Make this the festive winter holiday to remember! You don’t have to be a French chef to wow your guests with unusual, yet delightful variations on traditional solstice or Christmas fare. Nor do you need to own a Swiss bank in order to provide unique gifts for everyone on your shopping list. This year you can use astrology to satisfy in both arenas.

Food Ideas

I should begin by saying that I am no great cook. In fact I can follow directions well, but that is about it. When I decide on a pumpkin or mince meat pie, I make it my business to find the best bakery in town and order my pie well in advance. Ditto for bread or rolls. I know my culinary limits all too well.

While other people enjoy ham or roast beef, I have always longed for a delicious turkey and all the trimmings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since that is what I grew up with, I learned how to cook a turkey, and the side dishes were always kept simple. Colorful, tasty touches were added by serving black olives, melon pickles, raw carrots and celery. Mashed potatoes and buttered peas rounded out the menu.

I figure you may want to dress up your holiday meals a bit more than that, so I went looking for good ideas in Sydney Omarr’s Cooking with Astrology. And I was not disappointed. Here is an annotated menu I put together.

Fruit-Stuffed Roast Turkey — A grand departure from my family’s traditional sage turkey dressing, this dish includes peaches and plums with corn bread stuffing mix. Sydney says to prepare only half a turkey. If you need more than that, you could double the recipe.

If you can’t live without traditional stuffing and gravy, prepare the stuffing in a separate dish and bake along with the turkey. Take a bit of turkey meat and skin from the other half of the turkey, along with the giblets, and simmer in some water to use for your usual gravy. That way people will have a choice.

Potatoes Peru — spiced with green chilies, this flavorful dish is garnished with olives, radishes and hard-cooked egg slices.

Salad Omarr — Fresh greens, broccoli and tomatoes form the basis of a fresh salad, topped with Sydney’s own Wine-Cheese Dressing. The dressing can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated, then beaten again just before serving.

Hasty Pudding — This recipe uses a vanilla pudding mix, so you don’t need to be a genius to make it turn out well.

Alternate Dessert — I am a huge fan of chocolate. Remember that bakery I mentioned? I would order a layered cake and serve it with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. I would pay more for this dessert, but I would get fabulous results with minimum effort and anxiety.

Beverages — Here I break the wine rules. I like white wine but it gives me headaches, so I would select a good quality Merlot. Hot apple cider is a good alcohol-free substitute. I would also offer both regular and decaffeinated teas with the meal, and coffee with the dessert.

Astrological Gift-Giving

My editor asked an interesting question about gift giving. He wondered if I could offer suggestions through the predictive side of astrology, instead of the usual Sun or Moon sign method. Indeed, predictive methods can be used to select gifts for just about everyone on your list. I have identified a few key planetary arrangements for the Solstice, Christmas, Hannukah and Kwanzaa holidays, all of which begin or fall between December 21 and December 26 this year.

Mars stands alone in the sign of Taurus — Because the planet Mars is not so comfortable in the sign of Taurus, it seems appropriate to give gifts that are designed to enhance each person’s comfort level. They could be anything from warm gloves to the oh-so-essential diamond bracelet to round out an otherwise dissatisfying jewelry collection. Cost is not the point here. Individual comfort is.

The Moon opposes Uranus on the Solstice and squares it on December 25th — Ideas you have for gifts early in the season may fly right out the window on the 21st. Prepare yourself by cruising the Internet for the latest, greatest gift ideas. Make yourself aware of every new gimmick and toy. Plan ahead, but you may want to hold off on the buying until the last minute. Uh-oh, I said the last minute. Most of us wish we could avoid those shopping crowds. However, this year, you may find the best gifts and reduced prices if you wait. Inspiration may not strike you until late, so why stress out trying to think up great gifts? Plan one shopping blitz, armed only with your list of people — children or not — and on-the-spot intuition.

The Sun joins Mercury on the 26th (the first day of Hannukah and also Kwanzaa) — I did a little research and discovered that parents give children gifts on Kwanzaa. These gifts are always associated with merit or achievement. This year, think about each of the people on your gift list. Identify a talent, achievement or other aspect of each person’s merit, and choose gifts accordingly.

Venus trines Mars early on the 23rd — Ah, romance! I can’t leave out gift suggestions for your romantic partner, can I? Actually, I think that this year you can make an exception to the surprise gift. Why don’t the two of you shop together on the 23rd for something that you have been yearning for? Yes, it could be as mundane as a new food processor, or as exotic as an imported rug. It could be as intimate as bedroom attire, or as flashy as a diamond engagement ring. The point is, this year, shop together.

Saturn has entered the sign of Leo — After two and a half years in the sign of Cancer, Saturn entered Leo this past July. You may have felt very limited financially in 2003 and 2004, and your holidays may have been somewhat grim because of it. This year you can revive a more opulent tone without having to break the bank. For example, shop around for those little mesh bags of chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil, better known to some as Hannukah gelt. Thread each coin to create a hanger, and decorate your tree with glittering gold. You can serve the chocolate to all the children (and adults who think like kids) at your holiday party.