Up, up, and away

We're off! Well, kinda. We made special arrangements to drop our dogs at the kennel at 6:30 this morning. Well no body was there. So, here I sit at 8:21 waiting for the kennel to open so we can be on our way *sigh* I trust we'll be off soon.

1 day to Florida!

Have a happy New Year...

Oh how I love a good cranberry cookie!

I must start out by saying...gee I wonder if we'll have a white Christmas?!?

Here in Illinois we are on the verge of breaking a record for the most snowfall in one month. The current record goes back to 1800 something when they first started recording snowfall amounts. I do love a white Christmas but snow everyday is a little much. AND even though I love a white Christmas I don't love the constant shoveling that goes with it! Oh wait, I haven't shoveled at all, I just traipse through it in my backless shoes and then complain that my feet are cold and wet....yup! That's me! Since we have company coming today, I believe shoveling will be in order...I better get those kids up and now!

My brother's cat Woody sits and stares out the window at the snow...and just watches it come down. What do you think he's thinking?

It's Christmas eve...the day my babies have been waiting for...and I finally feel the need to make a list. There are a few things I don't want to forget, you know important things, like wash the entry way rug, clean out the fridge, etc. etc...all the really important stuff is done. So, I thought I'd take a moment to share some Holiday images with you...Of course, my baby Aubrey... during her first cookie lesson with Auntie :) Make a note here how clean the table is...And then there's Blue...my constant cookie companion. Ever hopeful that a crumb may fall to the floor....or better yet be nudged to the floor...He is a real cookie stalker...Compare previous clean table photo to this one...this is the aftermath of 150 dozen cookies!

After all is said and done...the final product is well worth it, don't you think?

And now...let me share with you my favorite recipe...on the very bottom of that tray...under the cornflake holly, please take note of the most delectable Cranberry walnut cookies of all time. I don't remember where I found this recipe...but if you love cranberries like I do...then this cookie is a must have...

Cranberry Cookies

Yield: about 72 depending how many you eat while they're still warm!

1/2 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons orange juice or 1/2 teaspoon orange extract plus 1-1/2 tablespoon water

1 large egg

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

2-1/2 cups coarsely chopped frozen or fresh cranberries, or dried cranberries (I use Craisins)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease baking sheets. (I always use airbake sheets) Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Stir in milk, orange juice and egg. Mix in dry ingredients. Stir in nuts and cranberries.

Drop dough by tablespoons about 2" apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 10 - 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet then remove to wire cooling racks to cool completely.

Here's my little known secret to soft chewy cookies...since I love all my readers so much, I'm willing to share it with you! After you bake your cookies and they are cooled, place them in a ziplock bag for safe keeping. Add a slice of bread to the bag (no kidding it really works) and your cookies will stay soft and chewy!

Once completely cooled, or even while still warm...you'll want to enjoy a tasty bite!

Happy baking and Merry Christmas!

2 days til Florida

You ready?

I think I'm pretty ready. I'm surely more ready than I can remember being in a long time! We got so much accomplished today! We finished the final batch of cookies....twice. We got up early and made the batch of corn flake holly. They were all pristinely placed on wax paper on the table. I left to take Brennan to the dentist (no cavities), Stephanie was sleeping, and Kristina was in the shower. When I got home, half the corn flake holly was gone and there was a pile of red hots by the patio door. Evidently dogs don't like red hots, but they do like corn flake holly! I remade the batch and packed up all my cookies to deliver. We made our deliveries, stopped at the mall for one last present which was $29.99 and I got it for 2.14!!!! You can't go wrong with a deal like that, it's nearly free! Finally we stopped at Walmart and bought the Christmas dinner for tomorrow. The house is actually pretty picked up. We'll just need to do flat surface cleaning tomorrow, clean the bathrooms, and scrub the floors. Throughout the day I'll be doing laundry and getting ready to pack. My honey has to work til noon and then I'll get the kids to clean out the truck so we can start packing.

My brother and his daughter, son-n-law and granddaughter will all be here about 5 or 6 to eat, open presents, and have yummy desserts. The snow is supposed to stop at noon, so hopefully the roads will be clear for my brother to get here from Kenosha. We'll head to church at 10:30 for our peaceful candlelight service...the highlight of Christmas for me.

I have a few presents to wrap and a light dinner to cook tomorrow. I'm thinking there may be a nap in store for me tomorrow! Now that, is a perfect Christmas Eve. Hope you and yours are happy, healthy, and safe this holiday season.

I was pretty sure Christmas is a holiday...

It seems that our Christmas plans get less and less as time goes on. My mom is in Arizona since this weather just doesn't agree with her health at all. My Poppy passed away this year, my grandma Bee and Aunt Ruth last year. I usually end up with my brother's here. This year one is staying home out of state, one is in the hospital and the other has to work. That leaves my nieces: one is staying in Nebraska and the other has to work, so she'll be arriving in time for dinner. It makes me wonder what has happened to the holiday?

On my husband's side, his family seems to overflow with dysfunction during the holidays so this year we committed to travel at Christmas instead of stay home to wallow in dysfunction junction. We planned to leave the day after Christmas, since my children always want to be home for Christmas. [long pause for reflection] but then I wonder what kind of Christmas and merriment there will be with just us, my niece, her husband and baby? It'll be a small gathering, which oddly doesn't require any less planning on my part.

