And here's the actual 2025 cookie list!

 

 I'm sure no one is holding their breath for this list, but I do know there are some folks who are interested in trying some new-to-them cookie recipes on Rudolph Day, so here we go with what we actually baked this year.

Chocolate Mint Crisps

Whipped Shortbread

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

Chocolate Spritz (updated version here)

 

Blond Brownies

Cookie Dough Brownies

Lemon Shortbread Thumbprints

Lemon Spritz

 Eggnog Log Cookies

Sacher Torte Cookies (updated version here)

Chocolate-Filled Gingerbread Thumbprints

Gingerbread Coffeecake Cookies

Secret Spice Cookies

 

 Chocolate Orange Cookies

Christmas Tree Spritz

 Christmas No-bake Cookies

Maple Thumbprint Cookies

 Peppermint Mocha Cookies

The latter two were new this year, but they both earned a permanent spot in our cookie repertoire! I do intend to write a post about each of them eventually.

So that is our actual list for Christmas 2025.  Many of these were made in double or even triple batches.  Such a sweet tradition for us!

The actual kitchen gift list

 

 Regular readers know that in addition to the tentative lists I post before Christmas, I also like to post again after the holiday to share what I actually made for kitchen gifts, cookies, and candy.  So here is my update on the kitchen gifts list.

Recall, this was the tentative list:

So here is what I actually made, with recipe links for those who are interested:

Eggnog Log Cookies
Sacher Torte Cookies (updated version here)
Special Holiday Fudge
Chocolate Mint Crisps
Christmas Granola
Little Apricot Cakes
Barbecue Spiced Pecans

That last one wasn't on my list but I found it in an old magazine and it seemed meant to be.

I also tried out Pecan Pie Bark, but that isn't on my actual list because I didn't make it as a gift, just took some to a game night at church.  I think I would give it as a gift another year, though, as it was delicious.

And so that is 2025's actual kitchen gift list!

The actual 2024 Kitchen Gifts list

 

 Above you see the tentative Kitchen Gifts list from this year.  We did multiple batches of the Eggnog Logs and  Sacher Torte Cookies, and Chocolate Mint Crisps   so we would have plenty for various giftees.

I made a batch of the Golden Apricot Cakes and found that using the bakeable paper loaf pans I got on sale at King Arthur worked very well.  I was able to make 4 little loaves (and really, they're not all that little).  As I mentioned previously, I liked these paper pans a lot.  They were easy to work with and fill, nice and sturdy, and the cakes baked well in them.  When cooled, it was an easy matter to just wrap them in foil -- not plastic wrap and then foil, as I would do with cakes baked in ceramic or metal pans and removed to cool on racks.   

I made two double batches of Christmas granola, I think, and gave two jars and one tin away as kitchen gifts.  

Holiday Special Fudge winged its way to Nevada as a seasonal kitchen gift.

I had BBQ Pecans on my tentative list, but then I found a recipe for Spicy Peanuts that looked easier and less expensive, so shifted gears on that one.

And I needed one more gift for a grandson who enjoys spicy condiments (like barbecue sauce) but buying one was iffy because he can't have high fructose corn syrup.  So I made him a jar of our favorite maple barbecue sauce (recipe to follow here at some point) and he seemed quite pleased with it.

And there we have the actual Kitchen Gifts list!

The actual 2024 Christmas candy list

 

-- Photo from a few years back -- Josiah making buckeyes, one of his favorite treats, in his own home kitchen --

I always like to review my lists and compare the tentative list I made before the holidays to what I actually did end up doing.

So below is my tentative candy list:

As you can see,  I had six different candies on this list.  Of these, we made only four: 

Multiple batches of Heavenly Delight fudge,  and there will be at least one more, since my hubby has a half can of evaporated milk to use up.

He made one batch of  Easy Salted Caramel Fudge which lived up to his original nickname for it of Tasty Disaster Fudge.  It's delicious though and everyone loves it, so he's planning to make another batch.  (Sugar fast on the horizon!)

He also made Special Holiday Fudge, a chocolate fudge filled with nuts and raisins.  It tastes somewhat like an old-fashioned Chunky bar. This year we experimented with using marshmallow fluff instead of the marshmallows it calls for.  It actually worked out better, so that is going to be a permanent change, and the Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme is available at the dollar store, which helps with cost too.

