So...whats for dinner?
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Auntie. I'm in about the same place as you, except everyone left about an hour ago and the kitchen is *almost* back together. Cleaning the stove is all that's left for me to do.
Susan, the potato recipe turned out great. Thank you.
DD is asleep and so is Sharon..,I'm sitting on the couch, the cat is asleep along side me (having given up trying to lay down atop my laptop), yellow dog is asleep on the floor at my feet and black dog is asleep next to the cat.
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We got back home about 4:30 and have been enjoying a quiet evening with me crocheting and dh on his computer and both of us watching older Bones tv shows. It's interesting to go backward in time with the characters. I didn't start watching the show when it first came on.
Christmas was good. I particularly enjoyed the four children who were present. One of them just for a short while. She brought her American Girl doll which (her grandmother told me on the side) cost $200!!!! It was a Santa gift at her mother's house. She's an adorable 6-year-old who lives part time with her mother and part time with her father and already has frequent manis and pedis. The other three children are not so spoiled with material possessions and life has not treated them with kid gloves. But they seemed happy today. There were presents and for children presents are exciting.
I got a wonderful present from my SIL Deanna who is a very skilled quilter. She made all of us beautiful quilted throws. They're all different and mine is perfect for our living room. The different fabrics are so pretty.
The dinner, served buffet style, was rather boring but there were delicious sugar-laden foods which I much enjoyed. I am definitely developing the "sweet tooth" with age.
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Carole, that is a wonderful gift! Skilled quilters are hard to find these days.
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That IS a wonderful gift, Carole! So pleased for you....
I also have developed quite the sweet-tooth, and do not need another cookie or piece of toffee! But boy were they good! Seems like toffee graced everyone's dessert selections this year. The dentists must be happily awaiting calls.
Nance, I do hope today's efforts with your dad go well...and that he had a good holiday.
Our house is quiet, if a bit cluttered still, and I am happy for the frenzy to have passed. We did enjoy two wonderful evenings with friends, and those memories are special.
Our forty-something next door neighbors invited us to the Christmas Eve dinner they host every other year. It is always Bon Appetit mag worthy, and I admire the courage of the two ladies who perfectly cook a massive amount of beef tenderloin and amazing vegetables for the small crowd.
Of added interest was appetizers of huge shrimp Fed Exed in from New Bedford, MA (who knew?) by the hostess' step mother, and speciality ice creams for dessert from a place in Cincinnati that apparently Oprah discovered and made famous. Oh my! And they were good! We each got to select three flavors from eight, and they arrived in these small cups (it made me nuts that the hostesses were going to chuck them out after a single use!!) paired with my pizzelles and the hostess' toffee. Oh, another beautiful appetizer was prosciutto wrapped around persimmon and basil leaves....which I did not eat (sadly) since I'm sure I am allergic to persimmon.
. For that dinner, I'd prepared two huge salads....a spinach with pear, cranberry, pecans, gorgonzola and a maple balsamic dressing, and a Greek (American Greek style, that is).
The evening was fun ( four elementary age kids were there too, and participate in the Yankee Swap with the adults...making the gifts interesting!) and we are touched that our neighbors include us.....especially since DS2 is no longer "available" for the one single gal friend of the hostesses.
DS2 was with us at this dinner....and then afterwards we exchanged our Christmas gifts with him since he was flying out to NC in early AM to join DGF and her fam. Not exactly quality time with him, but when they are back in town next weekend, we will have them both here to do a belated Christmas celebration. So I guess it isn't really done after all...
Last evening, we joined our friends who have invited us for Christmas dinner for the past ten years. It is usually a large multi generational gathering of their family and friends. This year none of our children joined us, so it was eight oldsters around their beautiful dining room table.
We enjoyed stimulating conversation over a delightful meal after shrimp, yet again for appetizer, along with a goat cheese/zucchini tart. Dinner was butternut squash soup with curry, yet another of my aforementioned spinach salads, baked salmon fillets (with almond sauce) over a veggie and quinoa pilaf accompanied by roasted asparagus and roasted tomatoes. It was a delicious and lovely meal. Our friend's sister brought an enormous platter of home baked cookies and confections which we enjoyed for dessert. The hostess had planned on apple pie for dessert, but decided to put it in the freezer instead. We did not need it!
