Wherever you are this holiday, I hope you are able to enjoy the time with those near and dear. For the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing a few of my favorite holiday and blog memories from years past. This blog was originally posted on Dec. 21, 2019.
I love this time of year when everyone gathers together to celebrate the holidays.
Recently, I hosted my annual holiday party at my Bedford, New York farm. More than 200-guests wandered in and out of three buildings, each with a different and festive theme. My Winter House was where my friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, and his talented team from PS Tailored Events, prepared and served a variety of delicious and savory dishes. Fancy sweets and eggnog were served in my Summer House, and the little Tenant House offered an array of beautiful and whimsical holiday cookies. Friends, family, and neighbors also enjoyed music from a jazz guitarist and photos with Santa! It was a cold late autumn day, but everyone had a most wonderful time!
Enjoy these photos.
Here I am with Douglas Friedman and Kevin Sharkey on this day of merriment and good cheer. See more fun selfies of the three of us by @DouglasFriedman on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. And you can always find fun photos on Kevin’s Instagram page @seenbysharkey.
My home was filled with all kinds of trees. Here is a collection of bottle brush trees on the green marble table in my foyer – a woodland scene under my great falcon weathervane.
I love how the sun came through the window in this photo taken by @seenbysharkey.
My Green Room was decorated with gold and shades of green. On the right is one of two Chinese foo dogs given to me by Kevin. They’re perfect for this parlor.
I published this recipe for my special eggnog in my first book, “Entertaining” in 1982. It’s made with plenty of bourbon, cognac, dark rum, heavy cream – and this year, 96 eggs for 200 people.
All the eggs used for my eggnog came right from my hens here at the farm. A single eggnog recipe, by the way, calls for a dozen eggs, which can serve about 26-guests. My eggnog is always so popular – it is so rich it needs no accompaniment.
I used Marti Autentico Rum “Dorado” – a delicious quality rum with a lovely rich taste. https://www.martirum.com/
The oysters are from Norm Bloom – we ordered hundreds of delicious oysters, served on the half shell with cocktail sauce and mignonette. http://www.coppsislandoysters.com
My Winter House is where Chef Pierre Schaedelin @pstailoredevents and I prepared and served all our glorious savory foods. We pushed my kitchen counters together on one side, so we could serve the food buffet-style – it’s a wonderful solution for large gatherings.
Our shrimp and salmon came from True North, @truenorthseafood. We served the shrimp on cake stands in circular layers. http://www.truenorthseafood.com
These are mini blinis – traditional Russian pancakes, which are best served with a dab of creme fraiche and a spoonful of caviar. I published the recipe in “Martha Stewart’s Hors D’oeuvres: The Creation and Presentation of Fabulous Finger Food” in 1984.
We also had two hams from my friend, Pat LaFrieda. This is a 20-pound smoked ham. http://www.lafrieda.com
The ham was served with homemade biscuits, scones, horseradish sauce I made from horseradish grown here at the farm, and homemade mustard sauces.
The smoked chicken was displayed so nicely on this large platter. I smoked four four-pound chickens using my delicious smoked chicken recipe from my first hors d’oeuvres book. Everyone thought it was duck and every tidbit disappeared. This photo was taken just before the guests started eating.
For sweets, I made these gorgeous palmiers, also known as pig’s ears, palm hearts, or elephant ears. These are French pastries made in a palm leaf shape or a butterfly shape. My guests loved these so much, they were gone before I got to even taste one myself.
We also made a beautiful croquembouche – a French dessert consisting of choux pastry puffs filled with creme patissiere piled into a cone and bound with threads and threads of caramel. We topped ours with orchid flowers because we didn’t make enough puffs.
Also in my Brown Room – my precious Drabware manger set, which I made years ago. While Drabware tones vary from light coffee to dark olive, it took me a while to get this perfect hue – I love it. I fired and glazed all the pieces myself and then embellished it with palm trees imported from Germany.
Outside, Empress Qin, Emperor Han, Bete Noire, and Creme Brulee stand guard – picture perfect.
Here is a fun snapshot of television correspondent and Editor-at-Large at Ballantine Bantam Dell, Alina Cho @thealinacho, Douglas @DouglasFriedman, Sarah Carey @sarahcarey1, and Kevin @seenbysharkey outside on my terrace parterre.
And here he is, the jolly ol’ man himself – Santa Claus. Santa, played by Fernando Ferrari, wished everyone a Merry Christmas as they walked from house to house.
My Summer House was where guests could sit and share holiday stories and plans while eating sweets and sipping eggnog. It was decorated in lots of pink and silver.
The trees were decked in silver with silver ornaments – I love how everything glistens.