Of course we had to make Chocolate-Dipped Orange Slices since they have become such a favorite.  So easy!  Just dip orange slice candies from the supermarket into melted dark chocolate.  These are always a fun addition to a cookie tray. 

And we tried one candy that wasn't on the list: the ones made with a small pretzel topped with a Rolo candy.  AllRecipes calls them Rolo Pretzel Turtles.  We just used the recipe from the Rolo bag.  Mr. T and granddaughter Ari made these.  We used the square waffle style pretzels.  We didn't want to put pecan halves on every one, so we used red and green M&Ms on some.  They were very easy to make and very good, but the Rolos were outrageously expensive, so we probably wouldn't do that again unless we found a great sale.

And that was our Christmas candy making for this year!

The actual kitchen gift list

 

 Here goes with the actual kitchen gift list from 2021.    Let's do a little comparison of it with my tentative list:

So as you see,  I made the first 5 items on the list, then for "other cookies" I did Chocolate Mint Crisps and for "other candy" I did Heavenly Delight fudge.  

Instead of bran muffins, I made Oatmeal Jam Muffins.  More about that in a moment.

I made two Apricot Cakes with the intent of gifting one and freezing one as a birthday gift for my walking friend who loves this cake and has a February birthday.

I didn't get around to making hot chocolate mix or Christmas Jam this year.  

For years, I have baked bran muffins for my mother-in-law and added a bag of clementines and homemade hot cocoa mix to her gift.  It's been a consumable gift that she has really enjoyed.  However, over the past few years I have become increasingly disenchanted with my bran muffin recipe.  I thought I would try different recipes throughout 2021 and see if I could find a muffin recipe that might be better.  Of course, I didn't get around to doing so.  (I have made a plan, though, to do just that in 2022.)  So I ended up using an old recipe of mine for Oatmeal Jam Muffins.  If you should be interested in the recipe, you'll find it in this post: Champions of Breakfast.  My hubby baked the muffins and they were just okay.  The jam leaked and burned in some of them, but we picked the best looking ones to take to his mom.  

Hence, my plan to try a new muffin recipe most months of 2022 and see which is the winner.   The first recipe should be up tomorrow.

And there's the actual kitchen gift list for 2021.  It really does pay to keep these lists, from my perspective.

After-Christmas debriefing for 2021

 

 Every year after Christmas, I try to note down my thoughts about that year's season using the  Organized Christmas  After-Christmas debriefing form to help me evaluate how things went, what worked, what didn't, and what we might do differently in the coming year. This has been very helpful to me. 

Here are my thoughts concerning Christmas 2021:

1.  What worked this holiday season?  What changes did you make to create simpler, less stressful holidays?

Again this year, there were a number of decorative items that I didn't even get out of the attic.  A few years ago I simplified Christmas decorating by putting favorite decorative items, including the tree skirt into one large plastic box and keeping it accessible through the year.  That means I can still make things look festive even if I don't have time right then to get to the attic.

I did decorate quite a bit less this year due to an attack of sciatica that began on December 7 and continued well into the new year.

We had four of our local grandchildren over for breakfast, candy making and a bit of crafting early in December.  We had put the tree up the night before; the boys added the lights that day and we all helped with decorating.  It was an enjoyable way of getting the tree decorated -- and, as I did a lot of wrapping ahead of time this year, I then placed the wrapped gifts under the tree as I went.

Again this year, we shipped to Nevada using Click'n'Ship, and got them out in plenty of time.   We also had Amazon gifts shipped directly to Nevada where our daughter wrapped and tagged them.  Everything arrived in time!

My hubby baked nearly every Christmas cookie that came out of our kitchen this year.   I made just one variety.  That was amazing and we felt prepared for every festive event or last-minute gift!

2.  What was the worst aspect of preparing for the holidays this year?  How can you avoid the problem in the future?

I think the most difficult aspect of preparing for the holidays this year was being  hindered by a lack of mobility.  I couldn't move as quickly or easily as I liked.  Not sure, really, how I could avoid that next year, but if it happens I'll go to the chiropractor and start the exercises right away.

3.  Were you satisfied with your level of giving and/or spiritual observances?  How could next year's holiday better reflect your family's values?