So, after returning home around ten o'clock, DH and I (finally!) exchanged our gifts, listened to phone messages, had a glass of port and crashed.
My Zpac seems to be chasing whatever bug I had, and yet I still have a cough, so I suspect it is allergies due to our unusual warm climate.
One phone message was from DS1 who was unexpectedly driving his family from Denver to Aspen since their flight had been cancelled. This was after traveling from NJ with the two little kids since the early AM. I hope they are safely settled there now......
Today, house organizing, and maybe a movie.
I hope you are all enjoying pleasant memories of the last two days.
Eric, I enjoyed the relaxed and warm picture you painted of you and your fur creatures as you closed out your day.
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Lacey, your dinners sound so elegant and perfect. The beef tenderloin definitely appealed to me. Glad you were well enough to enjoy the two days.
I would be turning yesterday's turkey carcass into stock today if I hadn't forgotten to bring it home. I'll retrieve it from my sister's refrigerator tomorrow.
Next Christmas our menu will definitely need some re-working.
Minus, I hope your travel was safe and not too stressful.
Looking forward to other Christmas reports!
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We had a wonderful holiday! My mother stayed with us for two days, and yes, she demanded attention, but mostly she "behaved." We sat in the living room, all of us, and chatted for hours. Christmas Eve both of the boy's parents were to come for dinner, but his mom got the flu and was unable to attend. The ham was uncooperative so that we did not sit down to dinner until 8pm, an hour late. I bagged on making the stuffed mushrooms to the menu was some roasted nuts for nibbles. Then the main dinner was the ham, a huge casserole of mac & cheese made with two types of cheddar, traditional Boston Baked beans, a radicchio, pear, and walnut salad with a fabulous creamy dressing, and steamed haricot certs. Dessert was a pumpkin pie, a Lithuanian honey cake and the girl's fabulous cookies. I have to say, it has been quite a few years since I made baked beans. Man are they good! In fact, the main part of the meal was fabulous! The honey cake, which my mother purchased at a local bakery was not exactly my style. I packed up a huge bag of food so that the missing mother would get a Christmas meal.
Breakfast the next morning was served after we opened our stockings. I made sausage [vegan and meat], bacon, scrambled eggs [fried for the boy cause he is a nice kid,] English muffin bread, cinnamon buns made by the girl, and a strudel from that same bakery. Skip right pass that purchased food, and breakfast was another wonderful meal.
Presents and then everyone napped. I delayed my nap to spend some time with my sister, a rare pleasure. Generally, I receive very few gifts or stocking items. Not this year! Clearly, there is a bit of "shit" and "last Christmas-itis" going on. Little awkward, but overall, they were very good. No pity looks. No sorrowful glances. There was acknowledgment that this is not fair, but no tearing at hair. A few more hugs, which this Yankee family doesn't do easily.
The mother headed home a few hours and the holiday is over.
I woke this morning with some GI issues, so I have delayed the start of Xeloda until tomorrow morning.
So happy to read about other's holiday..... all good.
*susan*
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Susan, I love your Christmas holiday! A great word picture, as usual. Did you get any kitchen stuff presents?
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Why yes. Kitchen stuff happened! I received a ladle to use with my new soup tureen [and then I didn't make a soup!] My mother gave me a Microplane Spiral cutter which I now see has terrible reviews at every single website. I received a 3 cup sauce pan, which I suspect can't manage lots of heat, but could be could for keeping things warm while the rest of the meal is getting ready. The rest of the gifts were about staying warm and someday, winter might actually happen.
I have some rye barm going, and will make the starter tonight. Then bread tomorrow. I need rye bread for my ham sandwiches. We have decided to grill up some burgers tonight, so now I have started some dough for making burger buns. Silly me, eh?
