THEME
This week I want to invite you to share one of your favourite winter treats. A treat you look forward to making when the snow falls and include the recipe for it so others can try it out.
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(I wrote this right after the last Saturday in November.)
I decided to modify our Advent traditions a bit. Since we are usually very busy on Sundays and not home on Sunday night anyway till late, I decided to move our Advent wreath stuff to the Saturdays before.
This Saturday was our first one. So we lit our candle, read the prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, read a little devotion (for kids) on what Advent means, and that was it. We'll read the Scripture passages throughout the week.
The second part of my new tradition is to have some kind of fun, Christmas beverage and snack afterwards and to watch a Christmas movie. This past Saturday we had eggnog (from the store) and cookies that the girls had made.
We had put up all of our decorations (except for the tree) earlier that day, so I lit all of our candles, turned on the light in the large Nativity set we have, and turned off all of the other lights. (We have a lot of candles.) I cranked up the fireplace; we poured eggnog into my pretty Christmas glasses, put the cookies on a cute snowman plate I have, and passed them around. We turned on the movie--The Santa Clause--and snuggled into our blankets.
That was a feel-good Christmas thing for me.
The night before (Friday) we played games--Uno, gin rummy, and then spoons, which was new to the girls. They really liked spoons, so I think we will be playing that again. I might add this to the new tradition (game time).
Next Saturday, I want to make steamed milk or something like that, and I'm not sure about the snack yet. (We will be out of town for Craig's dad's surgery, and I'm not sure what time we'll be getting back into town. So it has to be something easy or from the store.) I want to get the movie, Home Alone, for that night. If we don't, though, I have several others already that will work.
(We love A Christmas Story, but the language is so bad! I like to watch it on TV, where it's edited.)
On Christmas Eve, after the girls have gone to bed, Craig and I wrap presents, drink eggnog, and watch It's a Wonderful Life (which Craig hates, but I love). I think we may watch that with the girls on one of the Saturdays of Advent, however, and then he and I can watch something else instead.
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That 2nd Saturday did not happen, as we got home late from Cleveland. I did do the steamed milk thing later on, though, and that was yummy! Heat 1 quart milk till steaming, add 1 tsp. cinnamon and 3 whole cloves, let steep for 20 minutes, heat back to near boiling, strain out cloves, pour half into blender, and blend for 30 seconds. Pour into 4-6 glasses with 1 Tbsp. honey in each. Add nutmeg to the foam on top, if desired. The only thing I didn't like about it was that the cinnamon made it a little gritty, which makes me want to cough. Someone suggested that next time I use cinnamon sticks instead of ground cinnamon.
I plan on making pink "margaritas" for this Saturday. It involves grapefruit juice and sugar. (I'm too lazy to go find the recipe.)
As for cookies and things, I am fond of my Hungarian grandma's kiffles (pronounced kind of like /kee-fleets/). This recipe seems close to hers. Ours were usually filled with jam (apricot was my favorite) rather than the nut filling.
I could keep going, but it's late! |
