The Second Week of Christmas 2021

 

Saturday:  Our day was very quiet.  No carols, no tuning on the tree lights.   We mostly just did nothing.  I made our usual Saturday lunch pizza.  This week I made Buffalo Chicken pizza.  I don't make this one often, but we really enjoy the change when I do make it.

Late afternoon and evening were a whole different story from our morning and early afternoon. We were just beginning to get ready to leave when the weather blew through with heavy wind and rain.  It poured.  It started getting really dark by 4:30.   We were determined we'd keep our evening as planned but it was tempting to just stay home.   

John had seen the decorations at church on Thursday night by pure fluke.  He showed up for a meeting that had been cancelled but then got roped into guarding doors to keep people out while practice was ongoing.  

It was still pouring and blowing like crazy.  There was no way to keep dry as we went in.  The consolation was that everyone else was every bit as wet and windblown as we were.  

The lobby was just wonderful.   There was a huge beautiful live tree, a tree of lights and ribbons, and a forest of wood trees.  There was a snow machine blowing over the entrance to Santa's sleigh.  It was all so pretty, and my eyes filled with tears just looking at it.   One of our pastors came up to me and gave me a big hug.  "Did we do good?"  I told him indeed they had.   I'm such a child about things like this.  I'm still thrilled beyond words even at 62.

Due to weather the outdoor activities were moved indoors.  That meant no live animals for the nativity.  The kids were still cute as could be and the aroma of fresh hay was rather nice, but then I'm a country girl.  John got a coffee.  I had a hot cocoa with whipped cream and sprinkles.  I usually would skip the whipped cream and I'd never thought of sprinkles on whipped cream on hot cocoa, but I think I might just see if I can do this for the children this weekend.  We listened to the children's choir sing as we sipped our hot drinks and enjoyed the old-fashioned Christmas songs and watching the way the children acted.

Then we headed back across to the other building to watch the program.  There were all sorts of surprises in store.  Some of our Creatives for Christ group members appeared in roles within the play and sang in the choir.  Our pastor had a big surprise for us, and his wife rather surprised us, as well.  She's a musician but we didn't realize how very multi-talented she is.  It was all just lovely and I'm so glad we went ahead despite the nasty weather.

Sunday:  Let the busy begin.  Up early and off to church.  On the way home, John went into the grocery to get a bottle of cranberry juice and some more Christmas Cards.   While he was in the store, my mind was racing.  I took out my little note pad and made note of all the things running through my head.  That list consisted of all the things I felt I should get done today.  Woo boy!

Once home, I started before I got past the freezer.  I stopped right there and took out the things I needed to thaw.  I'd planned one meal for my roast chicken dinner, but I changed my mind.  I stumbled on Thanksgiving leftovers and pulled those out.  I needed the room in the freezer to put the sandwiches I wanted to make ahead for our family day.  And food being food, why cook fresh new foods when you have ready-made items right there?  I said I was going to keep it simple this week and using what I had on hand already seemed the smartest thing I could do.

I ran to change my shirt and then tackled other jobs.  I bought a big bag of collards on the day we stocked up the freezer.  I remembered my promise to John to put those on to cook outdoors.  I got all the collards in my slow cooker, seasoned them and carried them outdoors.  I told John he'd have to help me remember them!

Back indoors, I heated the leftover burgers, that were meant to be Salisbury Steak later this week.  I also started making soup for supper tonight.  

I won't list all I did today, but I hit my list hard, and everything got done that I felt must be done today.  Cleaning, cooking, meals, giftwrapping, cookie making.  I worked from the time we came in until we left to go take off trash.  It happened that taking off trash was the reminder I needed to bring in the collards, lol.  I saw the crockpot when we got back and thought, "It's now or forget again."  

The collards were done.  I packaged those up into three portions while I finished off the soup for our supper.  I did dishes, too,  while the soup finished cooking.  I told John "There's so much I didn't do today but I'm going to quit as soon as we eat our supper."   And I did.  It was a full day, a busy one but I got some of my family Christmas Day prep done and that's a relief.

When I checked emails this weekend, Carolyn had sent me a recipe for an appetizer that sounds like something the children will like.  I'm going to put that on my list.  I like that it's all things I typically keep in my pantry.  

Monday:  I had both Millie and Caleb this morning.  The little boys across the field are sick.  Sam had back-to-back meetings.  Bess had to go get lab work done.   The boys are easy enough to manage but Millie is two and needs attention that older children can do without.   