*susan*
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Susan, you are a riot...and obviously cannot stop yourself! Enjoy those burger buns!
DH and I actually got a nice long walk in today...first exercise I've had in over a week! Felt good...
Just spent two hours on the phone with my sister...she is such a character. Poor thing went to an Open House yesterday in a nearby VT town and found that the food comsisted of some cookies and hummus, and already finished shrimp. So she ended up finding a Chinese restaurant to buy herself dinner on the way home. Wish she were not so far, so getting together w/o her wild dogs would be easier. Anyway, we had a nice long chat! I'm glad you had a good Christmas celebration with your family, Susan!
Trying to decide what to make for dinner... On our walk we picked up some ground turkey, a local brand whose turkey I like, but ground is always a stretch for me. I plan to make some Florentine meatballs to use up the rest of the spinach I have amassed. But for tonight, not sure how to use some of it....maybe DH can grill up burgers, even tho I am such a non turkey burger fan. Haha, maybe on Susan's rolls they would be better.
Getting up my nerve to handle the ground turkey......:/. But now DH is talking about Chinese food after speaking with my sister. I may be spared!
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Christmas was a mixed bag - like it sounds like most of us had. I drove 3 hours to my niece's Christmas morning. I got there in time to participate in the making of the cherry pie in honor of BIL & nephew who couldn't be there. As it happened, we had too much food so ate the pie for breakfast this morning. SIL has Celiac to the crust was gluten free - and I wasn't impressed.
The house has polished concrete floors, no rugs & no drapes or window coverings - so the echoes were over the top. Ten people, 6 house dogs - 3 of which are Great Dane size, but all are large. Excellent green chili from a SIL in New Mexico that we poured over a hunk of cream cheese & ate w/crackers. Ham from my ex DH was good, but I've been avoiding that much salt. Prime rib was spectacular & I had thirds. The traditional Yorkshire Puds worked, but the gluten free batch didn't make it out before they burned. Potatoes (prepare the night before) had an excellent flavor but didn't get really warmed up. My fruit salad was a hit. One of my gifts was a 1/2 gallon of Bombay Sapphire Gin, with Persian Limes, which I was persuaded to open early & start drinking. I needed two!!!. Then a nice cab with dinner - sorry ChiSandy, I didn't get to look at the label. I took the new Menage a Trois SILK blend and a bottle of Boogle Chard but neither got opened. No people there who drink wine.
I felt so sorry for the baby, the only child - 10 months old and presents coming out of his ears. The poor kid was so tired of people saying "hey look here" or "hey open this present. In addition to everything else, he got four small riding toys and wasn't interested in any of them. As I may have mentioned before, I have no intention of competing with this massive, commercial dumping of gifts on the baby. TOO MUCH STUFF. I gave him a pair of "camo" snoozie slippers I got at the Union Oyster House when I was in Boston, and a copy of "Pat the Bunny". This aunt will stick to books for presents. Not to mention SIL & other grandmother are becoming even worse mortal enemies and my niece is determined on throwing everyone together and insisting that everyone is having fun. Ha, Ha, Ha. Bed was good - a new Temperpedic mattress.
And the grand finale this morning? The baby pulled down the Christmas Tree, which was made of chicken wire decorated w/every ornament over the last 50 years. Baby was fine. Most ornaments were smashed. Wow, what will those pictures be worth then the kid is 20?
So I drove home at 11am today before the predicted tornadoes & hail hit. Nice to be in the peace of my own house. Had two more Bombay Sapphire & tonic delights tonight & will go to bed early.
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we had a pretty laid back christmas. My stepdaughter and her twins came over. Her husband opted to stay home (again). He has some kind of issue with Christmas.
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Enjoyed your Christmas description, Minus. Can easily visualize the baby bombarded with gifts and also see him pulling down the Christmas tree. Prime rib. Lucky you. I might put up with 6 dogs in the house for prime rib. "Might."
GG, interesting that the stepdaughter's husband stayed home. And nice that she and her twins have a place to go to enjoy Christmas.
