Category: HOLIDAYS

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!

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.

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?

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

CINNAMON BUN CUPCAKES

HONEY ROSEMARY ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

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.

• BRIGADEIROS
• CHRISTMAS RUM PUNCH
• FRENCH PEAR TART

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:

• TEX MEX BLT’s
• TEXAS CAVIAR & CRACKERS
• CRAB PUFFS
• BEET PICKLED EGGS
• MINI CHEESE PUFFS & HOMEMADE BLEU CHEESE DRESSING

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

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.

• Russian Cabbage Soup
• Split Pea Soup 
• Red Chicken Chili
• Black Eyed Pea Chili
• Cabbage Roll aka Wagon Wheel Soup
• Navy Bean & Ham Soup

✨Top 2 Winter Beauty Essentials?

• A NICE HOT SHOWER to relax and clean out the pores.
• A super moisturizer to keep away dry skin!

✨Top 2 Winter Fashion Essentials?

• I wait ALL year for it to be cold enough to bring out the boots & UGGS!
  
• Scarves and gloves.  I have color combos to match anything AND everything.

✨ Favorite Winter Accessory?

• HATS, GLOVES & SCARVES of course!!!!

✨ Favorite Winter Nail Polish?

• Red for Christmas with glitter of course, but normally a pinky, purplish mauve. I just have too much red in my complexion.
  

✨ Hot Cocoa or Apple Cider?

• Homemade hot cocoa and MUST have marshmallows and or whipped cream!
• Apple Cider if it is made into a AVAL POTA TODDY!

✨ Favorite Winter Candle?

• Apple and Cinnamon

✨ Does it snow where you live?

• Yes, but after the SNOWMAGEDDON of 2019 with a week long power outage that left us freezing or the SNOW/ICE storm of 2013 that left the cul-de-sac as an ice skating rink, we hope for more moderate levels of snow this year.

✨Have you ever made a snowman? Snow Angels?

• Absolutely! And a snow woman and snow kids!
  

✨What is Your Favorite Holiday Movie?

• IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE tops the list! Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street and they never get old either. And a Hallmark sucker every year for their new movies each year.
  

✨What’s your favorite holiday drink? 

• Coffee
• Hot Tea
• Hot Cocoa
• Hot toddies – never been an eggnog fan
  

✨Candy cane or Gingerbread men?

• I like the chalk style peppermint, but I’m not real keen on actual candy canes and I like soft gingerbread men and sugar cookies.

✨What’s your favorite holiday/Christmas song?

• That’s a tough call – depends on my mood… White Christmas, Silent Night and I’ll Be Home for Christmas, but I LOVE The little Drummer Boy version by David Bowie and Bing Crosby.
  

✨What is most important to you about the Christmas holidays? 

• That it is genuine and homemade for the most part. Christmas is not a commercial holiday for me. I believe in trying to remember the real reason for the season and keep the Christmas spirit in my heart and life ALL year long.

Hubby says I never met a Christmas decoration or ornament I didn’t like. He’s NOT wrong, but I am discerning in my tastes. He would also tell you that our tree is going to collapse under the weight of all of the sentimental and treasured ornaments. 😀 What he forgets is that MOST of our family has made me the “safety deposit box” for all things nostalgic not to mention all of our own treasures from over the years.

One of our favorite shows was THE BIG BANG THEORY which always makes me laugh as I picture Penny asking about Sheldon’s Ornament Placement Template. LOL There is no such thing as a proper way to place an ornament in our house 🙂 We believe in the more the merrier theory.

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 MORE than enough of these for the entire tree.

My newest addition that I absolutely adore is my Scentsy nativity.

I do have MANY favorite indoor decorations. Hubby and I agree on outdoor decorations and that he’s MOSTLY in charge of location. Outdoor decorations are mostly generic and none that are very sentimental, but indoor decorations are mainly hand me downs and sentimental so I am more particular about them AND their placement. Here are a few of my new ones this year.

I am seriously paring down my decorations and ornaments each year. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but a few things no longer hold an appeal for me. LOL For example, hubby and I decided that the “blow ups” that we bought for the munchkins next door are going to go away after this year for a couple of reasons.

• Here in the Pacific North West we get a lot of rain and snow during the holidays making them a pain in the neck.
• We also get a lot of wind during December making them a pain in the neck requiring extra securing to keep them from taking flight.
• After they go down at night they sometimes end up in strange positions so they don’t always want to return to their upright positions readily without going out to help them the next day, and often that is in the rain or snow.
• The extension cords are all over the yard and have to be moved to do yard work.

So, outside decorations are being streamlined big time! That said, I did buy a new set of adorable wooden trees that a friend’s SIL is making. I’ll be picking them up on Tuesday and can’t wait to get them strung with the lights I bought. They’ll be perfect on the front porch.

