Happy Holidays!
December is a busy time in my household — cooking and baking for my own holiday party, for potlucks and for our family’s Christmas dinner. This month, I’ve made four types of cookies,two Christmas wreath braided yeast breads, a double recipe of Buche de Noel with meringue mushrooms, pork pate with red onion confit, gravlax (cured salmon), two kinds of chutney to serve with Kerrygold cheeses, smoked trout spread, homemade pita chips with artichoke dip…and more.
Tonight, I’m preparing roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, followed in a few days by dainty sandwiches and sweets for a post-Christmas tea party I’m hosting for my mother and her friends. Toward the end of the week, it will be time to start prepping for the New Year, with several kinds of sushi and traditional Japanese New Year food.
I could skip all the stress by eliminating these get-togethers, hiring a caterer or buying foods already prepared. But for me, the fun and satisfaction comes from the doing. Getting out the KitchenAid and the Cuisinart is as much a part of my holiday traditions as is decorating the tree and hanging the stockings.
The 22nd Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends comissioned by Deloitte shows that Americans plan to spend less during this year’s holiday season compared to last year, mentioning higher food and fuel costs (cited by lower income households) and volatility of the stock market and declining home values (cited by higher income households) as reasons for doing some belt tightening.
Consumers don’t expect to cut back on spending for gifts, and the number of gifts they plan to give is up. To compensate, consumers said they plan to cut back in other areas, including socializing/entertaining. The cutback in entertaining at home is quite significant. Laura Wilker of Deloitte told me that the survey showed consumers plan to spend an average of $162 this year, compared to $215 last year.
Aside from the super rich, who are expected to spend $45,800 on holiday entertaining (up from $34,600 in 2006), according to Elite Traveler magazine, the rest of us need to make rational spending choices. Some will earmark their dollars for the electronics store and a flat screen TV. I’m spending mine at the supermarket for more flour and butter.
Happy holidays!
