I love both the holiday specific stuff and just the general fact that it's cold as all get out here in December, which means more excuses for delicious soup! Granted, I'll happily eat soup in the summer too, because I just really love soup, but it is nice when the weather is more fitting. Chicken tortilla soup, chicken soup with root vegetables in ginger broth, lentil soup, posole...I make 'em all this time of year. Except potato and corn chowder, because I make that in summer when the local corn is fresh and perfect.

Holiday specific stuff, on the other hand - we always have to make fudge, and it's the only time of year we really do. Ginger snaps with cream cheese frosting, sugar cookies, and sometimes other kinds too, when we're feeling ambitious. We used to do turkey dinner for Christmas Day, but recently my family's taken to doing beef tenderloin instead. It's cut in a sheet, spread with this filling with caramelized onions and mushrooms and spinach leaves, and rolled up so every slice is a spiral of deliciousness. The side dishes kind of vary on whether we're willing to dick around trying to make the Yorkshire pudding cooperate (I think it's an altitude thing...), so sometimes we just do some kind of potatoes instead, but it's always great.

I'm taking ambition01 and bluebomber01!