It wasn't a bad morning, but it was most definitely a busy one.   The children danced and played and ate and didn't share the way two-year-old children do.  After lunch, Millie went home with her daddy.   I might add that this time she was delighted to be with Caleb whom she kept calling by a name of her choosing.  He was no longer "That Boy" as he's been in the past.  And she smiled at him many times this morning which is a major thing. 

Caleb was fascinated by the tree as I knew he would be.  Although the bottom was mostly empty, he still couldn't resist touching the few items he could reach.   It made for a very difficult day as he was especially stubborn once his focus was on the tree.  

Needless to say, there was little focus on Christmas today.  Never mind.  I set out butter to come to room temperature for cookies tomorrow.  I found a new recipe that is a twist up of two others I have.  I think it will be a good new cookie to try on my family this year.  

During Caleb's naptime, I managed to get the last of the Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail.  And I came up with a plan to try to decrease damage to both our relationship with Caleb and the Christmas tree.  I thought back over the years and when we last had a tree and little ones in the house.  The last time I recall having littles about was when the twins were toddlers.  That memory helped me come up with a solution. 

After he left this evening, I moved a table to the living room and put the tree on top of it.  It raises the tree roughly 10 inches higher than it was on the old wooden toolbox.  We'll see how it works.

Tuesday:  Did you know that two-year-old children can have a bad day?  Well, they can.   Caleb has not been having a good day.  Poor little boy. It began going wrong at home.  He reached for a cup of milk and knocked a glass off the counter which broke.  In jumping for the glass, Katie knocked over the carton of milk.  She snatched Caleb up and left the mess behind because he was in his socked feet, and she said glass was everywhere.  He was mighty upset when he arrived and every little thing that could go wrong for him has.  If he's picking up a toy, he's dropped it on his foot. If he's trying to get one toy another topples on top of it and pins it down.  If he has a snack, he drops it.  And he cries over it all.  At one point he sobbed so long and so hard that I just picked him up and rocked him murmuring poor, poor baby.   I keep hoping he'll take a nap but so far, no.  He's yelling at me now from his bed.  Not even quiet time for him.

Today I am happy to report the higher table has been the right solution for the tree.  It's not the perfect solution but it's one that is good enough.  I caught Caleb playing with the plug only once.  No ornaments snatched off the tree today thus far.  

I made a new to me cookie today.   The one I said I found on Julia Pacheco's vlog/blog.  It's a sort of Sweet and Saltines type recipe but made with grahams and pecans.  I skipped the pecans and added walnuts instead.   She used Hershey bars.  I chose to do a mix of semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips.

Julia Pacheco's English Toffee Pan Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F

Graham crackers

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

5 regular Hershey milk chocolate bars (I used about 2 cups of semi and dark chocolate chips mixed)

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment or spray with non-stick spray.  (I used a cookie sheet that is roughly that size).  Line the pan with graham crackers.  Her recipe says one sleeve, but I used one sleeve and two or three from a second packet to fill my pan.

Melt butter over medium heat.  Add brown sugar.  Stir occasionally and when mixture comes up to a rolling boil, while stirring, cook for 5 minutes.  Stir frequently.

Add in pecans and remove from heat.

Pour over the graham crackers, smoothing it if necessary.   (Mine was much thicker than hers was in the video).   Bake in 350F oven for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and lay out chocolate bars.  Lay a piece of foil over the top to let heat melt chocolate.  After about 5 minutes, spread it to cover surfaces.   Let cool until chocolate hardens then break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

After I made the toffee bars, I mixed up another recipe of that cookie dough I used for the Snickerdoodles.  I made the coconut raspberry thumbprint cookies with that.  In future, I'll go back to the traditional sugar cookie dough which has a more cake type foundation for these cookies.  These are good but crispier and flatter as it's a slightly softer dough.

Bess, bless her soul, had too much of a dish she was making for the family the other night and put it in a smaller casserole for John and me to have for supper.   I'm happy to have that entree tonight with our choice of sides.  

Now I shall go off to make John a much-needed cup of coffee and then I will get up that screeching boy who is apparently determined to continue this day on the same note it began. 

 Wednesday:  Making my lists and checking them twice.   I'm not looking for naughty and nice, I just want to be sure I'm not letting anything slip through the cracks while I am working on my family party.  

I've changed my mind thirteen times about what the party menu will be and won't be.  I've planned all sorts of things.  In the end, I came right back around to my original decision: Keep It Simple.  And that meant going right back to the tried-and-true recipes and serving what I typically might.  I am still thinking I'll add the recipe that was sent to me over the weekend, but only that one.

