Christmas Cookies

In the two days before Christmas, I baked about 10 dozen cookies. The three kinds I chose this year were Cherry Walnut Slices, Molasses Spice, and Peanut Butter Blossoms. They were almost all given out to neighbors and friends. 

Today I mixed up another double batch of the Molasses Spice cookies, since they were my favorite and we had very few left over. We deserve some Christmas cookies too! Haha.

Winter solstice

Happy Winter Solstice to all! And to my one blog friend in the Southern Hemisphere, happy Summer Solstice! It seems crazy to think of having Christmas in summer, but honestly, this is South Carolina and our temperatures are often close to summer-like this time of year. Last week we had a morning so cold the temperature was 18 degrees (-7 Celsius) with a wind chill of 10 (-12C). But our forecast high for Christmas Day? 70 degrees! We have crazy weather here and you never know what you're going to get. *

Check out our Christmas tree alternative. When we bring in our huge Ficus from the porch in the fall, it doesn't leave much room in the house for a traditional Christmas tree. I strung some lights on this baby and called it a day. Hey, at least it's a tree, right?

I finally finished sending out this year's Christmas cards. I swore I was going to cut down on the number I send out but still ended up sending about three dozen. It's one of my only holiday traditions and I love doing it, despite the rising cost of postage. So far, we've gotten four. They're all pretty, but I noticed this morning that the sun was shining in and illuminating one of them from the inside. Isn't it pretty?

And speaking of pretty...look at this beautiful cake one our book club members made for our holiday meeting last week! Not only is it gorgeous to look at, but the woman who sent this wasn't able to come herself. She was having back surgery the next day, and her husband has just been diagnosed with brain cancer. I can't believe she took the time to make something so lovely for us to enjoy in her absence. (We're discussing ways to support her at a time like this).

It was red velvet cake on the inside. 

We're on an extra-long holiday break this year, just shy of three weeks! This past Tuesday was our last day, and we go back on January 5th. I'm taking things so easy this year, and I love it. Tomorrow after an early appointment with my allergist, I'm going to prepare three large batches of cookie dough (I've already shopped for the ingredients). On Tuesday, I'll bake it all up and prepare trays of cookies to give to our friends and neighbors for Christmas. I'm trying to keep things simple and mindful and as non-consumerist as possible this year.

*Except in summer. You always know what you're going to get then!

Decorations

 I finished the wreath for the front door. It now has more greenery, a bow, and lights. I'm happy with it!

Yesterday I started another wreath made with clove-studded dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, tiny pinecones, and sprigs of fir and rosemary. It's not done yet, but here's a picture of a small bit of it to give you the general idea.

And here are some photos of my neighbors' houses, all lit up for Christmas. The t-rex with antlers is my favorite! 

Cozy weekend

First, an update on the Cherub: after a rough start and two bad days, Friday was much better. His foster mom picked him up from school and when she heard what a good day he'd had, she told him they'd go get ice cream to celebrate. Then this morning his foster dad brought him to school a few minutes late, and when I gave him a breakfast bag, he said, "Thank you!" and gave me a hug. How nice is that? Maybe he's getting some stability in his life and will continue to do better. I hope so.

The weekend was cold and rainy. I went out on Saturday and bought some live materials to make a wreath for our front door, and I spent the early afternoon yesterday working on it. It still needs a bow, and better lights, and I wouldn't mind picking up some extra fir branches to fluff it up a bit more, but this is what I have so far.

I also spent the afternoon cooking vegetable soup in the crock pot and drying apple and orange slices in the dehydrator. The house smelled amazing while I worked on the wreath!

Christmas will be here in no time.

The Cherub

Yesterday a new student registered for school with us. Kindergarten. Five years old. The most adorable little boy you ever saw: beautiful olive skin, springy, tawny curls, big bright eyes. A little cherub. He's in foster care, and this is the first time he's been in school in his life. 

His teacher, my favorite from the kindergarten hall (experienced, kind, fun, and with a real gift for teaching little ones), was out sick yesterday, so the classroom aide was by herself. Up in the front office, by midmorning we started to hear rumblings that the Cherub was turning out to be a real live wire. The library assistant reported that when the class came to check out books, she started asking him questions about himself. He stared at her, answered her questions for a minute, and then said, "I punch people who annoy me." She said, "Am I annoying you?" to which he replied, "No, but I'm just letting you know..." We all chuckled. Okay. 

