Christmas Dinner

I had LML's Family over for Christmas Dinner this year, yeah can we talk about how weird it was being THAT OLD!

The Buffet

I mean it seems like just yesterday that I was the one so excited to see what Santa brought myself and my siblings.  In fact, I can remember pouting one year when Dad made us wait to open all of our gifts until after Christmas Dinner at our house.

This year, LML had to make me open his gift before Christmas, because I just did not have time.  I was on a schedule and trying to get everything made for Christmas Dinner.  I do have to say that everything went beautifully, except for a minor mishap with spilling heavy cream in the fridge.  That resulted in a time out to clean out the entire fridge since I spilled it on the top shelf.  (OOPS!)

One of the Tables for Christmas Dinner

I had a wonderful Christmas and throughly enjoyed visiting with my family Christmas Eve and Christmas Night. I guess we are lucky that we live so close to both of our families because we are able to juggle them on holidays for the most part.  I do refuse to drive back and forth from one town to the next, but my family was up here Christmas Eve and Christmas Night for visiting my parents siblings at their Christmas parties.

The Dining Room Table

I could not have asked for a better Christmas.   I will try and post a few of my new awesome recipes that I made for Christmas over the next week .  I know that most of them are Gluten Free due to diet restrictions in LML's Family, but I would make them again for my family who eats bread likes it going out of style.  They were just that wonderful!

Christmas Decor, Part Two

Besides the Christmas Tree, which I leave up until the new year, I always love to decorate the mantels.  This year, I did a fresh greenery swag again on the big mantle in the den and used two china-berry garlands to sit on the formal living room mantle.

I will be back tomorrow with my Christmas Dinner set up!

It's Christmas Eve!

Now, imagine me saying that in a voice filled with the excitement of the little kid!  I always love Christmas Eve.  I love going to church, I love the beginning of singing carols in both my current church and the church I grew up attending.  (FYI, Most Episcopal or Catholic Churches do not sing carols until Christmas Eve...I should know since I grew up with the first and now am a member of the latter)

Since currently I am running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything together (at least I am predicting this!), I pre-wrote this post for all of you.

I decided that I would post one of my recipes for Christmas Dinner tomorrow.

I am extremely huge fan of Le Puy lentils (I think I have covered this already!), so I ordered myself some to serve on Christmas Day.

I found this recipe and it just sounds delicious!  (I am an guesstimator type of cook, so I do not mind the measurements in grams)

Warm Puy Lentil Salad with Baby Spinach and Goat's Cheese
This salad, with fresh leaves, creamy goat's cheese and fine-textured lentils, makes a substantial lunch, or halve the amounts and serve as a starter.

Preparation time :	10 minutes
Cooking time :	25 minutes
Total time :	35 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

200g pack Romano peppers
225g Waitrose Cooks' Ingredients Le Puy Green Lentils
4 tbsp Carapelli Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 tbsp Waitrose Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp English mustard
225g baby spinach
100g pack Capricorn Somerset Goat's Cheese, roughly chopped

Method

1. Preheat the grill to high. Place the whole peppers on a baking sheet and place under the grill. Cook until the skins are blackened, turning occasionally. To remove the skins easily, place the hot peppers in a clean plastic food bag and seal immediately until cool enough to handle. Remove and peel the skins. Cut off the tops, deseed and cut into bite-sized pieces. (I am skipping this step and using jarred sweet peppers since time is a premium on Christmas!)
2. Cook the lentils according to the pack instructions for about 15-20 minutes, until just tender. Drain, return to the pan and cover to keep warm. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for 4-5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and stir in the peppers.
3. Whisk together the remaining oil, vinegar, lemon juice and mustard and season well. Stir the onion and peppers into the lentils and pour the dressing over.
4. Arrange the spinach between 4 plates, spoon over the lentils and top each serving with a little goat's cheese. Serve immediately.

Link Love to A great Christmas Post

Since today, tomorrow and Christmas are so busy, I wrote a few posts to tide you over until I shall return.