We'll probably need to be more economical with our gifts in the future, but I was very pleased with the gifts that we gave.  A fun thing that we did, which we won't necessarily repeat every year, was that when we took the grandkids to a favorite candy and Christmas shop for ice cream, we still needed gifts for three of them.  We paid attention to what they liked, then at a later time we went back secretly and bought those gifts.

From a spiritual standpoint, all was good.  It was a huge blessing to be meeting with another church (which we are planning to merge with in the spring).  We enjoyed a simple but beautiful Christmas program the Sunday before Christmas, and then a most meaningful Christmas communion the Sunday after Christmas.

4.  How well did your household function this year?  Were you calm and cozy, or stressed and strung out?  What improvements could be made next year?

In general, I felt calm and cozy.  My household functioned as well as it could, although I was prevented from doing much housework.  I could do laundry if someone else carried the baskets up and downstairs, and I could cook as long as I mostly stood in one spot.  I wrapped presents standing at a desk.  I didn't really stress about what I couldn't do (although my hubby would tell you I had some moments of feeling pretty useless), because there was really nothing I could do about it.

As far as what improvements could be made next year -- one thought is to maybe plan ahead to do one of those holiday plans that help you get your house ready for Christmas.

 5.  Honesty time!  How did your holidays go?  Did you experience the expectancy, the magic, the sparkle of the season?  If not, what changes could you make to recapture the joy?

In general, we had a joyous season.  We enjoyed some lovely events and family times.  In spite of feeling lame and sore, having to use a cane much of the time, I felt that things went really well.  I was even able to share Christmas joy with others by preparing granola, frozen lasagnas, and my hubby's Christmas cookie trays for a family with a houseful of holiday guests.  That was one of the biggest blessings of our season.

And it was a sort of Christmas miracle to be able to post every day in December in both of my blogs.  I hadn't done many pre-scheduled posts, so I was doing much of it on a day-to-day basis.  It was a challenge to do this while finding stairs difficult to manage, but God gave energy and ideas and it all worked out.

So there you have it -- all in all, a blessed Christmas season!

January 2022 Christmas Club meeting

 

So yesterday, we had our first Christmas Club meeting for 2022!  Susan, Carrie and I met at Carrie's home in her beautiful new space.  It was a low-key meeting but very encouraging and productive.  We talked about our Christmases, and Susan even has pictures from hers arranged in scrapbook layouts.  It looked like such a wonderful time!  I would not have thought of documenting this, but Susan even had a photo of her home that she and Jim took when they arrived home on Christmas night.  It had been snowing, and the lights of their lovely home just showed up so beautifully.  It was a great photo to end with.

Carrie and I had both noticed that Christmas felt very relaxed this year.  What a blessing that was!  

We discussed Christmas cards.  Susan wants to do a photo card for 2022 and Carrie was able to share some tips about when she starts working on their family's photo card.  I have already purchased Christmas cards for 2022.  I was using up odds and ends of cards from previous years in 2021 and actually used almost all of my stash.  So I found some nice ones from Christianbook.com at an after-Christmas sale.  Below is just one of the designs I purchased:

We enjoyed beverages and some refined sugar-free muffins I had made -- Cranberry Poppy Seed, with a crumble topping.  They turned out pretty well.  I'll post more about this later, but I'm thinking of trying a new muffin recipe every month in 2022 with the thought of finding a good one for Christmas kitchen gifts this year.

At the meeting I also took a few minutes to share the after-Christmas debriefing that I try to do every year. 

As I looked through my Christmas notebook, I found that apparently I never did do this debriefing exercise for 2020.  But no matter -- I've now done it for 2021!  I'll plan to write a separate post about this.  

In preparation for the Christmas Club meeting, I also took some time to update my Christmas notebook in the way I describe in this post.  It feels great to have that task accomplished.

2021 was an interesting and different Christmas season for me, due to being nearly immobilized with sciatica for most of it.  I am so thankful that God gave energy and even adaptive ways of doing things to be able to accomplish all that was necessary to do.

And that was pretty much our club meeting yesterday.  So fun that we could actually meet on Rudolph Day!

The actual 2021 candy list

 

Every year I publish a tentative list for cookies, one for kitchen gifts, and one for candy making.  If I think of it, I usually go back in January and do a reality check, noting how close I came to that tentative list.  Sometimes I end up making nearly everything on the list.  Other times, what we actually make varies wildly from the original list.  That's what happened with this year's candy list.

