Good morning. It’s been a difficult month for my crowd, and it looked for a time as if we’d lose Christmas entirely. But the tree’s now trimmed with favorite ornaments (A ski-jumping bear from Quebec! A ceramic dolphin from Florida!), and the whole place smells of forest and cinnamon. There’s lots of jing-jing-jingling. The dog’s asleep in front of the fire.

What’s needed: a menu for the week. Some are celebrating the start of Hanukkah this evening. If that’s you, we’ve got you covered with a vast collection of recipes for the festival of lights. But here’s the one I’m going to try to execute, at least until I change my mind.

Today: David Tanis’s recipe for sesame-glazed duck legs with spicy persimmon salad, and some steamed white rice. It’s a remarkably flavorful dinner situation that leaves you with a couple of excellent byproducts useful during a holiday week: rendered duck fat and super-concentrated duck broth. And the cooking’s fun.

Tomorrow: baked mushrooms and white beans with buttery bread crumbs, from the terrific Colu Henry.

Tuesday: brown butter salmon with lemon and harissa. Serve that with roasted potatoes, and make flat-and-chewy chocolate-chip cookies for dessert, so you can leave two out for Mr. Claus, along with a glass of milk.