For the next few weeks, we will be featuring on “fixin” (yes that is a word) in our kitchens. As we put up the cookie cutters, sweep up the crumbs, we notice that our kitchen has really taken a beating. I am featuring potholders, bowl koozies and storage ideas. First off, have you ever used a bread bag? It absorbs moisture so your bread doesn’t sweat and get soggy. Besides it’s pretty. Happiest Camper’s How To Make A Reusable Bread Bag Tutorial will be our first project. The free PDF will be available Monday, January 9. Happy Sewing!
But first as we finish the Holiday season, my little elves and I would like to share what we did this year to celebrate. The head ELF, me, spent the week before Christmas finishing up shopping, cooking, and keeping home, shop and the BIG GUY, John, from imploding. With Karen and her family spending Christmas Eve and Day in NOLA, I stayed in north LA at our home in Choudrant (French for village without a stoplight). As I said last week in my weekly report, the Grands gathered to tell SANTA one last time what they want / expect for Christmas. Such a blast! I’ll let you know if all their dreams come true. This is my favorite activity with family, friends, children, and adults alike. We also went to Christmas Eve service. A time to reflect on the past year and have hope for Peace in the new year.
Laura, a lead elf, says: my family has had to adjust each year to things changing. So just getting to have my mom and siblings under one roof is what I look forward to most. I don't feel like we have that many traditions celebrating us as a family is what we are about rather than any particular event.
Joelle, our newest elf told me: My favorite "new" family tradition is that we celebrate Christmas at New Year. This makes it easier for my siblings and their kids, my parents, and me to all get together. It leads to a relaxed and enjoyable holiday since we aren't all rushing around trying to get to different houses and balancing various other extended family events. My other favorite holiday tradition is making my great grandmother's egg noodles for the meal. My nieces and nephews are ready to start helping this year. My sister-in-law's family shared their tamale tradition with us a few years ago. I am now in charge of the annual Tamalada. Such a gift to be trusted with passing down these family traditions to all my nieces and nephews.
Rachael, our SPRITE, says : Freya and I have started a tradition of hanging oven mitts with salty sayings on them that we think suit each other (Renly's for his very first Christmas with us says 'the secret ingredient is cat hair' 🤣) instead of stockings to fill with little gifts; I love it because it is something “new” we started together, as part of building our own holiday away from home, because traveling back at that time of year is always too complicated with our respective jobs and the full 24 hours of travel it takes to get to or from the island. And they are useful and get put into rotation in our kitchen, so we can enjoy them all year round! One of my favorite traditions back home were helping my mum hang all the ornaments on her tree and remembering the memories associated with them, because most of them are special in some way. She even still has my first baby ornament! Also, I always adore the annual cocktail party my aunt hosts on Christmas eve, with all the family getting gussied up and sharing a meal together around a big table in her beautifully decorated home.
Jill, a very special elf indeed says: Every year we would buy a live tree on Christmas Eve and "Santa" would decorate it while we slept. The tree would stay up until 12th night. My mom became a widow at 35 years old with 3 little girls, aged 6, 4, and 2. How she managed to decorate a tree, fill stockings, wrap presents from Santa and remember to take a bite out of the cookies for Santa is a miracle. She later told us that she would maybe get to bed at 2:00 AM. Then we would wake at daybreak, and she would let us open our stocking gifts while she got a little more sleep.
Karen, chief ELF, tells me: Her favorite tradition from our home is one that she continues for her kids. She gets up bright and early to make pigs in a blanket on Christmas morning. She was pescatarian for over a decade and I’m sure she missed this tasty tradition from childhood. She even remembers that she got in trouble one year for eating the whole tray!
This is the prefect lead into our featured recipe!!!
Pigs In A Blanket
Ingredients
- 1 (8-oz.) tube crescent rolls
- 1 12-oz. package mini cocktail weiners
- 4 tbsp. melted butter
- Coarse salt, for sprinkling
Directions
- Step 1Preheat oven to 375º. On a lightly floured surface, unroll crescent sheets and tear where perforated. Cut each triangle into 3 smaller triangles.
- Step 2Place one cocktail weiner on thick side of each triangle then gently roll to thinner side.
- Step 3Transfer to a medium baking sheet, brush with melted butter, and a sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Step 4Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
Hope you have enjoyed the Holiday season and we wish you hope, love, and prosperity in this new year.
Love,
Susan & Karen.