Let's Do Some Catching Up With Nancy!

It's been a while since I set these pictures aside to share with you. I've been very busy with writing and renovation projects here on the farm. So busy, I never got a chance to post anything but writing stuff since way back in October. Yeah, it's been a while! Let's see if we can get past the holidays and into the New Year.

Christmas was a busy time, but my kids—who are all adults mind you—begged me to bake gingerbread cookies. It's the only food they asked for specifically, so how could I say no? I made several batches, enough for them to share. I can't have the sugar anymore, so I had to give them all away. Don't they look nice? 

While my back wasn't happy, I didn't really mind doing them because I work in shifts. I made the dough one day and baked it a couple days later. The frosting part takes forever though. While I am not really skilled at it, and I use the tubed stuff, I am fussy and detail-oriented. The little trees and wreaths on the houses are decorated. The snowmen have carrot noses and coal eyes and buttons. I added those things one sprinkle at a time by dipping a toothpick in a bit of matching frosting and sticking them in place. I find a toothpaste tube squeezer makes getting that frosting out far, far easier. It takes a lot of pressure and a fairly steady hand to do something even this simple! 


At least three days worth of work went into frosting these in between wrapping gifts and writing. An old office chair with an orthopedic cushion in the seat, rolled up to the kitchen table, made a world of difference in my comfort.

That is what you call a labor of love. Or insanity, if you are the one doing it. I was able to send some of these gingerbread masterpieces of mine down to Roger too. I'm sure that didn't hurt his feelings any...



This is a cheeseburger pie, requested by my oldest son Jason, whose birthday is December 23rd. We had pizza too, but he really wanted this. I made a similar one for New Year's Eve 2011, and he really liked it. Unfortunately, I never wrote down the recipe! They didn't care for the traditional pork toutiere, but this one got raves. So I had to recreate it from scratch. This time I wrote everything down.

It is filled with ground beef cooked with onions and some quick oats to take up the juices. I mixed in shredded sharp cheddar cheese. He tells me it was the best thing he ate that night. That's a compliment when you are also having 4 kinds of takeout pizza! 

We exchanged holiday gifts that evening too, since with so much family to see on DDIL's side, it made things easier. That part of the holiday was spent at their house, as with the renovations here, I don't have room for a tree. We had Ma and Jason here on the farm for a while on the 24th, as well as an elderly neighbor, and the whole gang showed up over here for a late Yuletime dinner. It was great fun!

I got the best gift of all this year—I found out I have a new grandchild on the way!  

Fall and winter is the time of year when I do the most cooking. This was a yummy winter chowder with potatoes, broccoli, bacon, and cheddar cheese. SOOOO good! 

We're eating more soup this year, both canned and homemade, and I have been making regular usage of my thrifted soup mugs. Being a writer who works from home, I eat often at my desk, and a plain sandwich with a mug of soup sure makes lunchtime far more interesting. The soup above only needed a buttered roll, it was filling. 


Excuse my messy house, we have several rooms under renovation so we're kind of packed into the ell. At one end is the dining room which is also my office. You can see my computer in the background. That's where the writing magic happens. 

Those exposed beams were begging for some interest, and so when I got a box of throw away baskets from a rummage sale this fall (they were going to the dump!) I cleaned them up, added a few of my own, and started finding spots for them. A few have come from thrift stores since then. The icicle lights look wonderful up there, so we still have them in place, and they cast just enough light to sit here at my PC and work. I plug them in every evening. The baskets aren't touching them, the lights are on the other side. 

A lot of the trim is still down where new windows were put in. This place is a work in progress. 


This is my only little holiday tree, and my small decoration spot, this year at one end of the kitchen table. This was taken right before New Year's Eve. The plant stand you can see in the previous picture would be on the right here.

