the friday feed: gifts of goodies

My neighbors are big on sharing Christmas cookies and all of them are delicious. It's fun to see what their baking traditions are. This year one of my neighbors included Spritz cookies in her gift. Memories came flooding back. My mom use to make Spritz cookies. She got the recipe from Frau Ding, my parents' landlord when they lived in Germany.

Mom added red and green food coloring to her spritz cookie dough. It was fascinating to watch her fill up the cookie press with dough and then watch the shaped cookies come out of the other end. She let my brothers, sister, and me try the cookie press and we usually ended up with blops of cookies, but they still tasted good. As we got older, our technique got better, and soon we were able to help with the Spritz cookie baking.

I'm not sure what happened to the cookie press - I think Mom sold it in a garage sale.After enjoying my neighbor's cookies, I'm tempted to buy one and add them to next year's Christmas cookie repertoire. Just add another pound of butter to the Christmas baking!

button, button, who has the button?

Button, button, who has the button, oh where can it be?

I have a few buttons! This is one tin of three that was in my mom's sewing "stuff."

I'm coming down to the wire for Christmas preparations - the kids arrive today. On Sunday, I was designing 2nd little grandson's Christmas stocking. Nothing like leaving this project to the last minute. Anyway, the project was moving along very well. I had supplies from 1st little grandson's stocking plus some other doo-dads that would be fun for this one, except there were no eyes for Santa. 

I have had these button tins for years and in this moment of what-to-do-for-Santa's-eyes, it hit me (or maybe it was Mom giving a nudge) - use the buttons. I dumped a tin on a bed and sorted and sorted and sorted until a matching pair showed up. I tell you, my mom was a saver. She took buttons off old shirts which she used for rags. She was from the generation that lived through the Depression and back then the de-buttoned shirts were used for making quilts or a child's toy.

Santa has his eyes and all that needs to be done is make the loop for hanging the stocking. But first, an early morning grocery run!

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

When we moved into our house a couple years ago, the previous owners left a coffee table. They moved to Florida and this table didn't fit in with their beach decor. We needed a table for the living room and were really pleased with this freebie.

When our first little grandson started walking and the kids came down for a visit, they noticed right off the bat that this table was dangerous, and it is. The little guy could impale himself on the spikes that are above table top level. We put it in the storage room for the rest of the visit. And on subsequent visits, we made sure that the table was stored away before their arrival.

When the whole family is in town, this table causes a dilemma. I don't want little grandson to lose an eye but the space is so handy when the adult people are sitting around the couch with their food, computers, gaming remotes, books, whatever kind of stuff they need to put on a table.

I was brainstorming remedies and thought of swimming pool noodles. Get one of those thick foam noodles and cut it into pieces to cover the "spears." However, it's December and those are summer toys. Google search: pool noodles dayton ohio. Lo and behold the search showed that Dick's Sporting Goods had pool noodles. A Christmas miracle!

A quick trip to Dick's (how can anyone give a store a name like that? Sorry - I'm tired, I raised four kids, and I was an 8th grade teacher. The potty and body humor game is strong!). There were no pool noodles. Oh no! I walked toward the door to go home to figure out Plan B and there they were. Tennis balls...Oh yes! Add some festive hats and cute little scarves and voila! No worries about little grandson injuring himself.

And when my little guy sees this he's going to say, "Oh Didi, that's silly!"

reactions to santa claus

Last year's photo of 1st Little Grandson with Santa was one of pure terror. He did not want to be  anywhere near Santa, let alone be on his lap. He is 2 1/2 and this year he looked at Santa from afar and waved at him but was not a happy camper when Mom and Dad faked him out and sat him on Santa's lap. Maybe a smile next year, O.

My friend shared a couple of stories about two of her grandchildren. Her granddaughter Vivienne is in second grade and has heard from some classmates that Santa isn't real. She and her siblings went to visit Santa and when her mom tucked her into bed, she said, "Mom, I know the Santa we saw today was the real Santa. He was so kind to the special needs boy and he understood him. He must have really good hearing. And a kind heart." Don't stop believing, Vivienne.

Vivienne's little brother Sawyer is the third (and last) child and he is a little rascal. Sawyer asked Santa for a second chance.  

monday's mulling: i drive myself nuts

Saturday was the marathon Christmas present wrapping day. I had lots of boxes to wrap and not enough paper to complete the job. Last year Todd gave the "suggestion" not to buy any more wrapping paper until the current supply was done. I got a few presents wrapped, quickly realized more paper was needed, stopped the present wrapping momentum to go out and buy a few more rolls of paper, one being a red and black buffalo check which looks really pretty on the roll but turned into a royal pain in the patooty when it came to wrapping.

You see, I am one of those who likes lines and patterns to line up. And yes, I could have just wrapped the presents knowing that the paper would be ripped off in seconds and no one would notice the mismatched lines, but NOOOOO. I spent more time than I should have making sure the patterns met.

Not quite lined up but close enough. I gave myself a little grace...this is the underside.

The damn box is crooked! Someone did a poor job of taping it together.

Why I chose this paper to wrap biggest present, I have no idea. It needed extra to cover the ends, too. Yeah, it took over 30 minutes to finish but this became a challenge, one that I was going to conquer!

kid in a candy store

Main Street, Miamisburg, Ohio...

This charming street is what one thinks of when envisioning Main Street, USA - nostalgic atmosphere, historic buildings, a beautiful setting (it sits along the Great Miami River), it's the center of a small town's culture, plenty of boutique shops and good restaurants.

My friend called and asked me if I wanted to go to Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop. Her kids and grandkids love candy and she wanted to get some candy for their Christmas stockings. 

This a store for candy lovers of all ages. It's filled with candy retro and new, hundreds of glass bottle soda pops, and novelty gift items. I must have walked around the store ten times, seeing something new each time. 

Talk about a sweet way to start the day!

Grandpa Joe's most popular attraction is its $5.00 candy buffet. You walk around the store and fill a box with whatever candy you want. If the lid closes, you pay $5.00. It's surprising how much candy you can fit into that box.

the road less taken

Out to do a few errands - grocery store, toy store to buy a couple stocking stuffers, pharmacy for some cough drops - and on the way home I stay off the main road and instead drive through a pretty neighborhood. It was a little after 5, the sun starting to set, the full moon already shining, and then there it is. This blazing Christmas display lighting up a corner lot.

A sign on the gate welcomes visitors to stroll through the display if the gate is open, but to please stay on the designated paths. While I was there, a dog was in the yard, barking at his humans to "Please let me in!" I wonder what he thinks about all this light, all this ornamentation that his takes up his favorite sniff and pee spots. The gate sign also states that at the box by the driveway, donations are accepted and will go to the Humane Society of Greater Dayton.