A Merry Christmas to Everyone!

I want to take this time to wish everyone a most happy and blessed Christmas!  Tomorrow and the next day will be filled with busyness, family, food, prayer, and traditions.   The birthday of Our Lord is such a wonderful time!  Whatever your usual festivities and traditions are, I urge you to reflect on the real reason for the season - the birth of The Savior.  He gave us all a most precious gift - the gift of salvation.  Let us all accept this gift from God, and let Jesus into our lives and hearts as our personal Savior.  While the rest of the world would have us all believe that Christmas is about Santa, and elves, and gift giving and shopping and decorating, we must all realize that Jesus is the reason for Christmas!  And yet, now in today's world, Jesus is removed from all mention of Christmas.   The world has tried to make Christmas just a "winter holiday".  How sad.

Today I am busy preparing some traditional foods for our Christmas dinner, and bringing some last minute food gifts to neighbors.  Here I am pictured in my kitchen this morning in my newly sewn apron preparing some 7-grain bread.   Later today I will make a big batch of potato and cheese filled pierogies.  A couple days ago I made some very good lefsa and we have been enjoying that for meals.

A very Merry Christmas to you all, and may the coming year be your 'best ever'!

Christmas Village

Several years ago, a neighbor graciously gave me a Christmas Village set that she bought at an auction.  It fits perfectly in my big bay window.  This year I added two houses, some action figures, and extra home lights.    Here is a view of it at night:

Another night view

Here are some close ups of some of the buildings:

The mailman was a gift from Harold this year.

Aren't these little raccoons adorable?  They are raiding the trash cans by the bakery. Harold gave me this addition also this year. 

The building on the right is one of the ones I added this year.  I found it for 50 cents at a rummage sale.

The building on the far left is another new addition.

Last year my grandson Jeffrey had such a good time looking at the buildings in the village.  He would sit and ponder each building, and we played a game making up stories about what each building was about.   I hope to add a few more figures each year.  I only have room on the window sill for one more building, maybe two, if I crowd things together.   It sure does brighten up the living room!

Mid December Already!

It's been a while since I posted anything on here - the reason being that I have been fighting a bad case of sinusitis.  What energy I did have was needed for commitments I made and needed to keep.  Several times this month I played my accordion at various nursing homes and assisted living centers, doing my 'Christmas Hat Routine'.  I play all the fun holiday music and Christmas songs, and for each song I wear a different hat.   Some hats are funny, some match the song, and some hats are just nice.  I have Santa hats, elf hats, snow hats, a reindeer hat, a snowman hat, a Mrs Claus hat, a chipmunk hat, various kid's hats, etc.   The residents always get a laugh out of my program, which is the whole point, to get them feeling good!  For the song Silver Bells, I pass out many sets of bells to volunteers, and get folks involved in the program.   It takes a lot of effort to bring along an accordion, music stand, music, decorations, and a box of about 25 hats.   But I do enjoy playing, and this program is very popular and I am asked to perform at several places each year.   This month I had 5 requests for this show!  It cheers me up, too, to play for people and I truly enjoy it.  Folks do laugh at the crazy hats I wear, but I don't mind being a comedian for an hour or so - it's great to know that I can bring a little brightness and laughter to the residents.

The weather sure has been great lately!  It's been so warm that we hardly feel like it's winter.   However, we did wake up to this today:

Looking out my front window - 5 deer searching for something to eat

We only got about 2 or 3 inches of snow, but it will sure help to make it "look a lot like Christmas".   Hard to believe that it's only 9 days until Christmas. 

I'm feeling better now and getting some holiday baking in, mailing packages (hopefully not too late!), and enjoying the beauty of winter scenery.   I might even get some cards written out and sent.

Idea for a Small Gift

A couple years ago I put this recipe here on my blog, but I am repeating it here because this is my favorite Christmas cookie recipe .  These little shortbread cookies are buttery and tasty and make a nice small gift for someone who has "everything" or a nice gift for when you visit someone and you need to take 'just a little something'.  You can pile a bunch of these cookies in a large mug or fancy cup (thrift stores sell mugs and cups for practically nothing), along with a couple packets of tea or hot chocolate or cider mix, and they make a good gift for an elderly relative or friend.   Wrap it up in colorful Saran Wrap (this time of year, stores carry Saran Wrap in red and green and blue), then go visiting!  There are lots of folks who would love a visit at this time of year.  We should all do more visiting - plenty of lonely people out there.

Little kids (of all ages!) love these cookies, too.  Take some on a long car trip and keep the little ones occupied for at least a little while.    These cookies are also a good snack for when you play cards or board games.  And they are easy and fun to make. 

 

 

 ELF BITES

A shortbread cookie that is not too sweet

1/2 c. (1 stick) of butter - use ONLY butter

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. almond extract

1 1/4 c. flour 

1/4 tsp salt

4 tsp. multi-colored nonpareils

Cream the butter, sugar, salt and almond extract.   Add the flour.  (You might just use your hands at this point).   Work in the nonpareils into the dough with your hands.  Line an 8 inch square pan with wax paper, and pat the dough into the pan and refrigerate until firm.  (usually a couple hours)  Lift out the dough using the wax paper and with a sharp knife on a board, cut into 1/2 slices and then into 1/2 inch squares.  Place on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 -17 min in a 325 oven, until the bottoms just begin to look a little brown.   Don't overbake these.   Let them sit on the cookie sheet until they are cool enough to put into whatever container you wish. 

Pat the dough into a wax paper lined 8 in square pan.

The little Elf Bites ready for baking

 

A cup of tasty little Elf Bites!