The tree was a holiday markdown last year, and it came pre-lit. I decorated it with marked down ornaments. The bubble nightlight, the rooster mold, picture, most of the stuff on the table, the tin and even that chair you can see the top of were all thrifted. The table, clock, and wreath were left in the house. Roger gave me the eight resin reindeer. Yeah, no window trim here either, but we want to get some barnboard up there eventually. 


Here's where a lot of our time and money went this winter, we had to get two new furnaces. The house had a combination wood and oil furnace right under the kitchen ell, but it was on its last legs and was far from efficient. We bought this woodburner below and put that into the lined chimney right where the old oil waterheater used to be. It has a blower and ties into the existing ductwork. Works very well, though it is slow to start and get the heat going. 

The oil furnace below was professionally installed, and it is a good one, very efficient, and keeps the house toasty warm. Far more comfortable in here this winter and we have gone through 2/3 less oil too. This one is in the same place as the original combination burner used to be, and uses the kitchen chimney. By code you can no longer have both oil and wood in the same flue.

The two furnaces set us back around $6000, but were a total necessity. The cellar here is messy looking but clean enough to be safe. Someone had let coal in rotten bags sit on the floor for decades and it took forever to get that out. That little garbage can is for ashes from the woodburner, it was on its way out the door when I snapped this. Never put ashes in anything combustible even if you think the are cold. They always have some little tiny hot coal in there and that's enough to cause a fire. The firewood behind the furnace here is fine, that unit only has internal heat, the jacket is cool to the touch. It's a weird angle, and things are a lot farther off than they seem. This is right below the edge of kitchen and dining room in the ell.




Now on to some of my crafting purchases before the holidays. 

I am making a crocheted baby blanket for a family friend who just had a little boy. Isn't that luscious yarn? The blanket is nearing completion, so later on I got some white to edge it. I hope to have it done before the little tyke gets to college. LOL! Then I need to make one for my own grandbaby...

The punches were 75% off because Halloween had long since passed. The cording I needed for another project I never seem to get to. 

Had to show you that yarn again. It is gorgeous! But it sure doesn't go very far. I worked on this a lot while watching old programs on HULU. I still don't have cable TV here. *POUT*



Yep I made more of the double thick hot pads for the holidays, these were in cotton yarn from my stash. They sure came in handy! These are the fronts...

And these are the backs. 

With the 17" long casserole dish I have I used two of these beneath it and that worked fine. They are washable. Cotton yarn is best for kitchen stuff, because if for some reason you get it too close to a flame, it will only scorch and burn normally. Acrylics and blends melt because they have plastic in them, and they can weld themselves to your stove or your skin. Plus they give off a terrible stench. NOT good! 



I went thrifting!!!! And I got two really interesting baskets. I have so many now, I only want the special ones. 

You can see these in the holiday lights display above. To hang things on those beams, which are 242 year old chestnut and very hard, we've had to start holes with a drill or awl, and then work like demons with pliers to screw in cup hooks. That wood is very solid! 


Same trip I got these little goodies. They were marked down because it was well after Halloween. 

The little ghost is so cute I could not bear to put him away, so he is living on the lower rail shelf in my dining room. I am a sucker for those silicone mold and pans and I loved Jack O'Lantern pumpkins, so they found room in my cupboards. The squish up nicely and easily spring back to shape, so they make great padding between glass and ceramic baking dishes. 



I have no idea what I am going to do with these, but could not resist them. It was only $1.99 for all.

They are a nesting set of stainless steel lunch containers. I will find some use for them, maybe holding birthday candles and stuff like that. You know me and tins of any kind...


Two more of my thrifting treasures. I don't buy many books anymore but I have been dying to read a Dresden Files story and I did start this one. Man, is it a hoot! LOVE IT!!!!! Just wish I had more time to read, and better eyesight too. Writing is about all my eyes can take most days. 

You saw the little bubble candle earlier. It works fine and brings back memories of my dad, who was always a gadget guy. We had bubble lights like this back in the 60s. They were better in candelabras where they can stay upright, than on the tree, where their weight made them droop and they refused to bubble.


