What did you do over the holidays? Did you have a traditional celebration with family and friends, or did you travel and learn about new and interesting places? I always enjoy seeing photos from others taken during their time away.
This year, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, spent his holiday back home on the west coast. He visited family in California and then traveled with friends to Washington State. While in Seattle, he stopped at Chihuly Garden and Glass, a long-term exhibition at the Seattle Center right next to the iconic Space Needle. The magnificent display features a look at artist Dale Chihuly’s many works and his artistic development through the years, including drawings, signature glass series, architectural installations, and some elements of his personal collections.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I am sure many of you recognize the Space Needle, the famous observation tower in Seattle. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World’s Fair, which drew more than two million visitors. The Space Needle stands at 605-feet tall, offers 360-degree views from its three main viewing areas – an indoor observation deck and open-air viewing area located at 520-feet, and an observation level featuring a revolving glass floor located 500-feet above ground.
Chihuly Garden and Glass is adjacent to the iconic structure. Here it can be seen from the Glasshouse, a 40-foot tall, glass and steel structure covering 4,500 square feet of light-filled space.
The installation inside the Glasshouse is this expansive 100-foot long sculpture mostly in reds, oranges, yellows, and amber. Made of many individual elements, it is one of Chihuly’s largest suspended pieces.
This is called Winter Brilliance, 2015. Winter Brilliance was originally created for the Barney’s New York flagship store in Manhattan for its famous annual holiday window display. Installed at Chihuly Garden and Glass in 2021, Winter Brilliance features chandeliers, towers, reeds, and these icicle clusters.
This massive tower is made of thousands of individual blown-glass pieces that look similar to tentacles. The piece is in the “Sea Life” gallery and is two stories high.
Here is another piece in bright green. So much attention is given to the pieces’ colors, textures, and size – some of them are giant, while others are small enough to hold in one’s hand. This is one of the Chandeliers, which showcase Dale’s mastery of color and scale.
Here is Ryan in one of the indoor galleries under another stunning and colorful Chihuly installation, Oklahoma Persian Ceiling, 2002. Dale Chihuly has created more than 2,000 works of art. His work is displayed in more than 200 museums worldwide and in 100 public gardens, parks, and botanical gardens.
Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, Washington where he first started glass blowing at the age of 20. He also studied at the Murano glass company Venini, on a Fulbright scholarship, in their world-renowned Venetian factory.
Some of the indoor galleries display dense, garden-like spaces with color-filled glass sculptures resembling crystalline plants and flowers. This Mille Fiori is displayed over black reflecting glass.
… and every single element is blown from molten glass.
Chihuly draws much inspiration from his travels like in this boat scene inspired by Japanese fishing floats.
This installation includes two fishing boats filled with glass. Dale has always loved water, and while in Finland, he had the opportunity to throw glass blown pieces into the water and then pull them up onto boats like these.
One of Dale Chihuly’s most prolific forms is the richly colored “Macchia bowl,” a term derived from the Italian word for “spotted” or “stained,” as well as the name of an ethereal form of medieval Venetian painting.
Dale was inspired to use all 300 colors in his shop for this series. These bowls are up to four feet in diameter.
Outside in the garden, the glass sculptures blend in with the plantings. Dale explains that when the outdoor space was designed, first the art pieces were selected for form and color. And then the landscape was second.
These are more of the Red Reeds – such a beautiful combination of glass art and nature.
All the taller pieces and some others were made in a small glass factory in Finland where the ceilings are 25-feet tall.
This yellow glass tree is two stories high.
Like many of his works, Dale’s garden pieces are all individually blown glass elements which are then assembled into art sculptures.
And here is Ryan in front of the giant yellow sun, made from thousands of radiant orange and yellow tubes of glass. What a great visit, Ryan. Thanks for sharing your photos. And please visit Chihuly Garden and Glass the next time you are in Seattle, Washington.
