Since it's Christmas time, I chose to make Anita Chu's Sugar Plums recipe. Anita writes in her Field Guide to Candy, "When visions of sugarplums dance in children's heads, it would be interesting to know exactly what sugarplums they dream of." She explains that historically "sugarplums," referred to a wide variety of candies, but more recently have come to refer to "soft, sticky balls of dried fruits and nuts, often rolled in shredded coconut or confectioners' sugar. They do not necessarily contain plums."
According to Anita, "Sugarplums were immortalized in Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicolas" and "Tchaikovsky's Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker." Hence our association of sugarplums with Christmas.
Sugarplums
(Recipe from Field Guide to Candy by Anita Chu; Quirk Books, 2009)
2 cups almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup pitted dates
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon honey
Unsweetened flaked coconut for rolling
Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
Combine almonds, apricots, dates, cinnamon, and zest in a food processor and process into a finely ground mixture. Add orange juice and honey, and combine until the mixture becomes a sticky ball.
Pinch off pieces of the mixture and form into 1-inch balls. Roll in coconut. Place on the baking sheet for about 1 hour until firm.
Notes: You can substitute the fruits and nuts in this recipe. Dried cherries, figs, or raisins work well, as would hazelnuts, pistachios, or pecans. Try adding chopped candied ginger or candied citrus peel.
I always think it's fun to offer your guests a couple of beverage choices. Champagne is always a good celebratory drink and wine and beer are no-brainers. 
Each holiday season there are new chocolates and I am first in line to try as many as I can. This year there were so many I packed them all up and took them to Thanksgiving dinner to let my friends and family try them too. Here are the highlights:
Allen Byers was a creature of habit. He made traditional stuffing,
took a nap at the same time every day and was better at giving presents
in June then he was at Christmas. Although I never would have dared
suggest changing his nap time, one year I did work up the courage to
suggest he try a stuffing recipe from his favorite cookbook, THE
ALICE'S RESTAURANT COOKBOOK. Even though what the book proudly
declared was Alice's favorite stuffing didn't call for any of the
traditional ingredients, he let me talk him into trying it.