I will buy books I like for my grandson though. I keep some here at the farm for those rare times when he might not have a handheld game with him and the weather is not good for fishing or whatever activity he might be into at the moment. 

Curious George and Ferdinand are classics anyway. Brings back the days when Captain Kangaroo read them on his morning program. You can't imagine how important it is to read to children and encourage them to read to you. My lifelong love of books was sparked by the ones the Captain read. I might not have become a writer had I not been such an avid reader. You better believe that I read to my kids too, and I've watched them reading to Ben. 


OK, so I did buy some books in that trip. It was a good day for them!

Cookbooks are a passion of mine, but I am selective about what I buy. These were all small but filled with things I would actually make—and yes I have a KitchenAid mixer with several attachments. And really... sugar free Jello recipes with two pre-diabetic people in the household, you know I wasn't going to pass that up! The crochet book was a find, the afghans in there are adorable. If I only had more time to cook and crochet! 



A different thrifting trip, this one right after the holidays. I keep all my $1 bills at the end of shopping and put them away for mad money. They are what I take to the thrift stores or flea markets and yard sales. Everyone is always happy to get ones. 

I am using the wooden spoons, and have the copper mold up in the kitchen, now that I've changed calendar locations. The silicone kisses mold went into the cupboards with the others. I am going to have to make some filled kisses with that, with something sugar free. Hmmmm, Valentine's Day is this week....


Some of my happier finds. I still have to find a good place for the stained glass star, but I love that. I grabbed the little hanger for it too. 

The tin is being used for storage. I have a thing for tins with interesting pictures, and I love birds. Dry and mouseproof storage in this old farmhouse is a must. I just now opened the little box that was sealed in plastic, and has been living on my PC since it came home. It is filled with little squares of notepaper with that print on one side and tied with a small apple green satin ribbon in a bow. I was originally going to give it away, but then fell in love with the box. Yeah, I'm a cheap date! 




Well let's shift gears now and talk about the weather...

It's been a odd winter, we've had howling wind, some snow now and then, and long periods of bare ground. The grass stayed green until late in the year. Some nights it's so quiet out here, you can hear the trains in the distance.


We see deer regularly. Sometimes up to seven at a time! 

These two look big but they are only this past year's twins. They come regularly now that momma doesn't want them around all the time. Sometimes she does rejoin them though, now that she's bred and the bucks have stopped chasing her. We have another doe who had a single fawn, and we see them now and then too. They love the big field where they can graze in peace.




Now we need to go back indoors for a bit...

This is the beginning of the renovation of the smaller bedroom, which is not really a bad size at all. Because the weather was cooperative, two brand new energy efficient windows got put in. 

Yes, it's white vinyl because we couldn't afford the colored version. I insisted on vinyl because it is low maintenance and doesn't rot or swell. It will be wonderful to have windows that open and close. We did this before the rest of the yuck was stripped out of the walls because we got a few mild days. You don't want to put in windows when it's bitterly cold out! But doing it at this time of year cuts down on dealing with nasty things you can stir up, like wasps. The window is square but the framing looks weird. How good would you look at 242 years old? Making stuff fit is always a project with these old houses.



A dividing wall built between two rooms. All the bedrooms are in the front of the house facing the highway. I have always lived on back roads, but I find you do get used to the noise, which quiets down at night.

The new bedroom is to the right. There was a middle room here, that was small, and another decent sized bedroom to the far left. I decided we can get by with two bedrooms instead of three so we are keeping the middle and lefthand bedroom as one bigger room. 

With the old plaster walls gone, you can more easily see the original post and beam construction in this old place. That patterned stuff you see is old wallpaper. That wiring is shut off and capped, and will be all replaced. Like I said, this is a big project! 




OK, now we're going back outdoors again...

One of the lighter snows we had this winter. I think we got a few inches from this one. We had a lot of light snows, and plenty of wind. 

