Ideals Christmas magazines

 

My memories of Christmas on the farm include a stack of Ideals magazines beside my grandmother's chair in the front room.  Oh, how I loved looking through those Christmas issues with their gorgeous photography, lovely paintings, Scripture, stories, essays,  poems, and sometimes even recipes.  I could spend hours with them!

In my stash of vintage paper treasures to scan and sell, I recently came upon this ad for Ideals extolling the delights of their Christmas issues.  

The page above and the one below both show a sampling of the beautiful photos, illustrations, and poems in Christmas Ideals.

Below are some of the other Ideals Christmas books that were available.  My family had Jolly Old Santa Claus, which was a fun story of the North Pole beautifully illustrated. 

As you will see from a couple of the illustrations below, it really reinforced our family's treatment of Santa Claus as a really fun but fictional fairy tale.

Santa is getting ready to head out on his journey.  You see Mrs. Santa has brought him a warm scarf.

Santa relaxing on the 26th!

Above are more of Ideals' Christmas books.  I do have Christmas Around the World and will eventually list it in my Etsy shop.

Ideals also published a digest size Christmas magazine that could be sent through the mail.  What fun it would have been to receive one of these!  I've sold several on Etsy.  Each one had a special, illustrated envelope to send the magazine out in.  The magazine and envelope below are from 1956 and the ones below that from 1955.  I especially love the envelope just below, with the sleigh and countryside scene.

Hope you've enjoyed this look at a vintage treasure with a special connection for me!

Cozy muffin recipes for gifting or any winter morning

 

 I came upon this wonderful post -- Muffin recipes for cozy mornings, by Sue Moran -- and I just had to share it with my readers.  It includes cranberry muffins, orange cardamom muffins, apple crisp muffins, pumpkin donut muffins, double chocolate muffins, perfect blueberry muffins and more!  I have learned that Sue's recipes are dependably good.  I haven't tried a recipe from The View from Great Island that hasn't been great.

All through 2022, I've been featuring and trying out muffin recipes with the thought of using them for kitchen gifts.  But when I found this delightful post, it was like hitting the mother lode of wonderful muffin recipes and I knew you all would agree.   The hardest decision is deciding which muffins to bake first!

Why not try a few of these recipes and stash the muffin output in the freezer for cozy breakfasts all winter long?

Christmas poem: The Story that Never Grows Old

 

 This poem, written by Ottis Shirk, is from Christmas Ideals from 1957.  The image at top is a scanned vintage Christmas card from my collection.

THE STORY THAT NEVER GROWS OLD

Let us pause and take time again to read
The story so often told,
Of the village obscure, the manger and child,
The story that never grows old.

The shepherds abiding nearby in the field,
Keeping watch o'er their flocks, and then
The Angel's appearance with the Heavenly Host,
Saying, 'Peace and good will to men.'

The story of the Wise Men from the East
In their journey from afar
In search of Him, born King of the Jews,
Saying, 'We have seen His star'.

Meditatingly read the old story
In a thoughtful, prayerful, way,
And find Bethlehem's child of the manger
Is the hope of the world today.

-- Ottis Shirk

It's true, the story has so often been told.  Yet it is also true that it never grows old.  And it seems more true than ever that Jesus is the hope -- the only hope -- for our world today.

Tentative kitchen gift list for 2022

 

 Here's my tentative kitchen gift list for 2022.  You will notice that there are a few cookies on this list.  And yet we give away many assortments of cookies on trays.  Well, those are gifts in general for friends, neighbors, etc.  The ones here on this list are special for specific family and friends and are their actual Christmas gift from us.

For instance, I give several different ladies a pretty plate or tin full of Eggnog Logs or Sacher Torte cookies.  A teenage boy gets his own tin of these: Chocolate Mint Crisps. 

 And then there are the other gifts.  Several men get a canister or jar filled with Homemade Granola.  (For Christmas granola, I just use this recipe, but with dried cranberries and shelled pistachios added).  My walking partner gets her very own loaf (or more than one, if the loaves are mini size) of Apricot Cake.  I usually give tins of Cinnamon Pretzels to certain folks, but this year I am planning to try a new recipe for Caramel Cinnamon Chex Mix instead.

Both Eggnog Logs and little Apricot Cakes are in this photo.

At left are how the little cakes look wrapped and ready for gifting!

