The life that we live

I started making finger foods for the relish tray and side dishes that can be reheated tomorrow. I don’t have to do any major cooking today because we are eating over at my mother’s house but as much as I can have prepared for tomorrow I’m going to. I am making my cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow and my blueberry muffins tonight as well as the turkey because I don’t have enough room in my oven to make three duck and a turkey at the same time. For those of you who didn’t read my Thanksgiving post, I no longer have a roaster, the cord caught fire. So today the turkey tomorrow the ducks. I will cook the turkey tonight after I get back from my moms. Tonight is a night of little sleep..LOL all part of the holiday season.

Pull out the turkey and ham, defrost the goose or duck, if you froze your cookies get them out of the freezer too. It’s time to get ready for your holiday meal. Do you have everything bought that you need for your meal? You better go over your list and make sure. Most stores are open tomorrow but only open until 3 on Christmas Eve and usually that’s when you realize that you are missing that all important ingredient. Double check now because I’m sure you don’t want to have to go to the over crowded store on Christmas Eve with completely out of control customers running into you with their carts in such a hurry to get home. There is nothing worse than strolling through the grocery store with some wicked little person pushing past you to grab the last can of cranberry sauce. I refuse to rush myself in the store or to stoop to their level when people act like that. I kindly say, here do you need some help with that? Well Merry Christmas. Sometimes that will get a little humph but sometimes, not always, but sometimes they will smile and return the greeting. All the same, do you really want to be out in that? Not all people you will run into the store are going to be as kind spirited as I can be. Oh and Please Please PLEASE don’t actually run into anyone at the store.. haha. Ok well check your list, not once but twice and get to the store today before all of the hustle and bustle that will surly be going on tomorrow.

These are a wonderful no bake peanut butter ball. Most of it the kids can help making and they are a wonderful addition to your cookie and candy recipes.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup butter

3 Cups rice crispy cereal

2 Cups creamy peanut butter

4 Cups confectioners sugar

2 Cups semisweet chocolate chips

A double boiler or two sauce pans, one smaller than the other

Directions:

1. Melt butter and peanut butter over a low heat stiring to not burn. Here the kids can help. In a large bowl mix sugar and rice crispy cereal blending well.

2. This part can be fun for the kiddo’s. Form 1 inch or smaller balls and place on a cookie sheet. Chill until they are firm in the refrigerator.

3. This part I wouldn’t let the kids do. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and keep chocolate melted while coating the balls.  A teaspoon or tablespoon are an easy way to dip the balls into the chocolate. Be careful not to burn yourself on the pots or the chocolate. Both will be hot. Dip the balls to cover them well replace them on the cookie sheet.  Now you have to refrigerate again until firm. Then they are ready to be eaten or given on a cookie tray to friends and family.

I have many Christmas Movies I love. To name a few I like the classic White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Miracle on 34th Street the original, The Christmas Story, What a Wonderful Life, The Scrooge with Albert Finney, and of course the original The Grinch!! I love it! I have come to love some of the new Christmas movies as well though. These family movies are excellent for the whole family.. Christmas With The Kranks, Nightmare Before Christmas, Home For The Holidays, The Santa Clause 1,2, and 3,  Home Alone the original, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Jingle All The Way, and last but not least The Polar Express. That is a wonderful movie for the kids. It is a story of kids who are on the border of no longer believing in Santa Claus. It brings the family together for a few hours of Christmas joy. This is a movie that the whole family can enjoy.

Thanksgiving Day and left overs of ham and turkey are being put away. Dishes are washed and the kitchen is cleaned up. Everything is back in order. It’s time to get ready for Christmas. We get the tree ready and start to decorate.. Forget football and the parade this is much more fun.

In my closet on the top shelf are boxes of Christmas decorations as well as boxes under my bed. I know which ones. I have an old candy tin and a popcorn tin that hold ornaments as well as many of the original ornament containers, and I have boxes and boxes of ornaments, garland, and Christmas lights. They all get pulled out and put in a semi circle on the floor and almost covering the couch. We decorate at will.

The kids have been more involved in this the last few years. As they get older their reasons for liking Christmas mirror mine more. They aren’t in it so much for the presents but for the family, fun, and celebrations. So they enjoy preparing for that.

The tree is up and the lights are lit. All the while Christmas music is BLASTING in the back ground Surly the neighbors all hear and know what we are doing. The next day the lights on the pourch and in our hall way are put up, with garland of course. The whole slew of ornaments and decorations will be up by the day after Christmas. This is much better than doing the traditional Black Friday march. UGH the thought.

The month of December we listen every night to the Cinnamon Bear. Early December we start making fudge and cookies, to test them out of course We try new recipes and figure out which we want to keep and which to leave out for the actual holiday. We bake and decorate. We listen to Christmas music and soon it is Christmas Eve.