Of the candies on this list, we actually made only three varieties this year: Heavenly Delight, Holiday Special Fudge and the Chocolate Dipped Orange Slice candy.  Mr. T made at least 6 batches of Heavenly Delight!

Then we made some candies that weren't on the list: Salted Caramel Fudge -- aka Tasty Disaster Fudge (2 batches), -- Rocky Road Fudge, Creamsicle Fudge, and Candy Cane Fudge.  

I had placed Salted Caramel Fudge on a mental list, 

and Mr. T had Creamsicle Fudge on his mental list.

So as you see, our actual candy list for 2021 did indeed vary quite a bit from my original tentative list.  

 

This important info will now go into the Christmas notebook for next year!

January 2021 Christmas Club meeting!

 

So on Monday, January 25, we actually did something very appropriate for Rudolph Day -- we held our first Christmas Club meeting for 2021!  Three of us gathered at Susan's home for  a cup of tea and an hour or more of purposefully catching up on our Christmases and our plans for the coming year.  It surely did feel as if we were starting the New Year off right.  

We began by discussing how our Christmases had gone in 2020, especially considering that some things had to be different due to the virus.  We all felt that they went quite well.  Carrie felt good about keeping things more organized, and shared that her family did nearly all of their usual Christmas activities.  She had also asked the kids about any activities they might like to incorporate, and only one thing on their list did not happen.  Susan shared that their family time with their granddaughter was truly wonderful, at times actually feeling like a Hallmark movie as they shared memories and old family photos.  Wow!  It's hard to imagine much better than that.  As for Mr. T and myself, we felt that things were much as usual and we made some great memories with the local grands.

The one negative thing we all experienced in common was the unusually slow postal service.  Yes, we were warned about all that -- but for a package to take a week to get from the middle of New Hampshire to the lower end of it is slow indeed.  And then it still had to cross the country to its destination.  Though mailed in plenty of time, the gifts sent to Nevada were all late.  (Other than those sent directly from Amazon, which went through just fine! 😀)

We went over a list called "January Assignments" that I had saved from a previous year.  Most of this came from Organized Christmas originally, I think. 

 The first point -- tie up loose ends -- was mostly covered by our opening discussion of our Christmases.  In thinking about this, I know that both I and Carrie still have some Christmas things up in our houses, as we do decorate for winter.  In fact, at my house the tree is still up.  We did take the manger scene down and replaced it with a lighted log cabin.  I am also in the process of winnowing through a tote of Christmas and winter decor, and most of it is headed for the thrift store.

The second point concerns gift closets, and both Susan and I did go through ours this year.  I threw some things away and sent some to the thrift store.  I also found a couple of gifts in an area where gifts had previously been stored.  One went to the gift closet and the other to the thrift store.

 I do need to print and fill out a gift closet inventory form to really make the best use of this storage space.

The third point involves making a Rudy Day tote to have a way to stay ready to celebrate each month.  It's a lovely idea, but probably something none of us will make time to do.

The fourth point is a fun project: recycling Christmas cards.  We are going to do that at our February meeting, but I still have 2018's and 2019's cards, so hopefully I will turn a number of these into gift tags before that time.  The tags pictured below are from a previous year.

 Susan has placed a number of reminders on her phone for the various months, and for February 1 she has a note to herself regarding Valentine's Day: to plan, make, send Valentines or Valentine gifts, or to plan a special meal or activity for Valentine's Day.  

Susan likes to send Valentine cards and maybe gifts; Carrie usually makes a special meal or dessert for her family.  When my kids were in college (a long time ago now) I sent Valentine care packages.  Now that it's just Mr. T and myself, I might make a special meal or dessert, or we might go out.  We don't usually exchange Valentine cards or gifts, preferring to save the money we would have spent on these things and use it on getaways instead.

 Above you see my to-do list to accomplish before the next Christmas Club meeting.  It includes making gift tags from 2018's Christmas cards; printing out and filling in a gift closet inventory form; and going through cookbooks to identify new recipes to try for kitchen gifts.  (For example, I am planning to retire my bran muffin recipe as I just don't like it anymore, and so am looking for something different to replace it.) 

 We will see how well I do.  But it does feel great to have met for Christmas Club -- and on Rudolph Day, to boot!

