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.

the friday feed: cookie cutters

This quick turn around from Thanksgiving to Christmas (with a few days in NYC) has my head spinning. This year for Christmas the kids will be back here on Thursday to celebrate our family Christmas. The house is decorated, shopping is pretty well done, there's going to be marathon gift wrapping on Saturday, I'll make 2nd little grandson's Christmas stocking on Sunday, Monday will be focused on food prep. 

1st little grandson understands that Santa will bring him presents and that Santa likes cookies. Time to bring out the basket full of cookies cutters. There are ones from my childhood when my brothers, sister, and I made and decorated our cookies. I've purchased cookies cutters for school party treats and other occasions. Monday, I'm going to make cookies and have them ready for him to decorate for Santa. This is going to be so much fun. I have an apron for him and am fully ready for frosting and sprinkles to be all over the place. The joy and excitement that this little guy brings is what Christmas is all about.

mittens

My dad loved Christmas. He was the one who decorated the Christmas tree. Back in the day when you could buy an artificial tree but the tree had no lights, Dad would put string after string of lights on the tree. He was very meticulous, weaving the lights around each branch and then stepping back to make sure there were no empty spaces. This took all afternoon. The next day he placed the ornaments on the tree. Smaller ones at the top and then worked his way around the tree. Day three of decorating, he set up his Lionel trains around the tree. What fun to put that smoke pellet in the engine and watch it chug around the tree! He also had a cargo car that when it passed a switch, we could make it dump its barrels. I always think of my dad as I decorate my Christmas tree.

My dad was born and raised in Chicago and Chicago's winters are brutally cold. That wind whips off of Lake Michigan and brrrrrrrr. Bundling up is necessary to survive the bitterly cold temperatures. Many years ago my mom and I were going through some of Dad's things after he died and she showed me a pair of mittens that he wore as a young boy. "Try them on. Your dad's fingers never got cold with these." 

One year my Christmas tree topper bit the dust. It was an angel that I had cross-stitched, it got discolored by mildew, so I pitched it. I don't know what made me think of using one of Dad's mittens, but "The Hand of Howie" has looked over us for many Christmases. Sometimes I wave as I look at the tree, "Hi, Dad, Merry Christmas," but one thing is for sure, that mitten always brings a smile.

 

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

Last Wednesday an early morning trip to New York started out with the de-icing the plane. Yes, it was that cold in Ohio! This window matched the foggy state of my brain from going to bed late the night before and then rising at 4:30. The sunrise was glorious!

My friend has always wanted to see a Rockettes performance and we put together a girls' trip with our daughters to see the Rockettes, an off-Broadway play, and get immersed in the holiday decorations that make New York sparkle. 

When our plane landed, my daughter, who had flown in from Chicago, sent a text message telling me that there had been a shooting in midtown Manhattan and not to tell Annette and Annie. The shooting was at a Hilton where we have stayed many, many times and six blocks away from where we were staying. They would flip out. Long story short, we dropped our bags at the hotel, took a walk along 5th Avenue to look at all the beautiful Christmas storefronts and decorations, and Annette's husband sent a text, "There was a shooting in Manhattan and the shooter escaped through Central Park." They flipped out. "Did you hear about this?" (Yes, when we landed.) "How far away is Central Park?" (Two blocks.) The shooting happened at 6:45, it was 11:00 as we walked along 5th, the shooter was long gone. An unsettling start to the trip, they were scared and this would be on their minds the whole time we would be here.

Rockefeller Center

Radio City Music Hall

New York Public Library

Christmas trees shine everywhere and add to the holiday spirit wherever you go. And boy did we go: Midtown, East Village, West Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, either walking or taking the subway. There was shopping - LOTS of shopping. New York is a shopping mecca. My daughter and I had created a flexible itinerary before the trip. Other than dinner reservations, the Rockettes, and the play, Bloomingdales, Macy's, the souvenir stores in Chinatown, and other shops along the way became the compass. 