At lunch, he informed one of the lunch ladies that he "knew lots of gangsters at his last home" and "I punch people who annoy me!" Whew, we said. What a little firecracker! Haha! Okay.

Then about an hour after lunch the classroom aide called up to the front office and said, "I need help! (Cherub) is trying to escape!" When the principal went down there, he was angrily trying to exit the class and refusing to sit down and cooperate. She walked him up to the office and sat him on the bench outside the nurse's office, to cool down. After a little while she went to talk to him and said, "You'll get to go home soon. You're riding the brown bus home." (For the littles our buses are named Pink, Brown, Orange, and Blue to help them remember which one they ride). Cherub looked at her like she was an idiot and said, "I ride a YELLOW bus home!" She briefly explained that while the bus IS yellow, the one he rides is called Brown. He continued to look skeptical, so she asked him if he'd rather stay at school with her after everyone else leaves. He shouted, "HELL NO!!!!"

Today when his teacher returned, I saw her first thing and said, "You've a got new student!" She gave me a wry look and said, "Yes, I've already heard." This is a veteran teacher and nothing much fazes her. * Later in the morning, during her break, she reported that they had given Cherub the kindergarten readiness assessment, and he scored really high. High enough that he could almost skip kindergarten and go right into first grade without a problem (at least academically). She also acknowledged that she'll have her hands full with him.

Right before I left for the day, I looked up and saw the teacher in the main office, so I called her over and asked her how the day had gone. 

Y'all...

She told me that about an hour after lunch, the Cherub had demanded she let him go to the cafeteria to "get a hotdog". She told him the cafeteria was closed. He wasn't having it; he demanded that he get to get down there and get a hotdog. She repeated, "Cherub, you can't. The cafeteria closed an hour ago."

And this adorable little boy, the sweetest looking little child you ever saw in your life, raised both his fists, gave her two middle fingers at the same time, and yelled, "Well, FUCK YOU, BITCH!"

Life in a modern-day American school. God help us.

*Thank goodness this child was assigned to her class. If anyone can help him, she can. 

Thanksgiving recap

Thanksgiving was very quiet for us. Instead of the usual turkey I decided to make pulled pork BBQ with vinegar sauce. I actually bought three large turkey breasts for the freezer, since the sale price was so good, but we'll eat those in various things (plus sandwiches) over the winter. To go with the pulled pork, I made rice, collard greens, and real heart-attach-in-a-casserole dish Southern mac n cheese. The recipe I use for it comes from Deep South Dish, and I make it so infrequently that I forget to halve the recipe. It makes a big batch. Just look at what I ended up with:
 

That, my friends, is enough mac n cheese to feed a damn army. I don't know what I was thinking, considering it calls for 4 pounds of cheese, a pound of butter, 4 or 5 whole eggs, and several cups of whole milk. I realized early on I'd have to use two pans. We still have a ton left, even after sharing huge portions with a neighbor. I don't know how I'm going to get rid of it all, but I'll admit, it's delicious. 

Here's what my Thanksgiving plate looked like. We still had cranberry/pineapple sauce left from book club last week.

I was too full to even think about dessert after that, but the next day I peeled some apples and made baked apple hand pies. 

We stumbled upon this Santa candy dish while putting away the fall wreath

 and candleholders. I added him to the picture to make it more interesting! :)

On Friday another seed catalog (from Baker Creek) arrived. I also got a new David Austin Roses handbook and Seed Savers Exchange catalog recently. These will be perfect for daydreaming over this winter!

I hope all my American friends had a happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for all of you reading here. xx

Checking in, and catching up

Hey friends, it's been a while, and I've missed you all! How are you?

I'm going to spend some time this afternoon catching up with everyone's blogs. I've been super busy but thankfully all the stuff consuming my time and attention is done and dusted. This week is Thanksgiving break, and last year the district started giving us the entire week off. How nice is that? 

The diaper cake was apparently a big hit at the baby shower. My friends said that several people asked if I make them to sell, and said that if I don't, I should. (Maybe I should consider a small side hustle in designing diaper cakes? Some extra cash would be nice). The most important thing, though, is that the parents really liked it and appreciated the effort. 

