Big holiday parties loaded with glitz and glamour have their place, but the most memorable and meaningful celebrations are often those that involve tried-and-true family recipes, simple, elegant decorations and the camaraderie of good friends.

For Englewood’s Peggy King Jorde and her husband, Ulrich, a native of Germany, holiday entertaining incorporates all of the above, and this year, a new concept: sustainability.

“Sustainability has become the catchword in my field,” says Peggy, who previously worked full time as an architect and designer. “It means, ‘Does what you’re doing respect the environment, does it make sense in this economy, and does it have staying power?’”

Peggy Jorde grew up in Albany, Ga., the daughter of C.B. King, a prominent African-American attorney who was respected for his courtroom skills during the civil rights movement. According to georgiaencyclopedia.org, King, one of just a handful of black lawyers in Georgia at the time, was renowned for his “masterful use of language and … photographic memory of the law.” His clients included Martin Luther King, Jr. (who is no relation), Andrew Young and Ralph Abernathy (a distinguished colleague of MLK’s). In 1964, C.B. King became the first black man to run for U.S. Congress since Reconstruction, and in 1969 he ran for governor against Jimmy Carter. A position as a law intern in King’s office was highly sought-after; many of the students he mentored went on to have their own high-profile careers.

Peggy Jorde’s mother, Carol King, was also renowned as a champion of programs for African-American children, founding the first Head Start program in the Southeast, and one of the first desegregated preschools.

But despite her family’s high profile and many professional accomplishments, home life was equally as important. Peggy Jorde describes the Albany area as “agrarian,” and says her mother’s preparations for the holidays took into account the offerings of the land. “She made centerpieces out of red pears, oranges and other fruit, strewn with cranberries for extra color. It was something sustainable that you could also eat.”

Because Georgia is the nation’s pecan capital, Carol King would also fill glass pedestal bowls with nuts, and include an elaborate nut cracker. She had a collection of leaded-glass boxes – “Moroccan or Indian,” her daughter remembers – that she would fill with the batch after batch of cookies and bars she baked. “A couple of them were on the table,” Peggy Jorde recalls. “Others were all over the house. The fun thing was my cousins would come over and look for the boxes.”

A stage for eco-advocacy
To decorate her home for the holidays while keeping the “sustainable” concept in mind, Peggy Jorde enlisted her friend, home-stager Karen Fierstein of Englewood. The women took to the Jorde’s back yard, clippers in hand, to cut pine, cedar and other evergreen branches to place in swaths on windowsills and the mantel. They also replicated Carol King’s fruit centerpiece, augmenting it with more greens. For dramatic glow, Fierstein filled windowsills with dozens of votive candles.

Jorde and Fierstein first discovered that their entertaining styles were in sync when they worked on the debut “Dinner at Eight” event at the Englewood Field Club, where their families are both members.

“We brought everything in from outside, and spent almost no money,” Fierstein explains. “We took a walk in the woods and gathered whatever our eyes grabbed on to. Then we took it back to the club and just played. We used a gazillion candles interspersed in all the ivy, branches and leaves.”

Ulrich Jorde’s German heritage also plays a part in the family’s holiday celebrations. In addition to regular visits to Georgia, the Jordes travel to Ulrich’s hometown of Mönchengladbach, near Dusseldorf, every summer. Peggy has always found, she says, “rich similarities in the cooking styles of the American South and Germany.”

The menu for the party pays tribute to this melding of family traditions. Her mother often prepared a big pot of seafood stew for open-house style celebrations; Peggy builds on this with a gumbo recipe given to her by a friend from Louisiana and prepared by caterer Jesse Jones. Guests help themselves from a pot simmering on the stove, and a variety of bite-sized Southern-style appetizers is displayed on the dining room table, along with a bourbon-laced punch. Dessert is Peggy’s famous Georgia pound cake.

“When our children were small, we celebrated the holidays with our families in Germany and in Georgia,” says Peggy.  “So our traditions in cooking and entertaining, although different, reflect two cultures, and are much alike, echoing the African and European origins of “gumbo.” It is in the meeting of these cultural influences that we sustain a rich tradition that is our own.”

As guests reluctantly say their goodbyes, they are handed a paper gift bag of holiday cookies featuring pecans, and sent off with wishes for a healthy, happy and “sustainable” holiday season.