It's Christmas Eve!

 

And a cold and snowy one it is here in New Hampshire!

It snowed overnight and in fact snowed most of Christmas Eve morning.  Yesterday we woke to below-zero temperatures, but it's "warmer" today -- 15º when we got up and all the way up to 20º now, at 11 am.  The snow has stopped now and blue skies are emerging, so Mr. T has gone out to plow.

So far most of the day has been devoted to some deep cleaning in our bedroom (on my hubby's part) some vacuuming under the bed and rearranging of what's stored there.  He turned the mattresses and changed the sheets while he was at it.  It seems maybe an unnecessary effort on a busy day, but I'm actually glad he did it, as much of our Christmas wrapping paper is stored in underbed totes, and I'll be working on that as soon as I finish writing this post!

I took the opportunity to sort out some things to donate and to throw some older craft efforts of mine away.  Decluttering is going to begin in earnest the day after Christmas!

After lunch Mr. T will make some cookie deliveries and a quick stop at the grocery store.  I plan to make some kitchen gifts and do some wrapping of gifts.  

For tonight,  I will make a nice simple supper and we will have a quiet evening at home.  Maybe set up our nativity scene and then possibly watch a classic Christmas movie.

Happy Christmas Eve to all of you, my readers and friends!

 

Christmas Eve Soup, take two or three

 

 For decades we have used the same recipe for Christmas Eve Soup.  I've tweaked it a bit over the years so it is never exactly the same.  In 2021 I tried a recipe that I actually like a lot better, that tastes just the same only better.  I'd forgotten that I had posted about this over on my other blog in 2021, so having started this post I am just going to copy and paste here, and hope no one minds.  (That one had no comments on it, so it's possible no one even read it! 😀

"Our Christmas Eve Soup is just a simple creamy potato soup with some carrots and celery included, and with crumbled bacon and shredded Cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top.  We used to always serve it with biscuit, rolls, corn muffins or some other type of bread.  In more recent years we have often served it with pizza.  You can find the recipe here: Christmas Eve Soup.

This year I am going to tweak it just a bit.  A month or so ago, I tried a recipe from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook, Sunday Dinner at Grandma's.  This happens to be a cookbook which I received for free in exchange for having a recipe published in it.   You can also find it here at  Gooseberry Patch.  (Interestingly, it was a soup recipe that I had published in this book -- Cream of Broccoli Soup!)

The recipe I tried recently, though, is Grandma Jo's Potato Soup.  Interestingly, the ingredients are almost exactly the same as our Christmas Eve Soup.  But this soup was much tastier!  What is the difference?  I've scanned the page from the cookbook to show you.

 My usual recipe calls for light cream; this one calls for evaporated milk.  The only other difference is that this calls for "onion and garlic seasoned salt".  I didn't have any of that, but I did have a container of garlic pepper seasoned salt, so I liberally added that to taste.    This added zesty seasoning, plus the creaminess from the evaporated milk, has to make the difference."

So this year, when we celebrated "Christmas Eve" for adult granddaughters last night,  I again served Grandma Jo's Potato Soup instead of my usual.  And I tweaked it even more in that I used a can of carrots instead of cooking fresh carrots along with the potatoes, celery, and onion.  I added the carrots near the end, at the same time as the evaporated milk, so they wouldn't break up too much, being already cooked.  I like this much better than fresh carrots, and it's so easy. 

* The illustration at top is a scan of one of my very favorite Christmas cards, which features the Fred Swan painting Walking to Town.  To me it just says "Christmas Eve".  I actually have a cross-stitch kit of this design.  Maybe this year I will actually get to it! *

A great pizza recipe for Christmas Eve!

Does your family enjoy a traditional meal on Christmas Eve?  Some like to have a meatless meal; others favor seafood; some like specific ethnic flavors,  and so on.  For many years at our house, our meal is traditionally Christmas Eve Soup, served very simply with corn muffins, biscuits or rolls (or sometimes with cheese pizza), with ice cream and Christmas cookies for dessert.

In recent years, we've been enjoying pizza with our Christmas Eve Soup.  Often it's just cheese or pepperoni pizza.  But this Spinach Artichoke White Cheese Pizza from Sally's Baking Addiction sounds like a perfect pizza for Christmas Eve!

Photo from Sally's Baking Addiction

Doesn't it look scrumptious?

If we get a cool day this month and I feel it's conductive to baking, I'll be giving this one a try!

Christmas Eve

It's been quite a day, filled with busyness and activity, but I just want to share a quick post this evening.

