The top-rated TV show in New York City between 8 and 10 a.m. on Christmas morning, 2002? A continuous video loop of a burning Yule-log. (Harpers, Jan. 2003)

No matter what you are watching this morning, I just wanted to take a moment to wish you and your families a Very Merry Christmas – and for those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace, love and prosperity.

We’ll be taking the next few days off to celebrate the holidays with our friends and families. See you in the New Year!

In 2004, Tea Leoni spent Christmas with her family in a hotel in New York. “My [five year old] daughter is very concerned,” she remarked, “because she knows that at the hotel there is no chimney. We were in the car and she said, ‘What about no chimney?’ So I was trying to think on my feet and I said, ‘You know, lots of people don’t have chimneys so what we do is… we leave the front door open, and then Santa just comes in that way.’

“She was quiet for a few minutes, and I’m looking in the rearview mirror, going, ‘Did she buy it? Did she buy it?’ And suddenly she goes, ‘That would be a really good night to rob somebody!’”

Sausage Christmas Cake
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra Anderson
“Almost like a fruit cake without the fruit, very rich and the older it gets the better it tastes!! Pecans can be substituted for walnuts.”

Original recipe yield:
10 -15 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound pork sausage
• 1 cup cold, brewed coffee
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix together cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and flour in a bowl.
2. Add sausage, coffee, sugars, and eggs to the dry ingredients. Add raisins and nuts. Pour into an ungreased angel food cake pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or till a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Garnishes may be added such as drizzled white frosting with whole cherries and mint leaves. This cake is so moist. If you like the flavor of rum you can wrap a rum-soaked damp cloth around it and refrigerate for several weeks. Best served with a spoonful of whipped cream.

“One year (at Christmas) we went out to Aspen,” Jimmy Carter once recalled, “and Prince Bandar, who’s a good friend of mine from Saudi Arabia, let us use his big mansion on top of the mountain overlooking the slopes full of toys for the kids and so forth.

“One morning we were having breakfast and my little grandson Jeremy – he could just barely see over the top of the table – he looked up at me and said, ‘Papa, are you gonna die someday?’ All grandparents want their kids to love them so my heart just swelled up with pride that this kid was really worried about me, and I said, ‘Yes, Jeremy, everybody dies, someday.’ So I waited for him to say something else but he didn’t say anything else, so I said, ‘Honey, why did you ask me that question?’ And he said, ‘When you die, can we still come to Bandar’s house?’”