Christmas: Cookie Exchange

Yeah, we’re having a cookie swap where I work.  And Yeah, I’m definitely participating (you’re surprised??? Have we met??)  This is a simple cookie swap.  Everyone bakes 6 dozen cookies of their choice.  You sign up and put what kind of cookie you’re making.  If you want to do something “normal” like Toll House or Peanut Butter, you’d better be one of the first souls to sign up. 

On the designated day, everyone comes together with trays and platters of cookies.  A quick walk around the table (it feels a little like musical chairs, except the Christmas music never stops)  and everyone has a new platter with a wonderful assortment of holiday cookies to take home with them. 

My friend Louise is the organizer of this event (God bless Louise) but if you’re thinking about having a cookie swap, you can find some great printable organizers here. 
    

Don’t forget to grab some of the cookie tray cellophane covers at the Dollar Store – this is the only time of the year that they’re easy to find.  Stock up now – it will make getting that platter of cookies to and from the cookie exchange much easier.  

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Christmas Lights

You won’t believe what I’m going to suggest now.  This is one of my favorite cheap dates in December.  Pack up a thermos of hot chocolate and some of the leftover holiday cookies and go drive around looking at the wild and crazy displays of holiday decorations that some people display. 

In our area, one of the parks does a huge a drive-through display of lights and scenes.  You pay $5.00 a carload (don’t load the car, just the two of you, please) and drive through the park while the lights blink and flash and cheesy Christmas music plays over tinny loudspeakers. 

But we also like to just take a ride and look at the lights.  We enjoy the simple, tasteful displays as much as the showy, blinky ones.  One house that we adore always does simple candles in the windows, wide red swaths at the door and a plain evergreen wreath on the front door.  It is some simple that it’s breathtaking. 

There are also a couple of houses with blinding displays of moveable figures, flashing colored lights and whtever else they can manage to put on the expanse of lawn.  Sometimes we think we should make a contribution to the electric bill (can you imagine??) 

This year, the internet is making this date a whole lot easier.  Just go to  www.tackylighttour.com  to find pictures, and a search function.  You can find homes with crazy light displays in your town and make your own tour.  Take the camera and you can upload photos of what you find to the site as well.  Just be aware --- this site has an eyeblinding 10,000 bulb minimum to be included. And if you find your home on the site --- well --- would you like a donation to the electric bill??

Starting the Pilgrimage of Advent

Today started Advent.  Recently, I had the privilege of listening to my friend Janet give the sermon for the morning.  She said some deep things about getting ready for Advent --- she said I could share: 

A few weeks ago the certain signs began to appear that the Holiday season is fast approaching. Advertisements for old games with a new twist like monopoly on DVD began appearing. But last week the signs were really clear and now there is no denying that the folks in commercial land want us to immediately jump into the holiday spirit of Christmas shopping with no reservations. But, wait a minute, I’m not there yet, I’m not even sure if I’m ready for Thanksgiving. Frankly, I’m not sure where I am at all. In just 2 weeks we celebrate the first Sunday in Advent. When I was a child Christmas couldn’t come soon enough. My heart and mind were ready and open to jump right in but as an adult I have accumulated burdens, I have reservations. I need more preparation. I need solitude and quiet, time to contemplate and prepare myself as if for a pilgrimage towards Christmas morning.

I love the idea of going on a pilgrimage like people did in the middle ages. It is a journey to prepare oneself to receive a gift of the sacred. Just think of what it must have been like living on a farm and dreaming about journeying to a Cathedral like Chartre in France. Imagine the excitement and anticipation as well as the fear of the unknown. On a pilgrimage every step is sacred and a step towards drawing closer to God. Some even make pilgrimages on their hands and knees. There is an expectation on a pilgrimage that you will encounter danger but also epiphanies and renewed hope. The gain far outweighs the danger. A pilgrimage is as much about the journey as it is the destination.

A pilgrimage is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding our vision of what is possible, stretching our soul, learning to see deeply, listening with our intuition, and taking courageous steps.

Told you ---- so --- are you ready for a pilgrimage this Advent?? I can’t wait to see what we’ll discover, how I’ll change and grow.  

Give Thanks

Give thanks.  What a simple directive.  What a difficult accomplishment. 