We've had snow off and on, with one storm dropping 6" and another 11". But we just got about 30" from a blizzard that fell on bare ground. So it's been interesting! 

That barn roof is a favorite of mine for taking pictures. 

As are the pines out front. They look frosted! The haze you can see is snow still sifting down.

I have feeders all over the place. We attract a lot of birds. I have several families of cardinals in the area. This guy is sitting in the white lilac between the house and barn. 

I think the cardinal was was waiting his turn at my main feeders. The woodpecker and gold finches below found something they liked right there in the lilac. I love the mesh feeders. So do the birds!

We do get bothered by squirrels now and then but they haven't been too bad. I wired the little covers of the mesh ball feeders to the base, so if the squirrels get them open, they don't fall far. We almost lost them a couple of times to those crafty tree rodents!


Well there you have another holiday season and some of the aftermath here on the farm. I know some people hate winter, but I've always found it a snug and cozy time to get things accomplished indoors. Of course, I don't have to go out in the cold and drive to work on icy streets in traffic anymore. But I never seem to get the blues—I'm too occupied with projects for that. Maybe that's the secret? 

Whatever you do, make it something worthwhile that keeps you happily busy, and makes someone smile in the process. The world will be a far better place with more happy and smiling people in it.

~Nancy

What Makes My ♥ Go Pitter-Patter...

This Valentine's Week blog post is brought to you by homemade Shepherd's Pie, all bubbly warm with gravy and onions in the meat, butter in the corn, and cheddar and colby jack in the mashed potatoes. Mmmmm... Don't you just wish you ate here that night?

This is my favorite family size casserole dish. A Chantal ceramic, it's heavy, and way bigger than 13x9, but cost me only only $12.95 at a discount store. Yep, I am the queen of bargains. 

Below is more of what I've been up to, and some thrifting finds. I took a couple days away from the keyboard recently to get my top-of-the-month shopping done. Bear in mind, I write most days now for anywhere from 2 to 8 hours, in shifts with housework and other things going on around me. I currently have a couple of hot writing projects, one long term thing that is an overhaul of something I've had around a while, another is a brand new short story. I have a LOT of stories on back burners awaiting my attention. I also edit both for Pro Se and those special folks in my life who ask me nicely, and are serious about getting their work to me in somewhat of a finished form. My days are packed, and I love it!

But I do other stuff besides write...

 This is the latest project in crochet, a chair cushion. All those little pillows are stuffed with quadruple layers of batting, and crocheted shut. I sewed them together.

 This is for the big Boston rocker. It proved too  thin to be a seat cushion, but will work perfectly for the back. I'll come up with something else for the seat. I'm still adding to the length. Yep, going for a patchwork look. 


This one is a great stash buster BTW. So yes, I do actually use that yarn I keep adding to. This one is at least 2/3 secondhand yarn from my thrifting runs. Only two new skeins have been added recently, to round out my color selections. Notice the Altoids tin above? That holds stitch markers, safety pins, yarn needles and other little doodads. So I don't just buy stuff, I recycle things I have around here too. So there! ☺






Went out to the mall where the pet supply place is Friday, and hit the craft store there. I had to grab this punch, it was half price, and you don't see that often. Always wanted one of these.

 I was conservative but bought myself a few baubles. As you can see, many of them were on sale. ——>














We went thrifting afterward. I say 'we' because Lee, my faithful companion and chauffeur, did the driving. He loves bargains too. 










I have a few ceramic cannisters like this on a shelf in the kitchen with most used spoons and utensils. I added this one to it, and moved a metal one over near the stove for spatulas and such. I like country designs and this one talked to me. It was half price day, so that helped. 

A couple of books, one for my reference bookshelf, one for reading with the grandson. It's about the misadventures of a witch who finds a wizard's spell, and the illustrations are darling! 