This link is a very sweet and timely link to Queen Bee Swain who covers the true meaning behind the twelve days of Christmas song!  I Hope everyone is have a wonderful Christmas Holiday and now I must return to my kitchen!
I have recipes to finish!

Sewing Sundays

I know this is a Wednesday and not a Sunday.  I do have a calendar ya'll!  Unfortunately, I failed to make two sewing Sundays in a row, and this project is a super special Christmas Sewing Project that would not make any sense at all after Christmas!

I made my sister- and brother-in-law an advent calendar!  I am not going to pretend that I am perfect, but I do think this a cute and personal gift that almost anyone would like!

Materials Needed:
1.5 Yards Base fabric (I used a cheap muslin)
1.5 Yards Fusible fleece (go ahead and cut it at the fold so that it is the width of the base fabric when folded in half)
1/2 yard each of two coordinating festive fabrics to make the pockets, numbers and letters
Plenty of coordinating thread for the festive fabrics
A WHOLE LOT of straight pins
Print out of the numbers in a font you like and make sure that they are big enough
36-40 inches of cording, ribbon or rope to make hanger
1 Dowel rod
Hot Glue Gun
(I used a ruler to ensure that I evenly spaced them, so I would recommend this unless you have a great eye)

1.Wash and dry all fabric.  (Believe me do not ever skip this step!)  Then press with an iron all fabric to remove wrinkles.  

2. Fold the base fabric (in may case cheap muslin) so that the selvedges meet.  Crease the fabric with an iron. Here is where you have a choice to make you can either be a cheater like I am sometimes and not cut your fabric apart and just use the crease and skip the next step (go to step 4).  I was not on this project but believe me I do not judge.

3. Cut the fabric along the crease.  

4.  Put right sides together so that both wrong sides are facing out.  I take the time to pin it in a few places.

5.  Adhere the fusible fleece to one of the wrong sides according to the directions provided by manufacturer.  

6. Follow the directions here to do a French seam on one long side only.   (or if you already know, do it!) - Believe me you are going to want less product to sew through when attaching the pockets in a bit.  

7. Cut out 10 pieces out of the festive fabric of 17 inches wide by  5 inches long.

8. Cut out 5 pieces from the fusible fleece that are 16 inches wide by 4 inches long.

9. Again follow manufacturer's direction to attach the fusible fleece to one of the wrong sides leaving more fabric at the top that is not attached to the fleece.  

10. Put together two wrong sides of the festive fabric and sew a French seam on ONLY THREE SIDES!

11.  Repeat with the remainder of the cut out pieces.  

12.  Put this fabric right side out and press smooth.  Then fold down the excess of the fabric to the back and press.  

13. Sew a decorative stitch about 1/4" inch down from the top all the way across the fabric lengthwise.  This seals up the pieces.  (At this point, I usually divide up the piece into 5 equally sized pockets and baste a stitch or two for my reference.) Do this for all five long pieces.

I pinned the numbers into the fabric to keep them from shifting while I was cutting.  

14.  I then took the second festive fabric and cut out the numbers using the template I had cut out onto card stock.  If you do not have card stock, you can just trace the pattern out that was cut out of regular paper.  (Note: If you want to speed things up, cut out little squares and stack them so that all of the fabric faces the same direction.  I did not take this step and got a few numbers that were cut out in the wrong direction...oops!)

Do you see my little helper?

15. Pin the numbers within the corresponding sections on each long piece.  

16.  Sew the numbers to the long piece of the fabric using an applique technique.  (Here is a tutorial!)

The settings I used!

Some finished long pieces

17. After all numbers have been attached, lay out the base fabric with the side not attached to fleece's right side facing up.  You are now going to pin the long pieces to the base fabric.  (Take care to not pin through the fleece.)  As you can see, I spaced my long pieces about 2 1/2 inches apart, but you can play with it to match your own personal aesthetic.  

18.  Now you are going to applique all long pieces to the panel on three sides. 

19.  After all long pieces are attached, you go back and put a decorative stitch between each number at the mark where you basted a stitch or two.  This separates and defines the pockets.  

