Happy Holidays!


Christmas seems to have snuck up on me! I guess it was all that gallivanting around Spain in November that distracted me. So now it's a scramble and only a few short weeks left to prepare for the "big day"!
So here's the plan ....


  • Decorate with as little as I can get away with. I know "more is more" at Christmas, but I plan to keep it as simple as possible using just a few of my favorite decorations .... I mean the tree will give it away! I was looking for a Christmas table cloth for my kitchen, but after searching for something I liked, I decided to buy a piece of green printed fabric that I can use all year around. I'll just stick a red candle or something on it for a Christmas feel.
  • Food - You can't break with tradition too much, so I will be making a few "old stand-bys" like shortbread, cheese balls and peanut butter fudge. (Best to stick with what you know.) Our future daughter-in-law does not eat dairy, so I'm always on the look out for appetizers and sweets that are dairy free. Gingerbread, date squares, peanut butter cookies, and various pies are a few that I've made. Hummus, pate and various antipastos are always good to have on hand too! And I am not above getting a little help from Costco. M&Ms or Mrs. Sobey!
  • Entertaining family and friends is the best part of Christmas! I'm anxious to see my youngest son and his fiance, who live 5 hours away, and this year we are having an "open house" a few days before Christmas. Of course we always look forward to a Boxing Day visit from my friend Diane and her twin sister Karen from the big city of Toronto. Karen has a history of getting storm stayed with us, but that's all part of the fun!
  • Shopping, believe it or not is going quite well! I've done some "online" shopping and hubby has been a great help picking up things for the boys. I plan to buy what I can find and if I need to "top it up" I can always get a gift card!
So there you have it. In a nut shell, I'm going to focus on enjoying family and friends. If I have no time to cook .... I'll buy something (or get hubby to do it!). If I'm not decorated to the hilt ..... nobody will notice anyway!
Cheers!


I made gingerbread cookies (dairy free!) with Anna Olson's recipe and they turned out quite well. Now I am going to decorate them using "Royal Icing" .... never heard of it before. In this icing you use meringue powder ... another thing I had never heard of before! My oldest son is coming for his birthday dinner tomorrow with his girlfriend and her 5 year old daughter so I thought that perhaps she might like to to have a little fun decorating the gingerbread men. I'll keep you posted!

Anna Olsen's Ginger Bread Cookies


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