And a few more tiny steps

 

 Today I realized that I really didn't have enough of the global mail stamps for Christmas cards I am likely to send internationally.  I quickly went to usps.com and ordered ten of these pretty poinsettia global stamps.  I really like that they are the Forever stamps and can be used indefinitely for international cards and letters.

I've done a few other things toward Christmas preparations.  My daughter gave me an idea for her 5-year old, so I've jotted that down on my tentative Christmas list.  This jogged my memory as to some ideas for other family members, so I have a few more spaces filled in on the list.  

A new grandchild is due in December, (in Nevada) so I've got another of the crocheted stockings to make for him/her.  That went on the list as well, of course.  I have made these in varying combinations of dark green, dark red, and cream, so I need to check out a photo that includes the existing stockings in order to decided what the color combo will be for this one.

I've ordered a couple of gifts from Shutterfly and also have a couple of gift books that I found on ThriftBooks.  As I've mentioned before, this is a fantastic source for used books -- new ones, too.

Although I've not made a formal "Kitchen Gifts" list yet, I have noted down some very specific ideas for individuals -- my Christmas granola for several people, and cinnamon pretzels for others. 

 I'm truly beginning to feel that Christmas is going to be very important this year, though we may be somewhat hindered in the way we celebrate.  I think (speaking for myself) that we're all hoping things will be back more toward normalcy by Christmas, but it seems unlikely, so planning ahead is going to be more important than ever.  Personally, I am guilty of letting the days slip by without much planning, but I'm getting on track now.  How about you?

File this one away!

Gorgeous winter graphic from (in)courage

Yes, this post by Jessica Turner at (in)courage: 6 Ways to Find Time for You During the Holidays is well worth filing away for December.    Put it somewhere where you'll be able to find it.  In fact,  it would even be worth printing out and adding to your Christmas notebook, and I will plan to do just that. 

Or maybe you have a file on your computer desktop for Christmas helps and ideas, or a Pinterest board for Christmas planning.  Mine is here: Christmas planning and preparation. 

Just put this post where you will find it easily in December.  I think that I am going to post this on my regular blog for December Daily, so that none of my readers will miss out.

Jessica's six basic points are these:

1.  Prioritize.

2.  Include you in your calendar.

3.  Plan for times of waiting.

4.  Don't overschedule yourself.

5.  Take care of your body.

6.  Give yourself grace.

But by all means, head on over to her (in)courage post and get the full benefit of Jessica's helpful advice. 

I'm currently working my way through Jessica Turner's book The Fringe Hours, and am finding commonsense advice there as well.

Not much accomplished

Well, it's the last day of April and I can't believe how little I have accomplished toward the goals I had hoped to have completed by now.  Recall, at January's Christmas Club meeting, Susan had had us make a list of things we knew we needed to do soon.  Below was my list:

The thought was that for February and March, we would each do Christmasy things on our own, but in April we would plan to get together for a meeting.   In the meantime, we were each to work on accomplishing the things we wrote down on our to-do lists.

Those plans were all well and good, but we never expected that March and April would be hijacked by a virus.  Obviously, we didn't get together in April, but hopefully maybe we can in May.

Of the 6 things on my list,  I've accomplished one of them: putting away the after-Christmas bargains.  I started working on updating (actually, creating) my Christmas card list, but haven't finished that task.

 I've had this sweet Mary Engelbreit Christmas notebook (purchased at a dollar store in Nevada) for many years and have utilized many of its features.  Not the Christmas card list, however; that's remained blank.  So this is what I'm using for my card list.

So I still have to:
🎄 Finish my Christmas card list
🎄  Order Christmas stamps for 2020's cards
🎄  Go through cookbooks and magazines to get ideas for kitchen gifts
🎄  Make gift tags from 2018's Christmas cards
🎄  Make a tentative Christmas gift idea list for 2020

I should make it a point to complete these tasks in May!

Another thing I'm pretty sure I haven't done is to make a nice, neat copy of last year's Christmas gift list to place in the back of my Christmas notebook.  So that needs to happen soon also.

I recently discovered, at the old homestead, another treasure trove of cards, most from the 1940s but some from the 1930s.  Oh, my.  I had thought that all of the greeting cards were out of the house already (although I have hundreds more to scan and list!), but these were in a box of old school papers I had labeled with the year and planned to go through later.  "Later" finally arrived, and I can't believe how many treasures were in that box.  Many from previous years to the date I had labeled it with.  Mostly Christmas cards, but some gorgeous old Valentines as well. 

