Happy New Year!

I took the week off from blogging this week, to spend quality time ringing in the new year with my family.

More this coming week, but just wanted to drop in and wish you and your family a wonderful, fun, healthy, happy and organized 2006!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. It's a relaxed family day in my house.

We start the day off having a relaxed family breakfast--an egg and cheddar casserole, muffins and aromatic cups of apple cinnamon tea. We like to read a magazine or the newspaper during this time.

Our holiday music in our 5-disc CD changer will be on continuous play mode throughout the day.

We all watch some Christmas shows on TV--It's A Wonderful Life is a tradition each year, plus one kid's show for our daughter, like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Church service is at 5:30 and directly afterwards, we'll drive around town to enjoy all the wonderful holiday lights and decorations.

When we come home, we'll have a family dinner. I'll make lobster tails and steak, which don't take long to cook at all.

Later on, after our daughter leaves cookies for Santa and is snuggled in bed with visions of sugarplums in her head, Joe and I will enjoy a cup of eggnog in front of a roaring fireplace.

We will enjoy a peaceful, joyful evening, reminisce about holidays past and think about all of the wonderful blessings we've been bestowed this year.

May your Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice be everything you dream it to be, and more.

Lots of Holiday Newsletters This Year

I'm just amazed at how many holiday newsletters I've received tucked inside Christmas cards this year. I feel they have really made this holiday season fun.

Although it's always nice to receive holiday cards no matter what, we have especially enjoyed getting updates on what a particular person or family has been up to this past year.

Joe and I began writing holiday newsletters last year and we often hear from family members and friends after the holidays following up on something we wrote. We often do the same with people who send us holiday newsletters.

I hope this starts to become a trend, as it's just another great, organized, time-efficient way to stay in touch.

Christmas is Only a Week Away

As if you really need a reminder, Christmas is now only a week away. If you still need to get some tasks done, try breaking them up over the next seven days and leave those that are not absolutely necessary until last, this way if you can't get to them, at least all the important tasks will have been accomplished.

Don't hate me, but I'm done with my shopping, wrapping and all my other Christmas tasks. We're hosting Christmas at our house and the only things left to do are to go grocery shopping, prepare the Christmas meal and set a festive table.

I actually like to prepare some side dishes ahead of time so I don't have to frantically try to get a dozen different dishes done on Christmas Day. So, I'll be spending some time each night this week with these make-ahead dishes.

Whatever your plans are, I hope you take the time this week to simply enjoy the final days before Christmas. The countdown is on!

Cell Phones--In with the New and Out with the Old

This week, I ordered new cell phones for Joe and I. Our other ones were getting pretty old and our cell phone company offered us a good deal if we renewed our contract with them. So, we took the plunge.

We just received the phones yesterday. We like them, but can you imagine they came with these instruction booklets that are over a 100 pages long?

Since I'm the gadget person in the house, I took the instructions and began setting our ring tones, address book, speed dials, voice dials and a bunch of other stuff while I was relaxing on the sofa after dinner. It took about 3 hours to get everything programmed and of course, it will take a bit more time getting used to the new buttons and interesting features.

I'm not the type of person you'll see with a cell phone attached to my ear for hours each day, but I like having a cell phone for both emergencies and quick calls to get or give information. I feel that the few hours it took me to program it to my liking were well spent, as my cell phone always saves me time, energy and stress in one way or another.

I then wondered what to do with our old cell phones, which were still working. Lo and behold, when I took my daughter to our town's Health and Wellness Center for an open gym session, I saw a flyer asking people to donate their old cell phones. These will be used for 911 emergency calls for people who are living in unsafe circumstances, but can't afford their own cell phones.

All in all, I feel good about the new phones, and even better about the old phones now that I know they're going to be put to good use.

Two Cookie Exchanges in One Week

It's still a few weeks away from Christmas and I've been to two cookie exchanges this week--one at my social club's holiday party and another at a neighbor's house.

For the first event, I made Holiday Spiced Rum Balls--that were no-bake! For the second one, I made Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Just in case you're not familiar with how a cookie exchange works, each person makes two to three dozen of his or her favorite cookies and brings them to the event in a container, along with an empty container. The cookies get placed on a table and each person walks around the table taking one of each cookie and putting it in the empty container until all the cookies are gone from the table. You end up going home with a nice variety of two to three dozen different cookies.

You could also ask everyone to bring a copy of the cookie recipe--who knows, you may find a few so delicious that they will become part of your permanent recipe file.

If you like to bake, this may be a fun activity to do together with willing family members or friends.

I included the two recipes below because they're quick and easy. If you have a cookie exchange coming up, you might want to give these a try.

Holiday Spiced Rum Balls

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs, crushed
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1-1/2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
Additional powdered sugar, sifted, for dusting

Mix the dry ingredients together until well blended. Stir in liquids, blending with your hands, until the mixture is of moldable consistency and not too wet. Form the mixture into small balls about 3/4-inch in diameter. Roll the balls in powdered sugar. Store in a tightly covered container and age at least 2 days before eating. Makes 40 balls.

Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in oats, raisins, coconut and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet then remove to wire rack.

Enjoy!

Short Cuts from the 1950's

I just received a replica of Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, originally released in 1950. What a treasure! I am truly enjoying looking through this book which not only has wonderful recipes, but also gives a fun glimpse of what was cooking in the typical American kitchen so many years ago-- when real butter was once considered a healthy choice.

In the back of the book, there are some hints and short cuts listed that still hold true today. Here are 3 of them:

* Do messy tasks, such as paring potatoes, on paper to be disposed of easily. Have a paper bag at working area for scraps.

* Bake and prepare large amounts of food at a time and freeze according to directions with freezer.

* Keep all cleaning supplies and equipment in a basket and carry from room to room while cleaning.

But my all time favorite out of the many shortcuts listed was this one . . .

* If you feel tired, lie down on the floor on your back, put your hands above your head, close your eyes, and relax for 3 to 5 minutes.

That just cracked me up. I can't even imagine what my husband would think if he found me laying down on the kitchen floor--especially if my explanation was simply that I was tired!

Anyway, it just goes to show you that the good tips easily span generations!