"New York is not a city, it is a world." How true is this? It's the meeting place of people from everywhere. You can make your world as big or keep it as small as you want here. There’s something about New York that embraces you and makes you a part of it.  When you’re in it, you know, and when you leave you, you miss it.

My tradition on the last day in NYC, a Manhattan in Manhattan. Cheers to the next visit!

 

reflections

Three weeks (that's 21 days!) are left in 2024.

Even though I'm sort of frantically getting ready for Christmas (the kids will be back next weekend), I've been reflecting on 2024 - it's blessings, it's challenges, what I might change or do differently, what I did that made me proud.

Do you ever find that no matter how hard you work or how much you accomplish, you end up focusing on everything you didn’t do or you could have done better? That's what humans do. Sometimes we get so fixated on what we didn’t do that we become blind to all we did do. Think about what made you the most proud of yourself, the small ways you've improved yourself over the last year and write it down. Take a minute to reread and celebrate all that happened over the last 365 days. Then, take all those successes and brainstorm what you want to make happen in the year ahead. 

Some questions, a little food for thought, from Psychology Today may spark some food for thought now and ideas for the new year:

1. What was a new discovery you made this year? What did you discover that you loved? 
2. What was one of the biggest pleasant surprises you experienced during the year? 
3. What achievement are you most proud of from this year? (If you find it hard to recall, try thinking back to each season of the year. For instance, what did you achieve during winter, spring, summer, fall?)
4. What was your favorite purchase of the year and why? 
5. What was a new habit or routine you created this year that has improved your efficiency at home or work? This can be really small or it can be big. 
6. What did you face head-on this year rather than avoiding? 
7. What did you ask for help with this year where you're glad you did?
8. What relationship was the biggest positive surprise to you this year? 
9. Who do you need to thank for their role in your life this year?
10. What's an aspect of self-regulation you've gotten better at this year? (anything from going to bed earlier, using moisturizer, putting your appointments on your calendar so you don't forget, or eating more vegetables).
11. What's a goal you gave up on this year, and you're glad you did that because objectively it wasn't your highest priority?
12. What's a skill you have gained confidence with this year?
13. What simple pleasures have you especially enjoyed this year?
14. What was a goal for the year that you followed through on, or partially followed through on?
15. What's a type of technology you've integrated into your life this year and it's working out well for you? 
16. What did you change your mind about this year?
17. What did you try that didn't work out, but the process of trying it moved your thinking forward in a helpful way?
18. How did your self-perception change this year? In what ways have you started to see yourself more positively than you did previously? 
19. What's a thinking bias you've become aware of this year? 
20. How has what you enjoy shifted this year? 

funnies

Sigh of relief.

Medicare enrollment is over. Hallelujah! No more emails, flyers in the mailbox, and phone calls, telling me which plan is best.

Who can relate to any of these?

1. When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison.

2. To me, "drink responsibly" means don't spill it.

3. Age 60 might be the new 40, but 9:00 pm is the new midnight.

4. It's the start of a brand new day, and I'm off like a herd of turtles.

5. The older I get, the earlier it gets late.

6. When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.

7. I remember being able to get up without making sound effects.

8. I had my patience tested. I'm negative.

9. Remember, if you lose a sock in the dryer, it comes back as a Tupperware lid that doesn't fit any of your containers.

10. If you're sitting in public and a stranger takes the seat next to you, just stare straight ahead and say, "Did you bring the money?"

11. When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.

12. I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.

13. I run like the winded.

14. I hate when a couple argues in public, and I missed the beginning and don't know whose side I'm on.

15. When someone asks what I did over the weekend, I squint and ask, "Why, what did you hear?"

16. When you do squats, are your knees supposed to sound like a goat chewing on an aluminum can stuffed with celery?

17. I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.

18. When I ask for directions, please don't use words like "east."

19. Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes. That would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That'll freak you right out.

20. Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life out of nowhere, makes your heart race, and changes you forever. We call those people cops.