What about you? Do you have favorite decorations and ornaments? Are they hand me downs from family?

 

This is ALWAYS a FUN category! Do you do a lot of baking for the holiday season?

• Do you have special recipes that you use ONLY at Christmas time?
• Are they hand me down recipes from your mom, aunt or grandma?
• Do you like gingerbread, shortbread, fudges or divinities?
• Do you participate in cookie exchanges?
• Do you bake for your neighbors?

This year I am changing up the recipes a bit that I’m making for the delivery driver’s goodies that I leave on the front porch when I know they’ll be delivering, a few local mom and pop businesses that I frequent and my “GIVING PLATES” (neighbor plates) and trying 2 new recipes. I LOVE these plates. They are my way of hopefully spreading some positive random acts of kindness. And every now and then one of my favorites makes its way  back to me.

Remembering back to being a kid always seems like going home to me.  Dad would buy all sorts of nuts by the pound during the holidays and of course bring out the nutcrackers. There was always a box (or 2 OR 3) of See’s candies (I just loved the milk chocolate Bordeauxs and since there was only 1 or 2 in each box I always tried to be the first to find them) and there would be tins and tins of butter cookies, snickerdoodles, peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge as well as the sugar cookies that all of us kids had iced and decorated.

This year’s neighbor plates will include:

• CARAMEL APPLE HAND PIES
• APPLE RUM RASIN CINNAMON ROLLS
• MALASADAS

Here are the links to some of our favorites I’ve made in the recent past.

• BUTTERFINGER COOKIES
• SIMPLE LEBKUCHEN 
  
• BOURBON EGGNOG COOKIES Whether you use homemade or store bought, these cookies turn out swoon worthy of ANY holiday goodie platter. They are sooooo simple, but look and taste sooooo decadent.

GOOEY CARAMEL TOPPED GINGERSNAPS
42 gingersnap cookies, (homemade or store bought)
14 ounces KRAFT caramels
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup + 1/4 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts
12 ounces combination of white and dark chocolate
Sprinkles of choice (I like chocolate for the holidays)

• Arrange cookies on cooling rack line baking sheet.**
• In a microwave melt the caramels with the heavy cream, stirring until smooth.
• Stir in peanuts.
• Spoon about a teaspoon over each cookie.
• Refrigerate until set.
• Alternately melt white and dark chocolates.
• Coat each cookie halfway with one of the chocolates, return to the rack allowing the excess to drip off.
• Sprinkle with sprinkles and/or crushed peanuts.
• Refrigerate until set.

NOTE** Wax paper or parchment paper works well also.

GINGERSNAPS
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup CRISCO
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoons ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
sugar for rolling

• Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves. Set aside.
• Cream butter and crisco together until smooth.
• Add sugar and molasses, blending until smooth.
• Add flour mixture gradually until well blended.
• Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Roll dough into small balls
• Roll balls in sugar and place on cookie sheet.
• Bake 8 minutes for soft chewy cookies and 12 minutes for crisp cookies.

While the category is cookies, but cookies come in many forms as far as I’m concerned 😀 These are some of my and my family’s favorite Christmas “non-cookie” recipes.

My great aunt Louise’s corn flake wreaths are not technically cookies, but they are a treat that I try to make every year at Christmas time. My great aunt who I only got to see a couple times a year used to make these every year for us kids, but especially just for me because I ALWAYS asked for them. My cousins and I would wait out on the front steps for her to arrive every year just to see them, the wreaths that is. 😀

She always made them soooooooooo pretty and perfect!  Aunt Louise was just plain crazy it seemed to me as a kid.  I can’t pinpoint any one thing that made me think that, but as the years wore on she continually proved it.  Let’s just say if the made a movie of her life, Shirley MacLaine would play her part.  Aunt Louise reminds me of Shirley’s character Ouiser Boudreaux in Steel Magnolias.

CRAZY AUNT LOUISE’S HOLIDAY WREATHS  (these are better when they are made a few days ahead)
30 LARGE marshmallows (or 1 jar marshmallow cream)
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon green food color
3 1/2 cups cornflakes
Red Hots

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.

And these brownies are an ABSOLUTE MUST! The mint is perfect (not like toothpaste) coupled with the fudge brownie and rich ganache.

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.

CNN.com has a great article about the 17 BEST Christmas Markets around the world.

I would love to travel to them all, but that just isn’t in the cards for me so I watch them be featured in Hallmark Christmas movies and dream. I would LOVE to travel to those markets and fairs that have all the town interactive, but the closest I come to that here is running into everyone I know at the local ones as well as the parade that is coming up on the 16th.

I do try and participate, as well as shop at the markets and fairs locally around me. And by around me I mean within 100 miles or so for the most part.

