Maltby Tammy - The Christmas kitchen : the gathering place for making memories

The Gathering Place for Making Memories

Tammy Maltby with
Anne Christian Buchanan

Our purpose at Howard Books is to:

Increase faith in the hearts of growing Christians

Inspire holiness in the lives of believers

Instill hope in the hearts of struggling people everywhere

Because Hes coming again!

Published by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.howardpublishing.com

The Christmas Kitchen 2009 by Tammy Maltby and Anne Christian Buchanan

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Howard Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
www.SimonandSchuster.com

In association with Bill Jensen and William K. Jensen Literary Services

Library of Congress Control Number:2009003228

ISBN 978-1-4165-8765-1

eISBN 978-1-4391-0087-5

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

HOWARD and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Manufactured in China

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Edited by Between the Lines
Cover and Interior design by Thinkpen Design, Inc., www.thinkpendesign.com
Photo Credits
Jupiter Images Unlimited: pp. 6, 14, 25, 26, 34, 35, 36, 46, 56, 68, 86, 98, 108, 122;
iStockphoto: p. 12; Shutterstock: pp. 61, 63, 64, 67, 112, 113, 114, 126, 127
All other photos are courtesy of the author.

1 Christmas Central
The key to making your holiday dreams come true

2 Christmas Kitchen Prep
Preparing your home and your heart for a season of comfort and joy

3 Make-Ahead Merrymaking
Cooking together for a joyful, stress-free holiday

4 Delicious Decor
Warm ideas for decking halls and hearts

5 Kids in the Kitchen
The messy joy of creating with pint-size cooks

6 From Our Home to Yours
Inspired gifts from your kitchen and from your heart

7 The Gift of Yourself
Intimate gatherings for your special friends

8 Hope You Can Come!
Hospitality for your busiest season

9 No Place Like Home
Fun and delicious time-out evenings

10 Just Like We Always Do
Traditions old and new for a joyful Christmas Eve

11 Always Room at Our Table
Cooking up a fun and festive Christmas Day

12 Something New
Enjoying the gentle side of the holidays

To Bill

for the title, for the inspiration, but most of all for the friendship

In so many ways, the kitchen is the heart of the home. And when the holidays roll around, the kitchen isor should beChristmas Central.

The kitchen is where so many Christmas memories come from, where so many Christmas dreams begin. Its a place of intoxicating aromas, tantalizing tastesof bustling activity and endless creativity. Its a place where old meets new, where tradition gets spiced up with fresh ideas, where grown-ups and kids, friends and family, come to together to cook and prepare and enjoy the festive results.

You know what Im talking about. Theres the spicy-sweet, familiar fragrance of cinnamon and apples, the tangy taste of cranberries and cider, the sugary goodness of Christmas cookies. Theres the childlike fun of playing with flour and sugar, the reward of giving presents youve made with your own hands. Theres the camaraderie of swapping stories while chopping onions, the creative satisfaction of setting a beautiful table and gathering friends and acquaintances for a festive party. And of course theres the joy of gathering around a table to celebrate the coming of Love into the world.

All these things are what the Christmas Kitchen means to me, to most of us. And Im not just talking about the kitchen at Grandmas house or in a Norman Rockwell fantasy or on the pages of your gorgeous coffee-table Christmas book. I believe any kitchen can be the place where the fun and heartwarming business of Christmas memory making begins. And I promise you, you dont have to be June Cleaver or Martha Stewartor even Tammy Maltbyto pull it off.

Your kitchen, whatever it looks like, is your number one resource for holiday celebration and decoration. Its your comforting place to nurture relationships with people related by blood and those you choose to welcome into your life. Its rich with possibilities for gift giving, for expressing thanks, for reaching out to others and showing love to them. Its also an ideal place to connect with children, passing along the experience of Christmas and recovering a little of the child in you at the same time.

Or it can be all those thingsif you dont let the busyness of the season or your own inflated expectations or kitchen insecurities overwhelm you.

But thats the problem, isnt it? So many women I know long to have the kind of delicious, fragrant, fun, and festive holiday Ive just described. They pore over magazines, delighting in the beautiful images and ideas. But that stuff doesnt happen in their own homesnot the way theyd hoped. And they cite any number of reasons.

My kitchen (or my house) is too small.

Im not much of a cook.

The idea of entertaining scares me to death.

The kids are too smalltheyre all underfoot.

The kids are all grownwhy bother?

I dont have kidsI dont even have a family!

Moneys tight.

And then theres the perennial Im just too busy!

Were all too busywith jobs, with kids, with other obligations.

There really are a million excusesgood ones! A million valid reasons to just pick up a dozen cupcakes at the bakery for a childs party or a loaf of store-bought bread for a potluck and order the turkey-and-dressing package from the supermarket for Christmas dinner.

Dont get me wrong. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with taking shortcuts. In fact, I think shortcuts can be crucial in making the Christmas Kitchen a real possibility in many peoples lives. (Youll find a lot of them in this book!) Not everything needs to be made from scratch. Not everything needs to be done the way Grandma did itor even the way youve been told is the right way. And not everyone is in a position to throw a big party or even stage a traditional Christmas dinner.

But if youve picked up this book, I know something about you. I know you dont really want a prefab, carryout, catch-as-catch-can Christmas season. You certainly dont want a hectic, stressful, overworked holiday season where you wear yourself out meeting everyones unrealistic expectations. Instead, you dream about a Christmas that is beautiful, special, warm, delicious, and as stress-free as possible. In some part of your heart, the Christmas Kitchen lives in all its intoxicating glory. And Im here to tell you it can be part of your liferegardless of your circumstances, your kitchen skills, or your time limitations, and with far less stress and work than you ever expected.