Last Wednesday night I hosted my book club. That was another thing I had on my plate, cleaning the house and planning food and drinks for that. Since I usually only have to host once a year, I like to make it extra nice, and it stresses me out more than it should. This year wasn't too bad, though. Since Gregg retired he does 75% of the housework anyway, and he went to a lot of extra trouble doing things like dusting blinds and ceiling fans, mopping hardwood floors, and generally making everything as easy for me as possible. I love that man!

For food, I made toasted King's Hawaiian ham and Swiss cheese sliders, hot spinach artichoke dip with assorted chips and crackers, deviled eggs, crockpot grape jelly meatballs (don't laugh, they're good!), and cranberry pineapple relish. To finish I bought three ready-made desserts from Sam's: apple pie, pumpkin cream cheese roll, and a big box of assorted baklava. There were three kinds of red wine and two white, as well as iced tea, bottled water, and sodas to drink. My guests inhaled the food and complimented everything, and I think they had a good time. We're not used to having much company, and a dozen women milling around and talking and laughing for two hours makes me feel like a hurricane has blown through when it's over. Even the dogs were exhausted. *

The next night, Thursday, I made up another huge batch of deviled eggs for a work potluck on Friday. For those and for book club I used already pre-boiled eggs from the grocery store deli. For family meals, I'd boil and peel my own, but for a crowd the pre-done ones work like a charm. There was a ton of food at the potluck and coming on the heels of book club I don't feel like I want much more rich, heavy food. I'm considering some simple alternatives to the big turkey dinner on Thursday.

This morning, I had a 9:00 appointment with the dentist, the final appointment for this new crown I've got. It's a relief to have that done, even if I am $900 poorer for it! I will say that my new young dentist did a really good job, and this has been the most discomfort-free crown I've ever had. I told him so, too. 

So now I have the week off, and no more pressing obligations. It's going to be a quiet week at home, with Gregg and the pups and Marco. I went to the bookstore and bought a new novel I'd been waiting for, and there are several tv shows and movies I'd like to watch. I'm looking forward to a really relaxed, hassle-free Thanksgiving.

Some random pictures from the last week or so:

I finally got around to making Gregg his belated birthday pineapple upside down cake last weekend!

I bought this pretty Christmas cactus at the grocery store and added fairy lights brighten up the dining room. 

This cat has been hanging around a lot lately, hoping for a handout. I might have been guilty of leaving some cooked salmon out there for him/her one night when the weather turned very cold. Oops.

We've ended up with three big bags of apples (don't ask) and I'm trying to get creative to use them up. Last night I made battered, fried apple rings dusted with cinnamon sugar. They were delicious warm, but soggy and oily and awful after getting cold. 

The boys!

The girl!

The other boy, my favorite. He has no idea I took this picture. Don't tell him! :)

*The book we discussed this month is a classic and one of my all-time favorites: My Antonia by Willa Cather.

Shower gift

A young couple of our acquaintance are expecting their first child, a boy. I was invited to the baby shower, but decided to just send a gift without attending. So I bought a giant box of diapers and made them a diaper cake that will double as a table centerpiece. 

Dad is a hunter, and is eagerly looking forward to taking his son with him one day. I decided that a hunting theme would be appropriate for the "cake". This is what I came up with. 

What do you think? I sure hope they like it! (And even if they don't the diapers will come in handy).

A beautiful Sunday

I let the marigolds run wild after the summer garden was finished, and the bees spent all day yesterday taking advantage of the late season blooms. Temperatures tonight are expected to drop below freezing, so it was probably their last chance to prepare for winter.

Yesterday was also my dear husband's birthday! We had a quiet day at home (the weather was glorious, like Indian Summer) with the dogs and Marco. I made all of Gregg's favorite foods, including banana pudding for dessert. I have plans to make him a pineapple upside-down cake too, but he requested that I wait until the banana pudding is finished. 

Good morning, America!

It's wonderful to wake up to good political news for a change! I feel more hopeful than I have in months.

