Grinch Mode Reving Up!

 I'm often in Grinch mode at Christmas but this year I just wore the t-shirt once. That was more of a fun thing than me actually being Ginchy. Christmas has simplified a lot over the years, and I do appreciate that. it's not all good as I do miss my family gathering, but I am getting to an age where it can be more than I can handle.

The buying of gifts seems to be a bigger chore every year.  Not only do I have mostly men to buy for (and what do they want anyway?) but I don’t drive and hardly got to any stores this year.  I had to resort to online shopping.  Oh, and the post office decided to go on strike, just to make matters worse. (Oops, sorry. I seem to be slipping into my Grinch mode for some reason). 

I accidently found what I considered to be the perfect gift for my eldest grandson. I ordered it at what I thought was a good price and paid even more for expedited shipping.  The delivery date then turned out to be about three weeks away. That is certainly not my idea of expedited!  The delivery date came and went. Nothing arrived. I contacted the seller to express my concern and complain about paying so much for expedited shipping for nothing.  They offered me 15% off but when I asked if the product would arrive before Christmas, they could not guarantee that.  I looked on Amazon and found what I wanted there so I cancelled the original order.  

The Amazon version was going to cost me three times more but I really wanted this for my grandson and it was getting too late to dream up something else.  I put it in an order with 4 other things, all of which arrived in a timely manner.....except for this one elusive thing for my grandson.

A bug has hit our house now so there will be no more shopping in even the local stores.  When my son drove 2 hours to drop off gifts and pick up what I had for them, he didn't dare come in. The gift for his oldest son had still not arrived, though it was scheduled to show up that very day.  News flash!  It's still not here though tracking shows it left Etobicoke a few days ago.  Oh, and now Amazon is asking for a review before it even gets here!  The latest  estimate is that it will arrive December 24.  I'm not holding my breath, but you might notice I am starting to turn green. I cannot even blame that on my current illness.

The Covid Grinch

Today the Prime Minister of Canada said that a normal Christmas is off the table. I had already decided that and informed my family a couple of weeks ago.

Normally by now, I would have already been to my first Christmas house party. I'd have a lot of my baking done, and would even have received my first Christmas card. Soon we would have a major Christmas event in our village with people coming from far and wide to take part. None of that is happening this year. Exchanging presents with my family is also off the table.

Pandemics change the way the world works.  People are working from home, shopping more often online, wearing masks when they venture out, and keeping their distance from those they meet. Shopping for gifts is much more difficult this year. Normally I wander the stores hoping to find something that will make me think of one of my recipients. I seldom know what I'm after until I see it. I ask for lists but never get them so they just have to be happy with what I find.  This year I have not been in an actual store except for groceries since March. The second wave of this nasty virus is upon us and there are more cases than ever so I'm not about to start shopping now, at the time of year when the stores would have even more people.....or worse still, lineups to get into the stores where I'm not even sure I'd find something.

As for shopping online, it helps to have a clue what you are looking for or you could be scrolling aimlessly for months. For me, there is an even bigger problem than that. While many of you are lucky enough to have things delivered to your door, I live where you have to go to the post office to pick up a parcel. There are lineups there already so you can imagine what it will be like as the big day draws closer. Only a couple of people are allowed into the building at a time so everyone else has to stand outside at this time of year when the weather is also about to get worse.  I'm too old to stand for long, freezing temperatures or not.

I finally faced the fact that I just couldn't do it. I have told my family not to expect presents this year.  Instead, I suggested that they take the money they would have spent on us and go buy something they want for themselves if they care to. Unlike me, they can get packages delivered to their door. It might be nice if they could show us in pictures or live video on Christmas morning and we would still get a surprise, and delight in their choices. That's right, we can't even be together for the holidays. 

What I want most from Santa is a new bed, and that is one thing I know can be delivered here without a problem.  I just won't be able to test out any in the shops, but that's okay as I used to order my mattresses from the Sears catalogue. I will miss getting together with my loved ones, but I am actually relieved not to have to try shopping for presents under the current circumstances.

The Grinch has stolen Christmas this year. He came disguised as Covid-19 (or maybe me), not the Prime Minister.

Christmas Surprise!

