Holidays at Home: Holiday Fun

In the countdown till Christmas one must make time for a little fun, a little friendship.

My friend Suzanne (from Canada) came for a short visit -- partly to come to Cork Poppers, partly for Christmas shopping, partly for VERY belated birthday celebrating (my birthday is in August; we tend to do each other's about four months off. We'll do Christmas in January.)

 

We saw some wonderful store-window eye candy (and everything inside was pretty wonderful too.

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I actually got some "real" Christmas shopping done -- a good thing, given that the clock was ticking down.

We chowed down at a favorite restaurant and had one of those good "friends who have known each other forever" times!

We also decorated Rick's trees. During Covid when we couldn't find a tree lot, I gave him three of my smaller trees. He's used them ever since.

A day after Suzanne's departure, I hosted lunch with two wonderful women I see monthly when we three get together for lunch. 

We were expecting a snowstorm later that day so the snowman plates were in order, along with Mom's silver and some vintage glasses.

I decided we needed party favors, so it was a little bag of eight holiday-themed teas, a snowman potholder and a little eyeglass cleaning cloth.

Jane brought the best coconut-squash soup; Susie provided peppermint ice cream bars for dessert and I made a colorful pasta salad. No one left hungry!

The flower arrangement I did after our greens cutting day was still hanging in there!

The next day, friend Jan and I decided to venture to one of our favorite markets to stock up for the holidays. No pix of that one, but it was productive!

Rick was traveling for five days in Las Vegas. Then we have a few days at home together before he goes off to sit for the grands. Meanwhile, they came for an evening and overnight!

It was fun to just hang out, but when they crash, they crash!

The next morning we headed to Grandpa's kitchen for an Oberle family tradition -- pancakes. And there were two eager sous chefs! 

More friends popped in. Longtime local friend Richard came for dinner. I hadn't seen him for ages and it was good to catch up. He's been writing again. (I posted about his earlier books here; put Richard Lassin in the search bar for more.) And my college friend, Jerry, has lived in Paris since 1993 when his production of "Hello, Dolly!" closed WAY out of town. He came for the day and dinner while he was in Michigan visiting family for the holidays.

Jerry brought these beautiful flowers -- white roses and holly make a wonderful season combination!

For once, I actually did a creative project, perfect for the cyclist in your life! I surprised Rick with this, leaving it in his house while he was away!

It's super easy -- an old bicycle wheel that is permanently out of commission; evergreen garland (I used faux for longevity); floral picks and ribbon and twine to tie the garland to the wheel. (I used one and a half garlands.) Tie it to the back of the wheel with the twine, about every six inches or so. Fluff the branches to be in the front of the wheel.) Add picks (or ornaments or ribbons, your choice!) It took about an hour, if that.

Lizzie was otherwise occupied!

Cookie baking too. I did this recipe from the New York Times. Don't worry if you can't access it. The main thing is adding peppermint extract to a sugar cookie dough. (And next time I do it, I'd use my old standby; theirs was crumbly and very hard to roll.) For the royal icing, a typical recipe available anywhere with two colors and divide the cookie in half to frost. I didn't have a small round cutter and the flower doesn't work so well. They taste fine and minty but too much aggravation for the 3.5 dozen yield. (Their photo is a LOT better and prettier than mine turned out!

The others fared better, a wonderful ginger cookie from Farmhouse Christmas 2023. I did three versions -- the 1/4 c. dough; l large cookie scoop and 1 small cookie scoop, adjusting baking times. Super-gingery and great yield. I couldn't find the recipe online to link but if you want it, put it in your comments and make sure I have your email address and I'll get it to you. I also did my basic shortbread rounds, using about 3/4 c. of toffee bits in half the recipe for a crispy, toffee taste. Yum. Those little white ones had a maraschino-cherry juice/powdered sugar glaze when they were finished.

And, just finished, Nana Diana's peanut butter fudge,and Marie's lemon-ginger biscotti, all old favorites from previous years. And, Anno's peppered nuts!

The children were nestled all snug in their beds.

And that's where I should be, too! Merriest!