18.  At this point, you are going to put wrong sides together and sew a French seam on the bottom and the other long side.  This leaves the top open. 

19.  Turn the calendar right side out.  Now you have a choice, where this can be the end of your sewing, or you can add their name to the top like I did for mine.  

20.  I cut the name out of the same fabric as the numbers and then appliquéd it to all layers since when I tried it with one layer, it bunched up.  

21.  Once you are done, take a dowel rod that is 1 inch longer that you calendar is wide and fold the excess fabric at the top over it.  Pin it so that you you have just a smidgen

22.  Make sure that the rod pokes out about 1/2 inch on each side of the calendar.  Using a braided cord, rope or even ribbon, you are going to make the hanger.  Start on one end with a hot glue gun and draw a bead over about 1/2 inch length of the rod.  Wrap the rod with the rope, braid or ribbon. 

23.  Figure out how much you want the calendar to hang down and leave enough slack and then repeat the hot glue and the wrapping of the other end of the dowel rod.  

You now have a advent calendar that you can fill with presents or as I did with cards saying verses for each day.  This can start a wonderful tradition in your own family or make a perfect gift for you friends and family.  Just be warned, this can be slightly time consuming!

Christmas Decor Part 1

The silver is now polished and I have made a few deliveries of presents and only a few left for tomorrow.  My groceries have been bought and now it is time for me to start setting the tables for eleven people!

Here are few glimpses at my tree! Enjoy and have a wonderful day!

I got this ornament this year at the Pottery Barn Outlet in Memphis.  It is so delicate and see-through!  

This ball was bought on sale by Hubby...I do love some silver

My Christmas Tree this year...I love me some real tree!

Tis' The Season

I cannot believe that Christmas is upon us so quickly!  It seems that December has flown by me and now I a three days away from the beginning of my Christmas Festivities!

I am really excited about my tree, but I left my photo card at home, so the picture will have to wait till tomorrow.  I also will be putting up a sewing Sunday post on Weds (since I missed two weeks!).

I also cannot wait until we have our first official holiday celebration at the house.

Top Ten Things I am looking forward to over the next week:
10. Seeing all of my friends from High School who are back this way during the holidays.
9. Getting two days off of work this week!
8. Finishing up my Christmas Decorations (i.e. swag for mantle that I need to make in the early AM tomorrow)
7. Eating Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning (no Christmas morning is complete without breaking out a pan of the family recipe)
6. Delivering my cinnamon rolls to all my family and friends over the next two days
5. Beginning cooking for Christmas dinner tomorrow!
4. Making Chex Mix for LML's co-workers tonight
3. Polishing the silver tonight (I know I am one weird Chick!  I love polishing silver, especially near Christmas.  I blame my father and our annual silver polishing nights near Christmas every single year!  I remember it as one night where all five of us were in the same house with nothing to do but remain in the same room together as we worked as a team.  Can you tell my family was always running in every which a way?)
2. Giving the carefully chosen gifts to all of my friends and family (I love giving other people special gifts...in fact, I have already given two friends their gifts...It gives me a feeling of euphoria)
1.  Sharing Christmas with my family


What are your favorite things about Christmas?

Christmas Centerpieces

Source: Country Living

As I have stated previously, I am hosting Christmas dinner for the first time. I am so excited about my menu.  Now I need to figure out what to do for centerpieces.  I love the following options, but I think I am going to do a simple greenery down the center table.  This is the easy option since A. I can get the greenery for free from my parents property and B.  I do not have the right size or type containers to achieve the looks I love.

Source: Better Homes and Garderns

Source: Country Living

Source: Simon Pearce

How great are those trees?  I think that they would make an excellent addition to Christmas tree.  I might have to add these to future wish lists.

Gifts for THAT PERSON

Everyone has "THAT PERSON" on their gift list.  You know the one person who you can never figure out what to give them.  I have to say that I am pretty good at picking out gifts for people, but I have one person that their personality makes it hard for me to get into their head.
Here are a few ideas for that impossible person:

1.) Board Games or Games in general - These are great especially if their are people willing to play with them on the day they get it.  I highly recommend the following games:

Source: www.boardgames.com

LCR is a fun and easy game that anyone can play.  

