Category: CHRISTMAS

I originally had this as TAG questions also, but I honestly don’t think any of us are up for that this year so let’s leave it at Winter Musts. 😀
What I CANNOT live without in winter is many many things, but these are my top items! The one thing I am absolutely sure of is that if I have a sore throat, dry skin, cold feet or hands, cold food or catch a cold I am NOT happy.

I drink a cup of green tea every night and try to make very balanced comfort food meals to warm up my family from the inside out.

I also have a favorite new hot toddy, a Lemon Avil Pota Hot Toddy courtesy of McMenamins one of our favorite resort chains.

2 oz. Aval Pota Whiskey
2 bar spoons honey
5/8 oz.  fresh-squeezed lemon

• Pour ingredients into a coffee glass or mug and top with hot water.
• Garnish with a lemon zest twist.

Here are a few of our favorite soups and stews links for you.

• Split Pea Soup  
• Red Chicken Chili
• Black Eyed Pea Chili
• Tomato Spinach Soup  
• Navy Bean & Ham Soup
• Chicken & Sausage Gumbo  

When do you decorate for Christmas?  Do you go BIG or keep it simple?  What we’ve done in years past and what we will do this year are entirely different.  I honestly just haven’t “felt” the motivation yet this year! COVID has changed so many things in our lives and I hate to admit it has changed this for me too, but it has. There will be no 3RD annual munchkin baking day or munchkins for Christmas dinner… so until I “feel” it, let me describe Christmas past.

I LOVED our tree last year.  We bought all new LED lights so I worried a lot less about the lights getting too hot and it was full of all our favorite ornaments.  I found a great antique tree topper that I really like. 😀

In reality how I decorate each year changes based on my mood, weather, where we are living, pandemics, etc… so it will never be the same twice! But, it will at least be the same components. This is last year’s tree… hubby is still trying to motivate me into a tree this year…

This is my Snowman Family arranged from 2 different years. They were so much fun to make out of second hand store finds.  The were also a lot of work.  I only made two families, shipping one to a friend who lives in Florida and never sees snow 😀
We made candle yule logs for Advent craft night at church one year and they were a HUGE success and soooooooo easy to do.  The decorations below are a few of my all time favorites, several of which I’ve made over the years.
The ornaments below are some of our homemade bulbs.  Several years ago I made quite a few and then did them with my girl scout troop also.  Hubby liked them so well that we have now donated all our store bought bulbs and made enough of these for the entire tree.

My cousin that passed away in 2014 made the ornament below for me.  It will always be hung by my shooting stars in her honor even though I’m still mad at her for leaving the mess called A HOUSE FROM HELL for me to deal with.
And our handmade ornament by Design Chick Creations.

Well I was hoping to have found my Christmas MOJO by now and be all decorated. Sadly, it hasn’t happened so I’m offering your the outdoor lights from the 2 local festivals, Festival of Lights and Shore Acres that we’ve been to locally over the years. Hubby did “announce” that we will be going to find a parking space to watch the Timber Town Toy Land Electric Light Parade on Saturday and I hope to get pictures that I will update this post with later.

The Festival of Lights is now over 20 years old and a great way to kick off the holiday season. It’s ALL Volunteer and NON-Profit.  It began as a fundraiser sponsored by the Rotary Club to help get the city out of debt and then took on a life of its own and now helps with scholarships and special projects. The festival runs every night from Thanksgiving to New Years and was perfect for this year since it is a truly socially distant event.  You can drive your own car or take a horse drawn carriage ride (normally and hopefully the carriage rides will be back in 2021) through the displays.  They have also coordinated a local radio station to listen to as you view the displays.  The night we went through the fog was moving in early so a few of the pictures look a bit “smoky”.

As of that year they have the world’s tallest (41 feet, 16,000 pounds with  working jaw) nutcracker built by a local company (unfortunately the nutcracker was a no-show for 2020 because of COVID), 500,00 lights, 90 animated displays, 3D displays, horse drawn carriage rides through the displays and a Holiday Village with Santa, hot cider with a bake sale and a synchronized light show in the courtyard (also closed this year due to COVID).  The displays depict fairy tales, the military, patriotism, the local logging industry, local vineyards, local fishing and the traditional Christmas songs and scenes.  People come from all over to see it. Unfortunately for locals, it doesn’t change much, but is still fun every few years. The lights were all the same this year though!

