Bliss

Merry Christmas everyone! And now that the BIG DAY is finally over, I'm going to share something with the bloggy world. This used to be a secret pleasure ... a sneaky treat, if you will ... but at my age I'm finally long past sneaking and guilt over little moments of pleasure (and DIVINE pleasure at that). So I'm going to share with y'all MY personal definition of

HOLIDAY BLISS.

First, there are some essential pre-conditions:

Cold and snow outside (minus 15 at the moment), and toasty warm inside. CHECK.

Second, there are some necessary PRE-preparations to complete:

One, comfy attire. Elastic waistbands are suggested. I've chosen my favourite and well-worn "the cow jumped over the moon" purple jammies. CHECK.

Two, festive music to set the mood. Andrea Bocelli's CHRISTMAS CD is an excellent choice. This man does things with Jingle Bells (with the able assistance of The Muppets) that simply makes my heart happy! The rest of the CD is pretty darned good too.CHECK.

Three, a festive beverage. Think Christmas dinner here, people. What do YOU feel goes well with turkey and all the trimmings? I chose a lovely Gehringer Brothers Auxerrois for this occasion. Superb flavour! CHECK!

Once these pre-conditions and initial preparations are in place, it's time to get on with the actual preparations. PLEASE NOTE, what I am about to share with you has been perfected over fifty-some years. For maximum pleasure, it is ESSENTIAL to follow the instructions I'm about to share VERY CAREFULLY! If you choose to mess with fifty-some years of wise experience ... well, you do so at your own peril!

Shall we begin?

Let's shall.

One, take two slices of bread ... white, brown, whole-grain, this choice is immaterial ... and BUTTER generously.Yes, I did say BUTTER. This is one of those important moments in life when margarine simply will NOT do! Butter both slices of bread generously, and make sure you spread that butter right to the very edges. No skimping!

Two, spread a THIN layer of cranberry sauce (I prefer the wholeberry kind ... in fact, I make it myself every year from fresh cranberries just before the turkey is cooked) on ONE slice.Spread that cranberry sauce right to the very edges, same as you did with the butter.

Three, spoon a THICK layer of leftover turkey stuffing on top of the cranberry sauce.

The thickness of it will be inversely related to the amount of Christmas dinner guests who helped themselves to an extra helping of stuffing at the table on the Big Day. As you can see, MY dinner guests made piggies of themselves, so my layer of stuffing is a wee bit sparse. (NOTE TO SELF: remember to hide the bowl of stuffing after everyone has ONE serving!)

Three, gently place a teaspoon of leftover turkey gravy on top of the stuffing layer.

Don't be alarmed if your leftover gravy has thickened and congealed. After a night in the fridge, it SHOULD be thickened and congealed! (You DID put it away in the fridge, didn't you? Remember FOOD SAFE!) With the back of the teaspoon, gently and lovingly spread this spoonful of leftover gravy over the layer of stuffing.

Again, work right out to the edges.

Four, dust gravied-stuffing generously with freshly ground black pepper. I like LOTS of pepper! Mm mmm!!

Five, firmly place sandwich halves together and cut into two triangles.

Serve with a dill pickle.

Hey!

Not only did my dinner guests help themselves to seconds of the stuffing, but they also ATE THE LAST OF THE DILL PICKLES!!! (NOTE TO SELF: edit guest list before next Christmas!)

Oh well. T'is the season of peace and goodwill and all that. I guess I can forgive and forget.

Six, enjoy!Pardon the blurry photo ... I just bit into PURE BLISS!

PS: leftover slices of turkey are optional. I'm not personally a big fan of the bird ... so long as I get ample stuffing and gravy.

PPS: potato chips are also optional. Sometimes a little extra CRUNCH of plain old potatoe chips in this blissful sandwich is just what the doctor ordered!

PPPS: Happy Holidays!