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lunadelcorvoYes, I missed the last few days of my Advent Calendar. Part of that was due to actual, real-life stuff - baking cookies, wrapping presents, cleaning the house for company, all that wonderful holiday stuff I really love.
This year, I made a really fantastic fruitcake, inspired by the one made by my hubby's great-grandmother. I have always loved her fruitcake, but the last couple years, due to declining health, she hasn't been making them (she's 103, so it's quite understandable!). She gave her recipe to my husband, who stuck it in a book for safekeeping and (you know where this is going, right?) So, I've been fiddling with recipes trying to find one that will yields a result as good as hers. I'll admit, I'm not *quite* there yet, but I think, with a few adjustments, this recipe will do it.
Christmas Day we had the family in for brunch at the house, for the second year running, and it was an unqualified success! We had eggs, potatoes with red pepper & onion, veggie breakfast sausage and bacon, fresh orange juice, biscuits, eggnog, coffee, and of course, fruitcake.
After brunch came the gift frenzy! My son was quite buried! I think he must have gotten at least 20 packages! Hubby cleaned up in the clothes department (about all one can buy for him) though I also got him a portable hard drive, a blank up-cycled journal of Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil, and a rollerball pen that fills from an ink bottle, like a fountain pen without the nib fussiness. (I've been trying to give him a pen he will actually use for years now, this was my last ditch effort! We'll see if it takes!)
I scored some good hits with the in-laws, I think. Of course the real prize for them was the MacBook hubby got for Dad! I just hope he uses it!
Yesterday evening we all snuggled up to watch A Christmas Carol (the Patrick Stewart version) and enjoy a quiet evening. Today it's been dishes and clean up, with a few errands, but overall blissfully little to do!
This year, I made a really fantastic fruitcake, inspired by the one made by my hubby's great-grandmother. I have always loved her fruitcake, but the last couple years, due to declining health, she hasn't been making them (she's 103, so it's quite understandable!). She gave her recipe to my husband, who stuck it in a book for safekeeping and (you know where this is going, right?) So, I've been fiddling with recipes trying to find one that will yields a result as good as hers. I'll admit, I'm not *quite* there yet, but I think, with a few adjustments, this recipe will do it.
Christmas Day we had the family in for brunch at the house, for the second year running, and it was an unqualified success! We had eggs, potatoes with red pepper & onion, veggie breakfast sausage and bacon, fresh orange juice, biscuits, eggnog, coffee, and of course, fruitcake.
After brunch came the gift frenzy! My son was quite buried! I think he must have gotten at least 20 packages! Hubby cleaned up in the clothes department (about all one can buy for him) though I also got him a portable hard drive, a blank up-cycled journal of Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil, and a rollerball pen that fills from an ink bottle, like a fountain pen without the nib fussiness. (I've been trying to give him a pen he will actually use for years now, this was my last ditch effort! We'll see if it takes!)
I scored some good hits with the in-laws, I think. Of course the real prize for them was the MacBook hubby got for Dad! I just hope he uses it!
Yesterday evening we all snuggled up to watch A Christmas Carol (the Patrick Stewart version) and enjoy a quiet evening. Today it's been dishes and clean up, with a few errands, but overall blissfully little to do!