I am grateful I have all my shopping done. I have a very short list this year, so I got it done in two outings. The cookies are baked except for the final ones which used to be cornflake wreaths but have now turned into 'holly' to avoid covering my hands in butter to make wreaths :) EEEWWWWW how I hate sticky! I was laughing today that I think if we weighed all the cookies they would at least weigh 10 lbs! Tomorrow, I get to deliver...a big bunch to my friend Sandi...whom I'm so grateful is not in the hospital this year, a bunch to my friends at work, and then a bunch to ship off to my mama who is recovering from surgery. I'll have a bunch for my brother if he makes it for Christmas, a bunch for my niece and her husband, a bunch complete with special requests for my mother n law, and a bunch for hubby's sister. The rest will ride in zip lock bags to Florida with us :)

My precious one is just finishing up the last batch of dishes-- when it's 'cookie weekend' it seems like we do dishes non stop! The baking of cookie weekend included:

Two new types of peanut blossoms...guess what, we liked last year's better
The wonderful cranberry walnut cookies...returning from last year...our new favorite
Cut out cookies
Pressed sugar cookies (my son's new favorite-more on that later)
pecan sandies
toffee (new this year...still in the testing phase)
raspberry poinsettias (new this year and quite tasty and pretty)
Macadamia nut from a mix - fair at best
chocolate chunk from a mix - if flour was added to it would have been great
chocolate mint - yum.my (my big girl's boyfriends favorite)
strawberry sandwich cookies (returning from last year and a big hit due to their beauty)
corn flake holly (stole the holly idea from a recipe blog and love it!)

There you have it...the top 12 picks for this year. Will they all be returning next year? We'll let the reviews determine that! My precious one and I have sat at the kitchen table baking for two days. My precious one is looking over the list and asking why some were eliminated and some were added. We are especially glad the creme de menth balls that we threw out last year were not relived this year. Gosh they were awful!! Today... we took Lacey to the groomer, so she's all pretty for Christmas and to get some pesky hairballs removed and I completed a 4 hour training class for one of my new part time jobs as a professional development advisor. I do love sitting at home baking cookies, listening to a webinar and getting paid. I'm pretty sure that's as good as it gets!

Tomorrow, oh...I lied...I have one little present to pick up for my mama...then I have to send off her box, my boy has the dentist, Cookie deliveries, my precious one needs a swim suit...and thank God they sell them here in Illinois in the dead of winter, cuz we sure learned the hard way that they don't sell them in the south in December, but that's a blog post for another day. Laundry and packing is on the list, and shopping for Christmas dinner. Did I mention snow? Don't forget the snow 3 - 5" predicted for tomorrow and 4 - 6" predicted for Christmas Eve. I have a few presents to wrap, and then I plan to clean and nap.

You know that old saying if you build it they will come? Perhaps if I plan for Christmas they will come? After all, I was pretty sure Christmas is a holiday...

4 days til Florida

We have secured the vanilla

Ok, so we might be winning the craziest neighbor award...but after much shoveling, pushing, peeling out, etc...we finally resorted to pushing one car out with another. I got out my trusty really old and junky mazda...maneuvered it around in the driveway, and pushed my daughter's car out! The hubby is on his way to the shop to bring home the snow plow...and I made it safely to the grocery store and back---whew!

snowed in and out of vanilla

This is cookie baking weekend...we went shopping on Friday night and bought all of the ingredients....or so I thought. Well, really I did buy all the ingredients...just not enough vanilla :( So...we're baking away...when we ran out of vanilla. Sad...just sad...but here's the rest. There are 30 - 40 mile an hour wind gusts here, and we live up on a ridge. What that means is there are 3 feet drifts throughout our subdivision and we can't get out. My daughter's car is stuck in the middle of a drift in the middle of our driveway. We own a snow blower, but it doesn't start. We own a snow plow, but it isn't here. We also own a four wheel drive truck but it isn't here. Let me finally add that we also own a FRICKIN tow truck, BUT IT ISN'T HERE ALSO!!!!! My husband...where is he? napping...where is all of our snow equipment...at the shop...where are we? STUCK IN THE HOUSE WITH NO VANILLA, TRYING NOT TO SWEAR!!!!

If you're out and about today in your four wheel drive, that you happen to have at home, not at your husband's shop, please feel free to drive slowly by, and throw us a bottle of vanilla.

6 days until Florida...

Close your eyes and remember...

One of the best memories I have as a child was the amazing decorating that went on at my Gramma Stockenburg's house and her sister's house...My Aunt Vi and Uncle Alan. Although they have all passed on...the memories are alive and well in my mind. I believe I've mentioned in a previous post the amazing holidays my Gramma Stockenburg used to host, and although it's not clear to me when we were at Auntie Vi's house (perhaps Christmas Eve at one house and Christmas Day at the other) (or perhaps they alternated every year) I don't recall, however, I do remember Auntie Vi's Christmas Tree. It always sat in front of her floor to ceiling front window, it was always flocked and it always had one of these on it...

A rotating Christmas tree spot light! Imagine if you will a flocked tree that changed colors as the light rotated. I found this light on ebay and man if I had an extra penny, I sure would have bought it along with the flocked tree to go with it! I remember as a little girl watching their tree change color in amazement, as the house was bustling with amazing Swedish cooks, generations of Aunts, Uncles, and cousins, and pure holiday bliss. I also loved to just peek behind the tree and watch the light go round. My Aunt had a full wall limestone fireplace with various bricks that stuck out...on every little brick sat holiday elves: Little tiny ones all in red and green. There were the best Swedish pastries and always an abundance of delicious food. I wonder when they were preparing for the holiday's if they knew it would stick with me 30 years later?!?

What was your favorite childhood holiday memory?