 
It's very possible other things will be added to this list, and that's why I label it "tentative".  Do you all give any kitchen gifts?

A fun vintage cookbooklet

 

Looking for a recipe booklet that came with some appliance or other, I was sorting though a kitchen drawer where I keep such things and almost immediately the above booklet caught my eye: Crisco Holiday Favorites, brought to you by Loretta Lynn.  Who could resist pulling it out and taking a closer look?  Certainly not me.

It's not old vintage -- probably from the early 1990s -- but it is fun nonetheless.

Zippy Meatballs look good for an appetizer or buffet.  The Crisco in these is just 2 tablespoons used to fry the meatballs in, so you could easily substitute olive oil or butter to be healthier.

The Cherry Cheese Bars look good if you enjoy cherry pie filling.  I do!  There is no photo of the Chocolate-Filled Bon-Bons, but they are similar to the Hidden Kisses cookies made with a chocolate kiss inside. 

I'm not into chicken wings, and these sound pretty basic and even bland.  But the Holiday Appetizer Quiche looks scrumptious, with plenty of meat and cheese in addition to eggs.  This would also make a nice dish for Christmas breakfast or brunch!  It bakes in a 10x15 jelly roll pan, so it makes a lot of servings.

Doesn't this cheesecake look yummy?  It can be topped with any fruit.

The cookies below look wonderful.  Quintessential Christmas cookies.  The spritz can be made in any shape.  Again, a pretty basic recipe but isn't it fun to see what one can do with a cookie press?  And the coconut thumbprints have such a festive look!

And there you have it.  I think the recipes are probably clear enough so you could cook from them if you chose to.  (If not, double-clicking on the photos could help.)  What would you make from this booklet?

Sunday Scripture

 

As I mentioned last week, in December 2020 I used Peace, Be Still: A 31-Day Christmas prayer journal, from Women Living Well.  I had thought I might use some of my simple study from this book as Scripture Sunday posts for this December.  I have decided to do so, using different posts on each of my blogs to keep it interesting for all of my readers.  I will take two from each week's study to use one each on my blogs, and maybe next December use more of them.

Also -- note that this simple study does not use the SOAP method as my studies usually do.  This one includes a verse for the day, a thought for the day,  a reflection question for the day and space to write a prayer for each day.  I tended to look at the verse a little bit in depth, and I tended to answer the reflection question in the prayer, but of course you can use these any way you want to.   Here goes with the study for Week 2, Day 9!

Verse for the day:

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."  (John 1:14)

My study:

If we look back at John 1:1 we see that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  Jesus is the Word.  He left heaven and came to this earth as a Baby, to dwell among men and ultimately to die for the sins of mankind.  We have not personally beheld His glory, as John did at the Transfiguration, but one day we will.  Jesus is full of grace, and He is the truth.

Reflection question:

Do you spend more time on your outer self than your inner?  In what ways do you seek to glorify God in your daily life? 

Oddly, I think I spend more time on my inner self than my outer.  I spend a good deal more time in Bible reading, study, and prayer than I do on maintenance of my appearance.  My desire, though I often fail miserably, is to glorify God in everything I do.  I believe that it's possible to bring glory to God in every area of life, no matter how mundane.

My prayer:

Dear God, As I write, I am beholding some of your glory and power in a snow-covered landscape and a glowing pink sunrise.  Oh Lord, "when I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:3-4) I know that indeed, many times my worship is nowhere near what You are due.  I desire for worship to be my way of life, and I praise You for helping me to begin to do that.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

That's the Sunday Scripture for today.  I pray it was a blessing to someone!

 

Tentative candy list for 2022

 

Above is my tentative candy list for this Christmas.  The scanner was giving me fits and kept cutting the list in half vertically, so I placed a piece of scrapbook paper over the list and it scanned that time.

The first two kinds of fudge on the list have already been made -- in fact, I think there have been four batches of Heavenly Delight!  You can find Special Holiday Fudge here.

The others are all sort of negotiable, though I do plan to make the chocolate dipped orange slice candy.

We are hoping to do some candy making with a few of the grandkids, and I haven't fully decided yet what the varieties will be if we do that.  I recently came upon the following recipe:

It fell out of my Christmas notebook, having obviously been there for years (since 1983, by the looks, only I didn't really have a Christmas notebook then).  No idea how those might be.  