I hope you caught a glimpse of what I did for the holidays on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
This Christmas, I attended a lovely dinner at Clove Brook Farm, the Hudson Valley, New York home of my friends, Christopher Spitzmiller and Anthony Bellomo. Among the many delicious dishes we enjoyed - radicchio pomegranate salad, corn pudding, Yorkshire pudding, baby Brussels sprouts, and the best Pat LaFrieda standing rib roast, which I brought to season and then cook at their home. For dessert, we had homemade Bûche de Noël. It was a wonderful celebration and feast.
Here are more photos, enjoy.
Christopher, the potter lamp maker, and his husband Anthony, the landscape architect, who owns Orangerie in Millbrook, have a silver tip Christmas tree. These trees are native to Oregon and Washington state.
It is often referred to as a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree. The spaces between the limbs highlight the ornaments and are reminiscent of Christmas trees from the 1920s and 1930s.
Christopher and Anthony decorate it with charming vintage ornaments and icicles.
This year, they used mostly cardinals. Christopher likes to purchase ornaments in groups of six so one’s eye moves all over the tree and sees familiar “friends.”
The tree topper is by Wendy Addison, who makes all sorts of wonderful seasonal holiday items – all by hand.
Here is the holiday table – set with antique Wedgwood plates edged in red and gold. The festive tablecloth is a discontinued print from Cowtan & Tout. Anthony arranged the flowers in the center cachepot and Christopher made the golf lustre faux barrel cachepots in his New York Studio.
Here’s a view of the beautifully set table from above.
I recommended that Anthony sugar pears, nectarines, apples, and grapes using egg whites and sugar. They look so pretty on the plate surrounding the tureen.
It looks real, doesn’t it? Look again. This hand made ceramic artichoke is by the ceramic artist Clare Potter.
I actually brought the rib roast to Christopher’s the day before, on Christmas Eve. Pat LaFrieda gave me a seven rib roast. We seasoned it and let it set for 24-hours before cooking.
And then on Christmas Day, we put it in the oven. Here’s Anthony smiling for a quick photo just before the roast goes in.
For medium rare, the temperature in the center of the roast should be between 130 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit when ready.
Meanwhile, guests enjoyed ROE Caviar, crème fresh, toast points and mini latkes Anthony prepared.
Here I am with guest and interior designer, Ashley Whittaker, warming up by the fire and drinking egg nog. Anthony made the egg nog using my recipe. Ashley and her husband Andrew Spence hosted a holiday gathering at their home the night before.
And the standing rib roast is done. Here’s Christopher after pulling it out of the oven. It is perfect.
And then Christopher does the honors – carves and plates the rib roast.
The buffet included a beautiful salad of radicchio, green leaf lettuce, endives, and pomegranate seeds.
There was also pan seared baby Brussels sprouts from Anthony and Christopher’s garden.
And corn pudding, which is a delicious creamy comfort food dish.
Here is the main entrée – sliced rib roast. It was a big hit.
Here is the Bûche de Noël made by Anthony with faux bois chocolate ganache. Christopher made the meringue mushrooms.
And here’s a view of everyone from upstairs. Thank you Christopher and Anthony for a wonderful Christmas meal.
I always look forward to seeing photos of our staff’s holiday celebrations.
If you follow this blog regularly, you know every year I send out an email asking friends, employees, and business partners to send me their Thanksgiving photos, so I could post them on a blog to share with readers. This year, I asked colleagues for more pictures to see how everyone spent their Christmas and New Year's holidays. The response was great.
Enjoy these photos.
I hope all of you have lots of fond memories of the holidays. Ryan Mesina, our own VP Creative Services, shares this photo of his decorated Christmas tree at his upstate New York home.
This is Ryan’s living room all decked out for a holiday “ham” party. He and his fiancé Ryan hosted 50 guests at their home.
And here is the dining room table with a gorgeous buffet feast.
Fiancé Ryan cooked a 21-pound ham. (Photo by Kyle Furlong)
And Ryan made the desserts. The snowman made from marzipan on top of the coconut cake was inspired by one of our old “Living” magazine covers – do you recall which one? The pavlova is topped with candied citron, kumquats, pomegranate, whipped cream, and calamondin curd made from his own calamondin tree.
