Rudolph Day for February just did not happen!

This is a photo of the village of Whitefield, NH in 1948 (or I suppose realistically the photo was taken in 1947). but the snowy scene is what it looks like here in New Hampshire today, after all of the snow we had yesterday.

Well, of course February 25 was in its usual spot on the calendar, but the observation of Rudolph Day just did not take place.  I had a dental appointment early that morning, so the rest of the day was pretty much spent on catching up with the laundry and other household tasks I usually do on Mondays. 

Oh, I had plans -- albeit very simple ones -- to do some Christmasy things; sip Candy Cane Lane tea (which I have seriously stocked up on, recently searching an entire holiday tea display at Wal*Mart to be sure I got every last box they had!); listen to Christmas music; make a few gift card holders and go over my Christmas list.  None of that happened.

Since then, I have taken a look at my Christmas list.  I have ideas for our elderly parents -- my mother-in-law loves what we do for her each year which is a bucket of bran muffin batter (the type that keeps for weeks in the fridge), a jar of homemade hot cocoa mix and a bag of clementines.  I give my dad just the baked muffins and the cocoa mix and a few clementines.  He tends to forget about them so I don't waste an entire bag on him.  We also give him a subscription to Readers' Digest.  If you keep an eye on their sales you can get a subscription for $5 or so.

And I have a few ideas for grandkids, mostly felt food so far.  But that is about it, so I need to do some serious brainstorming for Christmas gift ideas.  Maybe next Rudolph Day?

Making a Christmas shadow box

 
For the longest time now, I've been wanting to make a Christmas shadow box using vintage odds and ends.  I had seen the idea in Gooseberry Patch Christmas Book 7, and loved the one they showed.  The directions were by necessity not super specific, because of course everyone's shadow box frame and bits of memorabilia will be different.

I wanted to use an old red wooden silverware tray as a shadow box frame.  This was my mother's and was used by me as a teenager when I had a little home baking business.  In recent years, nearly every time I opened the silverware drawer in my kitchen, I would be reminded of this project and how much I wanted to create one of these shadow boxes.  So recently, I got my materials together and set out to make one.  It took me a week or more, working on it in available snippets of time here and there.  I began by thoroughly cleaning and washing the tray.

Then I lined the compartments with scrapbook paper.  I had some I had bought years ago specifically for this project.  I thought the red plaid had a vintage look -- but oh, aren't those red and green prints amazing?  They look like scans of actual vintage fabric.  There are stains, worn places, etc.  Just the look I was going for!

Another look with the tray flat, just as I glued the paper in.  I used a glue gun for the entire project.

After lining the bottom of each compartment, I remembered something important.  One side of each compartment was going to become the shelf for the memorabilia.  So I needed to line those as well.

I started with the vertical side compartment.

The top shelf holds lots of memories.  When I was a child my grandmother had Santa mugs that the grandchildren were allowed to use at Christmas dinner.  The one here is a cheap plastic imitation, but looks much the same.  The folded cupcake paper (which I may or may not leave there) is from a stash of my grandmother's Christmas things.  The tag is from my daughter as a teen, and the ribbon roses are a reminder of her as well since she often called herself the "little rose girl".  (She loves roses!)  The red ribbon, plastic greenery, the bell, and the little red bird are vintage.  The cookie cutter shapes are new but I thought they went well with the other things.

The second shelf holds a box of vintage light bulbs, a vintage sticker tag and a vintage plastic Santa and sleigh. I stuck a little metal embellishment that says "Cherish" on the tag.  The little metal pieces don't show up well in the photo, but they look cute in the shadow box in person.

I was a bit at a loss trying to decide how to fill the longer vertical space at the side.  Finally decided to make a tag and hang it from a red thumbtack.  Picture is of me and my brother and a cousin in the snow.  The flocked Santa sticker, the plastic holly and the striped bias tape are all vintage.

The letter stickers and the word on the tag are newer items.  You can't really see the word but it says "family" and is a shiny silver color.  In retrospect I should have put the "memories" letters lower on the back wall.  It will be fine when the shadow box is hung on a wall, but is a bit hard to see in the photo.

Vintage plastic deer, light bulb and tinsel from one of our early Christmases together.

A closer look at the tag; Santa sticker, holly, berries and bias tape are vintage.

The lower end of the tall side compartment.  Vintage plastic greens, holly, and berries.  This was old stuff from my great aunt.  Tiny vintage glass Christmas balls, too.