As always, I'll touch base after Christmas with the actual candy list!

Christmas recipes featuring oranges

 Yesterday I promised that I would share some festive orange recipes today.  Some of these I've shared before, but others are new.  There's something about oranges, or chocolate and orange together that just says Christmas!

Chocolate Dipped Orange Candy Slices are such a fun and easy homemade candy.  We make them most every year!  The store brand orange slice candy that I buy is naturally flavored.  Amazing!

 Chocolate Orange Cookies sound so scrumptious.  I have linked to the recipe before here in my Christmas Kitchen, and I thought I had actually tried this recipe, but I find no evidence of it.  So an orange has gone onto my shopping list, along with the candy orange slices that I need for dipping.  The chocolate orange cookies will be one of the cookies I choose to personally bake.  (My hubby has done most of the cookie baking.)

I was sure I had seen a recipe for chocolate orange muffins somewhere, but I had to go looking.  These Marbled Chocolate Orange Muffins sound amazing, and the recipe makes a large quantity of muffins.   They would make a lovely kitchen gift this Christmas!  The recipe, as well as the photo below is from Sweetie'n'Salty Shoppe.

 

And lastly -- this year I found a recipe for Easy Orange Spice Turkish Delight that I am eager to try.  It has such a "Narnia" sound to it!  The recipe (and photo) is from Heather Baird at Sprinkle Bakes.  It was posted in 2015, so I am late getting to this party.  And also, it calls for the use of a microwave, and we recently got rid of ours.  But I may look up a similar recipe elsewhere and see if I can figure out a stovetop method.  Doesn't this Turkish Delight look magical?

 
Do you think you'll make any orange or chocolate-orange treats this Christmas?

Oranges in Christmas stockings

 

Oranges are so often associated with Christmas.  Did you ever wonder why?  

As a kid, I always received an orange in the toe of my Christmas stocking.  I thought it was because of a family story from the 1930s or so, but I guess I will never know for sure now just why my mother made sure there was an orange there every single Christmas.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't just for some added vitamin C.

Nowadays, we often see clementines in stores just in time for the holidays, and those often wind up in stockings.  My grandkids often receive a chocolate orange in their stockings  --- and, indeed, there is something so festive about the flavors of chocolate and orange together.  I've mentioned this before and will likely do so again.

Tomorrow, I'll share some festive orange recipes, but for now, I just wanted to share a little bit of my research with you all.  At the Kitchn, I found this article: Here's Why We Put Oranges in Stockings at Christmas.  It's very interesting and doesn't give a single definitive answer, but rather four possibilities.  

You will want to go and read the article for yourself, but basically the four possibilities are: 1) Oranges symbolize the gold St. Nicholas placed in stockings; 2) Oranges were once scarce, especially in the north; 3) Oranges were a treat during the Great Depression; and 4) Oranges, with their easily divided segments, remind us of the importance of sharing what we have with others.

I grew up hearing the story of how my grandfather, a very generous man (who, I now know, had a very challenging childhood), as an adult and a father handed out oranges to less fortunate families.  I was only four when he died and I will never know how he came by the oranges or the specifics of his generosity.  I seem to remember hearing that he tossed the oranges to children as he encountered them in our rural area of New Hampshire.  

And so I always figured that was why the oranges in the toes of our stockings.  Whatever the reason, I carried on that tradition with my own kids. 

More about oranges at Christmastime tomorrow!

Nostalgic Christmas card scenes

 

As I work with vintage Christmas cards nearly every day, I often find that there are just some scenes I'd like to climb right into and be a part of.  The scene above is one.  The church, the Christmas tree in the town square, the folks at the church door and the sleighs converging in the street -- there is just so much in this scene that I love!  I guess I was not the only one who felt this way about it, for it sold soon after being listed.

Here are a few more:

I'd love to be one of the skaters!

This reminds me of my grandmother's house.

Heading through the covered bridge to the lighted church ...

This sunset scene, with birches in the foreground, evergreens by the house, mountains in the background, is pure New England!

 Let's sit by the fire and share a cup of tea or coffee while we admire the Christmas greenery and tree!

I'm sure this Christmas card by artist Fred Swan pictures an actual home in Vermont.  One that I'd love to visit!

Heading with other villagers to church for the Christmas Eve service!

And isn't this mountain village beautiful?  I especially love the tree at far left and the one to the right of the church.

