holiday scrapbook

Christmas 2009 blew into town and covered us with a blanket of white.

Good thing we were already planning to stay home, as it would have been

tricky to travel up north in the storm.

Due to the storm, the Mall allowed each tenant to determine how late they

wanted to stay open for Christmas Eve.  Usually we head in to the store in

the afternoon, send our crew home, and manage the store until it closes at

six.  This year, we had the crew shut her down at three and we started our

Christmas Eve. celebration early!

Not knowing quite what to do with all of that time, we decided to play

holiday Monopoly.  Since we only had the Star Wars version, we made it

work.  If you landed on "Go to Jail", you got to open a gift!  It was a nice

balance of pain and pleasure.

We ate snacks happily, opened gifts merrily, and later took a moonlit snow

walk through the neighborhood.  It was great to watch families celebrating

through their brightly lit windows, all snug and cozy and happy. 


Charlie left cookies for Santa (even though he NO LONGER BELIEVES)

and Claude had started in on them by the time I got back downstairs to

stuff the stockings.  Here, he is innocently looking all cute and acting like

he doesn't want to chew on the ribbons.

And here, the topless tree that ate our living room.

It was a wonderful Christmas, (even with the wide angle lens making my

shoulders look like a linebacker).

Hope your holiday was a memory maker too!  (and the actual photo does

say Merry Christmas, not Merry Christ....)

a few of my favorite things

There are certain movies that I cherish, that hold a special place in my

heart. And I can always count on one of my very favorites to be shown

during the holidays.

As I type this, Fraulein Maria has just berated Christopher Plummer

soundly, standing drenched from falling in the water, with the amazing

Alps in the background.  And now the children are singing to the

Baroness, and all I want to do is sing along.

Maria is one of my favorite characters - strong and outspoken, and she can

sew playclothes out of curtains, and put on an amazing puppet show, and

help the Captain find his heart.  And dump that annoying Baronness.

"Edelweiss" played at our wedding, while the guests were being seated.

And I walked down the aisle to the wedding march from this movie.

Cinema is a wonderful thing, don't you agree?

What movies touch your heart, no matter how many times you watch them?

Christmas baby

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear

Heather, Happy Birthday to you!

I still remember that day in 1973, when I woke up early to peek in my

stocking and my aunt was sitting in our living room.  Not a normal

occurence for a Christmas morning, she smiled and told me my parents

were at the hospital.


Santa could not have brought a better present than dear, sweet Heather

Jo.  And if I could, I would post a baby picture here, as she was the

cutest baby girl ever.  She even won a baby contest at Pamida!

Enough said.


Sending hugs to wind their way up north to Bemidji on this snowy

Christmas Day. Happy Birthday Heather!

And a very Merry Christmas, to all of you (circa 2005).

the season of giving

This time of year, folks feel especially inclined to give to those in need.  My

problem is, there is so much need, and so many I want to help, that I have

a really hard time deciding.  Where can my small donation do the most

good?  Do I help something big, like St. Jude's Children's Hospital?  Toys for

Tots?  March of Dimes?  Special Olympics?  Buy a cow through Heifers

International?  Do I do something more local, or help a specific family?  I

believe it is so important to give, and help where you can.


We do a lot of donations through our store, we daily get requests for

donations of gift cards to silent auctions for various organizations, big and

small.  And it is always fun when someone comes to fly, and they won it at

a function.


We have raised Charlie to give, and to help him along I set up three mason

jars for him.  They are labeled SPEND, SAVE, and GIVE.  Whenever he

gets money for a birthday, or his monthly allowance, he usually splits it up

into the three jars.  We let him decide how to divide it up.  When he finds

a video game he wants to buy, he checks his SPEND jar to see if it is in

his 'budget'. 


At Christmastime, he takes his GIVE jar and decides what to do.  In the

past, he has bought toys for the Toys for Tots program.  This year, he

decided he wanted to help animals, so last Sunday we went to our area

Humane Society so he could drop it off, and we could check out all of the

animals.  http://www.animalhumanesociety.org/


It showed great restraint for us not to bring home an adorable cat named

Bing, who had an upper respiratory infection, (his owner had brought him to

the shelter as he could no longer afford to keep him).  And we wanted a

lively terrier mix named Jolly, who stuck his paws through the cage and

begged us to take him home.


Criminy, I am not sure how much more my heart can take.


I was very proud of our boy, and I hope that he will continue a tradition of

 giving throughout his life.  And I guess it really doesn't matter where you

 give, or how much you donate, only that you do.


And to all of you, my dear readers, I give my warmest greetings for a

very happy Christmas Eve !

recipe box Wednesday

Today I depart from the old wooden recipe box to share with you my

favorite new cookie recipe.  Since Christmas is all about cookies, I wanted

to share the love : )  My dear friend Tracy shared some of these with us

earlier this week, and I can't even tell you how unbelievably good these are

-make them as soon as you can!

Ricotta Cheese Cookies

4 c. flour

2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Whisk together and reserve.  In a large bowl, beat:

2 c. sugar

2 stcks unsalted butter, at room temp.

Beat until creamy, about 5 minutes.  Reduce power, and add:

15 oz. full fat ricotta cheese

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs at room temperature

Beat until well combined.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture,

mixing just until dough forms.  Drop by level tablespoons about 2" apart

onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake until very lightly golden, about

15 minutes.  Cool 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.  Cool completely.

Icing:

1 1/2 c powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. half and half

Whisk together until smooth, add more cream or more sugar as needed to

get desired consistency.  Spread on cookies, top with colored sugar if

desired.  Allow icing to set one hour.

When I make these, I am going to drizzle the tops of some of them

with dark chocolate or sprinkle them with toasted sliced almonds

(or both!)   mmmmmmm

My thanks to Tracy's sister Toni for sharing the recipe!