Thursday:  Gathered Fragments.  I said I'd made lists yesterday.  One of those dealt with the food I had in the fridge.  Leftover roast chicken was my main concern.  Bess had kindly made an entree of Chicken Broccoli Rice for us on Monday, and we ate that Tuesday night.  I'd planned to make a Chicken Wild Rice casserole this week.   I didn't want to serve the Wild Rice Casserole this week after the Chicken Broccoli Rice.

Here's what I ended up making: Spaghetti a la Diablo.   This is a spaghetti dish that I've been making for 40 odd years.  I started making it because it used so little meat in the sauce, but I've kept right on making it because I really like this dish a lot.  In the last four years I made one change and only one.  I now add 1 finely diced zucchini or if I haven't any fresh zucchini on hand, I'll add a 1/2 cup of shredded from my freezer.     Nowadays this recipe actually makes enough for two meals for John and me. I put one in the freezer for a future hectic day.

I made the Chicken and Wild Rice casserole, too.  I'll save that one for this weekend when the family is here if we need a meal on Sunday.  

And last I made up a pan of White Enchiladas.  I discovered this recipe online sometime this year and made it for us and John loved it.  I made half a recipe this time.  We had it for lunch today and Caleb liked it as much as we did.

I still have broth and bones to make more broth and pick over.  I made Chicken Salad earlier this week and we'll finish that off tomorrow for lunch.  I think that's pretty good for what started out as a humble roasted chicken, don't you?

I have a little less than half the roast I cooked on Tuesday night as well as some of the vegetables and broth.  I plan to make a beef pot pie with those things.   I have pre-made pie crusts in the freezer to top that dish with.  I think that will be our supper tomorrow night.

Isn't it a good thing to have a budget stretcher in this season of the year?

Friday:  Caleb had a bad day on Monday and Thursday was Katie's day to have one.  She got through the most of it just fine despite every circumstance seemingly going against her, but she arrived at our house in tears.  When I said what was wrong, she cried. Her car had barely crawled to our house.  She sat down and wept.

John listened to the 'symptoms' then went to the computer.  Let me say one more time how grateful I am to live in a day and age that we can get 'instant' information.  John discovered the possibilities of the reason for the problem, called Sam and they went to work.  It took a trip to Ft. Valley to the auto parts store and about two hours but by 8:30 she and Caleb were on their way once more.  It was a modest cost to repair, not cheap but not horridly expensive.  

 In the meantime, Caleb was entertained with the Trolls Holiday movie.  He actually sat down and watched it for a few minutes but jumped up once again when he started to get sleepy.   Missed nap and darned if he was going to sleep that evening either!

After they left, John came in and settled into his chair.  He declined to watch an episode of Downton Abby, saying "It's too emotional for me to handle this evening!"  lol   He's gotten very involved in the series this time around and is asking me all sorts of questions with each viewing.

As it was my mind buzzed all evening long and well after we lay down for sleep.  It wasn't that I wasn't tired, but my head just wouldn't quiet down.

This morning, I allowed myself to sleep 30 minutes longer.  And two cups of caffeine instead of one.

I made sausage balls this morning.   I shouldn't have!  They proved irresistible to me and Katie both.  I allotted us all five and then put the rest away.  I've decided I'll make more in the morning though because these are popular.  They also freeze really well so if we don't eat them all they can be kept for future snacks or breakfasts.

Katie and I did a quick review of foodstuffs and she's determined not to make deviled eggs and urged me to not make the new recipe but stick to just the previously planned foods.  I determined that she was quite right.  I can always try that new recipe on Bess and the kids next week when they come over to spend the morning.

This evening, after prepping our supper pie, I prepped our vegetables for the hummus and veggie trays.  I gathered all my foodstuffs from the back and my paper plates.  I restocked the coffee.  I think we're good to start the morning.

I waffled about having Mama come this weekend.  The main thing is the time factor of driving to pick her up and coming back again while trying to get the last food items prepped.  Everyone has a busy morning already.  I settled at last on asking Mama to come for Christmas Day dinner.  As it happened when I spoke with her, she wasn't feeling well nor sounding well but she insisted that she was fine and didn't need to see her doctor.  Not much one can do with a stubborn nurse, retired or not!

It's late and I'm only just now getting this out.  It seems more and more lately our day doesn't stop until nearer 8pm.  But that's just life at the moment overall especially in this season of the year.