about taking life by the cojones and running with it.

And yes, that resolution inspired me to

make some changes,

get a lot of projects done, and

push myself just a little bit harder to be the person I want to be.

But here's what I noticed. The biggest and bestest parts of my year were the moments when I stepped into extravagant opportunities that were handed to me entirely unexpectedly:

Accepting an invitation to visit newfound friends in Cuba.

Reconnecting with my mom's dearest friends after her death.

Reaching out to a family in a dark place and finding that they bring me beautiful light.

Discovering that I have a new half-brother and embracing that relationship.

I realized that my 2016 mantra limited me to the ideas and possibilities that I can see for myself.

But the best stuff happens when I let God open doors for me, and I simply step through.

I've got to hand it to God. His plans for me are far more elaborate than my own.

So this year, I'm taking myself out of the equation. Rather than relying on my own wits and cleverness to expand my life, I'm going to, as the expression goes, let go and let God.

My 2017 mantra - Empty Vessel - reminds me to keep myself out of the way, and invites God to take me wherever he dares me to go.

I cannot wait to see what happens.