When I went to get the mail today and saw a Christmas stocking hanging on the handle of the drop off box at the post office. "How nice," I thought. "They are actually decorating the post office this year!" As I checked my mail I noticed a note attached to the stocking and stopped to read it on my way out. The note invited me to help myself to an ornament, which I immediately did, thank you. Then it went on to say to move the stocking to another location and to let the Cardinal Youth Centre know where it went.  Fantastic!  I happened to be heading out of town, so I grabbed the stocking and headed for the car.

I'm a geocacher and have done this sort of thing with trackables found hidden in some of the caches I've located.  Normally you take a treasure and replace it with something else, so the cache is never empty. I have a great collection of things I've found over the years. The trackables aren't meant to be kept though. You are supposed to redeposit them somewhere else as quickly as possible and log where you picked them up and where you dropped them off so that the person who originally purchased the thing can keep track of it's travels.  This stocking was just like that only I didn't go looking for it in the first place, I just happened upon it.  This find made my day.

The idea is to leave it somewhere for someone else to find and to do so without letting anyone catch you.  The stocking, when I found it, still had 4 ornaments left inside. They were all hand painted by the kids at the youth group. One had obviously been dipped in shaving cream and acrylic paint. I've done that sort of thing myself in the past, but never with Christmas ornaments (but you can count on that happening sometime in the future!)

On the way to a nearby town to do a wee bit of shopping, I thought over where I could leave this Christmas stocking. I didn't think a store would be a good idea as people would just think it was part of the merchandise, or someone would think it was being stolen if it was seen being carried away. Where could I leave it where it wouldn't get wet and where I knew it would be found quickly. I smiled as I came up with the perfect place. After finishing our shopping we often drop by the local McCafe for refreshments. I could leave it there.  I stuck it someplace where it was likely found even before I left. I didn't see that happen though as I didn't sit where I could keep an eye on it.  I'll find out when I see the find posted online.....hopefully.

While making my choice of ornaments I discovered that one of the others was broken. It was a delicate glass ornament and as I was afraid someone might cut themselves on it, I disposed of it, and all the shards I could find in the stocking. That's when I discovered there was also $4.55 cents tucked down in the toe.  I imagine someone dropped the coins in as a donation to the Cardinal Youth Group but as I doubt anyone will ever even send them back their stocking, I guess the last person will end up with the loot as well as sock.  I bet they will be thinking it's a lump of coal in the toe!

However it works, I think this was a really great idea and I will be putting it forth to some of the groups I'm involved with next winter. Hopefully we can create and track the travels of our own Christmas stockings too. It seems like a great way to spread Christmas cheer.  If all else fails, I may have to enlist my grandchildren to create some Christmas balls for this sort of project.  I can hardly wait!

Note:  I have since learned that the Cardinal group is hoping to hear where the socks end up so they can come and collect the donations. Apparently other socks have money in them too.  Please keep this in mind if you find one. Thanks.

Christmas Traditions Slipping Away

I think our Traditional Christmas dinner is a thing of the past here.

We have lived in this house for the past 41 years, and as the only family left after my father died this became the place for everyone else to come for Christmas. My mother was a widower, my brother a bachelor, and my aunt referred to herself as a maiden lady. I was the one with two small children, so this was the logical place to do Christmas.

It used to be that my brother would arrive on Christmas Eve. We would have my special meat pies and scalloped potatoes for supper,  and then we would all play board games with the kids. He would sleep over and the next day my Mom and Aunt would arrive.  Christmas is more fun when kids are little as the house if full of excitement.

My traditional Christmas dinner consists of turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, corn salad, and a jellied Waldorf. Of course there would also be a pickle dish, cranberries, buns and gravy.  The food on the plate was a beautiful blend of colours, and looked as good as it tasted.