When I scanned the vintage card above, I titled it "Christmas Eve Service" because, although it's still light outside, the church is all lighted up and people are coming to it from every direction. 

Usually on Christmas Eve we have our two oldest granddaughters over for supper and gift exchanging.  This year one of them wasn't feeling well at all and so we reluctantly decided to postpone. 

That opened up the unexpected and last-minute opportunity to attend a candlelight Christmas Eve service at a church in another town.  Our church had been invited to this but Mr. T and I hadn't planned to go, since we had a previous commitment with our grandkids.

Long story short, we attended and were so blessed.  Our Christmas Eve turned out to be very different from the usual, and very different from what we had planned, but it was a true blessing and the message gave us much to ponder.

So thankful that even when our path takes a different turn than we expect, God is in full control and He always has a plan for the detours.

Wonderful Christmas poem ~ "This Would I Keep"

Here's a wonderful poem to get us all in the true Christmas spirit!  It's by Grace Noll Crowell, and I found it in a 1955 Ideals Greetings at Christmas.

This Would I Keep

This would I keep forever in my heart
Among the things the ruthless years may leave:
The glad excitement, wonder, and delight
Of Christmas Eve;

This would I hold untarnished through the years,
Although the roads I take may lead me far;
The radiant molten glory of the light
From one white star.

And oh, to keep the breathlessness, the thrill,
The heart's swift running out to meet surprise;
Never to lose entirely the light
Of childhood from my eyes;

Never to lose the Christmas morning joy,
And never the quick bright eagerness to give --
God, some way let my spirit keep the shine
Of Christmas while I live.

-- Grace Noll Crowell

Isn't this beautiful?  It almost brings me to tears.

My Mother's Macaroni & Cheese

When I was a child, our family's traditional meal for Christmas Eve was macaroni and cheese.  My mother made hers with a rich cheese sauce, loaded with sharp or maybe extra-sharp cheddar.  She always topped her macaroni and cheese with crushed saltines sauteed briefly in butter (a much-coveted treat for us children) and then topped the whole with paprika before heating it through until bubbly in the oven.  It was delicious.  We often had grilled hot dogs alongside the macaroni and cheese and usually a green salad of some sort.

My mother always made an extra casserole dish full of macaroni and cheese, and took it to a neighbor couple we dearly loved, for their Christmas Eve supper.  On New Year's Day, Mrs. F always made a gelatin dessert called pumpkin snow, and sent it back to us in the clean casserole dish, along with a jar of custard sauce to serve with the dessert.  It was a sweet tradition between neighbors.

I recently located my mother's macaroni & cheese recipe, which I had copied down many years ago.  I suspect it probably started with a Betty Crocker recipe and she tweaked it from there.  In case anyone else thinks macaroni & cheese sounds like a good Christmas Eve supper -- or if you'd just like to try a good recipe -- here it is:

MACARONI AND CHEESE

2 cups elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided use
3/8 teaspoon pepper, divided use
2 cups milk
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar, divided use
2 tsp. instant minced onion
Topping:
1/2 tube of saltine crackers, crumbled
1/4 cup butter
Paprika

Cook the macaroni as the package directs.

Melt butter in double boiler over hot water [I just use a saucepan].  Blend in flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.  Cook over low heat, stirring,  until mixture is smooth and bubbly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in milk.  Return to heat; heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Stir in about half the cheese (1 1/2 cups).

Place half the cooked macaroni in a lightly greased 2 to 3 quart casserole.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the minced onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle on half the remaining cheese (about 3/4 cup).  Pour half of the cheese sauce over this layer.  Repeat layers.

For topping, melt the 1/4 cup butter and crumble in the half-tube of saltines.  Cook the crumbs in the butter for a few minutes, then use to top the casserole.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Bake at 375º for 35 to 40  minutes or until topping is browned and casserole is bubbly. 

Makes 4 to 6 servings, I would guess. 

Just 2 weeks ago ...

It's hard to believe that Christmas Eve day was only two weeks ago.  I took some pictures around that time of various Christmas preparations around my house, but never found time to post them.  This is a  Christmas blog -- so it's never too late or early to post Christmas pictures here!  I'm  just going to keep it simple by posting the pictures with captions.

A Christmas cookie tray (all cookies made by my wonderful husband) all ready to wrap for the neighbors.  I got the cute star-shaped cookie plates on an after Christmas clearance on year.  They have a snowman design.

The kitchen island laden with homemade hot chocolate mix, cookie and candy canisters, and cinnamon pretzels -- just some of our output of kitchen gifts.

