Tradition! Our Favorite Family Christmas Cookies

Neither my mother nor my grandmother liked to bake. I laugh every time someone tells me what wonderful baker my mother was. I know full well that she made Pillsbury Slice & Bake cookies, Betty Crocker brownies, Dromedary gingerbread and Jello Instant Cheesecake. I believe that was her entire repertoire. It all came from a box - except the cookies which were refrigerated. My mother said that she hated the tedious "plop plop plop" of making cookies. The only exception was the Christmas cookies that both my mother and her mother made from scratch every year.

They always made Norwegian Butter cookies. I have no idea why - we aren't of Norwegian descent. The recipe came from the Fanny Farmer cookbook. I still have the annotated copy that my grandmother gave me for my 16th birthday. She doubled the recipe, divide the dough into thirds and dyed it red and green. She then used a cookie press to create white camels, green Christmas trees and red stars. I still have her vintage cookie press, but its really hard to use. No wonder she only baked once a year!

My mother also doubled the recipe, but avoided the difficult cookie press. She refrigerated the dough and bravely rolled it out so we could make cookie cutter cookies. It's a very fragile shortbread-like dough and did not hold up well to rolling and cutting.

I now make the same recipe and refrigerate it. I then cut it into rounds and bake (after all I grew up on Slice & Bakes!) It is excellent as a thumbprint cookie dough, rolled in chopped nuts with a dollop of strawberry or raspberry jam. My kids don't like nuts so I just bake it in circles.

Oddly, the recipe calls for two cooked egg yolks. Family tradition requires turning the leftover egg whites into cornflake macaroons. This year I've made another minor break with tradition. I didn't have any cornflakes so instead I made meringues. It took 20 minutes to get nice firm peaks. I worried that I might burn out the motor of my old Sunbeam stand mixer, but it came through.  I made the meringues first and while they were sitting in the oven I made the butter cookie dough. I refrigerated it until the meringues were done and then baked the second set of cookies.

Norwegian Christmas Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Separate the eggs and hard cook the yolks.

Cream the butter and hard cooked egg yolks. Beat in the sugar and add the flour vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly. Put through a cookie press or arrange by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. I iced mine with a little powdered sugar and a dash of almond extract diluted with 2% milk. I added food color remembering my Grandma's colorful cookies.

Meringue “Forgotten Kisses” cookies

• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup superfine granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy but not at all dry. (Be careful not to over beat.) Add the sugar gradually, about 3 tablespoons at a time. When 1/2 of the sugar has been added, add the vanilla extract. Continue beating and adding remaining sugar in batches, until all of the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is very shiny and tight. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Working one teaspoon at a time, push a teaspoonful of meringue from the tip of 1 teaspoon with the back of another teaspoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving 1-inch of space between cookies. Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off. Leave the cookies (undisturbed) in the oven for at least 2 hours and up to overnight, or until cookies are crisp and dry.

Per Meringue Cookie: (48); Calories: 44; Total Fat: 2.5 grams; Saturated Fat:0.5 grams; Protein: 1 gram; Total carbohydrates: 5 grams; Sugar: 5 grams; Fiber: 0 grams; Cholesterol: 0 milligrams; Sodium: 3 milligrams

Re-gifting We Shall Go...

(To be sung to the tune of Jingle Bells...)

Re-gifting we shall go,
picking through our stash-
what can we give away from this pile of trash?
The socks from Sister Sue?
The mug from Uncle Bob?
What the heck was Mom thinking buying a watch fob?

OH -
Candles, soaps, cocoa tins, lots of shower gels,
Towels, socks and other things covered in jingle bells...


All kidding aside, I admit that I have re-gifted items. I consider it an admirable form of recycling. I also understand that times are tough and not everyone can afford to buy gifts.

I try to honestly inform the person when I re-gift. I tend to say something like,"I got this as a gift and I already have one. I thought you might like it." I don't hide the item away in a closet, wrap it up and try to pass it off as a new gift a year later.

Regifting can be a source of good fun between the right people. My cousin and I traded gifts in the same ducky bag for years until we couldn't tape it together any more. I've also received some packaged foods that have been circulated for at least three years. 

I started to wonder,"How long is a smoked sausage good for, anyway?"  Unlike military MREs (meals ready to eat) the shelf life is actually only about 45 days unless frozen. If you'd like to order fresh Hickory Farms gift boxes there is still time this year - so no excuses for re-gifting. Of course survivalists and folks with a quirky sense of humor might appreciate the gift of some MREs. The site states that MREs "will store for up to 5 years" which makes them  ideal for re-gifting!

My favorite re-gifting saga comes from a friend. She bought a lovely, expensive bowl for her mother-in-law. The next year her mother-in-law gave it my friend's mother (obviously forgetting who had given it to her.) My friend's mother later gave her the bowl - never knowing her daughter was the one who purchased it in the first place!