Once my brother stopped coming for Christmas Eve and my boys were grown, my hubby and I would go out for Chinese food on Christmas Eve. That way I didn't have to worry about left overs in an already over crowded fridge. But the meat pies are a family favourite, and deemed to be part of the celebration. I was somehow convinced that they had to be part of the Christmas meal along with the turkey. This caused a bit of jugging for oven use for several years,

Over the years my Mom and Aunt passed away, and my brother decided it was too far to drive, so then we were back to just our own family, which came to include a daughter-in-law and two grandsons, and sometimes one of my sister-in-laws, who had also become widowed.  Last year it was just myself, my hubby, my two sons and two grandsons. Since we had the grandsons Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, I decided to feed them their birthday tacos that night, since they didn't get them the week before when it was actually their birthdays. We never have to worry about leftovers when there are boys and tacos involved. I did miss my Christmas Eve Chinese food, and as the boys will be here again this year, I'll miss it again. But hey, I made the meat pies so we'll have those like in the old days. 


Nobody but my hubby and myself seem to eat the corn salad anymore. I can make that any time. I hear the odd complaint about there being walnuts in the jelly salad, but hey, that's what makes it a waldorf, so while I've cut back on the nuts, they are still in there.  Last year, I decided to make a simple caesar salad instead since the young ones are particularly fond of that. It's a lot less work and went over well. And while everyone seems to eat the brussels sprouts, there are always a few left over now. That never used to happen! Perhaps I'm just buying too many.

Dessert has always been an apple pie made with apples from my own tree, and a lemon one. And of course there is the big cookie platter so even if you are stuffed you can find some sweet treat on there to finish off with.

Normally I start to bake at the beginning of November, using pumpkin from the Halloween decorations. I add a new batch of baked goods fairly often after that so I always end up with a good variety even after sharing some with friends who drop by through the holiday season. This year I had a surgery that interrupted what would normally be my baking time, and I took a while to get my energy back. The baking didn't get done. I made birthday cakes for last weekend, and attempted to start my Christmas baking this morning. There are certain things I only bake at Christmas time since I like them way too much for my own good. I started with the one I had been looking forward to the most. But I'm tired I guess. I screwed it up. It's supposed to be a cheesecake square that you can pick up with your fingers to eat, but what I've got is a cheesecake with a cookie base as I forgot to divide the cookie dough. It may still taste good but it will now be served like the pie, on a plate with a fork. That's certainly not what I had in mind.   

 As I am now the only female in this family, all the work falls on me, and I feel like I'm getting too old for it. I did visit our local cookie walk, so I have an assortment of interesting looking goodies that were meant to just sort of pretty up my cookie tray. I may now just head over to M&M's to pick up something from there and call an end to this baking chore for this year. I'm sure to hear complaints as everyone, like me, has a favorite they likely look forward to. Maybe next year, if I get to start on time, they will get the cookie that they think of as their Christmas treat. Not this year, I'm afraid. It's just not going to happen.

So as times change, so must our traditions, even if that isn't really what we want. Christmas comes, ready or not. I do hope you all have one that is happy, healthy and safe.

Extra Fuel On My Fire

 As if I didn't have enough to do at this time of year, I had to add fuel to the fire by taking a card making course at Sketchbook Skool. No, it's not one of those ones where you cut and paste one piece of paper onto another, or stamp the words. It was a two week course on how to use your own art to design and create greeting cards good enough to send out into the world, not just to your friends and family, but maybe even to the card publishers themselves.

I got one week into it, when, of course, someone decided that it would be great if we held a holiday card exchange. About 150 of us sent off our addresses to someone willing to divide us into groups of six, with people scattered throughout the world. The cards have to be in the mail by December 10th in order to be sure they reach some of those destinations. That meant I had to suspend my class and get to work on the cards for this project. I'm sure they would have turned out a lot better if I had been able to finish the class first, but I'm learning new tricks with each one that arrives in the mail. Oh, this is great fun!  Everyone has their own style and ideas. I can hardly wait to see what a Christmas card from Australia looks like. They are in the midst of summer there and, as I hear it, often go to the beach for Christmas day.  I do hope she doesn't make me one with a snowman on it!

I was also able to rejoin the art explorations with the group at the library this month, after not being able to attend the past couple of months. This time we learned about portraits and drawing faces in general. We did it in stages. First we were to draw a blind contour. That's when you look at the picture you are copying, but are not allowed to look at the marks you are making on the paper. You are also not supposed to lift the pen from the paper. It's easy to get lost and have to backtrack, making all kinds of wonky lines. The results can be rather interesting. After that we had to do a quick sketch, taking just two minutes to get the face onto the paper. Those were our warmup exercises before taking our time to try and draw the face we had chosen. I was introduced to conte pencils and now I want some!

