Tag: christmas

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Sleepless Christmas Time

All six grandchildren are here with two parents, their three labs and the two of us and our three Schnoodles. The house has never been more alive than it is right now (you can actually feel its heartbeat thumping, pulsing with the energy of children). We celebrated Christmas together yesterday. During the weekend time, we have watched our small town’s Christmas Parade, baked and decorated Christmas cookies and pumpkin bread, made peanut butter fudge, cooked a big pancake breakfast, played outside and amassed Georgia red clay dirt stains from wrestling in the grass and playing King of the Hill, made pinecone birdfeeders and watched the birds come to an early Christmas feast, taken a walk with the dogs to look for the elusive “Lellow Bear” that has lived in these woods for many years, napped, visited a family friend at the fire station, opened gifts, played board and card games and dominoes because we gave away the Scrabble board, feasted on Lasagna and garlic bread, and ran inside from the drizzle that stopped our fireside marshmallow roast plans. We’ve taken a tour of the camper and talked about all the plants on the front porch, including the ways to propagate them for our nine year old environmentalist grandson to have snips of offshoots of these plant species (he already has five varieties of succulents and cactuses growing in his room). He has shown us how to make his favorite tea. We’ve taken some moments here and there to sit on the swing of serenity and have a brief time of peace before being discovered by someone needing less peace. We’ve thrown the ball down the hall for the fetching dog hundreds of times and tested stain removers on knees of pants and elbows of jackets and shirts. We’ve K-cupped multiple times a day to keep caffeinated enough to keep pace with the little ones and read books at quiet times.

We’ve found half-eaten marshmallows in the pantry and little pieces of games and random things here and there – – including six grapes, four smushed into the floor. And we’ve showered at the oddest times, just to stagger for hot water so that all ten of us wouldn’t get the shower shivers.

And we’ve tasted sleep. 

But we have not indulged in the entire entree of sleep.

That will come in time.

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Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake Dip Office Party Day

Today is our office Christmas Party, and I signed up to bring Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake dip. I have no idea why I did this. 

I have never made or tasted Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake dip, but the man making it in the video on Facebook swears by it.

So when the shared document came around in email to sign up saying what we would bring, I wrote, “Either Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake Dip or those chocolate-dipped Vienna sausages with the colorful sprinkles that are all the rage on Tik Tok.” I don’t know why I wrote that, either. Apparently a Tik Tokker figured out a way to stop being asked to bring a finger food to parties and was kind enough to share his secret with the rest of us who don’t do much kitchening.

The good news is that I decided not to make the chocolate covered Vienna sausages but instead to go with the classier dish.

I watched a video on Facebook showing how to make the cake dip. You take a box of the larger size Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes and reserve one cake, then blend the remaining five together with a block of cream cheese, a teaspoon or two of vanilla, and 1/3 cup of milk. Then, you fold in a regular sized container of Cool Whip, add sprinkles on top, place the reserved tree cake on top, cover, and refrigerate. You serve it with vanilla wafers, pretzels, or whatever you’d like. I have both of those and gingersnaps, but we’re having to settle for all-occasion sprinkles because I forgot the Christmas kind.

We’ll see how the party goes. I’ve heard through the grapevine that there’s fixin’ to be a fight over one particular item when the gift swap game is played – – a coffee mug with Christmas music lyrics personalized with our county’s name.

If we get to see a couple of co-workers wrestling over a coffee mug and all start circling around and chanting fight! fight! fight!, then I’m for sure gonna whip up the chocolate-dipped Vienna sausages next year and maybe bust open a can of whop biscuits, too. 

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Reflections on a Slice of Pumpkin Bread with Coffee

“Today, make discovering those joyful simplicities that bring you personal comfort and a sense of well-being one of your highest priorities.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

Pumpkin Bread from Christmas 2022

At my bridal shower in 1985 given by the ladies of First Baptist Church of St. Simons Island, Georgia, I received a lot of cookbooks and tried-and-true recipe cards. The ladies in that church who had practically helped raise me were tremendous cooks, and I was over-the-moon thrilled to have a coveted collection of the recipes that gave me an inkling of hope of being like them in the kitchen.

Over the years, from the beginning of my young married life through raising children and even through divorce and remarriage, one recipe was an instant hit and remains a family favorite through it all. I make it only during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to keep it sacred and anticipated. When I visited one of our daughters who lives 6 hours away for Christmas 2022, she had already told many of her friends, “I hope my mom brings her pumpkin bread.” When she introduced me to them, I wasn’t surprised to hear that my pumpkin bread reputation had preceded me!

