Rudolph Day for January

As regular readers know, I follow along with a Christmas forum at Our Home for the Holidays.  Here, Rudolph Day is observed on the 25th of each month.  Participants will try and do something Christmasy on that day, whether shopping, crafting, planning, baking, etc.  You can read about the original concept here at Organized Christmas, a site I highly recommend.  Every year, I determine to be more organized for the upcoming Christmas, and every year I get a little closer to being ready early.  The Rudolph Day concept really helps with that.

I chose to observe Rudolph Day for January on the 24th, since Wednesdays are a very busy day for me.  I didn't accomplish as much as I would like, but did work on my last belated Christmas gift and also cleared my crafting desk so it looks beautifully ready for the next project.  And, I made a bunch of Christmas gift tags out of 2010's cards, to use for 2012's gifts.  I try and do this every year, and you can read about last year's efforts here: Gift tags from recycled Christmas cards.

I had hoped to spend some time working in my Christmas notebook on Rudy Day -- you can begin reading a series of posts about my Christmas notebook here:  My Christmas Notebook Part 1 -- but that didn't happen, unfortunately.  Still, I sipped Candy Cane Lane tea and coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer (did you know Walmart currently has the big bottles of holiday flavored creamers for $1.98?), listened to Christmas music, and had a great day!

A few kid pictures from Christmas

I love this picture ~ my favorite from Christmas this year!

Here are just a few photos from Christmas evening at the home of our daughter, son-in-law and family.  It has taken me awhile to get around to posting them, and they are just about the only photos we took on Christmas, so I thought I'd better share them.

One gift I make for the grandchildren when they are old enough (usually around age 3) is an art box, or, as many of them call it, a project box.  You can read about how I make them here:  Art Boxes.  This was Josiah's year to get one.  Of course,  he has since colored his tummy blue with marker, but he was happy to get his own art box!


 
Another gift enjoyed by young children is the puzzle kits I devised.

One of the puzzle kits we gave this year

Read about them here:  Puzzle Kits.  These involve a small puzzle, a pack of microwave popcorn and an envelope of hot cocoa mix.  This year I gave these to several of the grandchildren.  If you know the children in question can't  have popcorn for some reason, or if their family doesn't have a microwave, you can easily come up with a substitute like animal crackers, goldfish, fruit snacks, etc.

Sam's kit included a 100-piece puzzle.

Kids seem to really enjoy these.  In 2 cases this year I saw the child assemble the puzzle right after opening the gift.  And that doesn't bother me.  I actually like seeing a child take a few minutes to enjoy one gift before ripping open the next one!

Another gift we gave Josiah was this tiny battery-operated train -- bought for pennies at a Christmas clearance last year.  It took no time at all for big brother Sam to help him install the batteries we taped to the back.

Hope you have enjoyed this look at a few of our simple Christmas gifts!

Quote of the day

A scene from one of my favorite Christmas fabrics, now made into a throw

Recently I finished reading Homemade Hospitality, a book by Barbara Sims.  She devotes several chapters to the blessings of extending hospitality around the holidays, particularly Christmas.  And she suggests getting ready for Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over.  She writes:

"On the day after [Thanksgiving], I can hardly wait to finish my morning coffee sipped from a china Christmas mug.  The Christmas season officially arrived last night when I pulled those [Christmas] plates off the top shelf in the china cabinet.  Today is special.

"I will decorate the Christmas tree.  The shopping is done  (well, almost), and wrapped packages will be retrieved from where I stored them last summer ...

"If all goes well (and I have a little help from my husband), by bedtime tonight I may have candles in the windows, nativity scenes on the tables, and even stockings by the fireplace.  Once the house is decorated, the Christmas spirit just creeps in and I begin to relax.  Now I look forward to enjoying the season, baking fruitcakes, having friends over, visiting in their homes, and rejoicing in the birth of the Savior."  ~ Barbara Sims, Homemade Hospitality

I think she's onto something here.  For years, I thought people who put their tree  up right after Thanksgiving were really rushing the season.  But this year we started decorating earlier than usual, and I did notice that once the house looked pretty and festive I started to relax as far as enjoying the season went.  (We won't discuss my rush to finish and mail handcrafted gifts, which is another story entirely.)  So next year, I may follow Mrs. Sims' lead and decorate even earlier!