Wouldn't you like to be part of one of these lovely scenes?

Book review: Hometown Christmas

 

Most of my readers know that I'm a great fan of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks.  I've received many of these for free over the years in return for submitting a recipe or memory.  I've purchased others on sale or found them used at Thriftbooks.  Hometown Christmas is one such cookbook that I've used during the past year, and it was one that I really enjoyed.  

This is one of those books that I just love the cover art.  I may have even bought this for the cover art, which depicts a snapshot of a quaint little downtown. In the foreground of the cover is an array of pine cones, ornaments, and festive foods like cookies and a gift loaf of cranberry bread.  Tucked in among these treats is a little card with these words: "Remember Christmas at home with our newest collection of festive recipes, merry-making tips and warm holiday memories."  

Each chapter of the book begins with a sweet full-page illustration including holiday foods and snapshots of various holiday activities.

The first chapter is Breakfast with Santa.  There are some great ideas for egg bakes, breakfast sides, pancakes, waffles and French toast, coffee cakes, and other wonderful-sounding breakfast dishes.  Nearly every recipe sounds like one that I would love to serve for Christmas breakfast!  Deep-Dish Breakfast Pie, for instance, includes sausage, eggs and cheese in a pie crust -- and the recipe makes two pies. There are also quotes, memories, simple recipes, and other fun ideas sprinkled on the pages of this section.

The second chapter is Sledding Party Warmers.  This one has loads of great-sounding recipes for soups, sandwiches, salads, and breads.  I'd love to try the Christmas Hot Broth, the Roast Beef & Herbed Cheese Sandwiches, and Herbed Batter Bread. which sounds as if it would be wonderful with soups. 

Next is Old-Fashioned Christmas Dinner.  Chicken-Broccoli Piquant sounds a lot like my Chicken Divan recipe, with the addition of stuffing.  The Tender Turkey Breast and the Glazed Pork Roast both sound like great Christmas dinner entrees.  Orange Curried Rice might make a fabulous side.  Taste of the Holidays Relish would be perfect at Christmas dinner, but also would make a wonderful kitchen gift.

The fourth chapter is Open House ... You're Invited!  We enjoy open houses as a means of hospitality, especially over the holidays or whenever visiting family is in town.  So I'm always looking for new recipes that lend themselves to this sort of entertaining.  Cranberry-Pecan Spread would be scrumptious with crackers.  Bacon-Wrapped Smokies, Scrumptious Stuffed Mushrooms,  and Irresistible Crab Dip sound good.  There are also snack mixes and a number of punch recipes.

Tree-Trimming Treats is the next chapter, filled with festive recipes for cookies, candies, and pastries.  I've not tried recipes from this chapter yet, but my want-to-trys include Cherry-Almond Butter Bites,   Maple-Pecan Bon-Bons,and Raspberry Jellies.
    
Slow-Cooker Comfort Foods contains recipes for all sorts of foods make in a slow cooker -- everything from breakfast foods to candy.  Spuds & Bacon Breakfast includes potato puffs and Canadian bacon in addition to eggs and cheese.  It sounds like stick-to-the-ribs comfort food!Mom's Smothered Steak includes cream of mushroom soup for good gravy.  I've made Savory French Dip and it is excellent.  Christmas Wassail and Peanut Cluster Candy are recipes I'd like to try.

The last chapter is Coming Home for Christmas.  It contains many sweet and priceless Christmas memories of years gone by.

The back-page copy on this book states, "All hearts go home at Christmas!  Remember gazing at the holiday displays in windows, shopping at church bazaars and skating on the town pond?  Then there were magical visits to see Santa, singing Christmas carols and finally Christmas Day surrounded by family ... not to mention all the delicious food!"  Yes, it all brings back memories.

Even if you don't cook from it, this Christmas cookbook would be a beautiful addition to your collection!                                   

A vintage cookie press guide

 

My love for pressed cookies began in childhood and was sparked by my attendance at the Christmas fair put on annually by our Methodist church. As I recall, the baked goods and candy table at the Christmas fair was usually presided over by a tiny, pink-cheeked, white-haired lady named Mrs. Hudson.  The candies, cookies, breads, and other goodies were always displayed so enticingly!  