Times shared together when everyone has gathered during the carefree, unrushed holidays around a table or in small sitting areas with coffee and conversation, where candles flicker and the clinking of forks on tiny plates adds to the joy of togetherness against the backdrop of a football game on TV, where children play games and watch a parade, where family news is being shared and good books are being discussed and political views are not~ ~ ~ that’s pumpkin bread season. For anyone who pursues the Danish concept of hygge, pumpkin bread is at the top of the list. It works its comforting magic and hits the spot!

Today, I share the recipe for the pumpkin bread that has been our tradition for nearly 40 years. I’ll also add that it freezes well. Sometimes I split the loaf into two large loaves, but sometimes I make mini loaves so that my husband can take one to work for breakfast each day throughout the week. I fill pans about 2/3 full so that it gives room to rise, and I adjust my baking times for size. When there is one tiny bit of uncooked dough in the top of the rise, I remove it from the oven and allow it to finish cooking in its own heat during the cooling process. If freezing, I wrap in foil and place in a Ziploc bag once cooled.

Recipe for Pumpkin Bread II from the cookbook Frederica Fare:

One of my daughters likes her pumpkin bread with whipped cream cheese spread between two slices.
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Experience: 2022 Christmas Camping Across 4 State Parks in 5 Days

“Slow travel rejects speed, emphasizes soaking in the local culture, and encourages us to savor the journey, not rush it.” –The Art of Slow Travel, by Bhavana Gesota

Most everyone we told of our Christmas travel plans tried to convince us to rethink our winter camping journey in subzero temperatures.  

"You might want to reconsider," they'd urged, each in their own way.  

"It's going to be dangerously cold.  How will you stay warm in a camper?" 

We'd recently downsized from a 30-foot 4-season Keystone Outback to a 21-foot non-insulated 2022 Little Guy Max Rough Rider.  We were looking forward to seeing what it was made of.....and, perhaps more importantly, what we were made of.  

We weren't wavering on our decision.  The plans were made, and we would set out with two full propane tanks, an indoor-safe propane heater, an indoor electric heater, a supply of firewood, and an electric blanket.  We'd monitored the weather and were keeping close tabs on the conditions of the roads.  

We weren't worried about the extreme temperatures, either. With three radiant-heater dogs (who sleep at our head, hips, and feet) and each other, we were looking forward to all the cozy snuggling and excuses to linger in bed with coffee and read or write or watch Netflix or listen to our favorite seventies bands until the sun came up and warmed the walking trails a half a degree or more. 

With any trip, things happen that we don't anticipate - - like when the bananas freeze and all turn dark brown and ooze goo, and the jar of olive oil freezes solid when we'd planned on searing steaks.  Or when the propane, which converts from a liquid to a gas in the pipelines, freezes and renders that first heating plan completely ineffective, taking us straight to our backup heat.  Those kinds of things.  A few minor setbacks mixed in with some more serious ones.  

So it is in life.  Determination, a plan, a road map, forecasts, obstacles, challenges, a burning desire to experience life ~ even in extreme elements.  It's all part of the journey.  

I'm so glad we stayed the course and savored the moments. It was worth it to experience "slow travel," without a novel-thick itinerary, to "camp our way across states," breaking down the drive into short segments.

Here are the “Slow Travel” savored moments from our week away over the holidays.

First Stop: Burdoc Farms, Crofton, Kentucky. Most memorable moment: goofing off in the snow in our pajamas, taking pictures of the White Christmas winter wonderland as one of our daughters clicked her heels in sunset snow.

Second Stop: Rock Island State Park, Tennessee. Most memorable moment: enjoying the peaceful sounds of the waterfall at the dam.

Third Stop: Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee. Most memorable moment: taking in the beauty and sounds of the frozen waterfalls and cascades.

Waterfall at Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee

Fourth Stop: Harrison Bay State Park, Tennessee. Most Memorable moment: sunrise on the bay.

Fifth Stop: Red Top Mountain State Park, Georgia. Most memorable moment: writing all day on a rainy New Year’s Eve Eve.

Sixth Stop: Lunch with my aunt and uncle at OK Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia. Most memorable moment: sipping coffee at the retro dinette table, celebrating their December birthdays.

Seventh Stop: Home for New Year’s Eve with one of our sons. Most memorable moment: eating collard greens, black eyed peas, and ribs as we watched the Peach Bowl.

Experiencing places + savoring the journey through slow travel = just the right pace!