Not long ago this sort of exercise in the presence of others would have had me panicking, but one of the other courses I took this fall had me sit really close to someone and stare at them while drawing a big face and then add a little body on whatever space was left on the paper.  I got my grandson to "help me with my homework" and he liked the results well enough he wanted to take it home. 






Shortly after that I captured the face of a total stranger, at a bit more of a distance. He didn't know about it until I showed him later.

A friend saw these and wanted in on the action, so she posed for me too. None of these faces are realistic, but they are still faces, and they are recognizably human so I'm happy with that. Besides, they were just fun to do.

Maybe I should try to draw Santa's face sometime soon. I really do have to get back to that card making course. I still have a week's worth of lessons to get done. What I've learned so far is that you don't have to be able to draw really well to make beautiful greeting cards. Simple designs and lots of colour work well. I may have to take up calligraphy next though.

Oh, that reminds me. I still have to send cards to the usual people on my Christmas list, and write at least a note to go with several of those. So much to do. So little time. But I'm sure it's the same with you, even if you aren't silly enough to add card making classes and extra projects to your chores at the busiest time of year. Let's take a deep breath and get the work done without adding any more logs to the pile.

Kitchen Gadgets for Christmas?

Christmas is sneaking up on us again this year, and it's harder than ever to find the right gift for those on my list. Every last one of them is male and they are less than helpful giving hints as to what they might like. Women are much easier as, while men generally like something useful, women want beautiful things they would never buy for themselves.

My hubby informed me early on never to buy him tools. He likes to pick his own. Likewise, I'd rather not get things that would be useful around the house as I would consider those gifts to be for the house and not for me. But just in case you are need a few hints as to what might just become the most useful gadget in the kitchen, and still not something she would buy for herself, I have decided to show you some of my favorite kitchen tools.

I got this handy little grater, that fits right onto a non-slip container at IKEA. Everything goes neatly into it's own bowl so there is no mess to clean up.  It even has a lid so that if you grate more cheese than you need, for instance, you can put the lid on it and put the freshly grated product right back into the fridge. I use this a lot, and often wish I had a second one.  They are so cheap, it's just silly not to have two.

I have a food processor, but sometimes you just want to make a few bread crumbs or mash a banana, or chop up just a bit of nuts or something and the food processor is really too big for the job. I found a mini processor at Canadian Tire, and I use it so often that I don't even put it away anymore. The big one hardly ever comes out of it's storage spot.  I know I paid about $7.99 for mine several years ago. I'm not sure Canadian Tire still has them but Walmart has something similar.

The third thing I wonder how I ever got along without is a gravy separator.  You poor the juices from your roast pan into it. There is a filter at the top to sift out impurities and after the fat floats to the top, you pour what you need to make gravy back into the pot. Only the good broth comes out of the spout. All you have to do is watch and stop pouring when the fat decides to follow. But by then you have what you need anyway. My grandson says I make the best gravy ever!

None of these gadgets costs more than $20. But all three are worth their weight in gold.

And for those of you who fill stockings for adult women, go to the Dollar Store and find a mini whisk. I do have two of those as they, like the mini food processor, get used way more often than the full sized model.  I see Amazon has them too.

This year I'd like a garlic press, if anyone is listening.

All these things are kitchen gadgets she doesn't know she needs, likely wouldn't buy for herself, but will be so glad to have. Happy shopping.

Who Wants This Book?

I recently won a book from LibraryThing. Normally I just try for the adult books, but with Christmas coming, I thought I'd try for this one. Now that I've got it, I don't quite know what to do with it.

The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold is like when a child suddenly starts questioning the existence of Santa Claus, but in reverse. Santa has lost faith that a certain little boy actually exists. He can find all kinds of proof that he might not be real and gets very upset about it.

Actually, Harold is about the age when he starts wondering about Santa too, and the two of them decide to lay a trap to see if the other exists. It ends  happily enough but I have to wonder if it's wise to pass such a book on to a child.

