Preparing for My Holiday Party at the Farm
The holiday season is one of my favorite times to entertain.
This year, I’m hosting a large holiday party here at my Bedford, New York farm. Preparing for any special gathering takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, and a lot of advanced planning. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve all been very busy getting ready for the special event, inside and out - baking cookies, making eggnog, cleaning every room of every house, hanging outdoor wreaths, and of course filling my home with lots of festive decorations and lights. It's sure to be a fun celebration. Enjoy these photos.
And if you haven’t already, be sure to take a look at the photos of last year’s holiday gathering at my farm - it’s in the December issue of our magazine, “Living”.
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- My large Brown Room dining table is getting set buffet style – a row of pretty cake stands are placed on a table runner.
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- Recipes from my books are tabbed and ready to be used.
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- Jason brings in the eggs for all the cookies we’re making – all these eggs are from my wonderful chickens.
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- We’re making a thousand cookies for the party – many from my Martha & Marley Spoon Holiday Cookie Box – complete with all the dry ingredients needed to make 11-dozen cookies!
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- Each box contains recipes for four different cookies: Noel nut balls, brown butter shortbread cookies with cardamom, chocolate-gingerbread cookies and double-chocolate peppermint brownies. To make the process as easy as possible, we place the ingredients for each batch on a separate tray.
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- Molly starts rolling out the dough for the first batch of cookies. I made the doughs earlier in the week and stored them in the freezer.
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- Samantha chops the chocolate for our brownies.
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- Meanwhile, Carlos takes all the dogs out for a good stroll and some fresh air. It is a cold day – temperatures are in the 20s, but the dogs love this weather, especially my Chow Chows.
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- Nearby, Clive, Billie and Rufus, my trio of Sicilian donkeys, are also enjoying the cold day in their paddock.
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- Chhewang is behind the Summer House working on our giant “burlapping” project – it’s a rush to get all the boxwood covered! It’s already snowed here three times this week.
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- Phurba stopped for this quick photo – he’s draping this low boxwood hedge with fabric.
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- Here are the first cookies to emerge from the oven – large sugar cookies, which Jason, Molly and I will decorate together.
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- Just above the Flower Room entrance, Fred hangs a giant wreath.
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- Down at my stable, Sarah hangs stockings on every stall door – even the horses are getting ready for the holidays.
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- Dolma is grooming all my Friesians, so they look handsome for the party. They love greeting all the guests who stop in to visit.
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- Wilmer is busy in the citrus greenhouse checking all the plants and cleaning them up for visitors who want to see my large tropical collection.
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- Here’s Ryan repotting a bird’s nest fern. Guests love walking through the greenhouse to see all the wonderful, healthy plants.
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- Another batch of cookies fresh out of the oven – these are fig rolls.
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- And here is a tray of gingerbread cookies shaped like trees.
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- Molly is a great baker. She helped make hundreds of cookies for my new season of “Martha Bakes” which we just finished shooting.
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- Everyone is always excited for a party – Carlos just delivered more supplies to the Winter House – everything is looking excellent.
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- My longtime housekeeper, Laura, is a very talented decorator – wait until you see all that she has done to make the rooms look so festive and beautiful.
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- Fernando is preparing the giant seafood bowls. They will be filled with ice and then used to hold delicious shrimps and oysters.
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- My kitchen counter is filled with ingredients! I like to put everything out, so we know exactly what we need for each recipe.
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- I made batches of my special eggnog before leaving for the office – everyone loves my eggnog, so I want to be sure there’s enough to go around.
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- Sanu is checking the freezer to make sure we have enough ice for our bar service.
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- Here’s Shqipe adding sprigs of holly to these big bowls of pomegranates – so beautiful.
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- Even Mother Nature helped – we got another inch of snow for my weekend gathering. I hope you’re all having a good time preparing for your holiday festivities. I will share more photos of my decorations and the party in the days to come.
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