At the top of the post is one example of the Christmas cards -- a "Gingham Girl" card by Norcross.  Isn't she adorable?  I have at least two of these cards in different designs, and will plan to write a post about them soon.  After that, they'll be going in the shop (link in sidebar).

I'm also planning to begin writing and scheduling posts for Christmas in July.  We'll see how far I get!  Meantime, it feels good to be here in the Christmas kitchen for a few minutes.  Hope you've enjoyed your visit!

After-Christmas debriefing

Every year after Christmas, I try to note down my thoughts about that year's season using the  Organized Christmas  After-Christmas debriefing form to help me evaluate how things went, what worked, what didn't, and what we might do differently in the coming year. This has been very helpful to me.  Wouldn't it be fun to snuggle into the cushion-filled rocker above and jot down your thoughts while sitting by a cozy fireplace and watching the snow fall outside?  I sure think so!

Here are my thoughts concerning Christmas 2019:

1.  What worked this holiday season?  What changes did you make to create simpler, less stressful holidays?

Again this year, there were a number of decorative items that I didn't even get out of the attic.  Another way I simplified Christmas decorating was to keep a box of things that I knew I wanted to use for decor this year, including the tree skirt, and to have it accessible through the year.  Those things were easy to find when the time came.  

I also decorated in stages, making sure things looked festive for a cookie swap early in the month.  We managed to get the tree up by then, with only lights, but it still looked nice.  Later, we added ornaments to the tree and other decor here and there.

Again this year, we shipped to Nevada using Click'n'Ship and carrier pickup.  This has worked so well in the past, but this year we did hit a glitch when for two days in a row the carrier did not pick up our packages.  We ended up taking them to the post office ourselves anyway.  We also had Amazon gifts shipped directly to Nevada where our daughter wrapped and tagged them.

2.  What was the worst aspect of preparing for the holidays this year?  How can you avoid the problem in the future?

Not planning carefully enough for several grandchildren's gifts.  I need to do a lot better planning next year.  I'm thinking we will also need to cut back on our spending due to Mr. T's retirement and being on more of a fixed income.  I'd like to make more of our gifts and probably do more kitchen gifts.

3.  Were you satisfied with your level of giving and/or spiritual observances?  How could next year's holiday better reflect your family's values?

As mentioned, I think we'll need to be more economical with our gifts in future, but I was very pleased with the gifts that we gave.

From a spiritual standpoint, all was good.  The cookie swap, though not hugely attended, was a lovely, low-key way for ladies to have a festive yet relaxed time together.  I asked each lady to bring a "sweet thought" in addition to her cookies -- a memory, Scripture verse, testimony, whatever.  To my surprise, all were of a spiritual nature.

We also had another church bless us with a Christmas musical performed by their children.  This added tremendously to our season.  All of our Christmas events at church ended up being scheduled earlier in the month than usual, and this turned out to be a great blessing.

4.  How well did your household function this year?  Were you calm and cozy, or stressed and strung out?  What improvements could be made next year?

In general, I felt calm and cozy.  I did have a few stressful moments when I realized I did not have enough time to start several planned gifts, never mind complete them and send them to Nevada.  But once I faced that, I could shift gears easily.

I will have to do a LOT more planning, a lot earlier, this year, as the Nevada family plans to come here for Christmas 2020.    (At least no shipping of gifts will be required!)  But I will need to figure out gifts, baking, meals and housing, etc.  Not to mention plane tickets.  Gulp!

5.  Honesty time!  How did your holidays go?  Did you experience the expectancy, the magic, the sparkle of the season?  If not, what changes could you make to recapture the joy?

In general, we had a joyous season.  We enjoyed some lovely events and family times.  I tried several new recipes, gave a few handmade gifts, enjoyed a traditional outing with four local grands.  We got to have a lovely festive meal and gifts with them and their parents on Christmas Day, and the same with our dear young friends Sam and Jenn and their boys the day after Christmas.  My hubby and I didn't have quite the time with one another that we'd hoped for, as his retirement got pushed off by a month.  I posted in my Christmas blog daily and in my regular blog 19 times -- a gift to me as well as my readers.  We managed to get out for a walk most days, too -- great stress relief and mental health booster!