21. My luck is like a bald guy who just won a comb."

~ source unknown

the tree of light

I was in a bit of a funk on Monday.

After a week of a full house, a full fridge, a full coffee pot, a full driveway, the house felt so empty, and that's because it was. Thanksgiving was over and boom, it's now time to get ready for Christmas.

So I took the day to do really not a whole lot. I started some lists and told Todd, "Please don't touch my note pads." They are my sacred organizing toole this time of year. I scribbled some thoughts for the  alphabet Christmas letter. It's been a tradition for 38 years. I wiped down the counters and listened to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Love "Christmas in Sarajevo." 

After a dinner of finishing off the turkey carcass soup, I realized that I hadn't been outside, except to walk to the mail box. It was time to get out of the house.

8:00 on that Monday night I drove to Carillon Park to find a little Christmas spirit. It was just me and the tree. All was calm and all was so very bright.

the friday feed: apples

Pie is such a traditional Thanksgiving dessert and I am not a pie baker. My mom loved to bake pies and back in the day I remember her making the dough for her flaky, but not too flaky crusts, using the rolling pin to get it to that perfect thickness. Later on in her life when she did not bake as many pies she discovered the Pillsbury pre-made crusts and she gave them her stamp of approval. "I like these just as much as my own and it's so much easier!"

My people wanted pumpkin, apple, and cherry pies for Thanksgiving. A call to a bakery on the Monday before Thanksgiving got my pumpkin and cherry pies on order (that was a close call) but I still needed apple pies. The bakery's pies were caramel apple, not what the fam wanted. Time for a trip to a farm market in Yellow Springs for apples and then the umpteenth trip to the grocery to buy the Pillsbury pie crusts. 

Apple pie is this non-pie baker's favorite to make. I alway hear my mom's words, "Pile the apples high because they cook down so much. You want to have a fork full of apples when you take a bite of pie." So the day before Thanksgiving, I made the pies, piling the apples into an apple mountain, covering them with the top crust with the "S" cut out, and putting them in the oven to bake. The timer went off and the pies needed a little more time. I turned the oven off, my little grandson asked me to read a book to him. Of course! And one busy things lead to another and then, THE PIES!

The pies weren't burnt but they were a nice dark, shade of gold. My pregnant daughter-in-law loves apple pie and these were just for her. I was crushed. I was tired. I held back some tears. 

Thanksgiving Day my daughter-in-law showed me an app which tracks her baby's growth and gives food examples to provide a point of reference. She showed me that my little granddaughter to-be is now the size of a tarte tatin, "an upside down tart that was invented in the 1880s by a baker who botched an apple pie and had to improvise." The pie agony lifted. Blessings come at the most unexpected times and this timing was perfect. Plus a little homemade whipped cream and/or a scoop of vanilla ice cream did wonders to disguise that crust!

words to live by

 

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

I didn't go far from home this past week. By last Tuesday everyone was here and we all cooked a ton of food, played with the the little ones, visited with one another, one-by-one shared our gratitude and then the Thanksgiving meal, the kids caught up with their in-town friends, we hosted a small engagement party for Patrick and Kelsey, and when Sunday arrived and the last of the gang had left, it was SO QUIET. 

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes!

We read lots of books in Owen's "teepee."

First thing in the morning with these little rays of sunshine on my lap. 

I used my mom's silver for the Thanksgiving meal. She set the standard for using your best dishes and china for holiday meals. And yes, I made sure it sparkled before setting the table. She set that standard, too.

The traditional post-Thanksgiving pot of soup using the turkey carcass. My mom had a set of Le Creuset cast iron cookware. As she got older, the cookware became too cumbersome and heavy for her so she gave it to my daughter when she moved to Cincinnati for her first job out of college. Fast forward, daughter got married and received a new set of pots and pans as a wedding gift. All of mom's grandchildren have fond memories of Grandma's orange pots and pans so I gave one to each of her grandkids. I kept the soup pot.

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"Be present in all things and thankful for all things." ~ Maya Angelou