Re-gifting we shall go,
picking through our stash,
what fun it is to give away our unwanted trash!

Christmas Carols and Lullabies

"Sing me to sleep,"my little one asked as I tucked her into bed tonight.

Now, anyone who has heard me sing probably wonders how even a child could ask this. The most charitable thing that can be said for my singing is that I know all of the words. I am so terribly tone deaf that when I was young the kind-hearted director of the church choir suggested that I would be an asset to the bell choir. Translation: "keep your mouth shut." I tried to join the choir in school. I was given a special role - dancer. Again, "keep your mouth shut."

So, beyond drunkenly belting out the words to any song played in a dance club in the 1980s my singing career has been somewhat limited.  In fact, when my oldest was born I realized that I didn't know any songs - except Billy Idol's White Wedding. "There is nothing fair in this world; There is nothing sure in this world; There is nothing pure in this world...." Not exactly a lullaby.

Instead, I sang my little late November baby to sleep with Jingle Bells. When Amanda was little I would put on a Christmas CD and rock her to sleep. By the time Danielle arrived eight years later I'd learned a huge library of Christmas Carols ranging from Holly Jolly Christmas to Do You Hear What I Hear? My favorites being all of the Nat "King" Cole classics and anything from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

So, tonight, in mid-December, I was happy to oblige Danielle with a lullaby. As she drifted off to my tunelessly humming Jingle Bells, she sighed and said,"oh, my baby song..."

What's in A Name? More than you might imagine...

Okay - time for my second cautionary tale...

Kevin & I were comparing blog statistics recently. I've been blogging for about 6 months so I checked my stats and announced proudly that I've gotten more than 4,300 views.  Kevin has far fewer views but lots of comments and emails regarding his posts.

So, I delved a little further and discovered - to my horror!- that one source of traffic to my site was a pornography website based in Australia. I guess some weirdos there were pretty disappointed by the birthday party blogs...

And, yes, I see the humor in this. I just never thought of it in those terms... The "ick factor" is pretty high.  Moral of the story: Chose the name of your blog very carefully!!!

"Dear Friends, Family & Others..."

Title "borrowed"  from a recent episode of Modern Family...

Dear friend,

We know that we are friends. When we need to, we can talk, email or text each other. We've laughed together and maybe even cried together. We don't need to talk about our friendship.

However, today I want to remind you, quite simply, that I like YOU. I don't like you because of your intellect, your income or your looks. I like you regardless of the color of your hair or your skin, your religious beliefs or your sexual orientation. I will continue to like you if you gain weight, lose your hair or lose your job.

There is probably no single reason that we are friends. Chances are we shared common experiences that brought us together. More likely, common views have held us together. That doesn't mean that we agree on every topic. It does mean that we respect each other's right to disagree.

It is easier for me to define what I don't like in a person, than what I do. I do not like religious zealots who try to proselytize me. I don't like people who are intolerant of social or political change. I don't like people who are greedy or mean. So, thank you for not being any of those things.

Thank you for being YOU.

Happy Hannukah. Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzaa.

Love,
Sallie

Christmas letters, blogs and other nuisances...

The BLOG has now become the dreaded Christmas letter - without the cost of postage and with the happy option of ignoring it without adding to your local landfill. I never like those chatty letters about everyone else's perfect life - with photos their immaculately groomed children grinning almost insanely, wearing matching Christmas outfits. You just know some people have been waiting all year to brag about their kids, their good fortune, etc. Of course, if my 8 year old had been to 7 countries in the past year or my 5 year old spoke fluent Mandarin I might be tempted to brag, too.

We all have a web presence now. Many of us have moved beyond what my father deemed the "narcissism" of Facebook into the admittedly more narcissistic Blog.

Now I think you want to know not just what I'm making for dinner or my thoughts at the moment, but details about these things! Hilarious, I admit. On the other hand, if you've read any of my blogs I'm NOT bragging. Bitching, maybe; but bragging, never!

We've had lots of happy moments this year, but there have been trials and tragedies as well. Let's see this blog started with the failure of our sewage ejector pump and continued through a broken hip, hospitalizations and my frustrations with Medicaid. To not acknowledge the bad times minimizes the moments of pure joy that we share. Life, like marriage, is "for better or worse."

My blog started as a way to earn a free trip to Walt Disney World - write 100 posts and get admitted into the MomBloggers club which gets me an inside track to free trips (as long as I blog about them....)  I'm at 59 posts. To my amazement my most recent stats have me at 4,651 "views" - paltry compared to a friend that got 25,000 in  day! However I am proud of my modest success. I think I have to abandon the free Disney dream.  I enjoy writing. As I have admitted, this is the "online diary of a middle aged Mom." However, I can't write about why you should buy all of your gifts through Amazon.com or subscribe to an online shopping service.