Alexis’s famous Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies went so fast. Her recipe is in my book, “Entertaining.” Unlike traditional recipes, this batter produces flat and crisp cookies. They are my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookies.
Another lit nativity scene sits on a side table in my Summer House. I got this one from Brazil.
Anduin Havens, her daughter, Harper, and her husband Cedric, stopped for this photo with Santa.
And here are my neighbors, Laura Blau, and her husband, Michael Citro.
All the outdoor decorations glimmered in the early evening light. My holiday party was from 3pm to 6pm, so everyone could enjoy the farm’s festive lights.
Guests were told not to miss the “Cookie House” – Alexis’s little Tenant House was filled with more sweet treats. We made about 2500-cookies in all. Molly Wenk @moll_doll23 and Jessie Damuck @jessdamuck baked cookies for four days. Many of the recipes are from my books and my web site at MarthaStewart.com. In this house, they were surrounded by whimsical woodland animals and miniature figurines – the children loved this house the best.
Because my grandchildren stay here when they visit, I love decorating the space for them with lots of stuffed toys.
Even the napkins had a woodland theme. The delicate machine embroidered napkins are from Coral & Tusk @coralandtusk in Brooklyn, New York.
And of course, there were candy canes – all our hard candies came from Hammond’s. http://www.hammondscandies.com/
And outside, my beautiful Christmas tree with 1000 lights. Everyone had such a great time at the party. Happy holidays to all of you.
I just love how my home looks this time of year - filled with cheerful holiday decorations.
Whether I am home or away for Christmas, I always like to decorate several rooms with festive trees, wreaths, and colorful plants from the greenhouse. This year, some of my decorations include gold and silver tabletop trees glistening with ornaments and lights, coordinating wreaths on the windows, blooming orchids, and a gorgeous burgundy amaryllis with more than a dozen flowers.
Enjoy these photos.
Here at the farm, it’s definitely looking like winter. The deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves and the shadows cast by the fencing are longer. Shadows are the longest this time of year. Since the earth is tilted away from the sun, the sun appears lower in the sky and its light hits everything at a lower angle.
Here is the old corn crib and the footpath heading north flanked by the bare winter lindens.
Here is my Chow Chow Empress Qin on my terrace outside the kitchen. Qin loves to be outside greeting anyone who comes by. The Chow Chow can tolerate cold weather thanks to their thick, dense coats.
Indoors, on each of the windows in my servery we hung silver wreaths. The servery is between my sitting room and my kitchen. A servery is a room from which meals are served. Whenever I entertain, I like to use the area for serving desserts and drinks.
On the middle island is a gorgeous amaryllis in bloom – it adds such wonderful color to the room. I forced this amaryllis and am so happy with all the flowers that came up – 16 in all.
Of all flowering bulbs, amaryllis are the easiest to bring to bloom. This flower originated in South Africa and comes in many beautiful varieties. The genus Amaryllis comes from the Greek word amarysso, which means “to sparkle.” Amaryllis flowers range from four to 10 inches in size and can be either single or double in form.
Paphiopedilum orchids are often called lady slippers or slipper orchids because of their unique pouch-like flowers. These specimens are easily grown as houseplants and look wonderful with their striking green leaves. I love to display blooms in this servery.
The pouch of a slipper orchid traps insects so they are forced to climb up, collect or deposit pollen, and fertilize the flower. Slipper orchids have two fertile anthers — meaning they are diandrous. This orchid is on my coffee table in my sitting room.
Every year, I try to vary the holiday decorations in my home. I always use lots of trees – silver or gold in every room. And I always try to display them differently from year to year.
This tree, with its shimmering gold ornaments and lights, looks out onto my terrace parterre.
Gold nut ornaments fill the branches of this tree.
This wreath is on an interior window of my sitting room with my enclosed porch on the other side.
Orchids grow on every continent except Antarctica. They are native to the tropical regions of Asia, Australia, the Himalayas, and the Philippines. The orchid forms one of the largest families in the plant kingdom, with more than 25,000 species worldwide. The size of orchids depends on the species. They can be quite small or very large. However, every orchid flower is bilaterally symmetrical, which means it can be divided into two equal parts.
The key to growing these orchid plants is to keep the root systems strong and healthy. These plants have no bulbs or stems to store moisture and nutrients, so it is important to maintain their roots.
Here’s another wreath hung on a window looking out onto my courtyard. Wreaths originated as holiday decorations in connection with Yule, which marked the winter solstice, which was celebrated by the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. The wreaths were a symbol of spring and a promise of its return.
On my Brown Room mantel, large silver balls atop candleholders. Decorations can be subtle and still so festive.
Down below, a basket ready with firewood and starters for a cozy winter’s fire.