In today's newsletter Heather Cox Richardson summed it all up nicely:

Tonight the results came in. American voters have spoken. Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governorship of Virginia by 15 points, becoming Virginia’s first female governor. Every single county in Virginia moved toward the Democrats, who appear to have picked up at least 12 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the governorship of New Jersey by more than ten points (the vote counts are still coming in as I write this). Pennsylvania voted to retain three state supreme court justices, preserving a 5–2 liberal majority on the court. Democrats in Georgia flipped two statewide seats for public service commissioners by double digits. Mississippi broke the Republican supermajority in the state senate. Maine voters rejected an attempt to restrict mail-in voting; Colorado voters chose to raise taxes on households with incomes over $300,000 to pay for meals for public school students. California voters approved Proposition 50 by a margin of about 2 to 1, making it hard for Trump to maintain the vote was illegitimate. And in New York City, voters elected Zohran Mamdani mayor. Tonight, legal scholar John Pfaff wrote: “Every race. It’s basically been every race. Governors. Mayors. Long-held [Republican] dog-catchers. School boards. Water boards. Flipped a dungeon master in a rural Iowa D&D club. State senators. State reps. A janitor in Duluth. State justices. Three [Republican] Uber drivers. Just everything.” Trump posted on social media: “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.” But in fact, today voters resoundingly rejected Trump and Trumpism, and tomorrow, politics will be a whole different game. Upgrade to paid   Like Comment Restack   © 2025 Heather Cox Richardson 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe

Trick or Treat!

Marla and her husband brought Carsen over yesterday to trick or treat, along with a one of Carsen's little friends (and her parents).  Look how cute they were! And this picture really doesn't do their costumes justice: Carsen's long sparkly veil, Ella's equally sparkly Wizard of Oz red slippers and little plush dog carried in a basket...

The sweet young couple across the street from us had their two-year-old, Georgia Kate, out trick or treating. Three little nieces and nephews showed up, too, and also three of the grandparents to help hand out candy while the neighborhood trawl was going on. One grandma even dressed up! 

Georgia Kate as Minnie Mouse! She's just

 turned two and is the most darling little girl. 

The neighbor's niblings. Everyone got lots of candy!

We had a handful of other kids from the neighborhood: a Policeman and a Wolf-Man, a Devil and Spiderman. I didn't take pictures of them, but they were awfully cute. 

 

It's all about the candy!

Last week I went ahead and bought Halloween candy while on a big monthly shopping trip to Sam's. I decided on a large bag of assorted chocolate "fun size" bars.

Today at work I decided I should have some non-chocolate candy to offer, so I stopped at a Dollar Store on the way home and bought Nerds Gummies (they didn't have the regular ones, which I would have preferred), Laffy Taffy, Sunburst chewies, and miniature Chick-O-Sticks. Remember those?

Then I made up about a dozen treat bags full of a little of everything for the children I know, including four at school. My little best buddies. :)  Tomorrow night Marla will bring Carsen and a friend of hers, and our neighbors across the street will be coming by with their toddler and three nieces and nephews. I have treat bags made for all of them, plus plenty of leftover candy for any other trick-or-treaters that may show up. We always have a few!

Not so little anymore

Last Friday morning I got a text from my friend Judon, mom of Little P. She told me he had a city league football game the next afternoon and would love it if I could make it out to see him play. I don't know (or care) anything about football, but I love Judon and P., so I went. 

It was a crisp, beautiful fall day, and I got to see this young man and his team win the game!

Look how much he's grown! I guess I should stop calling him "little". The three of us went to lunch afterwards, and as we were leaving the restaurant, I was shocked to realize he's as tall as I am now. He'll be 13 in March. Unbelievable.

Still good friends all these years later!

Show your friends some love

This is the old ice cream bucket where we store peanuts for the squirrels that visit our back yard. We leave them on top of the compost bin and then enjoy watching them have their afternoon peanut feasts.

Whenever we go out to the back porch, after a few minutes two or three squirrels will present themselves for feeding along the back fence. As soon as one of us walks out there and leaves a handful of peanuts, they rush over and help themselves. It's cheap fun.

Speaking of fun...my book club met this past Wednesday night. The book wasn't very good, but it was great to see my friends. As we were getting ready to leave I saw Karen H. preparing to take a selfie and said, "Hey! Can I get in on that?" and she said, "Sure!" The next day she sent me this montage. 