How fitting that we set aside one day to work on nothing except giving thanks (well, aside from the working of the cooking and the frantic battle-planning for the Black Friday assault)

I thought that this year, I would just bullet a handful of things I’m incredibly thankful for:

A husband who loves me and puts up with me and sometimes even embraces my quirkiness (I’m sticking by calling it “quirkiness, thank you very much)

A beloved friend who would strangle me if I named him here, who has demonstrated more character and courage in recent months than any seven people I know and who has been accused repeatedly of lacking both. 

The presence of young children in our lives who see clearly through all of the nonsense that tangles up the adults and deal with people directly and authentically

A job that not only pays the bills, it makes me glad to go to work

A safe, happy, warm home that welcomes me and provides respite for my soul

Friends and colleagues who are not afraid to tell me when I’m going off the deep end and are not afraid to join me there occasionally

Edy’s Apple Pie Ice Cream (preferably with a drizzle of caramel sauce, but plain is fine)

A dog who has learned to trust (finally) and who has taught us more about trust than we ever dreamed possible

Fine, faithful friends who try their very best to “get it right” in the face of impossible obstacles and who love and appreciate us for simply standing with them

Yep --- give thanks ---- its good for the soul.

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Go Dancing

Go Dancing!  Its old-fashioned, romantic and usually quite a cheap date. 

We started taking ballroom dancing lessons a number of years ago.  Its become something we love to do.  As my beloved often puts it: “a few hours with the woman I love in my arms…. What could be wrong with that??” 

Even if you don’t have a few years of lessons under your belt, go dancing.  Find a romantic venue – not just some bar or club, please.  Dress up a little bit.  One of the beautiful things about most of the dances we attend is that the women dress to the nines, while the men are generally dressed in more of a classy casual style.  We ladies get to indulge out love of ruffles, glittery things, and swirly dresses.  The guys get to be comfortable – lots of monochromatic shirt/pants looks --- and no one wears a tie!  Eveyone is happy. 

One of the new places to dance that we’re enjoying is the Morgan Mansion, Ventfort Hall.  This is an amazing restored Gilded Age Mansion.  Right now, they’re trying out hosting dancing on Saturday nights, once a month.  

If you click through and look through the photos, you’ll get an idea of why this zings my romance strings.  It’s a beautiful venue and a lovely evening of dancing and just enjoying each other.  Its an extravagant date without the extravagant price tag.  Dancing at Ventfort Hall – use photos from their website

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Send a Telegram

Send a telegram including the old-fashioned STOP instead of periods to anyone for $5.65.  At this nostalgic site, you type in your message, preview your telegram, and click SEND.  Within 4-8 business days, your receipient will receive his surprise.  Alas, it is delivered by regular mail truck, not pony express or a running messenger. Go here to try it out: www.telegramstop.com

First Snow!

It snowed this week for the first time this year.  It wasn’t that light fluffy snow that clings to the branches and makes everything look magical.  This was that grainy, icy snow that freezes everything and erases all hope of salvaging anything in the garden.  But it was pretty nonetheless. 

The Wedding

We had a wedding this weekend.  It was truly lovely.  I’ll let it speak for itself. 

 

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: At a Wedding...

We’ll be at a wedding this weekend --- my husband’s son’s wedding to be precise.  And I’m planning to flirt with my husband at this wedding.  I’m planning to show him just how very glad I am that we had our own wedding --- and that I married HIM. 

I plan to hold his hand for most of the ceremony. 

I plan to squeeze his hand and shoot him little lovey glances during the vows.  The words won’t be quite the same as ours, but the thoughts and ideas will be the same. 

I also plan to dance with my husband quite a bit at the reception.  And if things work out, I’m planning to snuggle against him while we watch the new married couple dance. 

And after the wedding is over --- I might be planning to re-enact our wedding night --- but I’m not telling. 

Face it – weddings are a great chance to flirt with your husband.

I have a lovely friend who is all crazy about the Twilight series.  I’ll admit I read the entire series (including the two mongraphs that came out later)  I haven’t seen the movies, and have no desire to see them.  The books, I found disturbing ---- but each of us has different tastes ---- and Sue loves these books.  She loves everything about the story and finds it intensely romantic. 

