Special Guest Writes Today! ( I Love This Writer)

Today I have a special guest writer. She asked to write a blog-post and I was very happy to have her write for me. She not only authored this post ( and selected the photos to be posted), she did a lot of the baking and cooking that are the main theme of this post. I am writing of our oldest granddaughter, second grandchild. She and her 3 younger sisters have spent the week with us and what a wonderful time we have had. A busy, active, and thankful time.This is about our lunch with my husband's parents, much of it prepared by her. From here-on the words are hers. "This is me cooking chicken pot pie for lunch with our Great-Grandparents. I got the recipe for the chicken pot pie from 'Paula Deen's my First Cookbook'.

Look, it is ready to go into the oven!

I also made Strawberry Delight from the cookbook. It was YUMMY!

After lunch we watched the movie 'Zathura' . It was fun and scary and exciting!

My little sister tried to hide under the pillows every time it got scary.

When the movie was over we went Easter egg hunting. There was one golden Easter egg. Guess who found it, ME!

We say "good-bye" and hug and kiss our great Grandpa and Grandma. Tomorrow we go home, Spring break is over, back to school on Monday.

Santa, and the Last of the 2008 Christmas Posts

~One of my small village scenes. The farm with the poultry yard. I don't see any stalking,murderous coyotes in this scene. Maybe I should look into some little porcelain coyotes and fake blood for a dose of reality here. Maybe not, I like to think the whole world conspires to goodness and bliss this time of year. Will someone please inform the coyotes they are not following the plan?Somebody, somewhere ,seems to think we'll all just get along and there will be peace on earth if we just play nice. ~We DID play nice and have peace here on Cedar Pond the 23rd of December. It has become a tradition to have any grandchildren who live close enough, to come over and bake Christmas cookies, play games and spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. Here #5 Granddaughter rolls out the sugar cookie dough and cuts it into Christmas shapes.

~#2 Granddaughter also takes her turn at her own batch of sugar cookies.~

~#1 Grandson plays with MY Rudolph toys while awaiting his turn to roll out and cut his sugar cookie dough. I think he preferred to play with my toys instead of baking . He played with my toys the whole time he was here. How can you resist Rudolph and his reindeer friends anyway? ~The grandchildren and I took the time to glitter up a cardboard village that was the only Christmas village we had when our daughter, their mother was growing up. Since I now have a porcelain Christmas Village, I thought the grandchildren would appreciate taking home the little village that adorned their mother's Christmas memories.

~#2 granddaughter decorates her cookies. We made the cookies dairy-free so their mom can eat them.~

~Poppa also likes to help out, he and #5 granddaughter also do taste tests of the cookies and the frosting. ~The grandchildren have all had visits from Santa in December. For some reason I find them all whispering and giggling as they tell me they are sure Santa is their very own Poppa! I just cannot understand how they would think Santa and Poppa are one and the same.....just because they SOUND alike, and they both wear the same glasses, and they both have the same moustache, and just because Poppa and Santa are never together in the same room at the same time , even though everyone else is present, why would they think Poppa is Santa? Look at the picture above, and then compare it to the picture of Santa (below) , what do you think? Oh, doesn't our dog Hawk look pleased to be posing with Santa? We think it was so nice of Santa to stop by and give Hawk some attention.....

~For more pictures of Santa check out our daughters blog,A.Joy At Home.~

Christmas Sugar Cookies

~This Santa Nodder was a gift to my Hubby from one of his favorite great Aunts. He received this when he was quite young, and this Santa is at least 50 years old. HALF A CENTURY ! Almost an antique, like Hubby and myself. This Santa was meant to hold an apple or orange or candy for Christmas. We bring him out every year, and so he is definitely part of our family tradition.~We don't put apples or oranges in him though, I keep a small set of plastic angel figurines in him and allow children to play with them. Our daughter , A.Joy ( Nov. 30 ), posted a song and a little bit of her memories about the little figurines shown here . ~Another tradition for our family, and with many, many families, is the baking of Christmas cookies. The favorites are sugar cookies. The kids have always liked to frost and decorate them, but I leave a few unfrosted and bare of decoration because in all the eating of special foods and desserts, I yearn for a delicious and plain sugar cookie with a good cup of coffee.

~The grandchildren love to help me bake and frost and decorate Christmas cookies.~

~Here below is the best recipe I have found for sugar cookies. I have tried a lot of different recipes, they are all good, but this one always turns out for me and is a staple in December. I make a lot of the dough, wrap balls of it in wax paper, then put the wrapped balls of dough into zip lock bags and pull out a ball to roll out and cut into shapes just before company comes, while company is here, or if I need to take a batch somewhere for a Christmas festivity. ~Aren't they cute ? Decorating is fun, but eating the frosting and candy decorations and cookies is more fun!

~Christmas Sugar Cookies~

2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons butter ( my preference ) or margarine 1 /3 cup shortening 3/4 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tablespoon milk 1 tablespoon vanilla ~ Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and shortening with mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients; beat well. Divide dough in half; cover and chill about 3 hours. Working with half the dough at a time, on a lightly floured surface, roll to 1/8 " thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 375 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes or until done. Cool on wire rack and then decorate as desired. Makes 36 to 48 cookies.

~ I don't know about you, but I think this Santa has a slightly sly look on his face. Maybe he has visions of eating the cookies we made after we go to bed. "There is no ideal Christmas, only the one you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires,affections and traditions." Bill Mckibben