We had leftover pork roast in gravy and German potato salad for dinner. It tasted really good. I also had a piece of pecan pie. DH has not eaten his piece yet. That's all of the pie. It may have been the best pecan pie I have ever eaten and it was not home-made.
Home-made hamburger buns would be good without the burgers.
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Minus, Wow! What a great story YOU have told. Poor kid.... sounds like it might have total sensory overload for the poor kid. Six dogs? Really? Do they all live their all the time?
GG, people are funny. Some hate holidays. Some hate weddings.
I am ready for the morning. I have made Irish cut oatmeal which I can reheat in the AM. I have roasted some pecans. A jar of pecans and a jar of dried cranberry are waiting at my dining room spot. In the AM, I will take the synthroid. Wait 30 minutes. Drink some coffee while I warm the oatmeal. And then drink lots of water as I take my first three pills. [Oh, and the toilet has been thoroughly cleaned so if I spend tomorrow vomiting, at least it is a clean.] Yea. I am a bit anxious.
*susan*
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Susan - my first thought as I was reading was, oh right, that's tomorrow & I hope it goes well. Then i read your sentence about the clean toilet and laughed out loud. Hope you don't need to be "driving the porcelain bus".
Garden - my DS and DIL apparently have a deepening aversion to Christmas too. I've had no luck figuring out why, but also not related to religion. Last year I gave him a Grinch T-shirt. They're having absolutely no celebration this year. I guess they'll open the gifts I mailed. Wonder if they bought anything for each other?
Carole - the prime rib was really worth it, but you can probably tell, not for very long. Got there at noon Christmas Day and left for home this morning by 11am. Three hard road hours each way at 80 mph. Susan - four of the dogs live in this house. Two of the dogs live at my SIL's future retirement "cottage" just down the road when they're out there. But as a practical matter, all the people & dogs gravitate to my niece's house. Oh, forgot to mention the 3 horses, who were turned loose to wander around yesterday. Too much togetherness for me.
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Minus, I admire your strength in coping with such a scene...even if it was for barely 24 hours! I know the super modern hard surfaces home environment since that is what DS1 and DDIL have. The noise can be deafening as little DGD's high pitched shrieks echo throughout every open space and hallway. The whole house is up as soon as the kids are up!
We did end up with Chinese food tonight...something I have not eaten in several years. I usually like hot and sour soup, but this had an odd taste to me so DH ate both and I shared the Moo Shi Chicken and pancakes with him. It was good! We also ate a big Greek salad that was leftover from Christmas Eve's dinner.
Susan, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you to have a gentle start with your meds. At least your careful planning gives you some control. (((Yankee hugs))).
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Susan I am praying that the little heat seeking meanies in your pills goes right to the source and KABAMMMMMM! and that it by pass your taste buds and tummy completely. I mean---warfare has changed and surely it will be a selective bombing mission!!! Remember, your the General in charge, so just give it its orders before you pop them......
You are a planner of the highest order.....having your breakfast all set up and all.....that's why you can do so much while I just scratch my head and wonder how it got to this point......
Minus, the baby pulling over the tree trumps the cat climbing mine.....I would b e heartsick if my ornaments broke--they are the objects I attach so many memories too....
Carole your leftovers sound yummy and I too had Chinese food yesterday (Dec 26) My Christmas dinner of Hungarian sausage was just what my Dad wanted. After asking me twice how I cooked it, he told me it tasted even better than what the club cooked (American Hungarian Society). So that was a high compliment. All I did was put it on a rack in a Dutch oven with about 1/2 inch of water and cook it for 2 1/2 hours at 350...... We had green beans with onions, mashed potatoes and gravy and applesauce. Dessert was Orange fluff salad and nutmeg cake. There were leftovers for one more serving, so I left that for my dad in a reheat dish, hence my need for Beef Chow Fun last night.