Maureen Furgus has come up with a cute idea for a story, and Cale Atkinson has illustrated it quite beautifully in rich, mostly Christmasy colours. The book is printed on excellent quality, sturdy pages, and even the flyleaf is done in an imaginative style. 

The problem lies in the fact that this is a picture book. Most kids that would be reading a book of this nature would still be young enough to believe in the magic of Santa. I'd be afraid that this story might destroy that for them. I wouldn't want to be the one to put the idea that Santa might not exist into a young child's head. So what shall I do with this otherwise beautiful book?

My own grandsons are past the picture book stage.  While one is young enough to still believe in Santa, and another Elf that shows up here at this time of year, I doubt I'd want to give him this book.  I had a discussion on Facebook about it, and though one  person thinks I worry too much and it's just a cute story, others seem to see it my way.  I don't know that I'd even want to donate it to the library.  Perhaps I could take it to a second hand book store. At least I would hope whichever adult decided to buy it might give it a look and a bit of thought first.

Meanwhile, if you have a child who is young enough for picture books, and has already lost the belief in the jolly old elf, perhaps this is the book for you. 

Present Dilemma

I promised not to do the Bah Humbug thing this year when I was incapacitated last year and couldn't do all the usual Christmas chores. I found myself stuck on the couch with a bum knee and all I could think of was all the things I wanted to be doing. Things I normally complain about. Christmas is a lot of work, and though I'd finally managed to get out of it, somehow I longed to do all those things that make Christmas merry and bright.

So this year, with all the pressure back on me, I'm trying to just do it and be happy about it.  But you know what?  Even just buying presents isn't as easy as it once was.

I have two grown sons. Each year I ask them for a Christmas list. The younger one usually likes to challenge me to find some obscure music.  This year he wants clothes. But then he says we are not to buy them for him as he says they will never fit. I'm having no luck in finding out what store he buys from, either, so I'm even afraid to go the gift card route.

The other son gave me a list of possibilities. They are more likely impossibilities. This year he has done his brother's thing and is sending me on a hunt for strange things like DVD's of 60's concerts and CD's of 90's surf music that sounds kind of 60ish.  As strange as that may sound, I can find the CD's, but they are either way over budget, or not available for delivery in time for Christmas. I'm not wrapping up a parcel that promises something is coming. Last time I did that, it kept getting back ordered, and didn't actually arrive until August!  I may have to buy a couple of t-shirts but they would have have some sort of classic rock band or character on the front, according to his list.

I can't get a list out of my grandsons at all. The youngest has Pie Face as a top priority though, and the older one wants more expensive things like a new IPad, or a hover board. Pie Face isn't coming into my house.  Nope! I can just imagine the whipped cream flying everywhere! And last time I checked that was an apple tree growing in the back yard, not a money tree, so his big brother is out of luck for his wishes too.

It used to be you could go out and buy kids toys and they were thrilled to unwrap them and play with them. It kind of made Christmas more magical to see the kids so happy playing with their new toys. They were even happier if you played with them. Now they are more interested in electronic gadgets. They happily download games when gifted with ITunes cards but the most interaction I can get from that is when the older one asks me to sit beside him while he plays, and just watch what he'd doing. I'd like to play too.....even if I have no idea what he's doing. For some reason, he never lets me.

I can usually think up something to buy my hubby, but I'm always afraid he will be disappointed.

Lots of people say, "Just buy a gift card," but I feel that if I give you a gift card, and you give me a gift card, then we might as well just keep our own money and go buy something for ourselves.  Oh, I did have one friend who had a deal with her hubby that they could each spend a certain amount on things for themselves. They still had to wrap up their purchases and put them under the tree. It was only the spouse that the gift wasn't for that didn't know what was in it until it was unwrapped. I could go for a deal like that myself.

Christmas isn't all about presents, I know, but it's still a big part of the tradition around here. At the moment I'm still struggling to find some appropriate gifts. Some things have been purchased. Some things have even been wrapped. Other things are coming in the mail.....soon, I hope. And yet others have not even been dreamed up yet. A real list from everyone would be helpful. At least I'd have a clue.