Finished shadow box!

Hope you have enjoyed this look at the making of a Christmas shadow box!  Maybe you've been inspired to make one of your own!

A side dish recipe to try for Christmas dinner 2013

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Browsing old December issues of Country Woman magazine, I came upon this recipe:  Green Beans with Roasted Grape Tomatoes.  With its festive red and green colors, this would be a natural for Christmas dinner.  I often have trouble figuring out a green vegetable to serve for that meal, other than the ubiquitous green peas or green bean casserole (which, when all is said and done, isn't really green).  Brussels sprouts can be made festive and I love them, but not everyone does. 

So this green bean and grape tomato dish is definitely worth a try.  And I plan to try it in the summer when both items are fresh and inexpensive.  For Christmas, I probably wouldn't use fresh green beans, as our local supermarket sells frozen whole green beans that are nearly as good.  This recipe looks healthy and delicious, don't you think?

A salad recipe to try for Christmas dinner 2013

(Photo by Taste of Home)

 In my browsing through past December issues of Country Woman magazine, I found a salad recipe it would be nice to try for Christmas dinner:  Lynn's Spinach and Apple Salad.  I will try it sometime this winter and see how we like it.


For years, the following has been my go-to salad for Christmas dinner:  Merry Berry Salad

(Photo by Taste of Home)

and we especially enjoy the homemade cranberry vinaigrette. 


But it's always fun to try something new, so I am definitely going to give the spinach and apple salad a try!  May the best salad recipe win!

A recipe to try for Christmas dinner 2013

(Photo from Taste of Home)

I came across this recipe in a back issue of Country Woman magazine:  Cranberry Sauce with Walnuts and think it would be lovely to serve with Christmas dinner.  That it includes toasted walnuts, not to mention apricot jam, sounds so festive.  I have the ingredients on hand to make this, so I think I will try this recipe the next time I roast a chicken.  We can then test it out and see if we'd like to serve it at Christmas.  I'll let you know how it comes out!

A fun almost-vintage find

Recently I was straightening out some of my cookbooklet collection and came upon this one.  I just had to scan it and show you all!

It's a magazine insert which I think  is probably from the 1980s (I didn't see a copyright date anywhere).  I actually don't even remember seeing this booklet before!  (Which may mean it was part of a stash I inherited from someone else.)  I probably won't make most of the recipes, but I plan to try a couple of them.  I so enjoyed looking through this and especially enjoyed the photography.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffeecake

Brownie Hot Fudge Sundaes

Candy Cane Cake made from a 13x9-inch cake -- love this idea!

Cherry Christmas Wreath cakes

Chocolate Cherry Cordial Drops and Festive Coconut Macaroons

Rich Double Chocolate Cream Torte -- I have actually tried a recipe similar to this and it was fantastic.  I think I am going to adapt this using a gluten free brownie recipe and maybe make it for Valentine's Day.

Gingerbread Men from a spice cake mix

Individual Cheesecake Cups -- and I love the Santa plate.

Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Bread

Peanut Butter Sparkle Cookies

Peppermint Marble Angel Food Cake -- so pretty!

Hope you've enjoyed this fun find from my cookbook stash!

THE CHRISTMAS KITCHEN ~ a book review

We were off on a winter getaway a couple of years ago and were browsing in a bookstore one afternoon when I spotted this book on a sale table.  I admit it, I just had to buy it (yes, an impulse purchase!) because of its title, so similar to the title of this blog, and also because of the charming retro look of this small, square book.

It's titled The Christmas Kitchen and subtitled The Gathering Place for Making Memories.  The author is Tammy Maltby with Anne Christian Buchanan.  There are twelve chapters, each filled with inspiring and encouraging text, delicious family recipes, and simple hints for making the Christmas kitchen merry, bright, and memorable.  Each chapter is introduced by a lovely photograph.

Chapter 1 is Christmas Central -- the key to making your holiday dreams come true.  This short chapter contains some mulled cider recipes to enjoy while you're dreaming and planning for making the Christmas kitchen a wonderful part of your holiday.  It  also offers some secrets to a more stress-free holiday season that are practical and truly helpful.

Chapter 2 is Christmas Kitchen Prep -- preparing your home and your heart for a season of comfort and joy.  The author expands on four simple steps: take stock, make room, stock up, and make ahead.  Included here are lots of gingerbread house ideas, along with a helpful checklist to use in stocking up for Christmas.

