snow white

 I had a fairly brilliant idea a few weeks ago.  Someone had once gifted me a Martha Stewart cookie cookbook, and I remembered her bombshell recipe:  one base dough + many varieties of flavorings = a wide selection of different cookies with little effort.  

We're definitely Christmas crazy here.  We've got the tree, the lights, the garlands, the decorations.  Every morning, we have a Christmas music extravaganza while we wake up and move through the daily routine.  We open Advent gifts.  At night, we watch a Christmas movie and do a Christmas reading (since I didn't want to pull a bunch of disjointed selections from the Internet, I decided to use my Little House books.  They celebrate Christmas in each one and they're pure and joyful).  I even simmered oranges and cinnamon in the crock pot for the "Christmas smells."  But what about taste?

There are so, so many things that I'd like to bake for Christmas, but a family of two does NOT need a ton of sweets sitting around.  I love the idea of daily Christmas cookies, though, so I took a base recipe from the Internet, halved it, and winged it.   One dough, split into 6 portions, flavored, and split again.

Daily Christmas cookies for us to eat and enjoy during our nightly Christmas movie...just one cookie each.  No guilt, no regret, and no sugar hangover in the morning.  

I took the 6 portions of the base dough and flavored each differently:  peanut butter chocolate chip, cranberry pecan, chocolate with chocolate chips, pumpkin spice, orange chocolate, and plain chocolate chip.  I split the portions in half so each of us would have a cookie, rolled and wrapped them, and stored in the fridge.  Every night I pull out a different pair, bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees, and enjoy!

It feels like Christmas inside, but outside, not so much.  We still haven't had snow to speak of.  We had about 3/4" one day, and it was gone the next.  But that one day was glorious!

I got to search out animal tracks in the snow, like these little bird tracks:

Deer:

Coyote?

And, um...cat.

I love seeing our neighbor's bright red barns through the trees when it snows.  They're completely hidden in the summer.

I love the summer/winter contrast, like the front garden...from June and December.

You can see that I left several tall stalks standing.  These are for the birds, and "winter interest."  

These almost look like cotton with the snow!

And so...many...birds.

Even without snow, our heavy frosts make beautiful morning pictures:

We're still hoping for a white Christmas, though.  

Have a great holiday season, whether you're gathering around the tree with a group...

...or spending some quiet time alone.  Here's to a great 2021!  It's got to be better than 2020, right?

Enjoy!

dozing by the dozer...

I think I'm enjoying this year's Advent calendar even more than Todd!  I couldn't wait for him to open these new Star Wars snowflakes that I made for one recent Advent gift:  the Rancor, the Wampa, and R2-D2.

This rounds out our "collection" nicely!

I'm a total sucker for December.  I love when it's sunny, because the skies are so gorgeous!

The trees and sky reflected in the pond...

When it's sunny, the horses are out...

...and we're out, too, taking a little jaunt around the property.

Of course, we've usually got company.

Claudia hunts more on sunny days, I've noticed.  I can see her working the fields from my office window.

A few moments, later, I usually hear a yowling from the front porch.  She's sharing her bounty...and that's the Christmas spirit, isn't it?

Sunny days are great...but to be honest, I prefer overcast winter days.  I turn on all the Christmas lights, and leave them on.  Sometimes we have a fire (and ALWAYS a cat)...

...and it's so cozy in contrast to the grey outdoors. I love seeing all of our beloved ornaments illuminated.  They all have some sort of meaning.  Animals that we've had a special connection to, like Pepito and Pepita from South Carolina...

One of our old cats, Clotilde...

...and various milestones, such as a new house.

I didn't want 2020's ornament to bring up memories of a less-than-stellar year, so I decided to make a felt bulldozer, to remind us of all that we've accomplished in rehabbing this property.  We've definitely had a few bulldozers around!

Hmmm...maybe I should've made the ornament orange and white?

I also love seeing beloved ornaments from my childhood, and favorite ornaments that I've made, like this felt wool coat from the 1940s with teeny attached gloves...

...and the large Scandinavian mitten ornament that I cross-stitched a few years ago.

No matter what kind of weather we're having, the sunrises are amazing.  I have the perfect view from my office window, and they're always different.

I look forward to it every morning.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the lights right now, even if you're stuck at home.

Have a great week!