BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 29 ~ PRESENTS ~ BLOG 365.356

When does your family open their presents? Christmas Eve, Christmas Day – different times based on which side of the family?

This category has changed a lot over the years for me as I have gotten older and had my own family. Being a military family on a tight budget I’ve always  in the past started shopping early (like in January) to work everything in that we wanted to do so that it fit into our tight budget. It just became a habit 😀

But, my family traditions as a kid were of a BIG Christmas eve open with lots of family around. That carried on through college, but as we (cousins) all got older and started careers with odd work hours and began getting married with families of our own, our grandparents passed on, some of us moved away, blended families (each with their own traditions) were formed, etc… getting together for both Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day became harder and harder to do. 

Eventually Christmas eve became a MUCH smaller event for mainly immediate family. We would have a small dinner and open our gifts to each other that night. Christmas morning was for being at our respective homes with our own kids opening presents and then the larger family get together much later on Christmas day for dinner at just one place, usually my grandparent’s or parent’s house and then eventually it was at our house after my dad passed away.

These days with everyone all over the country, both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are mainly just hubby and I with LOTS of phone calls to family and friends and we open our gifts on Christmas morning.

We usually attend the Christmas party at the Eagles which this year has been blended into a Christmas Dance that I’m in the kitchen for a special meal of Tri-tip sandwiches made by our president with sides of homemade baked beans and pasta salad made by my girlfriend and I (we’re making them today in fact 😀 Hubby and will deliver the neighbor plates and gifts to friends on Christmas Eve. 😀

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 28 ~ HOMAMADE GIFTS & the RECIPES and LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS~ BLOG 365.355

I’m a Virgo and as such tend to make lists and be over-prepared as a general rule.  So, the only last minute gifts I tend to need are a couple extras for those unexpected visits that come up like a surprise gift from a neighbor.

A few of the “things” I keep on hand (with a festive ribbon already tied to them) for those occasions are:

  • Coffee gift cards
  • Homemade JARS such as the Patchwork Bean Soup, Rice Pilaf or Holiday Nut Bread mixes like I did this year
  • Soft, comfy lap blankets
  • Homemade applesauce
  • Homemade jam
  • And closer to the actual day a plate full of homemade goodies

Homemade, store bought, gift cards… What do you prefer?  What are your thoughts about each? I do buy gifts and have even done gifts cards in a pinch, but prefer to not do gift cards as a general rule because they just aren’t personal enough for me.

Over the years I have made everything, and I do mean everything at one time or another to create a handmade Christmas. I’ve made rolls and rolls of butcher paper into wrapping paper, cut grocery bags into handmade tags, made enough fudge, cinnamon rolls, candies and cookies to feed a small country, as well as jams, jellies, soup mixes and Snowman soup!

My award winning jams were requested one year at the Church Christmas Boutique and I ended up selling there for another 10 years before we moved.  Now I make just enough for gifts for neighbors and family.  I started making Snowman Soup about 20 years ago for the girl scouts and it was a HUGE seller at our gift wrap days and later for the Church Boutique.