Chapter 3 is Make-Ahead Merrymaking -- cooking together for a joyful, stress-free holiday.  It's filled with simple ideas and recipes for food and treats to make ahead, along with instructions for a stress-free cookie exchange (something I've always wanted to try!).

Chapter 4 is Delicious Decor -- warm ideas for decking halls and hearts.  It includes lovely ideas for decorating your Christmas kitchen and setting your Christmas table, along with simple recipes for feeding a crowd of hungry decorators.

Chapter 5 is Kids in the Kitchen -- the messy joy of creating with pint-size cooks.  It gives great ideas for including kids in the Christmas kitchen, including making cinnamon ornaments, cute cupcakes, and teacher gifts.

Chapter 6 is From Our Home to Yours -- inspired gifts from your kitchen and from your heart.  I love to make and give kitchen gifts, so this was a favorite chapter of mine.  In addition to fun and unusual kitchen gift recipes, it offers over 20 ideas for gift basket themes!

Chapter 7 is The Gift of Yourself -- intimate gatherings for your special friends.  It presents recipes and ideas for treating your closest women friends at Christmas time.

Chapter 8 is Hope You Can Come! -- hospitality for your busiest season.  In contrast to the previous chapter about small gatherings, this one is for larger groups or even open houses.  There are some wonderful appetizer recipes, including one for a cheese ball that can be made half a dozen different ways.

Chapter 9 is No Place Like Home -- fun and delicious time-out evenings.  These ideas are all for your close family members and maybe a few friends as well.    The chapter contains yummy snack recipes as well as several great ideas for fun family evenings.  Very inspiring!

Chapter 10 is Just Like We Always Do -- traditions old and new for a joyful Christmas Eve.  Oh, how children love traditions!  This chapter has some wonderful recipes for Christmas Eve.  There's a Feliz Navidad tortilla soup that is just incredible.  I tried this recipe (but not on Christmas Eve -- we have our own traditional soup for that!) and it is so good. 

Chapter 11 is Always Room at Our Table -- cooking up a fun and festive Christmas Day.  There are recipes for Christmas breakfast as well as Christmas dinner, and loads of ideas for making the day festive yet stressless.

And  lastly, Chapter 12 is Something New -- enjoying the gentle side of the holidays.  It contains recipes and great ideas for celebrating New Year's as well as the Twelve Days of Christmas. 

I love everything about this book -- the recipes, the ideas -- even the chapter titles are fun!  I did a little looking around on Amazon and they have copies of the The Christmas Kitchen available, so you may wish to check it out.  This book would make a wonderful gift as well as a fun resource for your own Christmas kitchen!

Rudolph Day for January

The first Rudolph Day of 2013!  I really didn't accomplish all that I'd hoped to, but managed a few things. 

Three of my grandkids were here for  part of that day, so I decided that for one of our activities together we would try a couple of new fudge recipes.  That would count toward Rudy Day;  since I like to make fudge for kitchen gifts and goody trays, I could try these new fudge recipes with an eye to next Christmas. 

One kind of fudge I had really been wanting to try is this one: 100 Grand Fudge which is meant to taste like a 100 Grand candy bar.  It's a basic milk chocolate fudge with crisp rice cereal in it and a caramel swirl between 2 layers of the fudge.  It was easy to make and turned out well, but the caramel layer oozed out even when the fudge was frozen.  I think another time I would use less caramel, or perhaps add a little cornstarch or flour to it to thicken it a bit.

The other fudge was a real experiment.  I had found some peppermint swirl mini marshmallows in Walmart for half price after Christmas.  On the package back, it was suggested that one could add some of these pretty marshmallows to a basic chocolate fudge recipe.  I chose this one: basic chocolate fudge which, being made with sweetened condensed milk, did not take a lot of cooking time and so I hoped it would not melt the marshmallows too much.  I made the fudge as directed and added 2 cups of the peppermint mini marshmallows.  They did melt a little more than I would have liked, but the fudge tasted good.

The kids enjoyed making the fudge and sampling it later.   They also liked the idea that they could take some of each kind home!

After they left, I worked a bit at refurbishing a bargain bottle brush tree (Christmas clearance again!) and a miniature plastic house I had painted some time ago.  I had decided that they would benefit from some snow medium and glitter.  No pictures of any of this,  I'm afraid, but I'm sure you get the idea.  As the little house and tree sat on my crafting desk next to a multicolored lit tree, the newly glittered house reflected the tree lights so beautifully.