A small hodgepodge of things. The cross stitch and the pattern will likely be gifted, but I'm keeping the maple leaf punch. 
<——

Aw c'mon, you knew the yarn was coming! Remember, everything was half price that day. The doll hair will get used. 
<——

There was a cardboard box full of broken oddments on the floor of the thrift shop. Didn't look like much, and I almost passed it by, but my inner voice said to take a peek inside. 

Good thing thing I did because in the bottom was all kinds of needlework stuff. Got the yarn and roving above, and all this precut rug yarn for latch hook...

... along with these lovely hanks of teal blue crewel wool...

 ...and a TON of color coordinated embroidery floss. I figured out that even at Dollar Store prices, I had over $16 worth of floss alone. WOW!!!!!






Had to go out one more time to exchange something on Monday, and we hit a different thrift store. Wouldn't you know, they were having a half price sale too! I got these 6 cup size bowls for half price. Loving that! 

Found one more book for me, and one for the grandson. Joel Rosenberg is an author I really have read a bit of, and didn't realize this book was in his Guardians of the Flame series, which I really enjoyed. I glanced through the children's book, and liked the story, sort of a reverse King Midas tale about a king who has everything but happiness, which doesn't come in shining gold. A good message to share.


I guess I'm a bit of a peculiar person, all excited about buying up other people's castoffs. Think I care what anyone thinks? Nope—stopped that when I turned 50 and realized most likely, half my life was already over. Sure, I can afford better—and yeah, I really don't need all the clutter. But in this world, there are a lot worse things than bringing home second hand items and filling the crannies of your life with them. I figure if you can still walk through the house without tripping, and use the furniture for what it was intended for, I haven't gone completely ditsy. 


I look at these things that were once desired and are now no longer wanted, and they remind me that life is short, circumstances change, and bad times come up unexpectedly. I come home with a few new little sparklies and remember how love is sometimes  fleeting once the luster wears off. I plug away at a craft project, making a special meal, or pounding out a story I'm writing, and that brings the realization there is a a whole lot of hard work and a real learning curve to putting together something worth having. Too often these days, when the next shiny prospect comes along, what's tried and true gets chucked aside. So I buy someone else's dreams secondhand, and bring back at least part of what they were before.


Keeping my hands busy and my mind occupied has always been my way to cope when times are tough, and people or events around me become difficult and hard to deal with. When your whole world falls to crap and you don't know if you can stand yet another bitter disappointment, it's good to have something to get up for in the morning. A cat in the lap or a wet dog nose under the arm doesn't hurt either... I keep busy, and I love the life I've made here for myself. Not many people these days can say that, and it's a damn shame.


You know, my life is not idyllic, but I have reached that part of it where the serenity comes from within. So for every snide remark I get, each time something comes along and blindsides me, or some little veiled insult is made that I have to choke back the tears from, I have faith there will be a balance struck. I'll always have songs I can sing, warm hugs, lovely sunsets, good food, the scent of a new rose, or a spotted fawn walking beside a doe that will come along to cheer me up. Now and then, I make sure to look up and glance around for something worth smiling about or someone to say something loving to, before I go back to what I need to accomplish once more. 


Contentment is something you can't measure or buy. But you'll sure know how much it means if it's missing. 


~PEACE TO ALL~

It's A Gingerbread World...

One of the things I do every year at Christmas is a huge cookie bake-off. I pick several kinds of tried-and-true cookies to make several dozen of, and then gift friends, neighbors, and relatives with mixed containers of colorful sweet confections. The star of every cookie box though is the gingerbread cookies, my most requested one. Some years back around Christmas time I was standing in a supermarket checkout line that was moving like a turtle on dial-up. The rack next to me was filled with those little 3x5" booklets on miracle diets, horoscopes, and writing your own will. One of them caught my eye because it was titled Christmas Cookies and More, so I thumbed through the contents and tossed it on the counter with my stuff. Good thing too, because in there was not only this gingerbread cookie dough recipe, but the one for my thummies (AKA thumbprints or jamprints). I will have pictures of all the other cookies in another post. This one is about gingerbread.