Three of my favorite munchkins from next door were coincidentally there that same night we were so had to snap a few pictures of the discussions with Santa.  They were sooooo young!

Even the lights with errors turned out cute.  It was difficult to get great pictures or continuous pictures of the animated scenes since there were so many cars behind us.

This snowman is on a corner in our neighborhood hugging a light standard.

Last year we went to HOLIDAY LIGHTS at Shore Acres on the Oregon coast.  ALL of our travel is “AROUND” Christmas and never ON Christmas. And while it was beautiful I am so glad to be home with nowhere to go until 2020.  We arrived fairly early, just before dusk so we could walk through and get the lay of the land before walking through a second time after dark.  The displays were animated and themed.

Shore Acres is literally perched on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean and began as a private estate for Louis J. Simpson, a shipbuilder. Simpson developed the 3 story mansion complete with an indoor heated pool and ballroom as his “summer home”.  The surrounding grounds included 5 acres of formal gardens full of shrubs , trees and flowering plants brought from around the world by himself and various lumbermen.  There is even a 100 foot lily pond and caretaker’s cottage.  The cottage still stands and was really decorated cute!  I’d live there.  I really wish I had seen the original mansion, but it has since been torn down after a fire in 1921 and the rebuild was never finished because of the depression and fell into disrepair.  Oregon bought the property in 1942 for use as a public park.  The gardens, lily pond and caretakers cottage were restored while the mansion was razed.

Shore Acres Holiday Lights is by decorated sponsors and volunteers.  This was the 33rd Annual event. and is famous for its beautiful 7 acre botanical gardens and Japanese lily pond on the Oregon coast among the trees.  It has over 350,000 lights, animated displays, Santa, choirs… A beautiful holiday tradition for the whole family.

Even on the years we travel to SIL’s party, we are home by Christmas itself.  I love having our tree and decorations with a relaxed Christmas Day schedule.  We do try and take 1 trip to see some sort of “City Sidewalks” type event.

These are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to Holiday Lights at Shore Acres on the coast last year.  We took some time to play in a couple of the small towns and stayed over so we didn’t have to drive the windy roads late at night in the rain. We were fortunate to be able to have lunch with an old friend to catch up the next day before we drove home.  It was super rainy, COLD as all get out, but ALSO really beautiful. It’s a walking tour so umbrellas were a MUST, but also a hindrance at really seeing the true beauty of it all.

• Sandwich makings – roast beef, ham, cheeses
• Potato Salad
• See’s Candy boxes
• Wintergreen ribbon candy
• Chocolate covered cherries

CHRISTMAS DAY – This is where we dug out the REAL fine china and crystal as well as the silver and cloth napkins.  I loved setting the table for this meal. There were always enough people that we had a KID’S table too.  I hated the kid’s table – all the good stuff was sitting at the grown-up’s table.

• Roast Turkey, Baked Ham or Roast Beef
• Daddy’s Stuffing – now recreated from scratch to taste virtually the same as my Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing
• Mashed Potatoes from scratch – it was these potato peels that were one of the biggest garbage disposal problems
• Giblet Gravy
• Cranberry Sauce – my family always used Ocean Spray from a can but nowadays we make my homemade sauce ALWAYS  – Cranberry Sauce
  
• Baked Ham – in later years it was always HONEYBAKED HAM and I loved making Split Pea soup with the left over bone.
• Glazed Carrots
• Green Bean Casserole (THEN) Brussels Sprouts Casserole (NOW) 😀
  
• Gran’s cranberry salad – she’d make two, one for mom and aunt Liz and one for everyone else.
• Rolls and butter
• Traditional pies like pumpkin, Cherry and as well as Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake.
• See’s Candies

When we go to my SIL’s family for Christmas (or any other big family get together)  we do Hor’deouvres style.   The family is so big that over the years we have found that if each person brings an hor’deouvre to feed 10+ people that we can make a HUGE feast.  We just serve it buffet style (skipping the sit down meal) and mingle and play – it is ALWAYS the best time.