I also did a little work on the pieced Christmas place mats I'm trying to finish -- a UFO of several years' standing.  I'm hoping to get them all done this month, and am halfway there.

And that was pretty much my Rudy Day for January!

A bit of after-Christmas crafting

2 Christmas Star dish cloths

 Just wanted to share a few of the crafts I've completed since Christmas!  First, I've made a couple of Christmas Star dish cloths, as seen above.

I want to make a set of ten of these place mats.  Five are now completed.

The first place mat.  I completed this last year, I think.

The next 2 place mats.  As you can see, none of them are really alike and yet they all "match" because they use red, white and green Christmas prints and are backed with the same green gingham.

Place mats #4 and #5.  There is also a table runner which I made a couple of years ago that matches the set of place mats.

Hope you have enjoyed this quick look at some of my after-Christmas crafting.

How about you?  Have you done any post-Christmas crafting?

Before-Christmas fun with grandkids

 Just a week before Christmas, Mr. T and I took 3 of our grandchildren on a little mystery trip.  We wouldn't tell them just where we were going, only that we were going out for ice cream to start with.  In retrospect, it would have been best to do this on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon -- which, actually, was what we had planned to do, but our plans were derailed by one thing and another and we were now down to only evenings after work to choose from.  The place we wanted to take them for ice cream sundaes closed at six p.m. so we had to do something very unorthodox and eat dessert first.

We got there a few minutes after five and had the ice cream shop area to ourselves.  It took awhile to decide on a base flavor at the ice cream buffet (actually, it didn't take any time at all for me.  In my opinion vanilla is the only suitable foundation for the varied toppings) but eventually all three kids decided on strawberry.  Then they went through the buffet line and chose toppings -- things like hot fudge, hot butterscotch, strawberries, marshmallow sauce, peanuts, pineapple, and the like.
 
A flag always goes on top!

Then we all sat at cute little ice cream tables in the classic ice-cream-shop chairs.  They were so busy looking around at the interesting surroundings, the player piano (which we simply had to put a quarter in) that it was hard for the littlest one to concentrate on finishing his ice cream.  But he managed it!

Then we took a quick look at the candy shop and candy making area downstairs.  We discovered they also have a candy buffet, and the kids were interested in doing that another time if we make this little outing a tradition -- which we hope to.  There wasn't time left to look at much else, though they have a lovely Christmas room and a toy room and many, many other intriguing areas.  If we do this again, it will have to be on a Saturday to allow more time.

Then it was off to McDonalds for supper.  The kids loved this, and the one we went to even had a fireplace and a (pretend) talking moose head on the wall.  Sam and I ate our supper by the fire while the others sat at a high table next to us.  So much fun.  Wish I had remembered to take the camera in.

After supper, we headed off to one of our favorite shopping places.  This place is a fun one to visit anytime, but it is especially magical at night in the winter.

The kids had to see the waterfall from several vantage points and they loved spending time in the book and toy store.
 
There, I did a bit of shopping while the kids played with the train table and other fun toys.

Then, we headed to a dollar store so the kids could buy some Christmas gifts (funded by us) for their parents.  This is something they had never really done before, so it took a bit of time, but soon enough the choices were made.

The kids' parents were out for the evening too, so our plan was that when we got back to their house we would wrap the gifts and put them under the tree.  But all of our activities took so long that the parents returned before we did!  That was okay -- we had already made a "plan B".  I took the gifts home and wrapped them, then gave them to the kids in a big (stapled shut) bag later that week.  The older two smuggled them into the house and  under the tree, and all three managed to keep quiet about it, so it was a fun little surprise for their mom and dad.

All in all, it was a lovely but busy evening that we hope to repeat next year -- only in the afternoon if at all possible!

Handmade Christmas gift tags

 One recent project I've been working on is making Christmas gift tags out of 2011's Christmas cards.  I do this every year and I never have to buy tags.  I have tag templates that I use to trace and cut the tags,  and then punch small holes to string crochet cotton through (red, green, or white) or in some cases I use gold or silver cord as a hanger.  Many people probably have the paper punches that punch out tag shapes, and that would work great too. 