The center shelf of the hutch reveals it's the day before Christmas.  I love the little glittery houses and the sweet wintry animal figurines.

More of the hutch decor.  How I love decorating for this beautiful season!

Sorry the photo is tilted; I was taking these in a terrible hurry.  The little bears are from my daughters' childhood and the little teapot and cup (inside the dome) are gifts from a blog friend.  The dome is an after-Christmas buy  at Marshalls, the plates from a similar sale at Wal*Mart, and the cardinal teapot from a similar sale at Yankee Candle, all some years ago.  The red snowman mug is a thrift-store find.

The Christmas hutch in its entirety, with my vintage shadow box (made from an old wooden silverware tray) on top.  You can see into the living room and a glimpse of the lighted tree.

Christmas tree and reflection

Tins full of goodies in cold storage on the front porch

Two finished owl hot packs waiting to be wrapped for granddaughters

And a basket of cones and greenery on the front porch

Hope you enjoyed this look at our simple pre-Christmas home!

A nice possibility for Christmas Eve supper

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I realize that many families already have their own traditions for Christmas Eve supper.  Some like to have a meatless meal; others favor seafood, and so on.  At our house, it's Christmas Eve Soup, served very simply with corn muffins, biscuits or rolls (or sometimes with cheese pizza), with either ambrosia or ice cream and Christmas cookies for dessert.  This year, it was so special when my 11-year-old granddaughter arrived for the Christmas Eve meal bearing a foil-covered plate of holiday rice crispy treats she had made herself, to share for dessert.  I love seeing traditions carried on!

When I was a child, our family's traditional meal for Christmas Eve was macaroni and cheese.  My mother made hers with a rich cheese sauce, loaded with sharp or maybe extra-sharp cheddar.  She always topped her macaroni and cheese with crushed saltines sauteed briefly in butter (a much-coveted treat for us children) and then topped the whole with paprika before heating it through in the oven.  It was delicious.  We often had grilled hot dogs alongside the macaroni and cheese and usually a green salad of some sort. 

My mother always made an extra casserole dish full of macaroni and cheese, and took it to a neighbor couple we dearly loved, for their Christmas Eve supper.  On New Year's Day, Mrs. F always made a gelatin dessert called pumpkin snow, and sent it back to us in the clean casserole dish, along with a jar of custard sauce to serve with the dessert.  It was a sweet tradition between neighbors.

Recently, I tried this recipe for Saturday night supper with baked beans and salad: Ham and Broccoli Mac'n'Cheese.  It was very good; the only thing I changed (other than to use, in my case, gluten-free pasta and flour) was to add a little salt.  There were some lively flavors in the sauce, but the flavor seemed to fall a little flat so I added a bit of salt and that solved the problem. 

It occurred to me as I prepared the dish that it might be a very nice one for Christmas Eve, as it includes the lively colors of red (sweet peppers) and green (broccoli florets).  If your family prefers a meatless meal, the ham could easily be omitted. What are your family's Christmas Eve food traditions?

A nice soup for Christmas Eve

Yesterday I tried a recipe for Crockpot Seafood Chowder for the potluck at church.  It was actually one I first tried from Quick Cooking magazine about 10 years ago and had forgotten about.

We liked this a lot and I think it would make a wonderful meal for Christmas Eve, with a simple accompaniment like raw vegetables and breadsticks ... something like that.  Easy, too ... it could be simmering all afternoon while you enjoy doing other Christmasy things.




I do need to add that I changed some things about the recipe.  First of all, and most important, so pay attention:  One of the reviews at the site mentioned the vegetables not getting cooked enough; too crunchy.  I did cook it quite a bit longer; around 3 hours on High to start with, and then about 3 hours on Low.  So you would probably want to do that, too.

I also changed some things with the ingredients.  We sliced the carrots rather than chopping them fine, and cut the potatoes in cubes about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch square.  I left out the imitation crab completely; I did buy it and intended to add it, but after the other seafood was in it didn't seem necessary, so I left it out.  I used a 6-ounce bag of frozen salad shrimp rather than the can of shrimp, so the shrimp were larger and seemed like more.  Also, I just added the seafood right at the beginning rather than waiting.  I had intended to garnish with packaged bacon bits, but we had bacon left from breakfast so I just crumbled that on top..  We found this to be quite flavorful.  I guess the canned soups add enough flavor.  And it was creamy without being cloyingly thick as some seafood chowders are.

 


If I didn't already have a default Christmas Eve soup recipe, I would be making this for Christmas Eve!  Maybe your family would like to try it, too.