Flanking the fireplace on this table is a silver tinsel tree with Jeweled Icicle ornaments, silver figurine ornaments, and snowflakes – one used as the topper.
I mixed the icicle ornaments with small figurine ornaments – this one of a woman praying.
And on the other side, another silver tinsel tree with shiny icicles and figurines. If you haven’t yet decorated your home for the holidays, there is still some time. Decorate this weekend! And have the happiest of holidays from my family to yours.
The season's burlap project at my Bedford, New York farm continues in front of and around my Winter House.
It's a race to get all the "burlapping" done around the boxwood and the ornamental urns - winter officially begins in less than a week and the days and nights are getting much colder. I've been covering these shrubs and hedges with burlap for many years to protect the branches from splaying and even breaking from the snow and ice. I also feel it is important to protect the stone planters that are out in the elements all season long. Every year, our wrapping methods become easier and more streamlined, giving me peace of mind during the cold weather months. This week, my outdoor grounds crew covered the boxwood surrounding my herbaceous peony bed and all the ornamental containers around my home.
Here are more photos of our "burlapping" process, enjoy.
Here at my farm all the activity this week is around my Winter House. My gardeners are busy dressing the many garden beds with mulch and the outdoor grounds crew is rushing to get all the boxwood and stone urns under burlap. This is my terrace parterre. The metal supports for the burlap frames are up and these stone planters are about to be covered.
Pete cuts the burlap pieces for the containers. When we can, we reuse burlap from seasons past; however, it is also available in giant rolls of 40-inches or 60-inches wide. Also called hessian, burlap is made in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India from jute, a tall, grass-like plant grown for its strong fibrous stalks.
These planters are already covered in thick industrial plastic. Pete then blankets it with burlap and starts with small stitches and knots at the top and the bottom just to keep the fabric in place.
Then he sews the burlap along the open edge to close it completely.
The burlap is also sewn at the top where the burlap is pulled taut.
Here is the planter completely covered. It will stay here for the duration of the season until it is in uncovered and planted again in spring.
I have many urns around my home. It is easier to cover them than to move them indoors. These two urns on the terrace outside my Winter House kitchen are next.
And here they are all covered. Depending on the size of the vessel, it takes about 20-minutes to cover one of these ornamental containers.
Here are Pete and Fernando tackling the big stone birdbath in the courtyard behind my Winter House.
Fernando works on top and Pete sews the sides. There is a lot of tucking involved, and a lot of stitching and knotting, but my crew has been covering these containers with burlap every year for quite some time – they are all excellent burlap sewers.
To sew the burlap, we use jute twine. It is all natural and the same color as the burlap. We also use five-inch and eight-inch long craft needles specifically made for working with jute.
Here is the top all done.
And in just a few minutes, the entire piece is finished. Many ask if it is truly necessary to cover these birdbaths and planters – after all, they are always outdoors. But because stone, cement, and clay-based materials can crack from exposure to the winter elements, it’s important to protect them.
Here are two more urns located in the same courtyard. The burlap is sewn tightly, but with some space for air circulation.
By lunchtime, Pete and Fernando are working along the carriage road next to my winding pergola. Here is one of six giant square stone planters I purchased earlier this year. First it is carefully covered in plastic.
Then the planter is measured and a piece of burlap is cut to size. Burlap is so useful for many gardening projects – it is inexpensive, biodegradable, and the color and texture of burlap is so pretty to use.
Pete makes small stitches and knots to keep the burlap in place. I remind the crew to wrap them like they would gifts – make the folds tight and even as possible.
Pete also makes sure the burlap protects as much of the bottom as possible.
Pete also runs twine underneath the piece to prevent the wind from blowing the burlap off the urn. And underneath all the vessels are shims or small bricks, which keep the urns raised and away from any water or melting snow on the stone surface or ground. All these burlap covers must last through the season without anyone having to redo them.
Here it is all done. These look like pieces of art along the carriage road.
Meanwhile, here’s one side of the boxwood hedge surrounding the herbaceous peony bed – now enshrouded in burlap. We use the same hoop house framing here as we do for the Boxwood Allée. The frame is at least a foot taller than the tallest shrub to protect any heavy snow from weighing down onto the tender foliage.
Here’s a view from the inside – covered all the way around. With the burlap secure, any snow that accumulates will sit on top or slide down the sides.
Phurba and Pasang are now onto the tall boxwood shrubs in front of my home. These boxwood plantings are covered directly with the burlap – no framing. They covered a group of boxwood and are sewing the opening closed.
All the burlap does block views of the landscape, but it is comforting to know that come spring, the many shrubs and hedges will look lush, green, and just as beautifully shaped as they did before they were covered. There is still so much “burlapping” to do around the farm, but the team has made lots of progress.
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