How can a ham save Christmas? Bet you think I’m still sipping some eggnog or champagne, don’t you? No, I am sober as the day is long.

In my family we traditionally split holidays so one person does not have to do all the work. I do Thanksgiving and my cousin does Christmas. Well, this year our plans just didn’t work out. Mom hasn’t been feeling too energetic lately, but has the desire to get out and visit with her sister, niece, grandniece and other family.

My sister Karen came over to ride to Los Angeles with mom, Ruby and I early on Christmas Day. Mom was up and doing her best to gather the strength to get dressed for dinner. I never take for granted anymore the ability to hop out of bed and start my day. Between my chronic migraines slowing me down some days, and watching my former social butterfly of a mother struggle to find the energy to just get out of bed, I know better.

Earlier in the week I had gone grocery shopping and picked up a ham. I say that casually, but there is so much more to it that. I won a coupon for a free Farmer John Ham when the blog Shockingly Delicious had a giveaway. I try to win things on blog giveaways all the time. I have tweeted, liked on Facebook, commented like nobody’s business trying to win things ranging from books to food items to stand mixers! When I actually won this ham, I do believe I did a happy dance! Pork makes me happy, what can I say?

And I am so glad I won this ham. When we realized we just were not going to leave the house for Christmas, I needed to make some dinner for my family. And I hadn’t shopped for a holiday meal! But I did have a ham! I looked through my pantry and found a couple of boxes of Annie’s Organic Peace Sign Pasta, which is usually for my daughter’s lunch, but it was our side dish now. Then I found a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer, and we were set! All I needed was a glaze for the ham. . .uh oh.

Back to the panty I went. I spotted a can of peaches. Next up brown sugar. Back to the fridge – dijon mustard and maple syrup. In my head the flavors sounded really good together, I had my glaze. And yes, that is often how I begin to develop a recipe.  If it sounds good in my head, it must taste good, right?

And it did.

You can use this glaze on any type of ham, from spiral cut to bone-in half ham. You can even brush a small amount on a ham steak.