A few Christmas decorating pictures

Now that it is time to take the Christmas decor down and put the winter decor up, I finally am managing to post a few pictures of this year's decorating.  Not everything, by any means.  Just a few pictures, all but one from my hutch.

The Christmas hutch in its entirety this year

I wanted to make this photo extra large so you could see the cute little forest friends by the trees -- carolers, and a mom and child at the nut shoppe! But Blogger cut out half the photo, so I had to make it smaller again.  I had forgotten all about these and was tickled to put them out this year.

A favorite Gooseberry Patch cookbook

Adorable holly-print teacup and teapot ornaments.  I caught my 3-year-old grandson pretending to pour tea!

Several years ago I made dozens of these family photo ornaments -- a Gooseberry Patch project!  Couldn't display this in my usual place so thought it looked cute hanging from a milk bottle.

Milk bottle with candy canes ~ love this idea which I saw  on Sugar Pie Farmhouse last year.  The crocheted coaster beneath was made by my friend J.

I found this cabin tucked away; it had been a school project by one of my daughters. 

A few of the glittery houses in my collection.  Some others are hanging on the Christmas tree.  And another "Forest Friends" figurine, this one a mother and baby mouse out for a walk in the snow.

I  usually put that family photo ornament in the center of this garland amid the icicles and snowflakes.  But this year I had something even better -- a lovely mitten made by Linda Stubbs of Prairie Flower Farm.

I should admit that our Christmas tree is still up.  It's artificial, and my hubby wanted to leave it up until this weekend.  So we will!  But I have changed other areas to winter decorations.

Wonderful idea for entertaining friends

Yesterday I happened to be glancing through one of my favorite Gooseberry Patch Christmas books, Simple Joys of Christmas.  You can read my review of it here:  Simple Joys book review, and I'm sure you will see why it's one of my favorites.

The book includes memories as well as recipes and some entertaining ideas.  This idea came from a lady named Pat Crandall.  She wrote:  "During the first week in December I send invitations to friends to join me for a Christmas tea.  I ask each of them to bring a Christmas story, poem or personal remembrance to share.  After we spend time enjoying one another's company, then we go to the dining room where everyone can make an ornament to take home; afterward we have dessert and coffee.  We all love spending time together and for me, this is one way I can show my friends how much I appreciate them."

I love this idea!  For some time now I've wanted to do something for the ladies in my Sunday School class at Christmas time.  One year I gave them each a handmade ornament and a poem I'd written, but I have really wanted to have them over and show hospitality to them in my home.  I've considered various ideas -- a brunch, a cookie exchange, etc. -- but all seemed too complicated and time-consuming.  I wanted something simple yet special.  This gathering sounds as if it would be just right. 

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of Simple Joys of Christmas, it is (sadly) out of print, but I found reasonably priced used ones on Amazon.  You can go there directly or use my affiliate link:  Simple Joys of Christmas.  If you, like me, love Christmas and vintage things, I am sure you would enjoy this book.

Pecan Cherry Bark

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I enjoy making candy as well as cookies at Christmas time, and this recipe for Pecan Cherry Bark has been on my want-to-try list for a long time.  The only thing was that it called for 3 pounds of almond bark, which could really add up.

I wanted to take some candy to a party this past weekend, and that coincided with a 75% off price for almond bark at my local Hannaford supermarket.  So I got out the recipe and tried it.  It was good, but in my opinion too thick.  It was hard to break the candy into pieces.  So next time, I will only use 2 layers (2 pounds) of bark, one chocolate and one white.  But otherwise, the candy was good and I will try it again.  The sugared pecans are fantastic!

Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

(Photo by Land O'Lakes

For the past few years, I think this fantastic cookie has been my very favorite of the special-occasion cookies I make.  We include it on our Christmas cookie trays, but it would be wonderful for any special occasion.  These  cookies tend to disappear off the trays very quickly at a gathering or potluck, and people often comment about them or ask for the recipe.  So I thought I would share it with you all.  I found the recipe in Cook & Tell, an old favorite recipe newsletter, but the recipe originated with Land O'Lakes, and may be found here: Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprints.  The cookies freeze and defrost beautifully, glaze and all.  They have so few ingredients and are so easy to make.  I just love this recipe!

These cookies are wonderful with raspberry jam, but they are also very, very good with apricot jam.  You can use any favorite jam you like, but those are the two I usually use.  Although ... someone gave me a jar of terrific cranberry marmalade for Christmas.  Wonder how that would be?

Chocolate Butter Cookies three ways

One of my favorite cookies which is a "must-make" on our kitchen gift list each year is Sacher Torte Cookies.  These yummy cookies are made with a chocolate instant pudding mix and no sugar. They are a chocolate thumbprint cookie and, when baked, the thumbprints are filled with either apricot or raspberry jam and drizzled with melted chocolate.
 
Well, this year when I wanted to make Sacher Torte Cookies, I found that I had no chocolate instant pudding mix in my pantry.  I remembered that last Valentine's Day the same thing had happened, and I had used a chocolate butter cookie recipe from Land O'Lakes for the cookie part.  So naturally, rather than make a trip to the grocery store on an already busy day, I turned to that recipe again.  You can find it here: Chocolate Butter Cookies.  I just filled the indentations with a half teaspoon of jam as usual and spooned a half teaspoon melted chocolate over each one to cover the jam.

Then I remembered another cookie that I really wanted to try and thought the same dough would work for it.  It too was a chocolate thumbprint cookie, but the dough balls were dipped in chopped nuts first, then filled with a white chocolate filling (just melt together 4 ounces chopped white chocolate and 2 Tablespoons butter) and topped with a quarter teaspoon of seedless raspberry jam.

(Photo by Taste of Home)

So I doubled the chocolate butter cookie recipe and made 2 kinds out of it.

Later, I saw another cookie I wanted to try, but the Chocolate Butter Cookie recipe was easier.  So I made it again, this time substituting vanilla for almond extract.  We filled the indentations with melted white chocolate and sprinkled them with crushed candy canes.  Very pretty!

We got a lot of mileage out of this recipe in the Christmas kitchen this year.  I highly recommend it!  Undoubtedly there are many more variations one could try.

More fun with felt food

Darrin and Emily enjoying some of the felt food I've made previously

 

I am going to try over the next few days to share some photos of some of the Christmas gifts I made this year.  I try to make most of our gifts, although often for men we end up resorting to gift cards or to consumable food gifts. 

Several of our grandchildren absolutely adore felt food.  Their moms tell me that the play food comes out nearly every day to be played with, fed to stuffed animals, and so on.  I had big plans to make a lot of felt food for Christmas, but the more challenging items were put on hold and I will plan to make them for birthdays instead.  I thought I would show a few pictures of the easier items that I did make.

Tree and gingerbread man felt cookies

I also made red frosted bell cookies and yellow frosted star cookies.  The "sugar crystals" on all of these are glass beads securely sewed on.

Orange, cherry and lime felt popsicles

A second set of felt popsicles -- grape, lime and orange

(Photo by Turkey Feathers, which is where I found the tutorial for these felt pancakes.  I made mine the exact same way.  I forgot to take a picture of my pancakes before giving them away.)

I wasn't sure how to make "maple syrup" to accompany these pancakes, but ended up using a small, empty, very clean plastic syrup jug to accompany the one set.  For the other, I bought a tiny plastic jug full of real maple syrup and advised the recipient to use it on real pancakes and then have his mom clean it to use with the felt pancakes.  I had seen some felt maple syrup bottles on Etsy, but didn't have time to figure out how to make them.  The solution I came up with worked fine, and it's fun for them to have the real, albeit small, maple syrup jugs to use.

From the kids' reactions, I think there is quite a bit more felt food crafting in my future!