Last but not least, I finally put up a little bit of autumn decoration on our front porch. While I was out there arranging the wreath just so, my sweet Georgie showed up and watched me. I sure love that old boy.

Back to the grind

Well, I got a new phone late last week after dropping mine in the goldfish container pond. What a hassle! None of my contacts (or photos, which hurts) were recoverable from the drowned phone, no matter what the nice young guy at the Verizon store tried. On the bright side, I was still able to trade it in for a good discount on the new phone. Gregg went ahead and traded his in for a new model, too. He'd been having charging issues for a while, so when I killed mine off it seemed like the logical time to replace them both. It seems like a luxury to have the very latest model of our phones. We're not given to buying stuff for ourselves just purely for enjoyment. 

I had a dental appointment yesterday. I need a crown (and possibly a root canal) asap. I knew it was coming, but I still hate it. I had to put down a hefty deposit to book the initial appointment, which will be November 3 (if the tooth doesn't fall apart before then). It had a huge filling from long ago that got decay underneath, and while it doesn't hurt, apparently it's pretty fragile. Sigh. I've had so much dental work, and it never seems to last long term, no matter what. The woman cleaning my teeth made me feel so much worse when she informed me that even zero sugar sodas (the only kind I drink) have citric acid that wears away tooth enamel and contributes to cavities and decay. Sugar, of course, is a non-starter. And then it was with the high-fluoride toothpastes...and mouth rinses...and always rinsing/brushing after every soda or coffee... and on and on and on.  It was so discouraging when I'm already upset about the uncomfortable work to come plus an $800 out of pocket expense after my dental insurance pays. I hate the dentist and I hate their bills even more.

Work has been super busy. Our annual fall festival and costume parade is coming up next week, and that means loads of money coming in for tickets, requisitions to pay for all the supplies and vendors, contacting payroll to arrange for overtime for custodians, arranging for transportation for the high school bands and cheerleaders that lead the parade, plus all my other regular duties. This first week back from fall break has been hectic and I'm already tired. 

Thankfully, today's Friday and I have the weekend to look forward to.

Book club, corn dollies, and a phone fail

On Sunday I hosted a book club party for my friends Marla and Martina. I'd been planning this little get together for months now, and it wasn't anything like I expected, but still fun. 

The book I chose was Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. It's an American folk horror novel from the early 70s that I stumbled across as a pre-teen in my small town's limited public library. It's appropriately creepy for this time of year. 

In addition to chicken corn chowder, I served a charcuterie board for my friends to enjoy.

I also attempted to bake an apple pie and pumpkin bars with brown sugar icing. Both ended in failure. I got the spices in the pie wrong, and it was all but inedible. As for the pumpkin bars...I meant to double the recipe because of the large can of pumpkin puree I wanted to use up, but I failed to double the amount of baking soda and sugar and what I ended up with was a flat, bland mess. I threw it in the garbage along with the pie and went to the grocery store at the last minute and bought desserts to share instead. Oh, well.

When Marla showed up, she was not happy with her husband. He was out of town helping a friend with something, and he didn't make it back in time to watch their daughter, so Carsen had to come along. Fortunately, I'd had the idea to do a craft related to the book, and Carsen really had a good time participating. We made traditional corn husk dolls! Carsen put googly eyes on hers, and I thought it turned out really cute!

Martina's doll turned out really pretty, with rosebuds and marigold flowers hot-glued on.

I didn't get a separate picture of the doll I made (and couldn't for reasons I'll explain in a minute) but here's the four dolls arranged all together out on the back porch. Mine is on the far right.

And here's mine and Martina's after Marla and Carsen had left.

Right after I took these photos, I accidently dropped my phone into the container pond on the back porch. Arrrgggh!!!!!!!!!!! I also dropped a massive F-bomb in front of Carsen when I did it. 

I snatched the phone out of the water, and for a while everything seemed to work normally, which is how I got these photos saved, but by the next morning my phone was dead. No amount of rice is working, either. That's everyone's first suggestion, to cover it in rice to absorb the moisture, but it's been no good. I have to get a new phone. Luckily, I'm on fall break this week and I plan to take care of that tomorrow. It's really weird to be without a phone, though, even if it's just for a few days. On the bright side, my phone was really old and getting glitchy, so I guess this is a perfect excuse to upgrade. 

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So that's how my fall break is going!