FEATURES

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She remembers using all of her gift money to buy extravagant, handmade ornaments during the post-Christmas sale at Lord & Taylor. Every year since then she has added items, both vintage and new, to her ever-growing collection.

"Jeffrey and I both have wonderful Christmas memories from when we were kids," she says, "and we wanted to recreate those feelings both for ourselves and for our children"—Sam, now 20, and Charlotte, 13. The couple met while both worked at neighboring restaurants on Manhattan's Astor Place. Jeffrey, just beginning his career as a chef, worked at Lady Astor's and Kathleen, then busy with her burgeoning clothing company, designed by day and worked at The Colonnades by night. (Jeffrey is currently the executive chef of the entertainment and corporate conference facility Grand Prix NY Racing in Mount Kisco, N.Y., where he oversees the restaurant, Fuel, and the catering department.)

Christmas at the Crawford home typically begins with a big Christmas Eve dinner served at the 14-foot-long table in the coffered dining room—another space filled with Victorian-era charm. The meal is prepared in the light-filled kitchen the couple renovated. It now serves as Jeff's lab kitchen. (To Kathleen, however, the room is not "his," but "theirs.") She designed the entire space. He decided where each appliance should go for efficiency and function. Typical of Kathleen's work, the palette is neutral, fresh and clean—no warm colors for her. "The ceiling is the same color as the walls," she says, "which creates a seamless box and allows the eye to rise without creating a break."

On Christmas day, Jeffrey serves what is perhaps his most important meal of the season: Christmas dinner, made from the remarkably fresh meat and produce he has only recently been able to purchase from local sources.