Go write your Christmas list for those you love, to help make their shopping easier. That might just be the gift they will be most grateful for this season.

Give Kids the Gift of Imagination

When we were kids we made up games, constructed toys out of other things, created fantasy worlds, and sometimes we even had imaginary friends. Today's kids are so scheduled with such things as daycare, school, after school sports and other supervised activities that they have very little, or no time for creative play. When not being directed by adult in how to do something, they are often parked in front of some screen.

There is currently a Duracell Star Wars commercial in which their batteries are powering light sabers. A boy is fighting off storm troopers to save his sister.  Together they continue the fight. Storm troopers bite the dust ...or snow...as the kids take their light sabers to an inflatable snowman in the front yard.

During this commercial, of what I would see as normal childhood play, a message appears on the screen informing viewers that certain scenes are nothing more than a Fantasy Sequence.  Well, Duh!  Has it really become necessary to remind people that this is the natural way for children to play?  If so, I suggest everyone step back and leave the kids a few hours a day to just explore their world and rediscover their imaginations.  Without it we will have a whole generation incapable of inventing anything.  In a country where great minds have produced such things at insulin and electron microscopes, snow blowers and snowmobiles, electric ovens, electric wheelchairs and car heaters, Pablum , cardiac pacemakers and of course Canadarm, that would be devastating to our future growth.  Can you imagine how you would get along in the world today without the things others have invented through the years?

Child play produces creative children who learn how to solve problems. Creative children invent their world, and things to play with.  And sometimes, as adults, they invent useful things for the rest of us too. Duracell has just pointed out that perhaps some of today's adult population has forgotten that it's perfectly normal for children to enact fantasy sequences, and feels it necessary to label them as such. Surely we can tell the difference. Or perhaps the labels are meant for the children because they no longer have much experience with fantasy, and need to be told what is real and what isn't. Either way, I find that sad.

If you are wondering what to get your kids for Christmas this year, perhaps you should skip the electronics department. Find something they have to find a way to play with....even if you have to get down on the floor and do it with them. For instance, put together a train track with your boys, or have a tea party with your girls. Maybe you could get them books you could read to them, so their imagination fills in the blanks.  Put away your own electronics, and just play with the kids, even if you have to resort to old fashioned board games. They will love you for the time you spend with them, and someday they will remember the year you gave them their imagination for Christmas.

Christmas Stocking Traditions

Every family has it's own Christmas traditions. Some of them are quite common and others sometimes surprise me.

I was reading an In R Dream  blog post about Christmas stockings and started to comment on what I had just read.  The comment was getting long, so I decided to make it into a new blog post of my own.  

The blogger mentioned wrapping a stocking. I had never heard of wrapped stockings before. That would just slow poor Santa down on his trip around the world. Kids already wonder how he can get to every house all in one night. I assume that the only reason the stockings mentioned might have been wrapped was because they were for the other adults, and the givers didn't want the surprise to be spoiled before Christmas morning.

We don't give stockings to people over 16 at our house, but while there was a younger child in the house, the older one got what amounted to stocking stuff wrapped up in a box, just to make the gift giving equal.   Hmmm..... maybe we did wrap stockings after all, just without the actual stocking. 

I never thought of it before, but my grandmother always sent us a box full of strange things among the other presents too.  Opening those boxes got everyone's attention because we never knew what to expect.  There would be strange colourful socks, stuffed in a glass with some hotel logo on it, a bar of soap, and other things we figured she got out of her own cupboards.....generally useful things that didn't go together.  It never occurred to me that perhaps she was wrapping stocking stuff too, and just including socks that were too small to stuff.

While stockings are traditionally hung by the chimney with care, or placed under the tree, I was amused while reading the blog mentioned above, to find that others sometimes find their stockings in their rooms or by their bedroom door. I thought I dreamt  that up on my own as a kid. My brother and I used to sneak downstairs to get our stockings, sometimes as early as 4am. Our stockings were wisely stuffed with comic books and tangerines, as well as other little toys to keep us busy and hopefully quiet for a while. The excitement of two little kids pretty well does away with any ideas of parents getting much more sleep though.  I know we would eventually drag our stockings into our parents room, climb up onto their bed and excitedly show them what we got.  