Several years ago I missed the big Christmas Crafts Festival at the fairgrounds because of an ice storm, but I’ve tried to be at every one since! Then it didn’t happen a couple years because of the pandemic. This year was the 50th annual year. I normally go on Friday because there are fewer people, but we had a HUGE storm that weekend and everyone knew it was coming so I think they ALL went on Friday! It wasn’t as enjoyable as in years past though. LOL that didn’t stop me from getting much of my Christmas shopping done. 
For the things I don’t make myself, I am at least buying from local crafters.
As for receiving, I love ANYTHING handmade.  I’m a BIG believer that it’s the thought that counts and that caring action ALWAYS touches my heart though I’m partial to cotton crocheted dishcloths, my brothers photographs, my mom’s quilted totes and ANYTHING food.
I only have a couple baskets left to wrap of the homemade jars and goodies and WILL finish today so that everything can be distributed Saturday and Sunday 😀
Here are the recipes for what I’ve made this year. They are super simple to make and really tasty.
PATCHWORK BEAN SOUP – This recipe make 5 quarts.
1/2 cup black eyed peas
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup split green peas
1/2 cup red beans
1/2 cup split yellow peas
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup great northern beans
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • In a quart mason jar layer the ingredients in the order above for the best color. Gently bump the jar periodically to settle the ingredients as you go.
  • Add a gift tag and colorful ribbon with instructions for preparing the soup.
When making the Holiday Nut Bread be sure to pack the ingredients as tightly as possible. These fill the jar COMPLETELY!
HOLIDAY NUT BREAD – makes 1 quart
1/3 cup PACKED brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped apricots** (see note)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Add brown sugar to quart jar and press in as firmly as possible.
  • Add walnuts, pressing firmly.
  • Add sugar.
  • Add dried fruit, pressing gently.
  • Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Layer flour mixture over the fruit, gently bumping down the jar to settle the ingredients.
  • Seal with lid
  • Add a gift tag and colorful ribbon with instructions for preparing.
NOTE: I like to use a combination of dried apricots, golden raisins, craisins and dried cherries, but you could use any combination or single fruit you like according to your flavor preferences.
RICE PILAF – makes 5 pints
9 cups long grain rice
3/4 cup Parsley
3 tablespoons dried onion
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme
  • Divide rice evenly into 5 pint mason jars.
  • Whisk together the seasonings.
  • Divide seasonings evenly into the top of the pint jars.
  • Add a gift tag and colorful ribbon with instructions for preparing.

 

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 27 WRAPPING IDEAS ~ BLOG 365.354

I touched on this topic a bit in a prior post. But, just giving you some ideas didn’t seem like enough. There are questions. Lots of questions 😀 There are so many ways to wrap or bag presents!!

Do you save paper from year to year? My grandmother always neatly unwrapped her packages so she could save the paper to re-wrap something in the future.

Do you make your own fabrics or papers? My cousin is an artist and loves to die her own fabrics that she uses to wrap gifts in.

Do you write directly on the paper or bag or do you like cute gift tags? Do you make your own? Do you use last year’s cards to make this year’s tags? I do ALL of these!

Do you prefer gift bags? Do you use tissue paper? For me it depends on the size and shape of the gift to be wrapped. I like gift bags some of the time 😀

Do you use bows or ribbons or both? Do you add stickers? Do you add ornaments? Do you use decorative tapes? Once again I have been known to do ALL of the above – it really depends on my mood and time frame for wrapping.

Do you disguise the gift in the way you wrap them to try and confuse the receiver?

Or do you a little bit of all of the above?

I wrapped as I went again this year and boy does that make things easier than facing a large pile of gifts to wrap all at one time! I also went pretty simply with color coordinated papers, matching ribbons, cute little tags or their favorite character ornaments and colored twines – mainly because I was using the rest of the supplies I bought last year. For the munchkins I always have some fun ornament style tags made.

There are so MANY fun ideas to try ALL over PINTEREST, but these are some of my favorites!  These are also some simpler, but classic ideas! I LOVE that some of them are so creative and use plainer papers – papers that can be used year round and then spruced up for whatever the occasion is. SIMPLE IS GOOD and CLASSIC!

 

 

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 26 ~ WINTER WONDERLAND & PARADES ~ BLOG 365.353

2013 – the year of the “white” one 😀 was the first truly white Christmas we had here. I have HIGH hopes for this year though.
That year hubby made this for me to wake up to in the back yard before the snow got too bad. The house across the street looked horrible that year, but NOT when it was under a blanket of snow. The “new” (2 years now) neighbors who purchased that house have made some rather nice updates.
Unfortunately, being in a cul-de-sac, delivery tracks leave MANY tire tracks at this time of year to mar the beautiful snow cover.
Even Rudolph was shivering that year! Last year as he was donated to charity😀
The first day after the 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.

The Festival of Lights is 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 just before Thanksgiving to New Years. So, if you have company in town for Thanksgiving it’s a great jump start to your holidays. You can drive your own car or take a horse drawn carriage ride 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”.They have the world’s tallest (41 feet, 16,000 pounds with a working jaw) nutcracker built by a local company, 500,000 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 as well as a synchronized light show in the courtyard. 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.