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DS and DDIL arrived around noon on Christmas eve. I had an array of "finger food" laid out -- a cheese board, assorted smoked and cured meats, spinach, artichoke and gruyere dip, the olive wreath and grape tree, a smoked salmon spread as well as a "sweet" tray with cookies and sweet breads of different kinds. We snacked on that all day while watching silly Christmas movies. It was fun. Dinner was the standing rib roast with horseradish cream, chantilly potatoes, spiced apple rings (a Christmas eve tradition) and a green bean dish with a silly name - "confetti beans" - so named because of the different colored ingredients which includes among other things green beans (haricots verts), green pepper and tomatoes. I've been making that dish for the last 35 years so it has also become traditional. The menu also included Yorkshire puddings and dessert which was mini rum cream cheesecakes with a ganache topping. I cooked the rib roast with the "reverse sear" method. This involves putting the room temperature roast (salted for two days) in a 200 degree oven for 4 1/2 hours until it reached 120 degrees, then finishing it in a 550 degree oven for 6 minutes. It was an absolutely perfect medium rare. I like this method because you need not rest it long and if the timing of the dinner is off, it can sit for up to an hour and half and then just finish when ready to serve. In spite of several missteps (mostly due to not reading directions thoroughly) on my part, all the food was wonderful. For once, I didn't make mass quantities of dinner food that ended up as leftovers. There was enough beef left for two sandwiches and the leftover green beans went into the Christmas day soup. Other than the apples, everything else was consumed. Even the cheesecakes (yay).) Christmas morning breakfast was a prosciutto, potato and Gruyere frittata, sweet potato angel biscuits with honey butter, a grapefruit/orange fruit salad, sliced fruit/nut breads and a pannetone. After breakfast, the kids showered and departed and as Susan said, Christmas was over. I was pretty exhausted by that time so after getting the house put back together, I did nothing much.
Yesterday's visit with dad was nice except for the torrential rain we had to drive through. Of course he didn't want to get out so we bought hamburgers for lunch and brought them back to his apartment. He opened his gifts, which he seemed to appreciate but then we had to leave a little earlier than planned because of rising rivers on our route home. So far, we've had nearly 4 inches of rain and more is predicted. Ugh. I was happy to hear that his neighbor brought him a turkey dinner with all of the fixin's on Christmas day. I had taken Dad a small box of cookies and some of the sweet breads. He called later in the evening to tell me he and his friend Vickie ate the whole box!
One of the more interesting gifts I got was povitica. It's a strudel type Eastern European bread that is quite dense and rich. You can read about it here: https://www.povitica.com. The flavor I received is white chocolate cherry. It's very good but oh so sweet and rich. Can't eat much at one time. I would like to try one of the nut loaves but unless it's another gift, it's unlikely that I will at 30 bucks a loaf.
Susan, your holiday sounds perfectly lovely. I had to laugh at the toilet comment, not because it's the least bit humorous but because during the chemo steroid phase, I would do the same thing. Be prepared was definitely my motto. I sincerely hope your preparations were unneeded. Good luck with this regimen. We are all willing it to do its job.
Oh Minus, congratulations on surviving your celebration with your humor intact. What an experience! It reminds me of Christmas eves at my grandparents' house. These were two people who lived for Christmas and all it's excesses. Presents would be stacked as high as the tree. There was no opening things one at a time (that would have taken the whole night anyway), oh no. It was a free for all everybody ripping into things at once. I can't image how many presents got thrown away amidst all the torn up wrapping paper. And if that weren't enough after the main frenzy subsided, Santa (my grandfather) would jingle his bells somewhere in the house -- usually the basement -- and all the kids would go flying to that part of the house to find more presents. I wish I had taken a picture of my DH's face the first time he witnessed all this madness. Even with five kids, Christmas at his house was never like this lol! Oh well Minus, at least you had a decent bed to sleep in. I'm glad you made it back before the weather. Have you heard from luvmygoats? Her area had some pretty scary weather too. I hope they're all right.
Lacey - your gatherings with friends sound awesome. Glad you got your pizzelles made and that you're recovering. In one of the more "gourmet" type grocery stores in St. Louis County yesterday, I noticed that they had several varieties of pizzelles in their bakery. They pride themselves on carrying "local" products but I was in a hurry and didn't get a look at the bakery from which they orginated. I did notice that two of the flavors were lemon and anise. I immediately thought of you. They are going to require closer inspection the next time I'm there.
