Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas... Yesterday evening, the baking was about halfway done when Larry decided he needed to take a picture of me. Since I hadn't brushed my hair and was a right mess, I wouldn't look at the camera! Here I am looking at the next recipe, one for orange-chocolate spritz cookies. (They are delicious, but I certainly need a lot more practice with the cookie press to make them look decent. You can see a little of them in the photo below.)

Tommy was camera-shy too when I tried to take his photo.
I caught him laughing anyway!

Some of the finished products--these are cherry-nut wreaths. I'd never made them before and they came out beautifully, I think.

Santas handcarved by the late Lance Powers of Elkview, WV watch over a plate of black walnut cookies. This was also a first-time recipe, and it's a keeper for sure--crunchy, spicy cookies with that good black walnut flavor.

Christmas morning--Larry gets the fire going early.

For me fruit is a big part of the holidays--tangerines and navel oranges especially.

Pine scents the house.

Otis and Jeb want in! These good boys were in the house all night and never bothered the cookies and pies on the table. Good dogs--or do they just know that if they touched anything they'd never be allowed in the house again?

I made this wall-hanging in 1977 from fabric scraps. The little tree is stuffed with pantyhose because I didn't have anything else on hand to use.

I don't have any photos of gift-opening or dinner at Derek's because I was kind of busy! I've noticed that to be a good photographer, you must be disengaged from whatever is going on--it's difficult to be part of it and also taking the pictures to record it. Take it from me, we had a great time! My gifts from my husband? A BIG cast iron skillet and a roll of duct tape. Don't laugh! I've been craving a bigger skillet, and had looked at this one but not bought it. And duct tape? I always keep a roll in my car, but had not yet bought one for this car. Any woman reader who lives in the country knows the value of both of these gifts! Not cute and sexy, but great choices for a woman who doesn't want cute and sexy things.

As for dinner, the turkey was perfect, the veggie and cheese trays Derek made were excellent, the gravy was smooth and the eggnog superb.

I hope each of you had a day as restful and fun as mine. To all of you, here is one last wish for the best of the holidays ahead.