The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook

Aliske Webb

Holiday Memories

I have to admit to being real goofy about Christmas. Ever since I was a little girl,

I’ve always loved the festivities of preparing for the Holiday Season. And decorating

the Inn is one of the best times of the year, in anticipation of guests joining us for the

festivities. The main hall is one of the most important rooms in the Inn, and yet we seem

to use it more in the Winter than at any other time of the year, probably because of the

large stone hearth on the North wall. The previous owners had covered in all of the

fireplaces in the Inn and had used them only as decor to holdplanters of ferns. We felt

that such beautiful cozy fireplaces should be used so we opened them up again.In front

of the fire sits one of our first, and favorite, antique purchases, a coffee table made

from a well-used farm sleigh. My father recalled using just such a sleigh to haul logs

from the woods in the Winter to heat the my great-grandmother’s farmhouse. It still has

its original steel runners and the wood struts have been refinished to a mellow dark

wheat sheen. A modern top of half–inch thick plate glass has been added, so you can

still see the whole frame and the Axminster carpet below.

On either side of the fireplace are matching Hunter Green sofas and

green–and–gold striped wingbacked chairs. I have to admit I chose the Hunter Green

decor especially because I love how it looks at Christmas when we add pine boughs,

red bows, and all the red, green and gold trimmings we’ve collected over the years.

In an alcove behind one sofa we put up the tree. For years we’ve collected tree

ornaments from around the country. All old-fashioned, Currier-and-Ives looking, and

nostalgic. We try to find ornaments that are made from wood or cloth, and that enhance

a remembrance of Christmas past, Christmas of our childhood.

The main hall is really important to us for another reason. Michael and I married

just before Christmas one year, and moved immediately into a large, empty house. We

had nothing in those first days and months except a big house with wood floors, a

fireplace and a few boxes of stuff. Our bed was borrowed twin beds that sat in a corner

of the living room. We went out and bought a barbecue so we could cook our first

Christmas turkey.

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Country Cooking