One year, when I was probably about 11,  I suggested that my folks just put the stockings by our doorways so we wouldn't have to go downstairs. They shhhhed me, as my brother was 4 years younger and they didn't want me to spoil the magic of Santa for him. Actually, it was at that moment that I realized that I had just given up that belief myself. It was quite startling really. 

I'm thankful that my own kids tended to sleep until we woke them up on Christmas morning. I don't know how they managed to do that though, as I, even as an adult, had a hard time getting a good sleep on Christmas Eve because of all the excitement.

While there are no longer any filled stockings to be found at our house on Christmas morning, we still have gifts under a now artificial tree, and the same Christmas meal we've always had for the 37 years since I took over from my Mom. I have dared to change something now and then, always to be met with a protest. Traditions are traditions, you see, and not to be messed with. 

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and would love to hear about anything your family does that you may think is a little different.  Perhaps it's not.

Christmas in the June Heat

As the heat shimmers off the pavement, and people are all finally happily wearing shorts and sandals, my hubby got to use his Christmas present for the first time.

I had found it difficult trying to find a present for him this past Christmas as he had more clothes than ever, and didn't need anything else either. Men aren't like women as they prefer things that are useful.  Women, on the other hand, are happy to receive nice things they would never buy for themselves.  And, as men do, he tends to buy what he needs or wants, when the thought occurs, even if it is just a couple of weeks before Christmas. That makes things even more difficult.

Then, online I discovered I could order packages of tickets to the theatre at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque well before they went on sale individually to the general public.  I remembered that he had mentioned we should go to a play several times over the past year or two. We used to go fairly often, but had not been for a while.  I thought this would be a great gift for him.

I discovered that instead of season's tickets there was also a package called the Flex 6 that sounded perfect.  I could buy these six tickets, and he could apply them to any play he chose at either of the two theaters, using as many as he cared to for any performance.  And, since I was buying them early, they would throw in an extra ticket.  He could use that to take his sister, or another family member or friend of his choice along with us. Or, as he chose to do, we could simply purchase another ticket after Christmas to pair with that one, and we would see four plays this coming year. He wisely decided to pick matinee performances so we could also enjoy Gananoque while we're in the area for the day. The bonus being that we don't have that long drive home late at night.

It seemed like a great gift, but thinking about it now, I realized that he never actually got anything until this past weekend.  After Christmas, he chose the four plays from the seven choices in the brochure I wrapped up, and picked the dates. By chance, the choices were all at the Springer Theatre anyway.  This weekend was the first time he ever got to see any of them.  We went to a musical romantic comedy called She Loves Me about two coworkers in a 1930's parfumerie who don't get along with one another. They each are secretly writing letters to a lonely hearts penpal they had never met. You can guess the rest.  It was a lively, fun loving show, with a lot of exaggerated but hysterical acting.  A few of the characters will be remembered forever in my mind, even though they were not the stars of the show.

Though I found myself recently feeling sorry for my hubby not actually getting the benefit of his Christmas present until six months later, I must say, I certainly can't complain about my choice.  Every time he gets to use this gift, I get to go along, not only to the play, but also to enjoy a meal out.  We had a lovely day and are already looking forward to the next outing.
 

Refrigerator Cookies

I see an unusual number of people are coming to my page looking for Refrigerator Cookies for Christmas.  That may be because I once tested some for Chatelaine, and you can find that recipe if you go to their site and search for it there.  However, my family still prefers the ones I've always made, so, since so many people are looking for recipes, I guess I'll take a moment and share that with you.

Refrigerator Christmas Cookies

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup chopped candied fruit or glace cherries

Mix the ingredients together and chill for 1/2 hour.
Shape dough into 2 smooth rolls about 1 1/2 inch in diameter.
Wrap in wax paper and chill overnight or until firm.  (can also be frozen at this point)
Slice into 1/8 inch slices.

Bake on an ungreased sheet at 375F for 8-10 minutes

Makes about 10 dozen

Note:  These are actually easier to slice if frozen.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

While the rest of you are celebrating this fine Christmas morning, I'm actually relaxing and enjoying a peaceful weekend. My Christmas has been postponed for two weeks this year.  That's the soonest I can gather my entire family under one roof, so I'm quite willing to wait. 