A girlfriend and I traveled 225 miles last month for the best one we have been to this year. It was held at a large Fairgrounds and was in 3 separate buildings with vendor trailers peppered in between the buildings. We were fortunate that day that it was also beautiful weather. It was so fruitful that we made a couple trips back to the car to unload ourselves of bags.

Last week I visited our local county fairgrounds for their annual event which I have adored in years past. But, sadly this year was quite disappointing with a lot of repetitive vendors and even many with not so hand crafted items. 🙁

Then last weekend when her daughter was visiting we ventured to another one in the opposite direction and loved what they had to sell, but it was an outdoor market, in the rain and extremely LONG check out lines because they had such cute stuff.

We have certainly done our part to shop local and not have everything delivered by Amazon or from discount stores. Unfortunately, many of the things I was hoping to purchase as gifts just weren’t available this year from the same vendors or the vendors I was hoping for have closed up shop.

My Eagles group has adopted some local foster kids and we have been shopping for them also. I also have a family from social services I’m shopping for, but they are in need of more practical items like bedding and such. I am making them each stockings though to add in some fun items that aren’t on their needs lists. One of the kids on my list is developmentally challenged and needs some sensory items that just aren’t easily available her in our rural community and I did have to resort to Amazon for those things.

I’ve always wondered where Santa Claus came from. So, I decided to do a history tutorial this year. Last month when I wrote my list of BLOGMAS and chose the days and what I would write about on those days I had no idea how much of a coincidence this would be. The eerie part you’ll see part way through this post. I did some research on St. Nick and struck gold with history.com.

Santa Claus also known as Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle has a long history steeped in Christmas tradition. These days Santa Claus is thought of mainly as the jolly man in a red suit who brings toys to good girls and boys on Christmas Eve, but his story stretches all the way back to the 3rd century, when Saint Nicholas walked the earth and became the patron saint of children.

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around A.D. 280 in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick.

Nicholas’s popularity spread over the years and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. Traditionally this was considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married.

By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

St. Nicholas first became popular in American culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.

The name Santa Claus evolved from Nick’s Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas).

In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society’s annual meeting. The background of the engraving contained the now familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. 
In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a “rascal” with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a “huge pair of Flemish trunk hose.”

Gift-giving centered mainly around children and has been an important part of the Christmas celebration since the early 19th century. Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820, and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. 

In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a “live” Santa Claus.

Did you know that the Salvation Army has been sending Santa Claus-clad donation collectors into the streets since the 1890s? In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santas have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.

Perhaps the most iconic department store Santa is Kris Kringle in the 1947 classic Santa Claus movie “Miracle on 34 Street.” A little girl (Natalie Wood) who believes Kris Kringle when he says he is the real Santa Claus (Edwin Green). “Miracle on 34 Street” was remade in 1994 and starred Lord Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson and both versions are wonderful! Both feature the Macy’s Santa and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade which began in 1924. Fans of all ages still line up to meet the Macy’s Santa in New York City and at stores around the country, where children can take pictures on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas.

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” more popularly known as “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.” 

Moore’s poem, which he was initially hesitant to publish due to the frivolous nature of its subject, is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a “right jolly old elf” with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although some of Moore’s imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped popularize the now-familiar image of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve in “a miniature sleigh” led by eight flying reindeer to leave presents for deserving children. “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” created a new and immediately popular American icon.

In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves and his wife, Mrs. Claus

Eighteenth-century America’s Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. There are similar figures and traditions around the world.

Christkind (Christ Child is an angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions) or Kris Kringle believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children’s stockings with holiday treats. Père Noël is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. In Italy, there is a story of a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

But here in the United States, Santa Claus is often depicted as flying from his home to home on Christmas Eve to deliver toys to children. He flies on his magic sleigh led by his reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph. Santa enters each home through the chimney, which is why empty Christmas stockings—once empty socks, now often dedicated stockings made for the occasion—are “hung by the Chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there,” just as the famous poem dictastes. Stockings can be filled with candy canes and other treats or small toys.

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus call the North Pole home, and children write many, many letters to Santa Clause telling of their wishes for under the tree on Christmas morning. They also check his progress via NORAD as he travels the globe delivering toys. Many a cookie and glass a milk is left by the tree and fireplace for Santa Clause as well as carrots for his reindeer on Christmas Eve.

Santa Claus keeps a “naughty and nice list” to determine who deserves gifts on Christmas morning, and parents often invoke these lists as a way to ensure their children are on their best behavior. These lists have been immortalized by the 1934 Christmas song “Santa Claus is coming to Town”:

“He’s making a list 
And checking it twice,
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He sees you when you’re sleeping.
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows if you’ve been bad or good.
So be good for goodness sake!”

Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was born over 100 years after his eight flying counterparts. The red-nosed wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store.

In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing, red nose. But, When Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn’t be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh by the light of his red nose. Rudolph’s message—that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset—proved popular.

Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May’s friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph’s story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since 1964.