giving thanks

I am so thankful...

for family, and friends,

and all of the bounty we have.

 

Speaking of family,

I had a little help in the kitchen this morning

starting my Thanksgiving cooking.

We started with dessert ...

and

we made some great plates of cookies!

Turkeys!  
Turkey cookies not turkey kids! :)

I have just a partial gang coming in tomorrow.
The large group will be here Saturday.
That means I get to make two dinners! 
So excited!
Here's part of the gang:)

Happy Thanksgiving from us to you!

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful and bountiful!

The goose is getting fatter!!!!

Christmas is still coming!!!

The tree now has lights and cranberry/popcorn strings and a handful of ornaments. And, yes the tree is leaning just a little, it's not a photo illusion.  I might fix it, but maybe not.  It's kinda' growing on me!

I also got out the box of snow

flakes.  These glass and glass looking snowflakes don't come out every year. But this year, they came to visit. They are strung on clear monofilament and hung across a monofilament leader. This is then put onto the small nails above the back sliding doors. These doors don't really get used much in the winter, so it doesn't bother me to have the fragile things hanging there.  And, WA- LAA. It looks like I did a whole lotta' decorating.

Then, here's a cute story:

My Sis calls last week and says that her 8 year old daughter said that they don't have to bake cookies this year...

"why not" Sis asks?...

8 year old daughter says " We can just go make them at Aunt B's and bring them home!!!"

"Aunt B's"?  you ask...

Why, that would be ME!!!  

(when my other neices were little they couldn't pronounce my name, but could say "B"  Soooo, I became Aunt B to the neices and nephews in my family, which my brothers think is hilarious).

So, today, two days before Christmas, was cookie making day.

Check out these cuties (cookies and kids!):

Also check out the mess we are making!  Doesn't that look like fun???

And, yes, I let them eat the cookies and icing and candy sprinkles as we decorated!

I got to send them all home with sugar highs and trays of cookies!

Now that the neices and nephew have gone, and I have sort-of cleaned up the baking stuff, I need to do a little wrapping.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, you know!

Happy two days before Christmas, Everyone!!!

Cookies and milk and Chocolates?

Cookies and milk. The phrase makes me think of that wonderful holiday that's here whether we are ready or not.  And chocolates, I'll get to that in a second.

'Tis the season' is just around the corner, or so I've been told.  (I think I've told you before, I have a friend who is counting down the days, and she is always reminding me!)

My family has a semi-tradition of gathering to decorate cookies. Semi-tradition because we do it not every year, but most every year. Sometimes its just a few of us: me and a couple of nieces and nephews; a couple of us sibs and our families making different variations of gingerbread or not-gingerbread houses; a group of aunts, girl cousins and girl cousin-in-laws reminiscing while we ice and decorate an obscene amount of cookies. Cookies everywhere! I get cookied out - almost! Not really, I  L-O-V-E it!

I love it so much that I have found a way of changing it up a little, adding to the hecticness by trying to fit more into the season!  So, here is the chocolate part of the cookies and milk: 

The last few years I have hosted my spin on the traditional cookie decorating/exchange party. I invite just a few (o.k., sometimes more than a few) couples over.  The invite reads: 

 Chocolate Making-Ping Pong-Pizza Buffet-Party! 

Now doesn't that just make you want to attend? 
Read: Warning! Crazy lady having another weird gathering!

It all starts with a pizza and salad buffet.  I used to make myself crazy and make the pizzas myself.  In my old age, I've gotten just a tad smarter, and now I order the pizzas.  We eat and visit and laugh, then the guys go out to the barn to play ping pong (at least that's what they say they do) and the gals get to work making chocolates. 

dark chocolate,

milk chocolate,
white chocolate,
caramels, creams, nuts,
coconut, nougats, crunches,
break-ups, buckeyes. 
Things covered in chocolate- like pretzels, cookies, marshmallows, dried fruits, cherries, cereals, candy canes...
I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. 

Terri (in blue) turned as I snapped that pic and said:  "poo, I have to go wash my hands again, don't I?"  And, yes, that is my behind behind Diane.

Chocolates of every kind and look and smell and taste and texture.  Chocolates, chocolates, chocolates.  Isn't it beautiful?

Then we divvy up and package (oh, so prettily) the sweets to make them ready for gifting.

Eventually, the guys come back inside.  They say they have played some mean ping pong and they are hungry again.  So they help us sample the goodies.

We end up with chocolate highs, maybe a glass of milk, and a good time had by all, and to all a good night.

Left to right: Diane, me, Terri, Lavonn, and Diane.

"Kookie, Kookie, lend me your....

....lend me your......".  Forget that part, just the second line, as the old song would say:         I "have smog in my noggin'".  I have been told "I have smog in my noggin'", because I'm a little out of control when I bake sometimes (I won't name names here!)             I     L O V E  to bake.  These are cut-out cookies made with my favorite sugar cookie recipe.  The recipe has sour cream in it, so it's a little sticky to work with while you are cutting out the cookies.  But sooooo worth it because the cookies stay nice and soft and moist.  They are so good it's hard to keep people out of them and hard to get them to last through the week.  I used an air brush to spray the color on  after they were iced.  The color is food grade and I like it because it's not a saturated color that has a funny taste from way to much food coloring in the icing.

But I will warn you, these cookies are temptingly delicious, so.......


I bake quite a few:

and then I package them on colorful fall paper plates and wrap them in pretty cello bags and freeze them to pull out as needed.  About a dozen to a plate.  Aren't they pretty all lined up and waiting to be wrapped.  The freezing is good in that it helps you be able to bake ahead and getting the mess cleaned up and out of the way before a party or holiday gathering.  It also is a major help in portion control! (Ha, who needs portion control?  No, not me!)  You know, out of sight, out of mind, right?  Back to these cookies...I just counted the plates of cookies.  17.  A dozen cookies on each plate.  17 dozen.  Ok, I do have smog in my noggin'!  Way too many cookies, even for a smog-noggin'ed Kookie!

Maybe I'll share...............