Christmas Cookies

Did you have a good Thanksgiving weekend? We had a very enjoyable one and are thankful for so much. As we transition into the Christmas season (my most favorite time of the year), we find our house cluttered with boxes and totes and half-decorated trees. No room is completely finished and the rainy weather hasn't helped any with our outdoor decorations. The wreaths and pine roping are waiting to go into place and everything needs attention since we host our first holiday affair this Wednesday!

This weekend I did tuck-in a tiny bit of baking. I made two kinds of cookies to go in the freezer for approaching events.  I will make a few more varieties as time allows.

I made chocolate mint crinkles using this simple recipe.

 

Crinkles

cake mix of your choice

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

 

small bowl of granulated sugar

small bowl of powdered sugar

 

Mix ingredients and roll into small balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar first and then powdered sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

**This weekend I used a chocolate cake mix and then stirred in half a bag of mint chips.

I also made a batch of honey cookies from Grandmother's recipe. During the depression when sugar was rationed, honey was substituted and that is what is called for in this recipe.

Grandmother's Honey Cookies

1 beaten egg

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cups honey

1/3 cup melted shortening (I used butter)

2 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

 Beat egg well. Blend in sugar, honey, shortening (butter) and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and add to liquid ingredients. Mix well and put dough in refrigerator to chill (at least an hour).

Roll dough to 1/4 inch and cut out shapes. Place on heavily greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (with the combination of my oven, cookie sheets and small shapes, I found 7 minutes to be perfect for the ones I just made). Decorate when cool. Store in a tightly covered container.

 

 

This particular cookie became a family favorite for my dad and aunt growing up and today my aunt continues to make them each Christmas. She always sends a tin of them to my parents. When I made these asterisk snowflake cookies, I used local honey from my friend's apiary!

 

 

 These cookie cutters belonged to my grandmother and are coupled with this cookbook on the planning center. The book is a favorite collection of cookie recipes from my childhood. I love it! What is on your holiday baking list?

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and a restful

long weekend.

Tuesday's Turkey Tablescape

We enjoyed a family Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday and I forgot to take pictures of the table, so I tried to recreate it today. I used the cornucopia centerpiece last weekend, but switched it up today.

 

 

These are some of my favorite plates. I love the colors and the realistic turkey and use them each year.

 

 

How are you setting your Thanksgiving table?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Christmas Child

You are probably familiar with Operation Christmas Child. It's a program sponsored by Samaritan's Purse (a relief and Christian evangelical organization headed by Franklin Graham) which sends shoeboxes filled with surprises to needy children around the globe. Individuals pack a shoebox with toys, school supplies, personal hygiene items, etc. You have the option of shopping for a girl or a boy and there are three different age ranges from which you may chose.

The boxes are then collected at a relay center where volunteers pack them into cartons. At the end of the national collection week (which is today), the cartons are loaded into trailers (by Randy and a few other men) and taken to a local collection center. Once there, they are loaded into semis and taken to one of our nation's eight distribution centers.

For the past week, I had the privilege of volunteering at our church to help this endeavor. Although we have personally been donating filled boxes for over 20 years, this is the first time our church was a relay center. That means that fellow churches and individuals from surrounding neighborhoods brought boxes to us. We packed them and today we wrapped-up. We were highly excited to be able to load up over 1,600 shoeboxes! It was amazing! The trailers were driven to the closest area collection center, which just happens to be my parents' church. These particular boxes will ultimately land in the hands of needy children in Mexico, but Samaritan's Purse reaches over 100 different countries. Last year they distributed over 11 million shoeboxes collectively. I have heard some awesome stories this week while working. There are accounts of children who were unable to attend school because they had no pencils---until their shoebox was given to them last Christmas. One child was barred from school because she had no socks to wear with her shoes. Her shoebox contained several pair for her.  In this materialistic world we know, it's humbling to learn of children who have never received anything until receiving their box. There was an African woman who had small children. Her young ones were so happy when they were each given a box. She, excitedly, went through the contents with each of them and when she got to the bottom of the last box she couldn't believe her eyes. The person who had prepared the box had included a personal photo and a letter. The photo was the woman's own aunt. Decades earlier, their family had been split apart and an aunt had disappeared and was believed dead. Not only did the woman now have a picture of her aunt, but proof that she was living, even though divided by counties.

