“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go, take a look at the five and ten, it’s glistening once again, with candy canes and silver lanes that glow”.
Now that the Thanksgiving season festivities are behind us I am already planning things to bake, to decorate, extending invites for gift and baking exchange, making the annual list of holiday card deliveries and more.
Christmas holds such a deep place of nostalgia in my heart. Christmas brings promises of all of my favourite things, such as the decorative lighted Christmas trees, carolling, parties, time with loved ones, gingerbread cookies, sipping hot candy cane cocoa and the look of fascination on a child’s face as they open their gift or see Santa Claus! The Christmas lights seemingly mesmerize all who see them and the heart strings are pulled by the most magical time of year with sweet little jingles, scented candles, crackling fireplaces, books, movies, The Grinch and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
My family’s traditional pierogies live on and is one of the main reasons I created the All Seasons Vegan cookbook. I am so incredibly pleased to have successfully converted my ancestors recipes to vegan. Growing up, our family made upwards of 500 pierogies in one day. Close friends would often stop by to help and were gifted a dozen each for their much appreciated participation. This tradition is one of my most fondest childhood memories and I’m so blessed that I’ve been able to share this with our daughters. The pierogi recipe in this cookbook is definitely more fun when made with family and friends and yields a large batch providing delicious meals well into the New Year.
Although my pierogies are definitely the highlight of the Christmas Season and I hope that our recipe becomes the Holiday staple in your home too. This recipe and all other vegan holiday creations are available in my cookbook.
Also in the cookbook for this holiday season is a stuffed roast, Christmas loaf, quick vegan gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, gingerbread bundt cake and many holiday sweets to have on hand when company drops in, send to school with the kids to share with their classmates, add to your Christmas sharing boxes or just have handy when you need an extra gift.
The day I decorated this table and mantel, the weather was blistering outside. My daughter and Tia ( photographer for the cookbook) drove three hours in an ice storm. The driveway was completely covered in ice. Although it was cold outside, our Country Home was fully decorated for the cookbook photoshoot.
Weeks before I found I began decorating our country home for Christmas I found these beautiful swirl coupe glasses in pink at Indigo. Indigo has always been an annual stop over for pine scented candles and other great finds. As soon as I saw these glasses, they became an inspiration for the entire palate. Sage pine greens, blush pinks, golds, black accents and glowing whites were the featured colours for this season’s decor. The sage greens were placed using real and faux greenery.
My neighbours Ann and Murray pruned some pine and balsam trees and hand delivered them to my door for decorating. A nice holiday gift I must say! Each table setting got a personal holiday gift tag and added a sage Raffia Paper Ribbon, and trimmed with a piece of pine gifted by Anne and Murray. The hand made spotted white pottery plates, purchased at and these plates are my favourite to date! The party crackers have always been a family tradition. Little kids, big kids, they always bring on a giggle. Found these ones at Indigo. The rustic handmade placemats, found at metropolismercantile.store Their organic knitted fabric made this table feel warm and cozy against all the sparkly pine cones and shiny glassed decor items. The three glass Christmas tree centerpieces, all the glass vintage style bulbs and the Christmas stockings on the mantel I snatched up in a hurry at Home Sense in Belleville, ON. That store location had the largest variety of decor I have ever seen. That place is seriously a decorators heaven and I am pretty sure my husband cringed at the thought of me heading into those doors after the second and third time around… yikes!
The gold silverware set – Another great find in a pinch shopping online at Amazon during the pandemic when all the stores were closed.
For the Christmas tree, I wanted a simple snowy white classic feel with rustic charm using decorations collected over the years. All of the pine cones on the tree I gathered along my country walks. The magnolia leaves are from Michaels Store. The brown and white flat finish wrapping paper has that rustic organic feel, another great find at Home Sense in Belleville. On the mantel the lights on the mirror really added that Christmas magical touch and the white sparkly pointy leaves played off the snowy white tree very nicely, also found at Michaels.
This country home didn’t require much to make it feel Christmasy and cozy. Its heritage charm invites the soul to curl up on a cold winter day with a hot cup of cocoa and book anyday. Cheers to holiday’s and make the Yuletide gay!
