Happy Christmas...

From our little corner(s) of the world

 

 

 

 

 to yours.

I'm Behind My Time...

I have never been so behind on holiday preparations... and for me, a lifelong procrastinator, that's saying something... I have a real live naked tree in my living room... unwrapped gifts stashed in the dining room... decorations still in boxes in the basement and dust bunnies meandering throughout the house... getting the picture?  I did decorate the porch!!  Hung the wreaths... stuffed evergreens, boxwood, eucalyptus and pine cones in vintage picnic baskets and tossed in an old wooden sled along with a pair of even older old ice skates.  If I drag my dining table out there I could be good to go! 

 

Anyway, onto the more interesting bit... Did you know that Home Depot offers free evergreen trimmings?  Me neither... at least until I visited my local store for some hardware and happened to wander out in the garden section for a sniff of Christmas... There they sat... a lovely huge pile of mixed evergreens...  Free.  The clerk at checkout told me they do this every year...  It's not a big thing... but as a customer, I thought it was a nice thing... 

 

 

oh, and they also have some rather sweet little hanging baskets for sale as well 



Black Friday...

meet shop 'til I drop Saturday...

 

I got an amazing amount of Christmas shopping accomplished and the stores were totally UNcrowded...

A Day to Celebrate...

Good food, dear friends and family...

Happy Thanksgiving and pass the gravy!

 



Thanksgiving Eve...

I'm invited to my brother's house for Thanksgiving dinner...

so, I'll be roasting my own turkey on Friday...

 

 

which not only takes the pressure off getting the bird to the table by a certain time... but allows me to make gravy the way my Dad taught me.  According to him, once the turkey has finished roasting, the juices need to be poured off and take a turn in the fridge.  This lets the the fat to rise to the top and solidify slightly so that it can be easily skimmed off... then back to the stove for a bit of thickening with flour, salt and pepper.

 

The extra day delay also allows me the option of making some great stock with the turkey carcass.  Once done, it can be frozen in ice cube trays and then tossed into a freezer bag for individual future use.  

And Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding...

This week whooshed by... and while I did manage to get a goodly amount of art loaded into the new shop, my home-sweet-home is a disaster.  Seriously, when you have to move a tangle of brushes, paints, varnish and vintage smalls to open your microwave door... you know you're one step away from a Merry Maids intervention.  So, instead of tucking in to clean for those impending Holidays... here I sit... on my blog... rambling on about nothing useful, or even particularly interesting, while stalking the web for pictures.  But rather than yawning, you'll be wide awake and sitting up straight in a minute, because I found this...

Yum right?  Where's the coffee and pass me a fork... Carrot cake I thought at first... or maybe banana nut?  But no, oh no, it's a turkey cake... uh huh, right here at the longest recipe known to man   Finally, a purpose in life... I mean, who else would find these obscure internet gems if not for me and my amazing ability to avoid housework by any means necessary.  I AM so relevant!

A Bat Here...A Bat There...

Is it really almost the end of October already?  Time flies... most particularly my favorite Autumn days.  Since I have outdone even myself in the procrastination department, I have only the sparsest of Halloween decorations set out this year.  And so, I shamelessly raided the archives of one of my favorite magazines, Country Living, for some mighty fine spooktakular inspiration...