Carole - how did your yeast rolls turn out? The overnight rise in the refrigerator is usually a good thing.
DH says next Christmas we are definitely going south. I'm inclined to agree although this year we would have run into the nasty weather on our return.
I'm undecided about dinner. I still have no interest in red meat, which DH does not share. That usually translates to pasta. Chicken cacciatore?
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Wow Nance. I gained 5 lbs just reading about your wonderful treats. I was thinking about luvmygoats too. I checked on another thread she follows & I think they're all OK, but sent her a PM too.
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I've always done the "normal sear" method. I'll have to try the "reverse sear" to see that will make it easier to time things. I have not reached the point of trying to limit the leftovers. I agree, that was quite the menu. I'll have to go run 5-6 miles to undo the gained weight while reading.
Minus, I keep ear plugs in my cars..just in case..and I'm not bashful about wearing them. I have some light tan ones for when I don't want to be obvious about it and so far, I've never been "caught". :-)
I'm glad everyone made it home safely. The weather sounds "not fun" for driving.
Susan, I hope the Xeolda is effective and has low SE. Hopefully there will be no need for "driving" or "riding" the porcelain bus or high powered hand and foot remedies.
I was at MIL's this morning doing electrical work (replacing light fixtures) and then setting up a new router (and WiFi) for her computer network.and now it's off to my mom's house to see her and to do some home maintenance.
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Eric, you are a gem.
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I agree - we need to clone Eric.
Eric - Thanks for the earplug idea. I'm old enough maybe I could pretend they're hearing aids. Did you do traditional tamales?
Heard from luvmygoats. Luckily she missed the horrible tornadoes and is fine. She'll try to catch up next week.
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Susan - thinking of you and hope you're not experiencing any violent SEs.
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No violent side effects! Some minor ones, which will ebb and flow over the next week I am sure. Mr. 02143 was gone all day working on insulation at the condo. But he left with a stern warning that I was to call if I needed him. The kids were off to his family's make-up Christmas, so I was left alone. Today was all about chemo and rye bread. The rye bread was not a total success. It is a 100% hydration dough, and it stuck to the banneton. This, after hours of careful tending. I am wildly disappointed in the rye bread recipe. This is the first time I have made it, and I can assure you, it will be the last. As usual, my stomach was the main complainer about a new drug. My day was divided by some really small, but required snacks, including a meatball at 9:30am. Who eats a meatball [singular] before lunch?
Have to agree with all the "girls." Eric is one standup kinda' guy! His MIL and mother are lucky to have such a capable and reliable person to help them as they age. I am delighted to hear that Luv didn't get hit by these storms. Minus, will you ever make that trip again? I keep imagining the din and atmosphere, and it just gives me hives.
Tomorrow, we must must must get busy with the great toilet search. Who knew choosing three toilets could be such a source of stress?
*susan*
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Thanks... What I need to do this week is to talk with an estate lawyer about what needs to happen for my brother and I to be able sign documents for my mom. It's to the point where it's time....Everything is in a trust and the process for "taking over for mom" is laid out in great detail but I would rather pay a lawyer a few hundred dollars to do it (right). Normally I'd go to the lawyer that set things up for mom and dad.but he died.....
No tamales. My MIL hates them with 2, maybe 3, passions. She doesn't even like to be in the same room room with them.
I was late getting to my mom's place. Some jerk decided to rob the grocery store while I was getting yogurt for my mom. I was back in the diary section and fortunately missed out on the "commotion" but the police presence did slow down the checkout process.
I'm glad luv is OK. I've been watching the reports of the nasty weather with some concern...both personally as well as professionally.....I know many people in the affected areas and I'm on call for disaster response.
I'm anxious to hear from Susan...I so very much hope the SEs are minimal. Cancer sucks....
Susan, we were posting at the same time. I'm glad....pleased...thrilled at the lack of major SEs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Susan I'm hoping the bad SEs stay away.