Source: www.boardgames.com

Apples to Apples leads to hours of fun at any gathering.

Source: www.boardgames.com

Phase 10 is one of my favorite card games.  In fact, I have a deck that I putting in LML's stocking this year!  (Shhh! Do not tell him!)  This game is easy to understand once you have read the instruction card included in the deck.

2. Coffee - If the person you need to get a gift for is a coffee drinker, find some samples of gourmet blends of coffee.  This always makes for a terrific yet easy gift for most people.

3. Gift Certificate to a new restaurant in their town.  Everyone likes an opportunity to try something new, especially a new place to eat.  

4. Itunes gift card - While both option 3 and 4 are not my favorite because it does let the recipient know how much you spent on them, sometimes you have to resort to a stand-by gift.

5. Gourmet gift bag - Sometimes our local grocery store will have a special on cheese (DO NOT buy the cheese cubes, I am talking the special cheeses such as gouda, goat cheese, brie, etc.) and I love to pair a good cheese with some water table crackers and a bottle of inepensive wine.  This makes for a fun gift for the recipient.  (Note: Make sure that the recipient drinks wine before gifting them a bottle.)

6.  If you need to spend some money on the recipient (i.e. they are your brother-in-law or something), I highly recommend Omaha Steaks.  Who does not enjoy a good steak dinner?  You can even pick out side items and dessert.  

Another Christmas Dish has been decided

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions for what to eat on Christmas Dinner.  I have finally cemented my decision to go with Beef Tenderloin.  I am going to my local Winn*Dixie (They do live up to their reputation as the beef people) to talk to the butcher this week.  If he can get me what I want, I would prefer to order it locally.  If not, I shall be purchasing it to be delivered to my house.

In other news regarding the Christmas menu,  I have decided to splurge on purchase my favorite lentils.  I know most of you think, crazy girl is there a difference in lentils.  Believe me when I tell you this, Le Puy Lentils are superior to any other lentils.  They have the perfect texture when properly cooked (Not too soft or firm, the elusive middle ground is easy to achieve with these lentils).  I should also mention that they have a soft spot in my memory due to my trip to Le Puy en Velay, France during high school.  I love these lentils and if I had realized that not all lentils are created equally, I probably would have brought back 50 lbs of these instead of 2.  I have only had them once since high school at some fancy restaurant, where my dish was selected on the basis of eating them.  They have never disappointed.  (End Tangent)
I am planning on making a warm lentil salad with goat cheese for our salad.  Then desert is going to be a bread pudding.  I do not think I have mentioned this, but the majority of my guests are either have celiac's disease or gluten-intolerant.  Therefor, this Christmas will be gluten free.  Some of you are wondering how I plan on making a gluten free bread pudding, well I am using a bread machine and a mix.  I have tried this mix in my machine previously and it was good.  Great texture which is important to me.

Now I need to find something green to serve with dinner, probably assign this to sister in law.

What are you planning for Christmas dinner?

Christmas Shopping

I do my grandmother's shopping for the family now for almost any occassion.  This year I managed to complete all my shopping all from the sofa while recovering from surgery.  I actually love purchasing certain family members gifts this way every year, no matter how I feel.  This is due to the ease of shipping with online retailers, especially ones that ship for free.


I wanted to share with you the two adorable gifts I found for my first cousin's little boys (3 and 5).  I knew from spending the afternoon with them in the spring that they ADORE tractors, trucks and such things.

It made it easy to decide that I wanted to get them something along those lines.  I also wanted to make sure that I got quality products (i.e. would not break on Christmas Day) since these are boys.

I had heard rumors of a quality german company that did such type of toys, lo and behold I found them.  I chose the following two trucks for them from my grandmother.

How cute is this truck that carries horses?  I should probably tell you that the visit to my grandmothers often leads to visits with horses for the boys.

This cement mixer is just adorable and I think that they can even send water down the chute.  How cool is that?

If I can say so myself, I think that these would make adorable gift for almost any little boy.