the day after christmas

I had tremendously unpleasant dreams last night. All. night. long. Dreams where I needed to hide myself or hide a son I did not have from a very bad bad person who came to kill on Tuesday evenings. In the dream it was a given that could not be thwarted and so I tried to create an illusion of no child being in the room with no actual place for hiding. It was a horrid, horrid, dream and almost impossible to wake up from. How odd on the eve of Boxing Day to carry such tremendous woe.

I don't know what was up. Christmas day spent with family was joyful and quiet with a lot less fanfare than usual (in a good sense). Perhaps we were all still reeling from the various sick that seemed to wallop us all but our day was spent in good company with more cheese, more noshing, more sweets than we took notice of. There were many rounds of exquisite corpse, this time with both words and drawings, there was hot apple cider and vernor's and foam darts flying overhead and underfeet and much, much, laughter with maybe a grump tossed in to keep it real.

My nose, thanks to another round of meds, was in tip-top working order and so I was able to smell the piney pretty of the Christmas tree, the spicy happy of the nutmeg in my egg nog (which was then added to my coffee), the richness of the breakfast quiche and the crispness of the cold air outside with a highnote of log fire. The nephew a-go-go was a hoot with his excitement in the odd bits and pieces that were gifted to him and everyone spilled over with giggles and sighs. I laughed many times and yet I felt overwhelmingly sad and I do not know why. I can speculate, sure but it was odd and disconcerting to feel my eyes well up suddenly and for no reason and to catch my breath and shake it off. So, so, disconcerting and odd. I spoke out about it and the mama a-go-go said she felt melancholy as well and then the sister a-go-go said Christmas makes her fel blue too and we sat there all quietly, a little confused, a little humbled, a little closer to ech other than before.

And then we went back to our exquisite corpses full of funny drawings and flying donuts and the nephew's propensity for turning our silly sentences into a scene with an alien or robot in it.

The evening ended with a rainstorm and yet another round of cleaning up the ants that have invaded the tiny casa.

The rain has retreated a bit and another round of ants has been dealt with and I am huddled in the chilly casa under a thrited quilt waiting for some sun, warmth or light to filter in so I can clean up the messy mess. Happy boxing day!

diy cupcake liner tree

This nifty tree can me whpped up in time. Make a whole forrest of pretty! Details over at the 'do!

last minute cookie gifts

So, you made three dozen of your famous holiday cookies and want to gift them to friends and family but want to shy away from the classic tin or gift box. Jar them up! If you are a canner, crater, hoarder or hipster, you are sure to have a jar or two flaoting around. Bell jars are awesome but I prefer to reuse the mister's almond butter jars as they are slightly wider in diameter and have a larger opening for cookie cramming. I find that cookies made with a small cookie scoop are a perfect fit for the jars.

Pile your cookies int oyour jar, add the lid then top with a gold foil doily tied with a legth of vintage trim and you are good to go! 

Happy Holidays! 

sugar and spice: holiday oatmeal cookies

aka How NOT to make spicy chocolate covered pomegranate oatmeal cookies with white chocolate chips. 

I wanted to share with you a most awesome cookie recipe but sadly my cookies, while amazingly gooey and sweet while hot; fizzled in texture once they cooled down. The texture dealio can be resolved with a few seconds in a microwave but who wants a cookie that is only good right after it is baked? 

I think I need to add another egg to my batter. I only used one and I think two would jazz up the overall cookie more than one could. I also perhaps should have added some baking powder. Jsut a smidge...or maybe I should use a certified recipe? But look at them..they were soooo gooey and pretty...sigh.

I also thought that these cookies would rock the chocolate covered pomegranate seeds I found at Trader Joe's back in November. They no longer have them and I think I know why. As mister puts it..."They're SEEDS! Who wants hard seeds in their cookies?" And so, the next time I make these, I will use chocolated covered cranberries. A little tart, a little sweet, a whole lot of goodness in a cookie.

That said, try these (but not as I made them)! Gather up the ingredients for your favorite oatmeal cookies and then add a happy dose of white chocolate chips and another does of chocolate covered cranberries. Up the ante even more by adding a double does of cinnamon and ginger and then...then add a teaspoon of black pepper. Yes, I wrote it...black pepper! 

Oh but I did discover one thing from this cookie adventure...if your cookies don't flatten out while baking, underbake a smidge so that they are gooey and then SMASH 'em down with a fork...sooooo good! 

make a denim stocking

If you have a pair of jeans lying around waiting for a new life you have one or two holiday stockings n the naking. The size of your stocking is determined by the width of your pants leg. If the pair of jeans you have are skinny jeans then I guess you stocking-to-be might be quite wee. This project is best suited for a straight , wide or boot cut. 

Materals

*1 pair of denim jeans

*large sheet of scratch paper

*pencil

*scissors

*sewing machine

*small to medium fabric doily

*tacky or fabric glue

Begin by liberating one of your pants legs from the rest of the jeans with a pair of scissors. Simply cut, cut, cut across the width until you have a free pant leg. Set aside. Draw a stocking shape of choice, eyeballing the size as indicated by your pants leg, onto your scratch paper and cut out with scissors. Position atop your pants leg so that the top of the stocking is at the very edge of the bottom hem. If your pattern is too large, trim until it fits. If you prefer to not have to trim you can measure your pant leg and go from their. I suppose I should do more measuring but the pisces in me just goes for it. 

Turn the pants leg inside out and pin your pattern in place making sure the top is once again lined up with the bottom hem of the leg. Bring to your sewing machine and stitch all the way around leaving the hemmed part (the top of the stocking) open.

Use a pair of scissors to trim around the pattern leaving about a quarter inch of fabric outside the stitches and add a few vertical snips at the curves. Turn the whole shebang rigth-side out. Ta-da! You now have a stocking.

From the remaining part of the leg, cut the double stitched ridge that runs up and down the entire leg if their is one. You will want a length of six to eight inches. This will be the loop that hans your stocking. Stitch to your stocking using your sewing machine. Go slow and be careful of placement so that you do not break a needle.

Next up, grab a small or medium sized doily and place wherever you fancy atop your stocking. Use fabric or tacky glue to affix the doily to the stocking and use a handful of clothespins to hold it all in place.

When dry, stuff with all sorts of goodies and gift ot a friend. Merry Christmas! 

diy holiday flair

Mister and I had a holiday party to attend last week that requested festive attire. Not feeling festive enough with the dress and other bits we assembled I whipped up these wee corsages of sorts to adorn our jackets.

In all honesty, the wee red picks came assembled from Michael's, I added the white flower centers (scrounged from the wedding aisle) and a bit of tulle to mine and then wrapped 'em up with some washi tape.

After a dose of hot glue they were ready to pin. I wish I had a photo of our festive selves but it was dark and so we heeaded out. Here is a wonky photo of me in my wee corsage. Seriously, these took me all of fifteen minutes to put together. 

Happy Holidays!