That year 3 of my favorite munchkins were coincidentally there the same night we were so I had to snap a few pictures of their discussions with Santa. They have grown SOOOOOOOO much! The two oldest now tower over me!
Every year we also go to the Tinsel Town Timber Parade and the last couple of years the Eagles have had a float entered, but this year it started from our garage. The past couple years have been REALLY cold, but this year added in the fog making it REALLY eerie. The first set of pictures is from 2 years ago and the last 3 are from this year.

The fire truck below is the same one as above which really shows the fog difference!

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 25 ~ CHRISTMAS EVE PJ’S & BOOKS ~ BLOG 365.352B

I’ve always wondered why and where the tradition of matching PJ’s came from for Christmas. While I was searching for that answer I also came across the Icelandic tradition of spending Christmas Eve reading and drinking cocoa. What could be more relaxing than donning comfy new PJ’s and curling up with a good book and hot cup of cocoa?

Country Living and Southern Living articles were my main sources of good information. Jolabokflod was also a great source of the founding story for the Icelandic tradition.

Jolabokaflod, which translates roughly to a Christmas book flood and really sounds like the best way to spend Christmas Eve to me since I love to read EVERY night! All I need is a cozy fireplace and cup of hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows to make it perfect.

So let’s start with why Icelanders Spend Every Christmas Eve Reading Books and Drinking Cocoa. Jolabokaflod started during World War II, when paper was one of the few things not rationed in Iceland. For this reason Icelanders gave books as gifts because so many other commodities were in short supply. Ultimately this turned them into a country of bookaholics. According to jolabokaflod.org this increase of giving books for presents has reinforced their cultural concept of being known as bookaholics.

Kristjan B. Jonasson, president of the Iceland Publishers Association, told NPR, “The culture of giving books as presents is very deeply rooted in how families perceive Christmas as a holiday. Normally, we give the presents on the night of the 24th and people spend the night reading. In many ways, it’s the backbone of the publishing sector here in Iceland.”

Since 1944, the Icelandic book trade has sent out a book bulletin to each household in the middle of November each year when the Reykjavik Book Fair happens. People use this catalogue to order books to give to their friends and family on Christmas Eve, the main gift-giving day in Iceland. After all the presents (books) are opened, everyone grabs a cup of hot chocolate and cozies up to spend the rest of the evening reading their new books.

And for a bit more of the worldwide growth of Jolabokaflod here is a bit more history on how it is coming to focus.

In October 2015, Christopher Norris, a senior executive-level media, publishing and social entrepreneur, was invited by BookMachine to write a regular blog posting for members of this international publishing community to read, having written a well-received piece about the future of publishing: ‘Publishing 2020: an Advent calendar of change‘. As he researched topics to write about, he read an in-depth review in The Bookseller about the book trade in Iceland, ‘In depth: Iceland’s book market‘, and came across Jólabókaflóðið for the first time.

As Christopher was a pioneer of World Book Day in the UK, serving on the steering committee for the inaugural event in 1996-7, he realized that the Icelandic tradition offered a fabulous opportunity to promote book buying and reading within the same initiative, so the seeds of Jolabokaflod CIC were planted.

Urged on by the BookMachine team, Christopher launched the UK-version of Jolabokaflod at an RSA Bounce event in London for entrepreneurs in November 2015.

In December 2015, on a business trip to New York, Christopher met with Hlynur Guðjónsson, Consul General and Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Iceland in New York, to share the vision of spreading the custom and practice of Jólabókaflóðið to the UK and beyond. Mr Guðjónsson gave Christopher’s Jolabokaflod plans his endorsement and facilitated contact with Icelandic organizations of potential mutual interest, including embassies and book trade bodies, players in annual ‘Christmas book flood’.

At Christmas 2015, Christopher encouraged people all over the world to experience Jólabókaflóðið, the joy of giving books as gifts and reading them over the festive period, in a series of published articles and blog postings.