So there you have it -- all in all, a blessed Christmas season!

January's Christmas Club meeting

So Tuesday night was our first Christmas Club meeting for 2020 at the local library.  (My lighted library above looks a lot like it, in my mind.)  Our Christmas club is informal and sporadic, but we have fun and it is truly helpful to those who attend. 

Susan, our intrepid leader, gave each of us a sheet of very special notebook paper to use for our to-do lists.  She then instructed us to write down the things that we knew we needed to do soon.  Would you believe I had to borrow a pen?  Thankfully, the library has plenty of them!

The thought is that for February and March, we will each do Christmasy things on our own, but in April we will plan to get together for a meeting.   In the meantime, we are to accomplish the things we wrote down on our to-do lists.

We took turns telling about how our Christmases had gone.  We were all so happy to hear that Christmas 2019 was much more joy-filled and happy for Rachel than 2018 had been, and a good bit of that had to do with planning more carefully and not expecting a Hallmark Christmas.  😉

On Monday, I had taken time to go through my annual Christmas debriefing based on this form:

and so I could easily tell how things had gone at our house.  And when Susan asked what didn't work so well, I could share that also.  I plan to post about the debriefing soon, so I won't go into detail now.

We spent the rest of the time preparing and displaying donated Christmas decor items for a Christmas decoration swap at the library.  A good and productive meeting!

And now, the actual 2019 candy and kitchen gifts lists

Once again, it's time for a reality check as to what I actually made for candy and kitchen gifts.  Here goes!

First, the candy list.  Below you see my actual list.

We only made about half of what I had listed.  Mr. T made several batches of Heavenly Delight, and I made a batch of Arlene's Easy Fudge and one of Special Holiday Fudge.  The other items didn't get made.  I bought the orange candy slices but ended up not using them.  We had some of the chocolate-dipped orange slices in the freezer from last year, and they were still delicious, so didn't need to make more.

Now, for the kitchen gifts list.

Again, this got tweaked in a major way.  I ran out of time to do the Christmas Jam, and I chose to make Chex Mix rather than Cinnamon Pretzels.  I ended up not doing the Hot Chocolate Mix until after Christmas.

I tried a different recipe for the Chex mix, thinking it might be more like the kind my great-aunt used to make for us.  I was underwhelmed with the result.  Next year I want to try a recipe that is spicy and incorporates beef jerky.  Think it might be a real hit with the people I give snack mixes to.  We will see.

It's great to plan, but I always like to also make good note of what worked and what didn't.  It really helps with planning for the next Christmas.

September's Rudolph Day

Suddenly it's September 25 -- Rudolph Day! 

I'm still trying to figure out where the year has gone, and September has flown by even more quickly than the previous 8 months.  It's crazy!  Still, here we are, and the few months remaining before Christmas must be used wisely. 

I'm planning to take my Christmas notebook along on an upcoming vacation, and will hope for some good planning time and for inspiration to strike. 

Some shopping has been done,  and I have the gifts for two grandchildren completely taken care of.  That helps a lot, but there are still quite a few to figure out. 

My Nevada daughter gave me the idea of making some felt food for the youngest grandchildren.  She mentioned that although there is plenty of felt food in their house, their youngest (soon to be 4) has no felt food of her own.  Which reminded me that my second youngest granddaughter (soon to be 5) has no felt food of her own either. 

So I'm going to do a few simple things, probably like these Felt Cinnamon Rolls ,

Crocheted Donuts,

and maybe some Christmas Cookies as well.

 All of these are very easy and are ones I've made before. 


When I went looking for some fresh ideas, I turned first to my Fun with Felt Pinterest board.

From there, I ended up at this new-to-me Etsy shop, Treehouse Patterns.  What amazing felt food patterns she has created!  These are downloadable pdf files, and I think they are very reasonably priced.  I bought 2, and am excited about making some of these felt goodies for my youngest granddaughters!

So, for our upcoming vacation, you can be sure some felt, thread, and patterns will be in my crafting bag.  Since I already have 1 other gift each purchased for these little ones, the felt food will finish off what's needed for their gifts.

I'm thinking that, other than some Shutterfly gifts already completed, and a few others planned, that the felt food will be the extent of my handmade gifts this year.  We will see!

How are you coming with your Christmas planning?  Are you making any handmade gifts?  Comment and let me know!