Actually, once all the rest of you get to relax, I will probably start running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  While I do have my tree up, most of my gifts aren't even wrapped yet. In fact, I just bought some needed wrapping paper yesterday. We took my oldest on out for lunch at Swiss Chalet, just so he would feel like some special event happened at Christmas. He's being so gracious about the delay, it only seemed fair.

I also finally picked up a turkey yesterday, since I saw a nice sized one at a very good price. We won't be eating that today.  We'll have a special treat of Cornish hen though, and we have some other goodies to make things a bit festivel. 

So, next week, while all of you are basking in the after Christmas glow, I'll still be wrapping, and baking and making my meat pies and getting ready.

Christmas isn't a date on the calendar, it's more of a state of mind and a feeling in your heart.  May yours be everything you wanted it to be.

Stir Up Some Imagination

It's the middle of November and some of us are starting to think about Christmas shopping.  Do you have little kids on your list this year?  I just want to remind you about something, in case you do.

My youngest grandson came for a visit this weekend. He's not quite 3 yet.  We have lots of toys here, left over from when my own kids were small. I keep an assortment of them in my linen closet, where they are easy for the kids to get at. As is usually the case, many of the toys were out of the closet in no time, and scattered all over the living room. I don't mind this. I love to watch kids play.

Now this particular little critter thinks it's great fun to hide. He'll go under the kitchen table, or behind a chair, where, in either case, it is very easy to see him.  But if you pretend you can't, he will sit very quietly for much longer than anyone would ever expect. He's normally a very busy little boy.  

He was playing in the living room, with the toys, and occasionally deciding to hide.  Then he went to the closet, I assumed, to see what it was he had not dug out of there yet. But he got awful quiet, so I went to look.  He was gone.  I called him and got no response.  He was hiding again.  He did a much better job of it this time, as he took all the remaining toys out of the closet, put himself in, and then quietly closed the door.  He likely dusted the closet out for me in the process, but he not only had a new hiding place, but a fort of sorts.  He was quite happy in there for a while.

Then, when he came out, he discovered that an empty cereal box made a good ramp for his Monster trucks to jump off of.  That amused him, and Grandpa for quite a while too. 

What I'm saying to you people is that it takes the simplest things to amuse little people.  You don't need to spend big bucks to make them happy, or to get good play value.  Little kids are quite capable of amusing themselves if you provide something that they can use to kick start their imaginations. 

Back on the Job

I'm an official recipe tester for Chatelaine magazine. (see Working in an Official Capacity and  Kitchen Experience ). 

I turned down the last assignment because it was for gluten free recipes, and I didn't want to have to buy strange flours I'd never use again.  I told them that and also told them I hoped that wouldn't knock me off the list for future assignments. The recipes I didn't want to test can be found in the September issue.

Now they are lining up testers to do some baking, I can only assume is for the Christmas season.  I was contacted and I jumped at the chance.  I was sent 10 recipes and I have to bake at least 2 of them. I didn't have too much trouble narrowing down which recipes I'm going to try. I may do as many as 4, but I've only got a couple of weeks, so we'll see.  I can't tell you any more than that.  You will have to wait patiently until the issue comes out to know specifically what recipes I tested. 

Let's just hope I don't gain too much weight taste testing along the way.

'Tis the Season

I walked into a store and came face to face with a large display of Valentine products. It was a shock as I'm not finished celebrating the Christmas season yet. 

My Christmas tree and decorations always stay up until after Little Christmas on January 6th, (see Epiphany ) as I can still expect visitors until then. The actual holidays fell on weekends this year, and everyone was busy with their own family or traditional holiday celebrations. Because of that,  people seem to be inviting their friends to their homes during the week this year.  In fact, yesterday I attended two social gatherings at the homes of friends, and I enjoyed that very much. 

Commercialism has created this rush to change seasons in the stores. It's annoying, but understandable. This trend seems to have now spread to people's homes too.  I can't believe the number of people who had their tree down, and decorations all put away, by Boxing Day this year.  New Years Day is bad enough, but Boxing Day?  Really people, what's the hurry?