Between March and October 2016, the Jolabokaflod initiative launched its first crowdfunding project at CrowdPatch – called The Icelanders Cometh – which built on the strong connection with Icelandic literature by seeking funds for UK libraries to spend on books published in English by Icelandic authors. The project raised 103% of its target figure.

In November 2016, Christopher started a new Jolabokaflod-related crowdfunding project, to publish a UK version of the Book Bulletin that captures book recommendations and personal/professional profiles for sharing with people seeking to buy Christmas gifts for their friends and families. This project concluded successfully in February 2017, just after a Gala launch party held at the Hotel Café Royal. The Book Bulletin is now an annual campaign.

In spring 2017, Christopher established two companies to promote the ‘Christmas book flood’ tradition: Jolabokaflod CIC (a not-for-profit social enterprise); and Jolabokaflod Book Campaign Ltd (a commercial trading company).

Global interest in Jolabokaflod CIC at the London Book Fair in March 2017 sparked a year of visiting trade expos to spread the word around the world about the Christmas book flood tradition, notably to BookExpo America in May 2017 and the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2017. International trade fairs continue to be vital to sharing the Jólabókaflóðið concept with the global book trade.

Jolabokaflod CIC and Jolabokaflod Book Campaign Ltd are on rapid growth curves, with interest expressed from people everywhere in the book trade and externally from the general public. Our founding story is far from complete.

So now that you’re ready to curl up in front of the fire with your new book and a cup of cocoa how about a new pair of matching PJ’s to go with the ambiance of the evening? Warm and cozy pajamas are in my opinion the perfect complement to snuggling up by the fireplace to read or watch Christmas movies.

Christmas PJ’s are the new ugly Christmas sweater – cute, kitschy and perfect for Instagramming, especially when the WHOLE family is wearing matching outfits. You are hard pressed to get through the season without seeing department store displays, catalogs or Christmas movies – especially in this age of multiple social media platforms. They have become so popular that many families have made them a holiday tradition each year. The tradition had begun to die off, but social media and influencers have revived it in a BIG way. A family from North Carolina released a music video parody on YouTube titled “Christmas Jammies,” in 2013 which they hilariously recap their year while sporting red-and-green sleepwear. The video went viral with over more than 18 million views making #ChristmasJammies a wildly popular Instagram hashtag.

But seriously how and where did such a strange tradition – one where grown men willingly suit up in festive onesies in the name of twinning with their 2-year-old—even start?

According to fashion historian Debbie Sessions, the holiday uniform first gained traction well before the dawn of social media. As early as the ’50s, holiday department store catalogs would advertise festive get-ups, aka PJ’s as we know them today, adorned with stripes, checks, and other holiday motifs for the whole family. The trend inevitably took off, sticking around steadily through the ’60s, ’70s, and ‘80s. Some companies even customize the PJ’s to match the books.

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 24 ~ STOCKING STUFFER IDEAS & WISH LIST

For me, stuffing stockings is one of my favorite things to do. 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 have stopped “BIG” presents to each other so the stocking is our “main” or “BIG” present. We did convert to larger “bag” stockings and we individually wrap the presents inside the “stocking” for more fun. I found these cute bags at Marshalls a couple years ago. These bags are soooooo much easier!!
In the past I donated most of our leftover wrapping resources to our local Eagles Lodge for their charitable endeavors and the float they decorated for the parade. So, it was fun to pick out some new wrapping papers this year.

These pictures are from the last few years.

As for a WISH list, it gets smaller every year – we really do NOT need anything!

 

 

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 23 ~ FAVORITE FAMILY TRADITIONS ~ BLOG 365.350B

This has always been a really hard category for me.  I LOVE Christmas!  There is nothing about this season I don’t like short of maybe crowds of rude people and Black Friday.

Sometimes seeing things through someone else’s eyes can give the same old traditions new meaning and in the long run that can also make the favorite traditions and the memories mean even that much more.

If I had to pick just one tradition though, it would be putting up the tree as a family while eating leftover turkey (from Thanksgiving) sandwiches. When I was a kid we usually put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving and would leave it until at least Kings Day, the Epiphany on January 6th.