One present, isn’t that what your parents tell you? One present, you can open only one on Christmas Eve. I don’t know if all families do this or not but in mine, when I was younger I had to open presents Christmas Eve because I would be with only one parent on each day. So now it’s time for my kids and I say ” One Present”. They usually want to open the biggest one but I let them open one all the same.

We wake up and the kids open all of their presents. While they clean up all of the wrapping paper and cardboard boxes I make a big breakfast for everyone. No one gets out of their Pj’s!! It’s tradition…LOL. We hang out through the day and listen to Christmas music or watch Christmas movies while dinner is cooking.

That is what my Christmas looks like. There are plenty of smiles, lots of laughing, and tons of being surrounded by family. That’s my idea of a holiday.

I have a picture of me and my brother. We were probably around ten and twelve years old ( we are two years apart) we may be a little younger. Any way I have this picture of us sitting on the living room floor in front of a Pile of ripped up wrapping paper that surrounds us and me holding the big black teddy bear and my brother holding a transformer. Do you remember those things? Not the new ones but the old ones from the 80’s? He loved those things when they came out. Back to my memory. That year and many many others I can’t remember any particular thing that we got for Christmas except what there is concrete proof of such as the picture. Christmas was NEVER about the presents to me. I loved visiting everyone and being with family. I had four homes to be at on the holidays so we did a lot of traveling on the holidays. Christmas Eve dinner I would end up at my dad’s mother in laws house after opening presents at his house. I would come home later that night on Christmas Eve and wake up in my own bed Christmas Morning. I would open presents there and then go to my step father’s parents house open presents and have lunch there. We would go home load all of our presents under the tree and head off to my grandmothers house. That was my favorite place as a kid for the holidays. In yesterday’s blog I told you I loved all the sites and smells of her house. Getting off track here.. SO I may have run around like a chicken with my head cut off but I felt love from all of these extended family. I didn’t care that I was run all over town because I got to see everyone and spend Christmas with all of them. I loved it. I guess even those people with families that aren’t together can still enjoy the holidays and still feel the love of the family whether together or not. I know I sure did.

My grandmother was the ultimate hostess but during the holidays she really did shine! She would decorate her house every room, every where with beautiful lights and garland. She had a wonderful tree every year and always hung mistletoe where everyone had no choice but to walk under it. She would kiss their faces off and smother them with hugs. It was wonderful. I can still picture the house and all of the decorations. It was a perfect scene for any Christmas movie staring Santa Claus. Then she always made those in her life feel loved. She personally painted with gold paint on the back of every Christmas Card she wrote Merry Christmas. She had remarkable handwriting. She sent cookies and fudge to all of her neighbors and made plates of food for everyone who entered her house. She would cook an average of 25 lb turkey plus ham every year for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I can clearly remember the mouth watering smells as you walked into her house. I want my kids to have just as fond memories of our holidays. I try to carry on in my grandmothers foot steps but I know I do her no justice. She was a remarkable woman. I definitely get my hostess desires from her though. I love to entertain, and I love to bring people together to celebrate.

I don’t know if this is available across the country because I have never heard of it before I moved to Oregon but there is a wonderful little story called The Cinnamon Bear that is played here on a local radio station for 15 minutes a night. It is played through the month of December with the finish of the story on Christmas Eve. It is a sweet story and I enjoy it nightly with my kids. Even with them older it is kind of like the Grinch and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, it’s a classic that the whole family can enjoy. I highly recommend it. If you Google The Cinnamon Bear Radio Show you will be able to listen to it on RadioLovers.com What a wonderful old tradition brought to new families every year.

I love to decorate for Christmas but I absolutely LOVE decorating that perfect tree. I have gone against my better judgement and bought a fake tree, but next year I am back to the good old fashioned real trees. I prefer Blue Spruce. They are beautiful. I already have my tree planned out. I am going to buy blue and white lights to string on the tree. First the blue, close to the inside of the tree and then the white. I will hang ALL of my ornaments in order of color and instead of garland I am going to go with the ribbon. If you are unfamiliar with this you buy wide ribbon and strip it with scissors making it curl and hang it length wise up and down your tree. It looks unbelievable. And then if I really want to add to it I will get some bows to tie into the tree. I can’t wait to have a real tree again. I want to get another angel for the tree too. The one I am using now is little, my kids bought it for a little 3 ft tree I had a few years ago that now goes in my kids room.

I have three children and any time I have had any kind of party it is always and has always been a family affair. This isn’t a bad thing. I have always had a small supply of alcohol if people want a drink or two but there is never enough for any one getting out of hand or becoming intoxicated. I always have movies going for the kids and games for them to play, and I always have games ready that both kids and adults can play while we listen to Christmas music. Uno and Skippo are preferred games in my house. The kids are really pretty good too. If there are younger kids I have several dollar store packs of cards that they can play war or memory. I also like playing Pictionary and Mind Trap. I haven’t seen Mind Trap in a long time but that game is still a favorite. Any way there are a lot of ways to make any party family friendly and it doesn’t take much more work or effort than it does to plan a blow out party for adults only.