CINNAMON BUN CUPCAKES
CUPCAKES
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 LARGE eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons PURE vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

• Pre-heat oven to 350°.
• Line cupcake tins with papers.
• Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.
• Whisk eggs for about 1 minute. They will become frothy and lightened in color.
• Add oil and whisk again until combined.
• Add sugar and whisk for about 1 minute.
• Add vanilla extract.
• Add sour cream to the batter, whisking until combined
• Now add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk gently. Whisk batter until JUST until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX!

CINNAMON SWIRL
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar

• Make the Cinnamon Swirl: mix 1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of white sugar. Set aside.

ASSEMBLY

• Now start by pouring about 1 heaping tablespoon of the batter on the bottom of each cupcake tin.
• Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the Cinnamon Swirl mixture.
• Top with another heaping tablespoon of batter.
• Now, sprinkle another 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon Swirl mixture over batter.
• Top with another heaping tablespoon of batter.
• Using a toothpick, swirl the batter a few times to create a swirl effect.
• Top already swirled cupcakes with one final 1/2 teaspoon of the Cinnamon Swirl mixture.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, checking halfway to rotate pans.
• Remove from the oven once cupcakes are lightly golden brown and puffed.
• Cool 10 minutes.

GLAZE
+/- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
+/- 2 tablespoons milk

• Mix powdered sugar and milk together.

NOTES:  There are many factors that will affect your glaze consistency.  The brand of sugar you use, whether you use a scale or a measuring cup…  If your glaze is too thin and runny, add more sifted powdered sugar and test for consistency again.  If the glaze is too thick and not spreading, add a very, very small amount (1 teaspoon) of milk at a time, until you achieve your desired consistency.

GRASSHOPPER BROWNIES
11 ounce package dark chocolate pieces
1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Creme-de-Menthe Filling (BELOW)
Dark Chocolate Ganache (BELOW)

• In a medium saucepan, melt and stir 4 ounces (3/4 cup) of the dark chocolate pieces, butter, and the unsweetened chocolate over low heat.
• Remove from heat; cool.
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Grease foil; set aside.
• Stir sugar into the cooled chocolate mixture in saucepan.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon JUST until combined.
• Stir in vanilla.
• In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture, stirring just until combined.
• Stir in the remaining 7 ounces (1-1/2 cups) dark chocolate pieces. Spread batter evenly in the prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
• Spread Creme-de-Menthe Filling over cooled brownies.
• Place uncut brownies in the refrigerator while preparing the Dark Chocolate Ganache.
• Spread slightly cooled Dark Chocolate Ganache over Creme de Menthe Filling, spreading to the edges with a spatula.
• Cover and chill about 1 hour or until set. Using the edges of the foil, lift the uncut brownies out of the pan. Cut into bars.
• Place brownies in a single layer in an airtight container; cover. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

CREME-DE-MENTHE FILLING
3 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons GREEN creme de menthe
Milk (optional)

• In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and butter.
• Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.
• Gradually beat in 1 cup of the powdered sugar.
• Beat in creme-de-menthe.
• Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar. If necessary beat in 1 tablespoon of additional milk to make the filling slightly thicker than a frosting

CHOCOLATE GANACHE
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 11 ounce package dark chocolate pieces

• In a medium saucepan, bring whipping cream JUST to boiling over medium-high heat.
• Remove from heat.
• Add dark chocolate pieces (do not stir).
• Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth.
• Cool for 15 minutes.
• Pour over brownies and QUICKLY spread evenly.

NOTE: You can substitute 2 tablespoons milk, 1/2 teaspoon mint extract, and several drops of green food coloring for the GREEN Creme-de-menthe.

Here are some of my FAVORITE RECIPE LINKS to make for a crowd. They make some pretty impressive foods and drinks for a buffet table.

• BRIGADEIROS
• CHRISTMAS RUM PUNCH
• CARROT LEMONADE
• BAKED CARAMEL PEARS
• FRENCH PEAR TART

WOW this is a HUGE category!  I HAVE SO MANY FAVORITES! 

Because of growing families with plenty of munchkins being born and in-laws to accommodate, one of hubby’s sister’s family traditions is to celebrate the weekend before as a LARGE group and then be at each respective home for Christmas itself or with their in-laws.  As the family has grown, Christmas dinner became a larger and larger production.  Eventually instead of a “dinner”  it became a “cocktail” party with each person bringing an appetizer type dish for 20.  So Christmas dinner became a HAPPY HOUR and it has worked out fantastic over the years.  Everyone pretty much has a “signature” dish so we end up with a WIDE variety of everything from homemade Egg Nog to Salads and Chicken Skewers on the BBQ with plenty of tasty fudges and goodies too.