Hubby and I USUALLY still do that and for that reason we like to go cut our own tree so it’s fresh and lasts the entire time. I use an apple cider/sugar mix that keeps the sap from forming on the cut area and keeps the water cool and full. But, again this is the year we broke with tradition and used the artificial tree, putting it up before Halloween and had prime rib for Thanksgiving so didn’t have any leftover turkey for the sandwiches 🙁

When I was a kid we did a BIG family get together with a HUGE buffet of fun food and we opened our family presents on Christmas Eve. My cousins and I were recently reminiscing about some of those holidays and LOL how horrible our wardrobes were back then. Thankfully, I’m not in the top picture because I remember what I was wearing! But I love my brother’s plaid pants and Monica’s floral blouse. If you don’t hear from me for a few days I’m SURE it’s because one them found me after seeing that I posted this picture LOL 😀😀FORTUNATELY, My mom retired that tablecloth finally! I never did like it so that made me very happy!

Then on Christmas Day we would do Christmas morning and “Santa” with just the immediate family followed by a BIG turkey dinner with all the trimmings including my dad’s stuffing and giblet gravy with ALL the family as well as extended family, which included crazy Aunt Louise and Uncle Herb. I replicated dad’s stuffing recipe a few years ago (Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing) and that is now a MUST TRADITION for the Christmas meal no matter what the protein is.

Hubby reminded me recently that a fun tradition we did when our youngest was at home was birthday cake for Christmas morning. LOL I didn’t really consider this a “Christmas” tradition so have never really talked about it. Eric’s birthday is on Christmas. My cousin’s is on Christmas Eve and I grew up watching her feel slighted because so many people would round her birthday and Christmas into one big ball. After we grew up I would send her birthday present wrapped in bright colorful paper in October 😀 She always knew she could open it early and it made her feel better. In that tradition I would make Eric a birthday cake for breakfast and we would start Christmas morning with birthday and then transition into Christmas around the tree.

But, what was is just that, WAS so our newest tradition in the last several years is watching Christmas movies, just the two of us and dreaming about moving to every small town depicted in them, kind of like Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls.  We loved that show!

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 22 ~ INSPIRATIONS & FAVORITE STORIES ~ BLOG 365.349

Every year I think about the world and all that is going on around us looking for way to make Christmas better for others. This year has been different than others in this post pandemic era, but the need is still great so it has also been rewarding to be able to help others.

I’m actually a little late with this post because my friend, a social worker reached out hoping to add a last minute family of 7 to our list. I was especially touched when she told me it was a “whole” family struggling, but asking for everyday practical thing like tires which made me want to make it as special as possible with items they needed, but were fun too!

I’m always searching for inspiring stories that show the goodness in people as well as the true meaning of the season with maybe an uncanny miracle too. Here are a few new stories I found this year:

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THE TRUTH ABOUT SANTA
A Wonderful Way To Explain Santa To Kids Without Them Feeling Lied To
In our family, we have a special way of transitioning the kids from receiving from Santa, to becoming a Santa. This way, the Santa construct is not a lie that gets discovered, but an unfolding series of good deeds and Christmas spirit.

When they are 6 or 7, whenever you see that dawning suspicion that Santa may not be a material being, that means the child is ready.

I take them out “for coffee” at the local wherever. We get a booth, order our drinks, and the following pronouncement is made:
“You sure have grown an awful lot this year. Not only are you taller, but I can see that your heart has grown, too. [ Point out 2-3 examples of empathetic behavior, consideration of people’s feelings, good deeds etc, the kid has done in the past year]. In fact, your heart has grown so much that I think you are ready to become a Santa Claus.

You probably have noticed that most of the Santas you see are people dressed up like him. Some of your friends might have even told you that there is no Santa. A lot of children think that, because they aren’t ready to BE a Santa yet, but YOU ARE. Tell me the best things about Santa. What does Santa get for all of his trouble? [lead the kid from “cookies” to the good feeling of having done something for someone else]. Well, now YOU are ready to do your first job as a Santa!”

