These Are A Few,...

I cut a fresh bouquet of cedar, red maple branches and pyracanthus berries.






This little Santa is about 2 inches tall. He may be nearly 100 years old. He came from Denmark and his beard and hair are real mink. I adore it.








































It snowed yesterday.






















These are some of my favorite ornaments. The little nativity scene is old and actually has more parts than is traditional. There were more than 3 kings and they didn't come until much later, but I digress.
We baked today. I made Noble Pigs ginger cookies they are divine. We also made the port balls and they are very subtle and smooth not like my stouter version of brandy or rum. Piglet is back to sewing and whipped up a loaf of banana bread.

See the little mouse in half a walnut shell? "He's so cute!

We also made these almond tortes. They are extremely easy and so fine. They taste like almond heaven. Notice please I found something dirty in the house, the oven needs cleaning. "Mr. Hunny Do?"















Recipe for Almond Torte. makes one.
3/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 tsps real almond extract.

Stir together all ingredients, line pie plate or iron skillet with foil sprinkle with sugar. apply batter and gently spread. Top with generous portion of slivered almonds and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 30 to 40 mins until light golden brown and slightly puffed. This makes a lovely gift.

My Bourbon Balls

8 oz semi sweet chocolate melted. 60 pulverized vanilla wafers, 1 cup chopped pecans, 2/3 c sugar, 1/2 c bourbon, rum, brandy, or port, CHOOSE ONE!
1/4 c light Karo. Mix all together. shape into little one inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Best if left to age a bit.




Almost forgot about the slippers. They are my last pair. Grandma knitted us slippers almost every year until her arthritis got to bad. She made a lot of things and used very unique color combination's. She never wasted any yarn. I learned to crochet but for the life of me the knitting does not come easy. I really wish I knew how to make these. And mustard plasters. Who makes candles? does anyone make soy based scented candles? I think it would be fun to try. Ummm yes I'm almost off of the steroids. I'll be more coherent soon, and much less productive. Hope we get the oven cleaned first.

So what's going on at your house?