It's Arrived!

Snow! yes, snow. The first of the season. About 6 inches.

We were lucky enough to have a green Christmas. Great for all the holiday travellers.
I know you are shocked at that statement , but after 63 years of white stuff; the longer we go with out snow , the happier I am .
Yes,
it is pretty , yes, it is a warm blanket for the gardens.
I Know I live in Canada! Yes, it is great for skiing, snowmobiling, tobogganing and skating , can't forget hockey, let alone ice fishing.
Been there, done that, well maybe not the skiing or the ice fishing.
Know all that; but oh how I hate cleaning off the sidewalks , the driveway, wearing boots and hats and mitts, and don't get me started on driving in it!
Still it is pretty especially when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. How lovely the sparkle.
Yes, the first snow has arrived and it is pretty!

LRW Challenge # 8

Little Red Wagon's challenge this past Wednesday was a "man" card.
Found a cute black and white clipart and created this little boy card using chalks to colour added some brads and the hardest part finding a saying to use.

Lots of!

Christmas Day 2009.
The table was set . Turkey in the oven.

Family arrived.





The presents unwrapped.

The Yule Log and Trifle eaten.


Our version of Pictonary played.


Lots of food.
Lots of drinks.
Lots of gifts.
Lots of chatter.
Lots of laughs.
Lots of fun.

Tis the season!

Wishing all my family and my blogger family a Merry Christmas.
This blog will be quiet until after the holiday season.

Olympic Torch Run

So looking forward to the Olympic games taking place here in Canada.The Vancouver 2010 Olympic torch run was passing thru a small village Courtland;close to our home, could not miss seeing it.
Bright blue sky , mild temperatures today ,great weather for the run.
Lead vehicle;

Coke had to be there!

RBC as well;
Finally the torch runner;
Canadian flags were waving, children were so excited to see the torch, clapping and cheers as well.

Great turnout for this small community!

Wonder how many Golds Canada will get in 2010!

Gingerbread

Christmas trees, big stars, little stars, bells, angels gingerbread boys..Oh my!

All iced and decorated.

Iced Fruitcake

I like fruitcake , know a lot of people don't. My personal opinion is, they haven't tried a homemade cake maybe only commerical cakes which are horrible.
My Mother makes superb fruitcake, 2 different kinds ;a light fruit filled cake and one filled with many nuts more like a nut cake.
I was lucky to still have a small round of the white fruitcake in my freezer ;took it out about a month ago; re soaking it in rum. One thing I have always wanted to try is decorating fruitcake with marzipan and royal icing..no time like the present! Another bucket list item checked off.
So today I rolled out marzipan then covered the cake over that spread royal icing.
Leftover marzipan I tinted and turned into holly and berries to finish the top.
Next time I would like to get the royal icing smoother, perhaps make the marzipan from scratch.. still I am looking forward to trying this decorated cake over the holidays.

More baking!

Party shortbread.
Son-in-law Willie's Mom shared this very old Mennonite recipe , in my opinion the very best shortbread ever...Christmas would not be Christmas without these delicious cookies.
1/2 lb. butter
1/2 cup sifted icing sugar
2 cups sifted flour, less 2 TB.
2 TB. cornstarch
Replace 2 TB. flour with 2 TB. cornstarch.Cream butter , add sugar gradually and blend in flour with hands( may need a bit more flour . Roll into cylinders and chill. Once very cold, cut into 1/3 inch thick slices. Place on buttered cookie sheets( I used parchment paper). Bake at 30 for 15-20 min. Watch like a hawk , don't brown. My cookies took 16 minutes in my oven.
Almond Icing;
4 TB. soft butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
pinch of salt
1-2 TB. milk or cream
1 tsp. almond extract or whatever flavouring you prefer.

Decorate with whatever sprinkles you like or not.

This cookie tastes even better after several days as the flavour mellows.

Sewing Challenge at LRW.

Here is my attempt at this weeks challenge which is sewing on a card...

Peanut Brittle

2 pounds of peanut brittle made, ready for Christmas Day!
This favourite candy is so easy. The 2 batches done in 20 minutes following a microwave recipe .
I have put this treat into a canister and I am hiding it ; out of sight out of mind , otherwise it would be gone by Christmas Day.
Here is the link to the recipe I used.If you make this recipe adjust the times for the wattage of your microwave.
Using a 1200 watt microwave I decreased the time to 4 minutes for 1st cook, 2 minutes for second.
I only make this treat at Christmas.
Do you have a special candy you
only make at Christmas?

Busy

Aren't we all busy at this time of the year....

Traditional Christmas accents.

Even tho I am leaning to a more modern colour scheme in my Christmas Decorating. There are some traditional pieces that have to be put up.
Here are a few.