Cookies make great gifts because people love them so much, and hardly anyone has time to bake anymore. I have the time, so I do bake like a fiend for several days. I have never had anyone ask me not to give them cookies next year - in fact, I get plenty of little hints and comments from folks from Thanksgiving on, wondering and hoping I will still have time to make and share more cookies. LOL So every year I go on a marathon baking spree, and currently I am making 7 kinds of cookies. If you multiply that by the 4-5 dozen of each kind, you can see why it takes me three days to bake. And with the gingerbread, they must be decorated after they have cooled completely, and the surface must be dry, so there is at least 1-2 more days involved there. It is a labor of love, but it is exhausting. I do it every year anyway, just because I can.

The baking starts out with rolling and cutting the dough to shape and re-rolling the trimmings. The cookies are baked, cooled and they go into boxes until I have them all done. The batch below was actually toward the end, when the reindeer cutter, which had popped its tack weld last year, came home to me repaired. That is a favorite that I found at a yard sale along with the 'chick' which I call my partridge in a pear tree. They are not so much antique as unusual. The ovals were just the end of the dough pieces, rolled out freeform.


Lee took a couple of the next pictures over my shoulder as I worked. Yep, that's me, doing my thing. It took me two sessions to decorate the gingerbread cookies because I made extra this year. I'll admit I am not great frosting artist and I use the commercial squeeze tubes and mostly writing tips to lay on the color. But I do add some detail wherever I can, so a few sprinkles and jimmies get called into service. I want them colorful and themed for the season. I have favorite cutters I use every year, and buy new ones periodically. I have two sweater size plastic tubs full of cookie cutters. I also make a vanilla rolled cookie, and some are designated for them.

One trick I've learned for laying in the detail sprinkles is to dip the tip of a toothpick into the color of frosting I am currently decorating with and then pick the little dots up out of their containers one or a few at a time. The little candies stick well to the frosting and when it hardens (usually overnight) they stay put. Toothpicks also help with a line of decoration frosting that lays wrong by redirecting it without squishing it out of shape. And they do some fancy designs. You will see more of that in further pics.



For cookie decorating I pull out all my sheets and trays - another reason to have most of the baking done by then. The cookies are thick with frosting and that needs an overnight period to dry and firm up. Then they can be stacked again. The idea is to just give some detail and indication of what the cutout is. We've found the frosting is a necessity, as it really enhances the taste of the cookies. Might as well be pretty too.

The elephant and wreath cutters were also in that original yard sale batch. I would guess they are at least 25 years old.


Below is how I stack them to dry, and why I prefer similarly sized trays and sheets with a lip. When I am done for the night, they get completely covered with clean old towels or sheets over a big cooling rack. I put another rack over the top to protect them, and discourage my ever-curious cats from investigating what is underneath. In spite of my primitive decorations, don't they look pretty? The snowflake is a new one for this year, and I have been experimenting with how to decorate it. It's true what they say, no two are alike. You can just see some of the plastic storage boxes off to the right.


The individual sheets are fun to look at too. I like to add homey little details to the houses, having lived in New England all of my life. The lighthouse was a gift cutter from my neighbors Bob & Shelly, who are avid boaters and fishers. They gave me a lobster cutter too. They look forward to cookies every year. *w*


I have been collecting different house shapes for a few years now. The rocking horse and the tree were also from that yard sale batch. I think that star might have been too, though I have several stars. This particular Santa is new this year, I got it 75% off in January last year. The stocking is older too, I think that was from a flea market.


The candy cane cutter came from the same flea market deal as the stocking. The small gingerbread boy was from Goodwill this fall, the Santa face, ornament and present are all new but purchased after the holiday when they were discounted. I have bought multiple sets of the plastic frosting tips for decorating so I can have a lot of colors going at once, but I also have some of the name brand metal decorator tips and sleeves that will fit certain tubes. Someday I will take the time to mix my own royal icing, I just didn't bother this year because I had so much of the squeeze tube stuff left and found more at a discount store. BTW, only buy the tube frosting and not the gel or the canned stuff for this type of work, as neither one of the others will harden and they get too messy.