The actual baking list for Christmas 2011

Okay, now it is time for a reality check.  Time to check the tentative baking list against the actual one.  I found that out of the 12 items on my tentative list, we actually made 6 of them.  And then we made 8 items that were not on the tentative list.  So we actually made more treats than planned, just different ones.  As I mentioned earlier, Mr. T did a good bit of the baking and candy making this year.  What a help he was!  As a result, he has informed me that if he ever retires (which is highly unlikely), he would like to spend more time in the kitchen.  Should that ever come to pass, I will not complain!  I love to cook and bake, but I don't mind help one bit.  So here's the list:

ACTUAL BAKING LIST CHRISTMAS 2011

Ashley's Granola Bars
Date-Nut Casserole Cookies
Whipped Shortbread
Eggnog Logs
Sacher Tortes
Heavenly Delight Fudge
White Chocolate Raspberry Thumbprints
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Almond Shortbread Thumbprints
Secret Spice Cookies
Chocolate Spritz
Cookie Dough Truffles
Fruity Pastel Spritz
Cinnamon Pretzels

We still have a few of these goodies left, mostly in the freezer, and will be using them for desserts at our weekly potlucks at church for as long as they last.

Fun after-Christmas buy from Tractor Supply!

Or, if you prefer, neat stuff for the tree from TSC!

A Tractor Supply Co. recently came to our area and I visited it for the first time this week.  I was hoping to find some neat things on clearance after Christmas, and I did!  I can't show two of them, because they will be gifts eventually and I don't want the recipients to see them.

But I can show the nifty ornaments I found.  I have long admired the glass ornaments shaped like pickup trucks with Christmas trees in the back, but never expected to find any this affordable.  This is a set of 3 ornaments, 2 red trucks and 1 green one, with little bottle brush trees in the back.  Here's the amazing clearance price ~ $3.49 for the set of three!

The set of three

The green truck

If you have a Tractor Supply near you, you might like to go in and see if they have any ornaments left.  Another really neat thing they had (which I managed to resist buying) was the candles which are poured in enameled mugs, little cast iron pans, etc.  The candles smell yummy and look so cute, and when the candles are used up you can still use the mugs, pans, etc.  These are on clearance but they are not at all "Christmasy" so they would make great home accents or gifts all year long.  Happy shopping!

Cookie Dough Truffles

(Photo by Taste of Home)

As mentioned earlier, Mr. T did a lot of our baking and candy making this Christmas.  Maybe later I can post our actual baking list (which differed quite a bit from our tentative list!).  I thought I would share one of the candy recipes that we really loved.  You can find the recipe here:  Cookie Dough Truffles.  He made these perhaps just a tad smaller than the recipe said to, and he ended up with over 7 dozen candies!  He had three trays of the cookie dough centers chilling out on the porch, lined up on top of the grill.  It was quite a sight!

The chocolate almond bark coating makes these very easy, but I think this candy would be even more wonderful with a real chocolate coating.  One reviewer on the Taste of Home site said that she made these with melted Ghirardelli chocolate, so we might try that next time.  (On the other hand, we just bought several packages of almond bark at 50% off at our local Hannaford supermarket, so maybe not.)

These have gone over very well with everyone who has tasted them.  They really do taste just like cookie dough, without any worry about raw eggs.   Give the recipe a try!  This candy would be great for Valentine's Day or any other sweet occasion!

Some after-Christmas deals

Here are a few of my after-Christmas deals.  I found a few more today at Tractor Supply, but those will have to wait for another day.  So far everything I've found has been for 50% off, and everything pictured here (except for the tea lights) I found at Walmart.  I'm hoping to find more good deals later when things go to 75% off.  What deals have you found?

"Holiday Sweets" cupcake papers for half price ~ these will be handy to have in the Christmas kitchen for next year!

Red & cream snowflakes and candy stripes on tissue paper

Votive candles in the Cinnamon and Vanilla Cookies scents ~ these smell yummy!

Extra fine glitter for Christmas crafting

A nice bakery type box for cupcakes and the like

Cookie bags including plates and ribbon ~ 2 in each set

And, found at Rite Aid, these battery tea lights for 99¢ a pack.