This year I decided to clear out the box I keep my tags in.  It was my grandmother's, given to me years ago filled with vintage tags, along with a bunch of wrapping paper she was getting rid of.  It's a sturdy box and the perfect size for tags, and ... did I mention it was my grandmother's?  She loved Christmas so much and, as I've mentioned before, wrapped her gifts with such an artistic eye, that throwing out her tag box would be unthinkable. 

One of Gram's tags

But it was getting a bit full, and clearly needed to be decluttered.  I sorted out tags that would work well for labeling items to sell at craft fairs and put them in a separate place.  Then I sorted out vintage tags, for possible sale on Etsy and elsewhere, and set those aside in a box where I keep vintage bits and pieces.

So after disposing of bits of ribbon, string, and card stock too tiny to save (plus some dust) I was left with a fairly neat and full box of tags.  Among them there was one handmade tag I'd made years ago and wanted to share with you all.

I think the idea may have come from Gooseberry Patch originally, but I tweaked it somewhat.  I made loads of these to label gift mixes I was making for our elderly parents.  There was room inside to write down the particulars of preparing some of the mixes.

 If you would like to make some, here is what I did.  You will need:  blank 3 x 5-inch index cards, scraps of Christmas fabric, pencil, scissors, fusible web, cookie cutters or other templates for designs, hole punch, crochet cotton, fine point permanent marker, buttons and hot glue.  Fold the index card in half and crease it.  Punch a hole in the corner, going through both layers.  Fuse fabric to web and trace desired designs  on the paper side; then fuse the fabric shape to the front of the tag.  Hot glue a button to the center of the design if you like.  Use the permanent marker to make little "stitch marks" around the outer edge of the fabric shape.  Cut a short length of crochet cotton and thread it through the holes in the corner of the tag.  You are finished!

When ready to use, write whatever message you like inside the tags.

Why not make up a bunch and have them ready for next Christmas?  When I did these before, I did the same fused fabric/button technique on plain old paper lunch bags, and they came out so cute.  I used them for the mixes.  This year, I found some white lunch bags at Walmart, and they would be great for this, though the brown ones look very nice.

I've been making lots of projects (mug rugs, place mats) out of my Christmas fabric stash,

"Christmas Tea" mug rugs

Front and back of another set of mug rugs made for a friend

Pieced placemat -- I am making a set of ten; I have completed five.

 and still am finding I have quite a few smaller scraps.  This would be a perfect use for these, I'm thinking.  So many projects, so little time!

Another inspiring Christmas quote

Here's another inspiring quote from Tammy Maltby's wonderful little book, The Christmas Kitchen:

"Your kitchen, whatever it looks like, is your number one resource for holiday celebrations and decoration.  It's your comforting place to nurture relationships with people related by blood and those you choose to welcome into your life.  It's rich with possibilities for gift giving, for expressing thanks, for reaching out to others and showing love to them.  It's also an ideal place to connect with children, passing along the experience of Christmas and recovering a little of the child in you at the same time."

I hope to do a review of this book soon.  It's available on Amazon and other places, and I'm sure many of you would enjoy it as much as I do.  It has some great recipes, too.

In the meantime, enjoy these little quotes!

Brown paper gingerbread men

 I made these ornaments many years ago and they are still holding up well.  They are simple and fun, so I thought others might like to try them as well.  You will need:
* Brown paper bag or a roll of brown kraft paper
* Pencil
* Gingerbread man cookie cutter (optional)
* Polyester fiberfill
* Sewing machine (threaded with color thread of your choice; white, tan, brown, or even red would work)
* Pins
* Thread and needle
* Scissors
* Dimensional squeeze-bottle paints in white, black (or dark brown)  and red

1. First draw (or trace, using the cookie cutter) two gingerbread man shapes for each ornament on the brown paper.  Cut out the shapes.
2. Pin the 2 shapes together and sew most of the way around them, leaving room to poke in some fiberfill.  You don't want them too puffy; just use enough to give them a little dimension.
3. After adding the fiberfill, finish sewing the rest of the way around the shape.
4. Thread a needle and add a hanging loop to the top of the gingerbread man by piercing it with the needle, going through both layers.  Trim to size desired and knot ends of thread together at the top.
5. Add eyes, smile, buttons, white "icing" trim and a little red heart if desired, using dimensional paint.
6. Allow paint to dry before hanging the ornament wherever you'd like.
 
 They look nice not only on the tree, but in a window, on a chandelier, hanging from a rag or evergreen garland, as a package tie-on, or even piled in a basket like real gingerbread men.  Have fun!