O my gosh. Everyone's Christmas get together sounded wonderful.
I'm afraid mine was just ok. Just my DH and me on Christmas. And my DH spent 3 hours cleaning up one of the cats "presents" . We had been smelling noxious orders in the basement but could not see where anything was happening. Litter box was being used down there. The ultraviolet light didn't show any spots around. We'l on Christmas he decided to look for something under the stairs and found the mother lode. Let's just say shovels, garbage bags and lots of bleach were involved. Now nothing is under the stairs except plastic and a litter box. LOL. I just kept along making supper. A very unimaginative ham d Mashed potatoes supper.
The only different thing was breakfast. I had found some really good fresh polish sausage so we had it for breakfast. So Susan our version f meatballs for breakfast, fresh polish. LOL
Saturday was our family brunch and we went out as per the request of DSIL. All 11 of us. But i told them we had o open gifts at home as there were too many and too big items to drag to the restaurant. DSIL wasnt happy. But it was only bout n hour later and they and the baby left. So did everyone else within the next hour. I was ok with it because i was tired. LOL I didn't remember to t pictures o everyone though. But i did get the littles!
Much love to all.
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Oh Monica, so sweet. They are growing so fast!
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Glad to hear that luvmygoats is ok. I've been thinking about her and hoping she would pop back into our kitchen.
Nance, the yeast rolls (Miz Inez Jake's recipe in the Bedico Baptist Church cookbook) were the best ever. I was a little concerned when I pinched off the dough and formed the rolls because the dough was dense and hard. I had used bread flour instead of all purpose because I had a whole bag of the bread flour and not enough all purpose for the recipe. It's such a convenience, making the dough the day before and letting it rise in the refrigerator.
I have become a "dislike holidays" person. Part of the dislike is being what my family would call contrary (kon-TRER-ee). I never post things on Facebook when instructed to do so. I don't pass along e-mails to ten close friends so that I can become an instant millionaire. I resent the obligatory element of holidays. And I feel sorry for all the people who strive for the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving and Christmas and fall short. Christmas puts a lot of stress on poor people whose children aren't treated as well by dear ole Santa as the children of people with money.
I heard about the approach some modern parents are taking on Santa and I really like it. They put a gift under the tree that is from Santa but the majority of the gifts are from mom and dad. I financed Santa for my great niece and great nephew when they were small children and other members of my family were generous, too, so that the two children were given too many presents. When they got old enough to question the Santa myth, they talked between themselves and thought there MUST be a Santa because their mother couldn't have afforded to buy all those expensive gifts.
My mother, who turned 93 yesterday, particularly enjoys Christmas. She is the force that brings our family together. Once she has passed on, the big get-togethers probably won't happen. For a number of years there has been "This might be the last Christmas our mother will be with us" mentality.
Minus, I wonder if your DS and his SO are turned off by the commercial excess of Christmas.
I do find it amazing that some people go to the expense and effort to create the outdoor decorations. I enjoy driving around and looking at the lighted yards and homes. Every year the local tv stations will highlight certain spectacular yards. The ultimate was the yard of the Chicken King who created Popeye's chicken. Of course, his neighbors weren't appreciative in the least. He's dead now.
Today I'm taking the same great nephew (12) and great niece (10) shopping. She needs jeans and he wants a new pair of shoes. They live with their dad now but are visiting their mother. There's another little great niece (6) with a different father who's in jail. The mom, my niece, is going shopping with us to use her JCPenney gift certificate I gave her for Christmas.
Dinner will probably feature one of my frozen dinners I made recently.
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Moon, that is a cute picture. I enjoy entertaining little ones. I hope someday, but not too soon (!) that I will be a grandfather.