A quiet morning in the Christmas kitchen

Yes, it's quiet in the Christmas kitchen this morning after weeks of cookie-baking, candy-making and just general merry food preparations for this most special of holidays.  Today is a day of picking up and putting away -- gifts in their places, gift bags and other wrappings and Christmas cards all being reorganized for use another year.  I think, though, that I will not put these items in the attic just yet.  It would be prudent to wait and see what I find at the after-Christmas sales that will need to be put away, also.

I feel as if I should rename this blog "Mr. T's Christmas kitchen", for he has done a great amount of the cooking and baking this Christmas season.  I looked at a cookie tray one day at church and realized that, except for one kind out of a great variety of cookies on the tray, Mr. T had baked every one of them!  He had some downtime at work due to weather in the  past couple of weeks, and cheerfully baked and baked on those days at home. 

Christmas kitchen gifts from a  previous year

One thing about his being home is that it helped us think some things through as to how we might better plan for next year, as far as kitchen gifts and Christmas food preparation in general go.  I always bake cookies ahead and freeze them, but didn't start early enough this year.  I'm thinking, too, that in late fall I might find a pork loin on sale and freeze it right in the marinade, for Christmas dinner, and I might make a coffeecake or some sweet rolls for Christmas breakfast and freeze them too.  I made a nice cran-apple sauce for Christmas dinner yesterday; that would freeze, also...

Just a few random thoughts as I putter in my quiet Christmas kitchen!

Snowman sign on my back door

Quote for the day

Last night as I was wrapping gifts, I came upon some old gift tags -- not vintage, just old -- that had come from some charity or other.  There were only a couple of them left.  One of them had this quote printed on the back.  I liked it and thought I would share.

"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing others' loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas."  ~ W.C. Jones

It reminds me that as Christians we are to be brightening others' lives, bearing one another's burdens, easing their loads and reaching out to empty hearts and lives with the love of Christ.  All year round.

Cranberry Cheese Log ~ a yummy appetizer!

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Last night I went to a ladies' Christmas fellowship and needed to  bring along finger foods to share.  I brought a tray of cookies plus a cheese log and crackers.  For the crackers I chose Triscuits®, which seemed just right with the flavors and texture of this cheese log.  The recipe may be found here:  Cranberry Cheese Ball.  I chose to form the cheese mixture into a log, as I think cheese logs are easier and neater to serve than cheese balls.  I rolled it in chopped toasted walnuts rather than pecans.


This seems to be a very forgiving and adaptable recipe.  Rather than gorgonzola, I used just regular crumbled blue cheese (low-fat) from the grocery store since this is what I had, and it worked just fine.  I left out the chopped red & green peppers because I had none on hand, and left out the celery due to lack of time.  For the onion, I reconstituted 2 teaspoons of dried minced onion in hot water for 10 minutes or so and then drained off the excess water (there wasn't much).  The flavor was wonderful and, although I may add the peppers next time, they are not necessary.  This seemed to go over very well at the fellowship, and I will definitely be making this again and again at Christmas time.  Easy and delicious!

Christmas Star Dishcloths to crochet

I saw these adorable dishcloths over at Miss Abigail's Hope Chest and just had to share.  Here is the link to the free pattern, which downloads as a pdf and looks like fun:  Christmas Star Dishcloth  The original pattern calls for gold yarn on the edging part, but as you see Kathleen used red, which to my mind looks even nicer.  Green would be pretty, too.  I am longing to make one of these, but will most likely have to wait until after Christmas.  This looks to me as if it would make a nice doily-type item for Christmas decorating, not just a dishcloth.

Photo by Miss Abigail's Hope Chest

Free Christmas Letter Templates from Better Homes and Gardens

Have you written your Christmas letter yet?  Or would you just like some nifty Christmas paper to print out recipes and lists on?  Head on over to Better Homes & Gardens for some free Christmas Letter Templates!  I think this link will take you directly to the vintage ornament stationery design, which is very cute, but if you click on "show all thumbnails" near the top right, you will see around 35 different designs to choose from.  These are free pdf downloads and there are many terrific designs.  Have fun!