December 14

Responding to the outcry of my fan[s,] (all one of them) I'm back. :-)

It's crunch time now - all extra-curricular projects are on hold until further notice. Shopping is giving me a headache - can't seem to find what I'm looking for in the real world,
...and it's too late to order online.

Stress levels are high in our house. Still reeling from all the events of the past couple of months, so nailing down a little Christmas spirit is a tricky thing at this point.

Generally I turn to books or Christmas movies, but there haven't been a lot of good films lately, and I'm thinking that the Christmas murder mysteries that I have ordered were probably a bad idea. (Wrong kind of Christmas spirits.)

It's time to shift gears anyway, and concentrate on the details.
I've got two big meals to plan - Christmas Eve, and Christmas breakfast. (I wonder every year why I started that tradition, but as hubby would say; "which one would you give up now?" )

Truth be told, I enjoy doing them both - it just feels like a lot when the time comes.
Paper plates now take the place of the family china, and pre-made items like rolls, etc. are no longer tabu.

Simplify, simplify, simplify is my new mantra.

Ham and funeral potatoes are becoming a tradition for Christmas Eve.
I found this ham recipe on Gooseberry Patch.com

Apricot-Glazed Baked Ham

Submitted by: Debbie Donaldson from Florala, AL

1 T. all-purpose flour
6 to 7-lb. fully-cooked ham
18-oz. jar apricot preserves


1/4 c. spicy brown mustard
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. orange juice
Shake flour in a large oven bag. Place ham in bag; set in a roaster pan. Combine remaining ingredients, mixing well; pour over ham. Close bag with nylon tie provided; cut 6 to 8 slits in bag. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours to 2 hours and 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of ham reads 140 degrees. Serves 10 to 15.

I also love Breakfast Casseroles with fruit and croissants.
Always on the lookout for new recipes to mix things up, but I usually end up falling back on the same ones - because they're familiar and fairly easy.

...As I was looking up recipes on the Gooseberry Patch blog, I found a link to this tutorial - these cookies are too dang cute!

I may have to try them too - you know, in my "spare time." Ha.
(There's lots of cute treats there - check it out!)


Carol of the day:



"Christmas is a time of little time.
How we get there is a mystery.
Racing madly mall-to-mall, we climb
Into fields of sunlit harmony.
Shopping, cooking, clearing walks and yards,
Trimming house and tree while working, too;
Making phone calls, wrapping, writing cards,
As all worn out we do what we must do
So that this day of joy might joy renew."
- Nicholas Gordon