So, for Halloween, I agreed that I’d help plan a Twilight party.  It turned out to be a great deal trickier than I thought --- When one thinks of vampires and werewolves, one gets a rather dark image – lots of black and burgundy colors.  But in the Twilight books, the descriptions of the vampires is all very light – lots of white, they shimmer in the sunlight.  The Cullen’s house has lots of windows, white walls, beautiful and elegant furnishings.  How, on earth, to mix the two images and come up with a party that would leave Sue satisfied. 

First, a quick browse around the internet yielded this gorgeous tablescape 

--- a vision of the wedding scene come to life.  I LOVE it.  It is gorgeous, elegant, simple, tasteful ---- absolutely beautiful.  Could I borrow some of this and mix in a few “darker” elements in the food and drink and come up with a smashing vampire party for Halloween? 

What about a menu of rare roast beef --- bloody roast beef, if you pardon the image for a moment.  Serve it with a gorgeous beet salad (I’m loving the red without being too gory). 

Appetizers??? Maybe crudite with baked brie?? All that melty, oozy goodness can’t go wrong --- its light and white --- we could play on the “vegetarian” joke in the book.  If we bake the brie with a cranberry chutney, it would carry out the red theme and the contrast between the burgundy color of the chutney and the creamy pale cheese would be absolutely beautiful. 

Dessert?? Apples --- how could it be anything else?? But something subtle here, I think --- Sliced sautéed apples with a light caramel sauce and a little dab of vanilla ice cream or even crème fraiche.  Serve them in martini glasses to give it a little kick. 

Tie the whole thing together with two kinds of sangria --- white and red, of course.  And set the table, using the inspiration photo, with lots of white dishes, white linens, hydrangeas, green apples with the occasional deep red apple thrown in for contrast. 

What do you think, Sue??? Beautiful??  Twilighty??? Fun.

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Hike in the Woods

We’re heading out to the woods today.  I’ve packed the insulated backpack with ham and cheese sandwiches on onion rolls (makes the plain old ham and cheese just a tiny bit more special).  I’ve tucked in bottles of lemon seltzer, a few cookies, a small bunch of grapes, and some cucumber chips.  That should be enough to keep us happy. 

We get so much use out of that insulated back pack.  I wish I could recall who gifted us with it.  When we first received it,  I’ll confess, I thought it was silly and fairly useless.  And, I suppose for its intended use, it is.  It doesn’t hold enough for a real picnic and the wine holder sleeve that attaches to the side makes it bulky and awkward.  But for taking a little picnic hiking or biking, it can’t be beat.  I freeze a water bottle or two and place them in the bottom of the bag to act as ice packs (and drinks at the end of the trail) and then add a light lunch for two.  The backpack slings nicely onto my husband’s strong shoulders and we’re off.  Our backpack has been on countless bike rides and hikes through the woods.  I can’t imagine what we ever did before it. 

So today, its going hiking.  We’re off to the woods.  We’ll hike (and try not to get lost).  We’ll take a few photos of the changing leaves.  We’ll find a quite spot with a fallen tree or two for our picnic lunch.  And the world will stop just for us for a few hours.  Bliss.

Pasta with Sweet Potato

Pasta with Sweet Potato

We’ve long enjoyed the classic Rigatoni with Broccoli, Olive Oil and Garlic --- this is just a little fall twist on that classic taste.  We’re subbing in Sweet Potato for the Broccoli and adding a little bit of oregano to jazz it up.  Since the herb garden is coming to its very end, this will use up the last of my oregano, I think.  Try it:

·      4-5 small/medium sweet potatoes

·      1 box of chunky pasta (we like Rigatoni – but whatever you like)

·      Olive oil

·      Fresh garlic – sliced or chopped – your preference.

·      Stalks of fresh oregano

·      Parmesan cheese – grated (not the green box!!)

Bake the sweet potatoes for about an hour in a 375 oven.  You want them still firm, but cooked. 

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box

When you drain it – keep about ¼ cup of the cooking water to mix with the dish later.

Heat some olive oil in your skillet --- add the garlic slices and cook until they just begin to turn golden colored. 

Add the oregano and heat for just a minute or so – to infuse the flavor

Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/8 sections and quickly peel each section. 

Pour the drained pasta and the peeled sweet potato chunks into a large mixing bowl. 

Add the oil/garlic/oregano mixture and the pasta water (if you need it – I sometimes don’t)

Toss and serve with lots of parmesan