A few years back some friends took us to lunch at Jack Allen’s Kitchen when we were visiting in Round Rock, Texas and the food was SOOOOOOOOO good that I bought the cook book and have been experimenting ever since.

One of our favorite recipes is for pimento cheese spread made from scratch.  I now make it in bite sized balls so you don’t have to mess with a knife and and all the cracker crumbs.

I had some fresh pecans and ground them fine.  Then I rolled the cheese spread into small balls and then rolled each one in the pecans.  I chilled them overnight and then used toothpicks for serving. Sorry I didn’t get a picture when they were on the pretty plate.

PIMIENTO CHEESE
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1/2 pound Medium Cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup Duke’s mayonnaise
1 large Red Bell Pepper, washed, seeded, roasted and chopped fine
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Sherry Vinegar*
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• Mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, Vinegar and salt until smooth.
• Blend in the grated Monterey Jack cheese and grated Cheddar cheese.
• Fold in bell pepper until well distributed.
• Chill well.
• Serve with crackers.

NOTE: *I didn’t have any so I used Golden Balsamic Vinegar

We also love to make VAMPIRE SLAYER ARTICHOKE BREAD and cut it into small bites for appetizers. OMG This appetizer replaces any entree – it’s ooey, gooey, cheesy and literally melts in your mouth all the while tantalizing your taste buds from the very first bite!

VAMPIRE SLAYER ARTICHOKE BREAD Adapted from Crumb
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced fine

Another of our go to “PARTY” foods that I tend to only make at Christmas time is Cowgirl kisses.

COWGIRL KISSES
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons Foothill Salad Seasoning
1 slice bacon per pepper
Jalapeno Peppers
Raspberry Chipotle Sauce (see below)

• Mix cream cheese and Foothill Salad Seasoning until well blended.
• Clean and remove seeds from peppers.
• Fill peppers.
• Wrap each pepper with a slice of bacon.
• Bake or grill over low heat until bacon is crisp.
• Serve with raspberry chipotle sauce.

RASPBERRY CHIPOTLE SAUCE
1 cup Raspberry Jam
2 tablespoons diced chipotle peppers
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider or rice wine vinegar

• Whisk all ingredients until well blended.
• Chill until ready to serve.
• Warm before serving.

There are literally thousands of different advent calendars. These days most are promotional items and come in every form from daily chocolates to beers. You can make your own, find them on ETSY, EBAY… but what do they stand for? What is advent?

Advent itself is Christian followers remembering the birth of Christ in celebration of His birth and the anticipation of His return. Advent originates from Latin meaning “coming” or “arrival. Advent begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas.

This year the first Sunday was November 29th, the second was December 6th and the third one is today. The third one is also known as Gaudette Sunday and is a time of rejoicing that the fast is almost over.

Advent calendars are a cute little way to help kids not only countdown to Christmas, but also learn along the way. Many families offer up a daily scripture or devotional reading to go along with the chocolate treat as a way to stay focused on the reason for the season.

Many families also use an Advent Wreath, burning the candles as they countdown to Christmas. Each week features a different liturgical theme. Traditionally the first week features hope and expectation of the Jewish people as they await the Saviour’s arrival and reminding Christian believers to wait for Jesus’ second coming. The second week focuses on preparation and the third week celebrates the coming of the Messiah while the final week celebrates God’s peace and love.

Both royal purple and Sarum blue are used to symbolize the preparation, penitence and royalty to welcome the new king at Christmas time while purple is also used as the color of suffering during the week of Lent and Holy Week. Most churches have shifted their emphasis to the Sarum blue for Advent and reserving the royal purple for the Easter season. Pink replaces the blue in week 4 as a shift happens to lessen the emphasis of penitence and turn the attention to the celebration of the season.

Red and green derive from old European practices using evergreens and holly to symbolize the ongoing life and hope that Christ’s birth brings to the world. Red and green are NOT actually liturgical colors for the season.

WOW there are so many! One of my earliest favorites was when I was 5 and I got my tea table and chairs – my uncle sure looked silly sitting at that table drinking tea with me 😀

Then when  I was 9 my aunt came to visit from Texas for Christmas and was sitting on the floor in a leather dress playing Barrel of Monkeys with the younger kids.