In this season of Thanksgiving, we are again reminded that we have so much for which to be thankful.

Cranberry-Sour Cream Salad

I have two favorite cranberry salad recipes and I thought I would share one of them with you today. This one comes from the church cookbook and goes well with holiday meals.

 

Cranberry Sour-Cream Salad

2 small boxes cherry jello

2 cup boiling water

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. lemon juice

 

Combine jello and hot water. Chill until slightly thickened. Break up cranberry sauce in a bowl with a fork and then stir into jello, along with celery and pecans. Fold in sour cream. Add lemon juice. Pour into a 9 by 13 pan and return to refrigerator. Cut into squares when ready to serve.

 

Enjoy your weekend!

 



"New" Red Lantern

I should have taken a "before" picture, but I didn't think of it until it was too late. Several years ago, a student gave me this cute little lantern. It was hunter green and I decided to give it an updated look. Taking advantage of the weather, I decided to paint it  today since it's supposed to get cold (with possible snow showers) this weekend.

 

 

 

I put it on the garden stool on the front porch for this picture, but won't leave it there until the day after Thanksgiving when I decorate.

I decided to add ribbon for a pop of color. I have had a spool  of this ribbon for so long that it's actually back in style! Plaid is very popular this Christmas season.

 

Have a good evening!

 

 

 

Autumn Bottle

If you need a quick and simple decoration for Thanksgiving next week, here's an idea.

 

 

 

 

 

You need a clear glass container (I used an old wine bottle), some faux autumn leaves (I had mine on hand from the dollar store) and some Mod Podge.

 

 

Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge over the entire surface of the glass (you can even use your finger to apply it). Press on the leaves in a random pattern, making certain the edges are firmly adhered. After the leaves are on to your satisfaction, paint another thin layer over the top of the leaves. It dries quickly and leaves a nice frosted-look on the glass which is not covered with leaves. Tie a ribbon around the top for color.

 

 
 
 
 

You can put a candle in the spout or you can put an arrangement in it. I just cut some Maiden Grass from our yard for mine.

 

Can you believe Thanksgiving is nearly here?!

 

 

 

Tuesday's Tablescape

You know how I am with dishes. I'm like a moth drawn to light when it comes to plates. A few Saturdays ago, my mother and I were at a sale when I spotted a stack of butterscotch colored dinner and salad plates. I had absolutely no intention of getting them, but I had to just look. As I was standing there thinking how versatile they would be, the owner glanced over and told me that she just wanted to get rid of that set and that they were a dollar. One dollar for service for four? Before I knew it, I had scooped-up the stack and paid for them! May I add that they still had the stickers on the bottom, so they were new. This is such a dreary day that I wanted to show something bright and warm and these new plates fit the bill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had these glass turkey candle holders. I decided that they would be the focus of today's table. 

 

You can see the color of the plates. Won't they go with a lot of table themes? Today I have them on silver chargers.

 

 

For a little added color, I scattered these plastic acorns on the tabletop. They came from the dollar store a few years ago and I am not sure if they still carry them, or not.

 

Unlike the weather here, I hope your day is sunny and bright!

 

 

Natural Method Cleaning

This weekend I noticed that my demitasse spoons were in need of a little TLC. I am no fan of polishing, so I try to keep it simple. My sister-in-law recently gave me a "recipe" for cleaning silver so that's what I tried. It mimics a method I learned about at a home show years ago and I have to say that it is preferable to dragging out tarnish polish, cloths, etc. There is a reason I have practically no silver under my roof! 

