Christmas Dinner Menu

Honey Baked Spiral Ham
Cheesy Potatoes (irreverantly called Funeral Potatoes at our house)
Tossed Green Salad
Homemade Rolls
Marionberry Cobbler and Ice Cream

The stockings are empty, the presents are open, there is chocolate in abundance.

Kellie made Orange Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast.

All is merry and bright.

Christmas Eve Menu

Shrimp Cocktails
Ham and Cheese Cheeseball (made by me!)
Schuler's Bar Cheese
Assorted Crackers
Assorted Christmas Cookies

Later we are going to a candlelight Christmas Eve service.

(But I still have some wrapping to do first!)

That is all.

How Cool is That!

I was listening to one of my favorite radio stations and heard the coolest thing!

All of the radio personalities on that station took turn reading passages of the Christmas story from the Bible.

It brought a little tear to my eye.

Done!

It's a Christmas miracle!

The baking is done.
The wrapping is done.
The stocking stuffers are sorted.
Everything is delivered.
I only have to work until noon today.
Life is good.

Now it is just food, family, and fun. (And music and laughter and joy.)

I am so thankful for the greatest of all gifts, the One who came to earth as a baby in the humblest of circumstances to show us the Way.

May God bless us, every one!

Holiday Baking

This is what we (well, mostly K, but I helped) baked for our Christmas goodie plates:

• Snowballs, both with and without "snow"
• Steve's SF applesauce raisin oatmeal cookies with walnuts
• Thumbprint cookies
• Fudge with walnuts
• Dipped pretzels
• Dipped double stuff mint Oreos! (First time we have ever dipped cookies)
• and a new recipe we made up ourselves: White chocolate chip cranberry cookies.

Yum!

Christmas Update

The sorting of gifts has been done, some wrapping has been done, some baking has been done. Progress has been made!

And, in honor of that, an old Ten on Tuesday, 10 Great Things About the Holidays.

10. The day off of work.
9. The chocolate.
8. The traditions.
7. The lights.
6. The presents.
5. The food.
4. The tree.
3. The music.
2. Having K come home.
1. The opportunity to more fully focus on the wonderful gift that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Ten Practical Presents.

Ten Practical Presents.

1. A purse.
2. Hand lotion that really works.
3. A big stock pot.
4. Slippers.
5. Is chocolate practical? Because I could do a list of 10 kinds of chocolate that I would like:
*See's Raspberry Creams in dark chocolate
*Queen Anne Cordial Cherries in dark chocolate
*Terry's Chocolate Orange in dark chocolate
*Bavarian Mints
*Russell Stover Assorted Dark Chocolates
*Ferrero Rocher Assortment
*McDonald's Homemade Candies pecans covered in dark chocolate
*McDonald's Homemade Candies orange gels in, you guessed it! dark chocolate
*Reese's mini Peanutbutter Cups in, I know this is getting redundant, dark chocolate.
*Stephen's Hot Cocoa Mix--any flavor, they are all delish!
You're welcome!
6. A casserole insulated carrier.
7. A good can opener.
8. A new flannel nightie.
9. Black gel pens.
10. A livingroom chair.

Christmas Countdown

This past weekend, I accomplished two big items on my Christmas To Do List. I got the Christmas cards in the mail (50+) and I got the decorating done.

I have collected enough Christmas ornaments over the years for about three trees. (I did find a few things to take Goodwill when I went through everything.) This year I used some things I haven't used for a few years, and the tree has more of a homespun, handmade look than it has in years past. It has red wooden bead garland, some fabric ornaments, lots of wooden folk-art-looking ornaments, and a couple dozen red felt hearts. There are also the usual favorites, but I left almost all of the Shiny Brite, retro glass ornaments packed away this year.

The red felt hearts were made for me by a student 18-19 years ago. I used to staple them to my construction paper cut-out bulletin board Christmas tree when I was a teacher. They are still as cute as ever. I was going for an old fashioned, homey look for the tree this year, and I think it turned out really well.

I still don't have any wrapping done.

I realized a few minutes ago that if I get the one and only package that needs to go in the mail ready tonight, I can have my husband mail it tomorrow when he is running errands in that same part of town. If that's not motivation, I don't know what is!

I just have one more gift to buy and just a few stocking stuffers, so that part is pretty well under control.

I need to finalize the Baking List.

I also need to fit in the usual cleaning and grocery (produce/milk) buying.

I think I'm doing pretty well.

Did I mention I still don't have any wrapping done? Some things never change.