Make sure you maintain the proper conspiratorial tone.
We then have the child choose someone they know–a neighbor, usually. The child’s mission is to secretly, deviously, find out something that the person needs, and then provide it, wrap it, deliver it–and never reveal to the target where it came from. Being a Santa isn’t about getting credit, you see. It’s unselfish giving.

My oldest chose the “witch lady” on the corner. She really was horrible–had a fence around the house and would never let the kids go in and get a stray ball or Frisbee. She’d yell at them to play quieter, etc–a real pill. He noticed when we drove to school that she came out every morning to get her paper in bare feet, so he decided she needed slippers. So then he had to go spy and decide how big her feet were. He hid in the bushes one Saturday, and decided she was a medium. We went to Kmart and bought warm slippers. He wrapped them up, and tagged it “merry Christmas from Santa.” After dinner one evening, he slipped down to her house, and slid the package under her driveway gate. The next morning, we watched her waddle out to get the paper, pick up the present, and go inside. My son was all excited, and couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. The next morning, as we drove off, there she was, out getting her paper–wearing the slippers. He was ecstatic. I had to remind him that NO ONE could ever know what he did, or he wouldn’t be a Santa.

Over the years, he chose a good number of targets, always coming up with a unique present just for them. One year, he polished up his bike, put a new seat on it, and gave it to one of our friend’s daughters. These people were and are very poor. We did ask the dad if it was ok. The look on her face, when she saw the bike on the patio with a big bow on it, was almost as good as the look on my son’s face.

When it came time for Son #2 to join the ranks, my oldest came along, and helped with the induction speech. They are both excellent gifters, by the way, and never felt that they had been lied to–because they were let in on the Secret of Being a Santa.

CREDIT: Charity Hutchinson

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Here are a few more stories from CAMILLE STYLES that I found inspiring.

When Michigan resident Chad Rose just happened to have an extra Christmas tree that was used on his business’s parade float, he did what any decent person would do: he posted on Craigslist to give it away for free. For some, a tree is an annual necessity and integral part of the holidays, but for many it’s an expense that needs to be saved for daily essentials. After posting the ad, his inbox was immediately flooded with touching stories of why various families deserved to have the tree.

With each e-mail he read, it became clear how significant a simple tree can be in contributing to the holiday aura. One email, which he shared with MLive.com, read, “Having a real Christmas tree would be such a great blessing this year [because] usually we draw a Christmas tree on a large poster and hang it in the corner.” Realizing that $25 towards a tree was too much for some families to spare, Chad went out and bought 40 more to give away for free. He spent most of the next day going over his list of emails, checking it twice, and not paying much attention to who’s been naughty or nice – just deserving.

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Canadian airline WestJet delivered holiday cheer for 250 passengers on a flight to Calgary. The airline placed a digital Santa Claus at an airport, and asked passengers what they wanted for Christmas. While everyone was in the air, 175 WestJet workers sprinted to nearby stores and bought everything they asked ‘WestJet Santa’ for — from pairs of socks and underwear, to big-screen TVs. When the passengers arrived at their destination, every one was met with their dream gift at baggage claim.

This isn’t the first time WestJet has whipped out the holiday cheer, either. Last year, a flash mob of 150 volunteers performed a jolly dance in the waiting area for a red-eye flight, complete with Santa on the tarmac and stockings stuffed with new iPods.

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Sixteen year old Jordan Cox has a knack for extreme couponing, a talent he uses to help he and his struggling mom get by, according to the Telegraph. But this Christmas season, the savvy teen decided to also use his unique skill set to help struggling families in need. Jordan collected hundreds of coupons and purchased about $935 worth of groceries for less than a penny. He then donated it all to Doorstep, a nonprofit that disperses food to disadvantaged families.

“I decided I wanted to help as many people as I can, and to also show that it’s possible to shop very cheaply, if you know how,” Jordan said.

But my all time favorite is a true story from Pastor Rob Reid:

THE TABLECLOTH

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.

When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest – a driving rainstorm – hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?” The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the tablecloth.

The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a house-cleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving.

he man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?
He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between. The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride.

