It is one of those nights when you can feel the life in your house to be as warm as it looks from outside.

—Patricia Lockwood, Priestdaddy

It has been an uncharacteristically chaotic lead up to the holiday this year.
But, in the end, our family is safe at home and that’s what matters most, though we are a small number compared to the full and crazy house that was Thanksgiving.
We had a quiet day with little fanfare and a lot of panettone.

The days leading up to Christmas, I spent most of my free time devising and making this showpiece.
I have fallen hopelessly behind in my work and studies, but hey—that’s what the season is all about (right?).
Tonight’s Christmas dinner will be butternut squash soup with impossible beef wellington.
And more panettone for dessert, because good gracious does Chef Roy know what he’s doing.

This cutesy, mind-maddening cake is comprised of four layers of brown sugar spiced rum sponge, which is moist and lightly fragrant, soaked in punchy rum syrup and frosted with cream cheese frosting.
I had visions of an alpine village in all mid-century colors and a miniature ski lift going up the mountain to a chalet and I’m very happy with how twee it turned out.
It was quite tricky getting the chairs to actually hover and I nearly cried multiple times as the poles slowly bent towards one another. Eventually, using small planks of gingerbread, I was able to stabilize the poles and suspend the lifts.

For the gingerbread, I used 2x Stella Parks’ construction gingerbread recipe, which is still delicious, though sturdy. Unfortunately, I hand made my patterns so I don’t have a pdf to share. I recommend using graph paper and right angles if you are going to undertake a fiddly gingerbread project such as this one. (And make extra tiny planks with your scraps for stabilizing purposes!)

Frosting is just a classic royal icing—I make mine with fresh egg whites, though many recipes call for meringue powder, which works just as well.

I strongly recommend against adhering gingerbread with royal icing (unless you’re working with kids, for whom using 300+ degree boiling sugar is not advisable) and instead using caramel to build. It’s much stronger and sets in seconds to a rock hard, stable base—no holding or using cans to support the cookies.
I use a caramel ratio of 100 grams sugar: 30 grams water. If you are going to use this method, cook your caramel in a shallow bottomed saute pan to make dipping easier.
Have tweezers handy for any tiny pieces, and as my mom would say, bring Mohammed to the mountain: work as close to the stove as you can comfortably. The caramel will solidify as it cools, so work quickly and keep the burner on low heat once it’s tawny brown. You can reheat it and use it quickly but be aware that the more you reheat, the darker it will become.

Christmas, previously:

Cakes:
A shaggy little number: coconut cream cheese cake with cranberry curd filling.
Indulgent, gorgeous, and so so French: chestnut, chocolate, and cream croquembouche au craquelin
The cutest little pink number with an even cuter, dinky reindeer: gingerbread house on an orange spice and chocolate cake.
My pride and joy, the most elaborate cake on the blog: la souche de Noël.
A different, more whimsical take on a tree cake: this eggnog-filled, bauble-bedecked Christmas tree.
Golden and gleaming, an almond and orange spice cake.
A classic: red velvet with a winter woodland theme.
The fluffiest of cakes, a chocolate and peppermint cake with marshmallow frosting.
Oldie but a goodie: chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with peppermint buttercream.

Cookies:
A gorgeous mix of textures with cream cheese holly cookies, chocolate pistachio shortbread, and maple/nutmeg/rye trees.
A box full of brownies, coffee bean cookies, maple almond swirls, and lady grey orange sugar cookies.
Simple but effective pistachio and cranberry butter cookies.
Super intricate and crunchy maple and black pepper gingersnaps.
Luster-dust highlighted sugar cookie Christmas trees.
Very grown-up chocolate orange Linzer cookies.
Festive eggnog sugar cookies, decorated with royal icing and sprinkles.
Twists on the classic: honey spice and dark chocolate sugar cookies, perfect for cutting into shapes.
Pepparkakor with lemon royal icing, decorated with mehndi-inspired swirls.
Chocolate peppermint macarons… Macarons are still my nemesis.
Classic Linzer cookies with different fillings.
Maple, nutmeg, and rye sugar cookies, dressed all in winter white.
Chocolate, sour cherry, and coconut cookies; grapefruit butter cookies; and dark chocolate pecan snowcaps, all crammed into one post.
Cinnamon toast crunch marshmallow treats, chocolate peppermint shortbread, Russian teacakes, 5-spice snickerdoodles, another post bursting with recipes.
Whimsical peppermint marshmallow ropes; not cookies per se, but great for gifting.