I remember in particular little spritz cookies in the shape of wreaths.  I think these were probably contributed by a Swedish woman who attended the church.  The little wreaths were decorated with green sugar and tiny bits of candied cherries, and always looked so festive to me.  (They were not quite as fancy as the Spritz Holly Wreaths in the Taste of Home photo at top.)  I was determined that when I grew up, I would learn to make these myself.  

And I did!  To the best of my recollection, my mother never owned a cookie press.  I acquired mine after I was married, possibly as a gift from my mother.You can find my recipe here: Christmas Wreath Spritz Cookies.  It's just an adaptation of the spritz cookie recipe from the big, red Betty Crocker Cook Book.  The disappointing thing is that these delicate little wreaths break very easily, so I tend to use other shapes more often.

I've also experimented with other spritz recipes over the years.   I recall trying lemon, gingerbread, browned butter, and pepparkakor flavors, as well as spritz cookie sandwiches filled with chocolate frosting.

In the process I've gone through at least four cookie presses.  You can read about how God even provided a "loaner" press  in a very surprising way one Christmas -- here: A Christmas mini-miracle.

We recently found a wonderful vintage Sawa cookie press (sturdy metal, made in Sweden) at our local thrift store for only $4.  So far, it seems to be the best of the lot.  Notice that the cookie discs have a sort of rim or flange around the edge.  This seems to make quite a difference in how well the cookie shapes leave the press. 

 
In the process of researching it, I found the following Vintage Cookie Press Guide and thought that others  might find it interesting and informative, too.  I've owned, or tried, nearly every press that is mentioned in the guide.  The Sawa may just be the best of the best!

Sunday Scripture

 

 As I mentioned last week in my post about Advent and Christmas Bible studies,  in 2020 I used Peace, Be Still: A 31-Day Christmas prayer journal, from Women Living Well.  I had thought I might use some of my simple study from this book as Scripture Sunday posts for December.  I have decided to do so, using different posts on each of my blogs to keep it interesting for all of my readers.  I will take two from each week's study to use one each on my blogs, and maybe next December use more of them.

A note that this simple study does not use the SOAP method as my studies usually do.  This one includes a verse for the day, a thought for the day,  a reflection question for the day and space to write a prayer for each day.  I tended to look at the verse a little bit in depth, and I tended to answer the reflection question in the prayer, but of course you can use these components any way you choose.  Here goes with the study for Week 1, Day 2!

Verse for the day:

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."  (2 Timothy 3:16-17) 

My study:

All Scripture is God-breathed!  And it is profitable for:

*doctrine
* reproof
* correction
* instruction in righteousness

to this end:

that God's people will be spiritually mature and confident, equipped with all we need to do the good works He has planned for us to do.

I love what C.I. Scofield wrote about these verses:

"Every word of Scripture is God-breathed.  Without impairing the intelligence, individuality, literary style, or personal feeling of the human authors, God supernaturally directed the writing of Scripture so that they recorded in perfect accuracy His comprehensive and infallible revelation to man."

Reflection question:

How does this comfort you to know that you are never alone and that He is always with you?

My prayer:

"Dear God, I am so very thankful that You are my Wonderful Counselor!  Your Word gives me all that I need to be equipped for handling both the everyday and the extreme difficulties of this life.  "I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel." (Psalm 16:17) I praise You that You understand me when no one else does, and that You are there for me in every situation of life.  There is never a time when I am all alone.  This is incredibly comforting as I consider the difficulties that may lie ahead.  I thank and praise You so much for all that You are to me!  In Jesus' name, Amen."

That's the Sunday Scripture for today!  Hope it was a blessing to someone!

 

A thoughtful kitchen gift: Cake Spice

 

 In my post about the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins, I noted that Jocelyn's recipe calls for a homemade Cake Spice mix.  It occurred to me that making up jars of this spice mix might be a great idea for a kitchen gift.  Jocelyn says it can be used in any recipe in place of cinnamon, and that it adds a warm and spicy flavor.  The blend includes equal amounts of allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and star anise.  I don't ordinarily care for anise, but blended with all of the other spices I might not even notice.

Here's the link to Jocelyn's recipe: Homemade Cake Spice.  It can be mixed up quickly and easily and packaged in small jars.  I'm definitely trying this for myself and possibly for a kitchen gift or two as well!