They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and there he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine and was blessed with the ultimate Christmas gift.

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 21 ~ BIG CHRISTMAS, TRAVEL or QUIET CHRISTMAS? ~ BLOG 365.348

Do you have a quiet Christmas or do a BIG gathering with family and friends planned or are you traveling over the holiday to somewhere special this year? Has they way you celebrate changed over the past few years?

Yet AGAIN there is another COVID and FLU strain this year as well as viral meningitis going around that concerns me a bit. I have several neighbors who went to BIG gatherings for Thanksgiving and now have COVID or the FLU 🙁 so it is still a concern for me as an immunocompromised person.

We’ve always been pretty much homebodies during the holidays. Then again we have always lived fairly close to family so traveling was only day trips or short distances. Personally, I cannot fathom traveling through an airport or train station with BIG crowds even before the pandemic. The one time we did travel over the holidays, we made a BIG trip out of it leaving well before the holiday and going home long after it.

When I was a kid one of my favorite traditions was that we did a BIG family get together with a buffet of food and opening our family presents on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, after my dad passed, much of this tradition fell by the wayside.

Then on Christmas Day we did Christmas morning at our respective homes with “Santa” gifts and just the immediate family. Then we would do a BIG turkey with all the trimmings including my dad’s old fashioned stuffing and giblet gravy with the entire family as well as extended family and friends, which included crazy Aunt Louise and Uncle Herb. At my brother’s request I replicated dad’s stuffing recipe a several years back (Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing) and that is now a MUST TRADITION for the Christmas meal no matter what the protein is.

Christmases for us now are MUCH MUCH smaller and our newest tradition in the last several years is watching our favorite traditional Christmas movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street as well as Hallmark Christmas movies and dreaming about moving to every small town depicted in them, kind of like Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls. We loved that show!

This year again we will be having a quiet Christmas with just the two of us. There are several Christmas events leading up to Christmas we will be participating in though. We are also hoping some friends will be able to join us for New Years, but there are no plans set in stone yet.

So what are your plans this year?

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 20 ~ FAVORITE CHRISTMAS FOODS with RECIPE LINKS ~ BLOG 365.347B

I’d like to say that our table always looked just like the one in the picture. Well Christmas day was usually pretty close, but Christmas Eve was ALWAYS much more casual. One of my earlier memories is of a very warm Christmas Day, a backed up sink/garbage disposal (I don’t think we ever had a holiday in that house where the garbage disposal didn’t have an issue of some sort) and then having to transport all the prepared food from my parent’s house to my grandparent’s house via my grandmother’s VERY RED (kind of like a Christmas sleigh) Chevy station wagon (remember those?) while my uncle and I sat in the back keeping the food from toppling over.

CHRISTMAS EVE – Served Buffet style since this was the night we did most of the present opening and the adults didn’t want to spend all their time in the kitchen – in later years we would have it catered (so to speak – they prepared the food, we picked it up and displayed it) from Rattler’s BBQ. We also began to use “FINE CHINA” as hubs calls it aka decorated paper plates, bowls and napkins.

  • 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. When I was younger I hated the kid’s table – all the good stuff was sitting at the grown-up’s table!

  • Roast Turkey, Baked Ham or Prime Rib
  • Daddy’s Stuffing – now recreated from scratch to taste virtually the same as my Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing
  • Mashed Potatoes ALWAYS from scratch – it was those 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 (though our oldest prefers canned sauce LOL 😀 and if he’s here I but a can just for him) Cranberry Sauce
  • Baked Ham – in later years it was always HONEYBAKED HAM and I loved making Split Pea soup with the left over ham 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. The family is so big now 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.

Here are a couple recipes that have been added to the MUST have during the holiday season pile over the years.

CRANBERRY BLISS BARS

CREME-DE-MENTHE BROWNIES aka GRASSHOPPER BROWNIES

CINNAMON BUN CUPCAKES

HONEY ROSEMARY ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

2022 NEIGHBOR PLATE

Here are a few of my FAVORITE RECIPE LINKS to make for a holiday crowd or for neighbor plates I make every year. They also make some pretty impressive foods and drinks for a buffet table.