At another holiday party, the Ryans visited “our” Ryan’s sister. Pictured here are fiancé Ryan, and sisters Vivien and Lynnette.
My outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, shared this family photo taken Christmas Day.
My longtime housekeeper, Enma Sandoval, and her family went to the Dominican Republic for the holidays.
Enma, her husband Rolondo, and their daughters Elvira and Kaily, enjoyed many warm weather activities.
Here they are on horseback.
My gardener, Brian O’Kelly, selected a Fraser fir tree for his Christmas this year – topped with a natural woodland cone.
Operations manager, Matt Krack, cooked a rib roast for Christmas dinner with his sons. His recipe: dress it with herbs, salt and garlic, cook low and slow at 225-degrees Fahrenheit for 2.5 hours, let it rest for 45-minutes, turn the heat up to 550-degrees Fahrenheit, roast for 10-minutes. Here is the before…
… and the after. A delicious medium rare four rib roast.
Francisco Sanchez, Marquee Brands office manager, enjoyed the Christmas holiday with his family in New York City. Everyone had a stocking.
There were many gifts – under and next to the tree.
Here is a plate of Francisco’s mom’s Santa Claus deviled eggs.
And here is Francisco with his family.
My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, went home for the holidays – home to California. Here he is visiting the Redwood Grove at the UC Botanical Garden. These redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, towering over the lush woodland floor were planted in the 1930s.
My longtime publicist and friend, Susan Magrino, spent the holidays at her Florida home. Here is her festive table.
Special projects manager, Claudia Lieto-McKenna, sent in the next few photos. She says, “I have come to the realization that no matter how much you “think” you are on top of preparing for Christmas- it’s just never enough time! This year, I had to decide – detailed decorating or bake? I chose baking. With nut and sesame allergies in our home, the decision was to make two favorites; gingerbread (Martha’s recipe, of course!) for son Luca and rugelach for son Tristan.
Here’s the rugelach – both the cookies and mini pastries were devoured quickly.
Claudia’s son collected some fallen branches of a conifer tree to adorn the dinner table and fireplace mantel!
Claudia’s parents also drove down from Montréal. Here is Claudia’s dog, Cenzo, with her mom.
Bill McCormack from my security team took his family to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Mario Silva, Art Director for Bruno Magli at Marquee Brands, submitted photos of his holiday dinner. He says, “my friends Sabrina, Alberto, and I cooked for Christmas Eve.”
Among the many dishes – “pan de jamón or bread with ham, a traditional Venezuelan side and one of our staples for the holidays.”
“Our main course was lamb, ravioli, and a fresh salad with pomegranate, mint, and other herbs. Alberto should take full credit as we all assisted him while having wine and a great conversation.”
Everything was cooked to perfection. It was a delicious and memorable occasion.
My special projects producer, Judy Morris, celebrated the New Year at a her brother’s wedding. Here is Judy with her husband, Jim.
These are Judy’s three sons – Eddie, Billy, and Jimmy. I’ve known all of them since they were born – they’ve grown into handsome young men.
And here is Judy with her dad, Jay Morris. The event was held in the iconic Seagram Building where Mr. Morris once worked. During his time there, he often ate at The Grill, which is still running successfully –
right next door to wedding venue, The Pool.
And here is The Pool – so beautiful and so perfect for the guests of honor, Dave and Ellie Morris. Congratulations!
Jenna Meistrell, VP of Global Brand Management for Body Glove and Dakine at Marquee Brands shared this photo of her holiday table.
And my podcast producer, Heather Kirkland, submitted this photo from New Year’s Eve. It is of her friend Diane’s longhaired Chihuahua, Piper – dressed to ring in 2024.
And here is a photo of my crew on Christmas morning. I made breakfast for all of us – layered omelettes, homemade yogurt with farm honey, panattone, smoked salmon, coffee and tea. I’ll share more of my holiday photos in a separate blog. Thanks to all who contributed to this gallery, and here’s to a healthy, happy, and productive New Year!
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