A nostalgic find

 

This past fall, I was sorting through some of the vintage cards I'm listing on Etsy when I came upon this gem.  You can't really tell from the photo, but the edges of the chalk tray area are die-cut to make it look a little bit three-dimensional.  And Santa's red outfit is flocked, making it soft and touchable!  (The answer to the math problem is incorrect, but no matter.  It's right in style.)

 Even more fun was when I saw that the card was one that had been sent to me as a child.

We had a family friend, an older gentleman named Bill.  He often brought us kids unusual, fun gifts.  Sometimes these came from a store, things like special coloring books or paper dolls.  Sometimes they were things he had acquired, like a stack of travel magazines filled with fascinating destinations.

Bill often sent us cards on holidays as well.  Invariably, instead of signing his name, he made a little drawing of a bird's bill.  Just like the one on this card.  Bill was a special man indeed, and I'm happy to have this fun Christmas card to remember him by.

Hope you've enjoyed this fun look back at a vintage midcentury Christmas card!

Come on into the Christmas kitchen!

 

Yes, today's the day!  I'm opening the door to the Christmas kitchen for company and I hope to be here every single day in December.  I'll share recipes, of course; and craft ideas, poems, Christmasy happenings and much more.  I hope you can all visit often!

For today I am just going to share my tentative Christmas cookie list for 2022.

Now, my hubby has been baking for a week or more already.  He has already baked dozens of cookies.  In fact, he has baked the first nine varieties on this list.  He told me, though, that he wants me to choose a few different kinds to bake myself.  So everything from Christmas No-Bakes on down is on my list.  We will see how far I get!

How about you?  Have you started your Christmas cookies yet?

November muffin recipe: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

 

 I've been racking my brain and searching my Pinterest boards for a suitable muffin recipe for November.  Now I'm down to the wire! I've already used apples, pumpkin, and cranberry recipes galore -- all the fall flavors.  So these chocolate chip oatmeal muffins (with a coffee glaze) from Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life look really yummy and don't call for any unusual ingredients.

Well, maybe toffee baking bits would be unusual to some people, but I nearly always have them on hand.  Even the coffee glaze uses just a couple teaspoons of leftover coffee.

An interesting feature of this recipe is the Cake Spice -- a dry spice mixture which Jocelyn makes and keeps on hand in a jar to use in baking.  It seems like it might give a warm fall and winter flavor to these muffins.

These muffins would make a nice kitchen gift.  The coffee glaze and the sprinkle of chocolate mini chips (alternatively, I think chocolate jimmies would also work well) make them a little bit fancy.

I've learned that I can trust Jocelyn's recipes.  She is an amazing and prolific baker who has never steered me wrong yet.

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

I just may try these for some of the kitchen gift recipients on my Christmas list!

Swinging open the door to the Christmas kitchen again!

 

Yes, tomorrow's the day!  I'll be swinging open the door to the Christmas kitchen again this December, planning to be in here every day.  

Hopefully I'll be sharing recipes, poems, planning ideas, craft projects, and much more.  Not to mention the daily Christmasy activities that happen in a Christmas-loving home this time of year!

Mr. T is sure to be baking something with a festive aroma to draw readers into the kitchen, so I'll plan to meet you all here tomorrow.  See you then!

November Rudolph Day update

 
Wow!  It's rare that I actually think to post an update on Rudolph Day, so I'm pretty tickled to have thought about it today.  

I'm not as far into Christmas preparations as I'd like to be.  I've planned some of my handmade gifts (mostly play food and calendars) and have completed a few items so far.

I've purchased a few Christmas gifts and I've done a good bit of work on my Christmas list.  

We're doing a Christmas program at church and I will involved with that, so there are practices to think about.  Thankfully, the program is scheduled for early in the month (the 11th) so that will make things less busy closer to Christmas Day.

My hubby, though, has already made a good beginning on the Christmas baking list.  He's made three batches of Heavenly Delight fudge already, along with double batches of Secret Spice Cookies, Chocolate Spritz, and Chocolate Mint Crisps, and a large batch of Whipped Shortbread.

 
And as we speak, he's working on a double batch of Sacher Torte cookies!  

 I'm also beginning to plan and schedule December Daily posts here -- and hopefully in my Kitchen Table blog as well.  And I'm busy listing vintage Christmas cards in my Etsy shop.

So that's what's happening here as of November's Rudolph Day!  How are your Christmas preparations coming along?