My grandfather worked for General Electric as an X-ray technician of sorts (he oversaw the installation and calibration of X-ray equipment) and one year he brought home a GE Snow tree and ornaments (I still don’t know the correlation between between being an X-ray technician and Christmas trees). Anyway this tree had a HUGE cardboard base and once the tree was up and decorated you filled this base with thousands of tiny Styrofoam balls and when you turned the switch on, the tree would make it’s own snow.  As a kid I thought it was pretty cool, but as an adult I look back and realize what a MESS it made!! Especially when the wind was blowing and static electricity was high – those damn balls stuck to EVERYTHING!

More recent years there was an arctic storm a few years back that blew in and all of a sudden everything turned white. This was our first snowstorm of the season, and just before Christmas.

Hubby made this for me to wake up to in the back yard before the snow got too bad.  The house across the street usually looked horrible, but NOT when it was under a blanket of snow.

Unfortunately, being in a cul-de-sac, delivery trucks leave MANY tire tracks at this time of year to mar the beautiful snow cover.

The first day after he storm was absolutely gorgeous though!

The duck pond behind the neighborhood was truly a work of art.

Obviously we hadn’t gone anywhere – no tire tracks!

The fish ladder was like glass with the cold and ice.

This is one of my favorite fun categories! Hubby and I do stockings for each other full of things we each like and are always looking for new ways to surprise each other.  I’m always on the look out for special little items that I tuck away all year long waiting for just this day.  Since the kids are grown hubby gets my FULL attention and he hates it (sort of) because he says he isn’t as good at reciprocating the stocking process.  But, he tries hard and is getting better at it every year.  EVERY year though he complains about having to actually make things ‘fit’ into something stocking shaped. We usually find a way to sneak in a handful of lottery scratchers.

Bailey, our NISSE is watching over the stocking to keep hubby from peeking. 😀 but, here’s a sneak peek of hubby’s stocking for this year. It will have some of his favorite jerky, a few fun bottles of his favorite spirits, some “coal” whiskey stones, a pickle fork, new military themes “masks” as well as a FUN BAH HUMBURG mask for the holiday, various candies, some camo coasters for his drinks…

We also both have “wish” lists, but they are really small as we really don’t need anything so once again we are always looking for the special item that will surprise the other. 😀 My list for this year hasn’t changed much since this last year has been so full of pandemic drama and unanswered questions.

Christmas Past is a COMPLETELY subjective category. LOL 😀 I keep seeing the ghost of Christmas Past from A Christmas Carol roaming through my head.

The older I get, the more I realize that it’s the traditions and the memories that weave our holidays together. It’s little things like the who puts the lights on the tree or the angel on top of it. It’s the favorite recipes that you only make at Christmas time. It’s the laughter of the munchkins each morning as they discover what mischief the Elf has gotten into. It’s a baking day with the munchkins making your favorite traditional recipes to share on Giving plates to the neighbors…

3 years ago was a VERY unusual Christmas for us with my surgery and it’s life altering outcome, but we did follow many of our normal traditions like putting up the tree, Christmas Eve service with our neighbor who attended the same church and Christmas Eve dinner at a friends (even if I couldn’t eat anything 😀 ). Two years was a little more “normal”, whatever that is. And last year I felt like I was getting my “normal” back and looked forward to the traditions and even the stresses of the holiday.  Then there is this year during the pandemic that is changing EVERYTHING! It is also making the PAST seem like a cake walk.

This category for me is also subjective based on where we are living at the time. We are in the cold of the Pacific Northwest, but it’s kinda dry this year.  A couple of my favorite Christmases were when we were in Upper Peninsula, Michigan.  Maybe it was the trees, the water and the snow, but for me it was also the old churches.  There is so much history there. 

These are 2 of my favorite country churches from Michigan.  I took these pictures in 2011 at Christmas time ON THE SAME DAY, just minutes apart. That’s how fast weather changes with lake effect snow!

I JUST LOVE OLD CHURCHES! The bottom 3 pictures are from a REALLY neat old stone church in the middle of town.
But, my favorite country church is from a teeny tiny little town called Mansfield. It was once a growing little town until there was a mine disaster.  Now all that exists is the monument to the disaster, the church and a few random homes.