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OMD Carole Your Christmas sounds just exactly how ours was. My DM adored Christmas. It was a enormous affair. DB/SIL, stepsisters with their kids and husbands, stepdad and the 3 of us. But all that ended when she passed in 2003. The 3 of us spent 2 quiet days at home. DH watched monster movies on ElRey some obscure channel on DirecTV. DD and I talked, I cooked, she napped. Low key. Don't think I could do the Christmas Minus did. I have a bit of hearing loss and all that combined would do me in. I would seriously run and hide. The camping trips to OK we do 2x a year are bad enough but no dogs/kids/screamers and no 3 hour drive in city traffic. DH and I do wonder if this might be the last Christmas DD will be living here. Yes she and Boston/Cambridge boy are still an item. Still discussion of where they might move. He will be down for lake trip in April.
I have seriously missed being on here. I have started a couple of posts and lost them recently. New computer and DH wants me to use a new browser. Decided I'm using what I want. Was using Edge which I think is the new Microsoft product. One slip and you've closed the wrong tab at the top. Back to using my good old reliable Firefox. There has not particularly been anything going on with me or us. I just have too many irons in the fire and we are semi seriously talking of moving maybe in 2017-2018 when DH retires. So that would require a major cleanout of this house. I planned to start today haha but DH is home instead of being off Thursday. We got 3" of snow overnight. It was not supposed to come this close to Ft Worth but early morning started sleeting which I think drove the temp down. So tomorrow I must start. Though I have taken several big bags of heaven help me underwire bras to Goodwill. Now I have 4 empty storage boxes under the bed empty.
The land I think I've mentioned b4 that sits just across the road from me sold and is being developed into 37 1 acres lots with expensive houses. I went to commissioners court meeting when it was platted and met one of the developers. He brought me out a plat a couple of weeks ago. I expect after the holidays it will ramp up seriously. Don't want to see it developed but again hope this might drive our house value up.
Susan - I hope too that there is no need for the seriously sanitized toilet nor the foot/hand special treatments. Praying that it kicks those little buggers in their proverbial a$$. Shopping for toilets. All I bought last year was 2 fairly standard toilets from Lowes and what a job. 3 toilets for 3 baths. I missed in those pages what happened with the house. I thought it was a reno job but this sounds more like total teardown/redo. I do have the bookmarks from when I stopped - had to be probably early October. But you are all a chatty bunch which I love.
Cooking - hmm. For Thanksgiving just the 2 of us. I made a Hormel little ham. dressing, cranberry sauce and my fake cheesecake. Perfect for just us. For Christmas I made a Honeysuckle breast, same cranberry sauce and dressing and the broccoli/dried cranberry salad so popular at church dinners. The breast was good but really disappointed on the amount of turkey meat on it. The rest was good. Made 2 small Hormel pork roasts in oven for Christmas eve. Sent bunches home with DD.
I will try better to keep up. And thanks to Minus for kicking me into gear. I had seen Nancy's post about our weather. It was very scary to watch it live on TV and on the net on tornado trackers at the same time. DH and I owned our 1st house in Garland about 5 miles from one of the damage sites - late 1970s. But back then most of that area was not built up.
Moon - adorable grand babies. My DH and I do very little together. Right now he's snoring on the couch - his favorite thing to do on days off. Biding my time until he retires but doubt it will change much in our family dynamic. Though he will be 65 in January he needs to keep working to keep me in health insurance until Sept 2017.
Serious food envy of what everyone cooked. It is use it up, clean it out, don't buy anything else for the kitchen time.
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Luv! So good to hear from you! Happy to know that you are safe and sound and carrying on. The thought of moving gives me the shivers. But I am planning to do some serious, SERIOUS divesting of material goods come spring. When my dad is no longer with us, I think DH will seriously want to move south. I want to be ready. If you move, what will happen to the goaties?
Dinner is Costco's sausage raviolis baked in some marinara at DH's request. I'll make a salad to go with it.
Missouri is seriously under water right now. We have had 6.7 inches of rain in 48 hours and other parts of MO have had more than that. I, fortunately, live on a hill and am in no danger of floods but any main road out of town has flooding going on in one part or another. Part of Interstate 70 has been closed off and on since yesterday and that is a major artery. So we are "trapped", so to speak. EL NINO GO HOME!
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