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 19 ~ PARTY FOOD IDEAS ~ BLOG 365.346

WOW this is a HUGE category!  I HAVE SO MANY FAVORITES! BUT, this really is a SUPER easy topic and category for someone who loves to cook and bake.

The one thing I am noticing as I type each BLOGMAS entry is that I am remembering so many silly stories and anecdotes about aunts, uncles, cousins and such that keep bringing smiles to my face. These memories are part of what this season is all about to me

Because of our growing family branches 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 even on that weekend before 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, in essence 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 baked 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 with his recipes.

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

A few other ideas that we often have for “party” nights are:

These days with the popularity of charcuterie boards they have been added to the greatest meal category on a busy holiday eve. A charcuterie board to graze on while you work is a truly wonderful thing. 😃

This time of year can be stressful and super busy so to make things easier we have gone to making charcuterie boards on the “eve” nights of holidays. The word charcuterie sounds a bit intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.

Charcuterie Boards are suddenly all the rage, but the culinary art of preparing charcuterie boards dates back to the 15th century. The person who prepares the charcuterie board is a charcutier which literally means “Pork Butcher” in French. The original process/meaning was intended as a way to preserve meat before the invention of refrigeration, especially pork products.

The revived comeback of the charcuterie board brings it front and center to our tables and has been born out of the necessity of our busy lives as well as our love for farm to table and deli style meals that are also quick and easy.

Since the original meaning dealt with preserved meats, adding fermented, farm to table, home canned and prepared foods just falls into place along side the meats.

One of the best things about serving a charcuterie board at your own party is that there are NO RULES! It’s yours for the making – make it as simple or as sophisticated as YOU like. One of the greatest aspects of a charcuterie board is that you can mix it all up to fit EVERYONE’S taste.

You can make these as simple or as sophisticated as YOU like. For us it is ALL about favorites and yummy satisfying and filling “bites” of food. Below is a list of some suggestions for building your own charcuterie board for your next party.

I will be doing a “DESSERT” charcuterie board for a New Year’s Eve party we are going to.

  • Breads & Crackers – Crostini with toppings, Artisan Breads, Crackers, Fruitcake
  • Spreads – Jams, Chutneys, Dips, Flavored Mustards, Sauces, Dressings, Flavored Honeys, Flavored Horseradishes
  • Fermented/Pickled – Stuffed Olives, Pickles, Green Olives, Giardiniera, Peperoncinis, Pickled Carrots, Baby Corn
  • Cheeses – Cheddar, Havarti, Brie, Baby Swiss, Gouda, Pimiento Cheese, Manchego, Bleu Cheese
  • Meats – Salami, Roast Beef, Pancetta, Prosciutto, Pepperoni, Ham
  • Nuts & Seeds – Pistachios, Walnuts, Pecans, Macadamias, Sunflower seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Almonds, Chocolate covered raisins
  • Dried fruits – Dates, Prunes, Apricots, Golden Raisins
  • Fresh fruits – Grapes, Oranges, Berries, Apple slices, Pears, Grape tomatoes, Kiwi, Starfruit
  • Decorations – sprigs of Rosemary, Thyme or Basil

BLOGMAS 2023 ~ DAY 18 ~ WINTER MUST HAVES ~ BLOG 365.345B

What I CANNOT live without in the winter is many, many things, but these are my top items! Then again, SNOWMAGGEDDON 2019 proved there are things I CAN live without, but choose not to. 😀

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 a happy camper so I go out of my way to prevent that. I like to try and not go out unless the temperature reaches 45, but I don’t hibernate well either, so that is just a pipe dream of a rule. Over the years I’ve included a good selection or warm cozy blankets and a good quality snow scraper to my arsenal.

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

I also have a newer and occasional favorite hot toddy, a Lemon Aval Pota Hot Toddy courtesy of McMenamins one of our local favorite resort chains.

LEMON AVAL POTA HOT TODDY

2 ounces Aval Pota Whiskey
2 bar spoons QUALITY honey
Juice of 1 small FRESH squeezed lemon

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

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