Sometimes I'm maudlin, self-pitying or angry. Sometimes I'm introspective or even funny. But, I'm never for sale so bye-bye free trip to Disney. Hello, 2012! Wonder what I'll write about next year...

Camping Baby Shower

A friend and I just hosted a Camping Themed Baby Shower. I know its not traditional, but she's an outdoors girl expecting her third little boy. What could be more perfect?

I had a great time pulling together things we already had around the house and finding fun outdoorsy accessories. The trick to working on a budget is thinking outside the box.

I hit a 80% clearance at Michael's and picked up some adorable rustic decorations.

I'm really proud of these letter blocks that I made out of wood I found in our garage and some scrap booking paper. Kevin cut the wood into "rustic" pieces. I sanded them, cut decorative papers to fit then added some stickers and glue. About a half hour project with great results! I may add a few more embellishments if I find anything interesting around the house. I made them two-sided: one side is outdoorsy to go with my theme, the other is more babyish for his nursery if she wants to use them to decorate.

You know I love a theme so I couldn't help myself. I made some camping themed desserts - Smores brownies and a super easy campfire cake that doesn't require any baking - just assembly.

I do NOT like baby shower games. Sorry, guys, no adult should have to eat baby food or pass around a diaper filled with pretend chocolate poop. This might be funny when you're ten; at my age its just weird.  So, I pressed for a group craft instead. We decided to decorate onesies. Of course you can scribble all over them with puffy fabric paint and they will be cute. The parents may never put the baby in them, but that's beside the point.

If you want to try to make onesies the kid might actually wear here are two simple systems. I've included photos of my demonstrations projects. I promise, they took no actual artistic talent - just some time and a little patience. For detailed DIY instructions on either project just google "decorate a onesie" (that's what I did!) You can apply the same techniques to T-shirts, etc.

 Fabric Appliqué Process

• draw a simple design on cardboard (I used an old cereal box)
• cut your template out
• trace template onto the fabric
• cut out the design
• apply permanent fabric glue to back of the design (I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion)
• stick it to the onesie
• let dry completely overnight 

Freezer Paper Stencil

• cut out a stencil from freezer paper using an exacto knife
• iron it onto a onesie (takes about 1 min. with dry heat)
• dab on fabric paint using a brush
• let dry completely overnight
  
  



The finished product!

I did get a little over-the-top cute with my camping concept. I named the craft center "Camp Wannamaka Onesie." I made tiny tents from scrap burlap and folded cardboard for table decorations. I used small evergreen trees to create "woods." Okay, I confess - I have my tacky days.

Reusable Coffee Cup Sleeve

Try this super easy craft with your kids!

Step1: treat yourself to a fancy to go coffee from someplace like Starbucks

Step 2: remove the cardboard holder and unstick the ends; wash out the now empty cup
Step 3: trace the holder onto stiffened felt (available at Hobby Lobby)
Step 4: cut along the pattern

Step 5: wrap felt around the cardboard cup
Step 6: glue the ends together using Felt Glue and pin until dry

Step 7: decorate with stick on "Felties", ribbon or fabric paints
Step 8: annoy your local barista by ordering ten $5 gift cards to go with all of the sleeves you've made...

Happy Holidays!

Trash or Recycling?

When you live in the South you become somewhat inured to the shots the rest of the country takes at us. Even our own turn on us occasionally. In 1998 Jane Fonda notoriously referred to parts of Georgia as resembling a third world country. Jeff Foxworthy has made a fortune disparaging the South.

There are a lot of jokes about rednecks and white trash.  We call a lovely stretch of the Gulf Coast the "Redneck Riviera." We even make a tongue in cheek Christmas treat called White Trash - if Alton Brown has a recipe for it it can't be all bad.

There is also a lot of debate regarding the subtle differentiation between rednecks and white trash. I'm not sure I'm completely clear on the difference, myself. I think if you are one, you think the other is worse...for instance, white trash say rednecks cause trouble; rednecks say white trash don't pay child support.

Having lived in the South for 14 years now I've discovered that my initial perceptions about these groups were often - but not always!- wrong. The other night I needed to go to Wal-Mart at 10PM. When I saw a man in camouflage coveralls, smoking and carrying a sleepy two year old I initially thought, "white trash." Then, he stopped me and said politely, "Ma'am, do you know where they keep the diapers? The wife went out with her friends and we ran out." Not white trash; nice dad. My bad.

That said, there is no shortage of trash down here (white or any other color). While camouflage clothing has a real (but limited) use I refuse to consider women who wear a poncho without a shirt anything more than trash.  Truthfully, it comes down to a perception of worthlessness. Call them what you will there are unfortunately adults who don't accept conventional standards for social responsibility. They may neglect their children, drink while driving, have trouble holding down a job, use drugs...

The question for me is - are they really trash or are they capable of being recycled?

 http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/2009/04/what-is-white-trash.html