Southern Living December 2021

ONE OF THE oldest holiday traditions in the Evans family is that we’ve always had Bloody Marys on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. I believe this started with my grandparents, but it was really championed by my Uncle Goodloe, who was the most outrageous and fun person in our extended family. Back in the eighties, he was the guy who would show up at our gatherings in colorful pants, and he was also known for his colorful language, which he somehow employed in a way that made even my grandmother laugh. At our duck camp in Carlisle, Arkansas (where we spent a lot of time together), he was famous for being the last one to go to bed and the last one to show up for breakfast, which usually started at…

Brennan Long SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Based in Austin, Texas, Brennan Long manages our social media platforms, from Facebook and Instagram to TikTok and Snapchat. For this issue, she wrote about her family’s sweet tradition during the busy holiday season in Blacksburg, Virginia (“Nutcracker Dreams,” page 30). Joy Howard RECIPE DEVELOPER Creating a dozen new holiday cookie recipes for this issue was a sizable task, and Joy Howard came up with some of our most festive and fun treats ever (“The Gift of Chocolate,” page 132). She is also a food stylist and cookbook author—her latest one, Tomato Love (Storey Publishing), is set to be released in June 2022. FROM TOP: JENNIFER VASQUEZ; JOANNA CHATTMAN…

WHAT WE’RE LOVING, SHARING, AND CELEBRATING WHIMSICAL TREES (1) Cuthbertson Dickens Embossed Christmas, $140 for dinner plate; replacements.com (2) Vietri Lastra Holiday, $164 for four-piece place setting; vietri.com (3) Nikko Christmastime, $90 for five-piece place setting; replacements.com (4) FaÏencerie de Gien Filets Noel, $178 for four-piece place setting; replacements.com TIMELESS TRIMMINGS (1) Royal Copenhagen Star Fluted Christmas, $80 for dinner plate; royalcopenhagen.com (2) Juliska Stewart Tartan, $38 for dinner plate; juliska.com (3) Lenox Holiday, $36 for dinner plate; lenox.com; (4) Herend Winter Shimmer, $215 for dinner plate; herendusa.com SHIMMERING WINTER WHITES (1) Mottahedeh Chelsea Feather Gold, $285 for four-piece place setting; mottahedeh.com (2) Match Viviana, $158 for dinner plate; match1995.com (3) Wedgwood Winter White, $165 for set of four nibble bowls; wedgwood.com (4) Bernardaud Noël, from $57 for bread-and-butter plate; bernardaud.com TRADITIONAL TRANSFERWARE (1) Gibson Designs Christmas Toile,…

CHRIS MARSHALL may have given up alcohol in his early twenties, but you’d never catch him without a drink in his hand. “I always found that if you had something interesting in your glass, it took a lot of the pressure off at social events,” he says. At the time, mainstream mocktails were a thing of the future, so Marshall busied himself in the kitchen, drawing inspiration from seasonal ingredients and his Memaw’s cooking to concoct flavor-forward blends of fresh juices, infused syrups, and craft sodas. In 2017, Marshall took his recipes to the masses with Sans Bar, Austin’s first drink-slinging pub where you won’t find a drop of alcohol. Come the holidays, when nonstop soirees can leave many nondrinkers feeling left out, Marshall engineers a festive hangout with zero-proof drinks…

Clementine-Vanilla Bean Marmalade 3 lb. seedless clementines (mandarin oranges)2 lemons3 Tbsp. minced crystallized ginger½ tsp. kosher salt4½ cups granulated sugar2 tsp. vanilla bean paste 1. Slice ends off clementines and lemons. Slice each piece of fruit in half from end to end. Thinly slice each half into ¼-inch-thick half-moons. Cut each half-moon in half so every piece is a quarter of a slice. Discard lemon seeds. Bring clementines, lemons, and 6 cups water to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 30 minutes. Cover; chill 12 to 24 hours. 2. Prepare a boiling water canner. Heat 6 half-pint glass jars in simmering water until ready to use. Do not boil. Wash lids in warm, soapy water, and set…