In a heatproof pan, spread a piece of aluminum foil with the shiny side up. I used a thin "plate" that I purchased for this very purpose at the home show, but the foil will accomplish the same goal. Place your pieces flat on the foil and sprinkle liberally with baking soda. Pour nearly-boiling water on top and allow it to soak for about 5 minutes. If it doesn't bubble or fizz, add more baking soda and make sure your water is hot. Once clean, rinse and gently pat dry.

 

It worked well with three of my five spoons. Two  had very ornate designs which did not completely clean to my satisfaction, so I borrowed some tarnish polish from my mother and gave them a quick supplemental wiping down. Most of the work was done by the baking soda soak.

My grandmother collected demitasse spoons and each had a story.  She acquired some on travels and others were gifts from family and friends. I remember when we were little, my cousins and I would play with them. The last one in the row below was always my favorite because I thought the birds were so realistic and so beautiful! I have five of hers and my dad made this display rack for them. The brass plate in the bottom corner reads, "Grandmother's Spoons". The framed shadow box  above the spoon rack holds my baby spoon and fork. Not only does baking soda make cleaning silver easy, it's also natural. Do you use any natural cleaning methods?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanky Tree

My mother has a collection of lovely hankies. She began collecting them as a child and continued to receive them as gifts throughout her teaching career in the 50s.

This gorgeous tatted hanky was a gift from her Grandma Taylor who made it for her.

This beautiful hanky was a gift from a student. 

This exquisite hanky was hand-made by her Grandma Taylor for the occasion of my mother's high school graduation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a shot looking down at the top of the box in which all these pretty hankies are stored. Grandma Taylor made it from greeting cards and crocheted it together. Isn't it awesome? We were thinking it would be fun to display these special little treasures, so we came up with this hanky tree.

 

 

 

Using a four foot tinsel tree, we attached the hankies by fastening them to the branches with tiny silver clothespins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naturally it doesn't go outside, but we walked it out on their deck in an effort to get some good light for these pictures. It's sitting on a plant stand for display purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We placed the hanky box at the base of the tree and have the graduation hanky displayed with it.

 

 

It was fun looking at and discussing the hankies as we assembled this seasonal display. We noted that purple was a popular color! Some of the hankies have scalloped edges, some have especially dainty designs and some are large in size. All of them are keepsakes!

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Pilgrims

These little pilgrims sit behind my corner kitchen sink, so we see a lot of one another when I am washing dishes! You can notice the very bottoms of the windows which shine light on the duo. The tray behind them is another childhood treasure of mine. I think they were pretty common in the 60s and were sold to commemorate each holiday. They are plastic and were probably intended to be functional, but I use them decoratively because now they are vintage!

 

 

 

 
 
Sitting next to the sink, my detergent is always "dressed" for the season. Many years ago, Aunt Kay made these adorable aprons for all of us to use on our soap bottles. The collection has one for each month and I really enjoy using them. It's funny how a little treasure used over the years becomes a sort of keepsake.

 

I hope your day is going well!

New Recipe

A friend gave me the following recipe and we think it's a keeper!

 

Sour Cream Dill Chicken

8-10 chicken tenderloins (boneless)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 cup sour cream

1 T lemon juice

1T dried dill

1 can (4 oz.) mushrooms (drained)

paprika

cooked noodles

 

Place chicken in a single layer in a 9 by 13 pan. Sprinkle with paprika. Combine soup, soup mix, sour cream, lemon juice, dill and mushrooms. Pour over chicken. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until done. Serve over bed of noodles.

 

This entrée goes well with parmesan rolls, fresh green beans with bacon and fruit salad.

Enjoy!

Tuesday's Tablescape

Today's table is in honor of Veterans Day, which we'll observe tomorrow. The men and women who have fought for our freedom deserve so much and they don't always receive the support and appreciation of which they are most deserving.

 

 

 

 

I borrowed the eagle from Randy's office. It's one of his favorites from his collection. Isn't it handsome? 

 

 

 

It's rather appropriate that the thankful tree is in the background, isn't it? Let's be thankful for our past and current military veterans tomorrow.