When Christmas Eve dinner includes two soups, multiple courses, and more desserts than one can possibly imagine, it's a good idea to get started a little earlier.

Ten days ought to do.

And so last night we began by preparing the cabbage/mushroom filling for the dumplings. It's neither a long nor a labor-intensive process, but when there will be cakes to bake and soups to season during the days before Christmas, it puts things into a little different perspective.

So last night we cooked the sourkraut, sauted the onions, ground them to a literal pulp, mixed a sprinkle of bread crumbs and called it a night.

Tonight, stuffing and fast-freeze.