A different reindeer, one that I bought to replace my old one in case it proved to be unrepairable. Got the snowman the same day. The sailboat is a couple years old now, I do them for Bob & Shelly. The houses are about the same age. The pig and old world Santa were also in that original yard sale bunch. For years I didn't use the Santa because I could not figure out what is was! It looked like either a skinny upright penguin or a weird sleigh. You can see that without the details, the shape is not easy to discern. But one year I looked at it and said, "Oh, it's St. Nick!" and worked out a design I follow every year. You just have to frost these, they look best that way.

The train engine is new, purchased this year for grandson Ben, who loves all things blue and pertaining to Thomas the Tank Engine. We saved every one of those for him.


Found the holly leaf a few seasons back, and originally used it for the sugar cookies. I like it better this way. The dots on the wreaths and trees I added to the house cookies are laid-in sprinkles. The rest is frosting.


There's my partridges! I do them and the elephants and reindeer the same every year, and always in white. I just noticed some of the snowmen don't have carrot noses. I can't remember if I fixed that...



A different star and the lobsters, I usually make a couple of those. This was the end of one baking batch. It is always a relief to know you are done. Squeezing those tubes and keeping the line going gets harder as they empty, and I have arthritis in both hands. I use big wide elastic bands (like you get on bundled broccoli or asparagus) to fold the tubes over and help keep the air out, but it is still tough. Good thing I like doing this, it's a lot of work!

Actually I enjoy seeing people's eyes 'pop' when they get their cookies. I've been told they are too pretty to eat, yet they always get eaten. I have my fans at this time of year. *w*



Below are the last batch of cookies baked, all frosted in the same night since I just had a few to do. For the ovals I had opened up the last two empty tubes of white frosting and smeared it on with a spreader. I gave them to my sons that evening, a reminder of the days when they were little boys who helped mommy make Christmas kitchen magic. Brian decorated a few cookies himself this year, and he said never realized how hard it is to make them look good. He has a lot of respect for me for what I do now, because his contribution was just a token portion of what got done.

BTW, that chromed steel tray is not what they got baked on, it is an old bottom tray to my long since defunct Farberware portable convection oven. When we had to get rid of it after many years of service, I kept the tray and the oven rack, which I also still use as an auxillary cooling rack, since it has 4 little wire bump 'feet' that fitted into the slots you see on the ends of the tray. I saved a heavy chromed round rack from my Amana micro/convection oven too, because that has tall legs with flat disc 'feet' so that it sits very secure and is great for cooling stockpots. I may be more than a bit eccentric but I won't toss out anything that can be repurposed. The more I can find uses for these things, the less likely they are to wind up in a landfill. I would at least consider donating them to a thrift shop, where someone else might have a use for them.


It takes time, patience, and resources to do baking on this scale, and I know most people don't have a lot of either. What could be doable and affordably fun is to start a Christmas cookie exchange with several friends, and then make up multiple batches of one kind of cookie to trade to others for they have done. You have to make sure that everyone does a different type of cookie so that there is some variety. And I'd tend to stay away from cookies like chocolate chip or oatmeal that most people do whenever they bother to bake, and save certain recipes strictly for the holidays. You also want to think about where your cookies will be stored, and how well they will transport if you are going to share them. I have mailed cookies to Florida with good results, and will discuss in another post how to pack them for that.

For me this is all about making memories. Long after the gifts are forgotten and the cards put away, people will still be talking about the cookies and fudge I made and shared with them. It's part of my holiday tradition, and the couple years I was unable to do that, it just didn't feel the same. I am proud that this year, except for Roger's cookies (which he just received yesterday) everyone got their cookies before or at least by Christmas Eve. And what we kept for ourselves is almost gone. Ho, ho, ho!!!!