Christmas Prep

I may not knit for Christmas but I do plenty of other things to get ready for the holiday. There’s wrapping and baking and cooking. Some of that’s done and some it still left to be done.

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The wrapping is done. Yes, I make my own bows. So what.


The baking is partly done. Wednesday I made Polish Tea Cakes, Peanut Butter Balls and Dropped Sugar Cookies. Today I’ll be making Chocolate Crackles (thanks to Kim and Cindy), Gingerbread Men (thanks to Minty Fresh), Spritz and fudge. Someone at work the other day observed that a Gingerbread Man is her idea of a perfect man. I think she’s got a point there.

The cooking is barely started. I’ve made the Chex Party Mix but there’s a lot left to be done. I’ve got to make Swedish meatballs and baked beans and deviled eggs and finger sandwiches and more for Christmas Eve. I don’t vary the menu much from year to year because if I change it people get upset that their favorite thing isn’t there. So, I’ve learned to pretty much leave it alone.

Christmas dinner will be a prime rib, oven roasted potatoes and some sort of vegetables. The meat is ordered and let’s face it, it doesn’t get much easier than “meat in a pan” so there’s not much to stress about over that. I should have help from various sisters-in-law with the side dishes so it will be a very simple meal.

And that’s that. How are your Christmas preparations going?

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This Post Has 43 Comments

  1. All presents wrapped. All gifts knitted. Baking to be done tonight. Then finished. Don’t we all seem to be on the ball this year!!MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND HAPPY COOKING!

  2. You’ve got it all together! I have yet to bake a pumpkin pie, 2 batches of double chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin bread and a fruit cake. We’re having prime rib for the first time for Christmas dinner. It’s been ordered. (How do you cook yours?) Gifts are wrapped. The house cleaning continues.

  4. Carole, link back to the recipe you posted for your Polish Tea Cakes! They are winners, people!! I’ve already made two batches this year. Mmmm.
    I’m all done and we’re leaving for the holiday, so no dinner planning necessary this year. I am considering a batch of gingerbread cookies later today, but no pressure since they’re not *expected*.

  6. Christmas prep? Now I really wish we were closer…you share the cookies, right?
    Actually, we are filling the cupboards with good food so we can hunker down for a few days and just relax.

  7. You really do it up – I can’t wait til next year when I have more time and can do the fun stuff again. This year I’m freeloading and not doing a thing, apart from some gift buying and wrapping of course. But I do miss the baking.

  8. 3-5lb batches of fudge (tonight!), p.butter cookies (Saturday a.m.), chocolate pie (Sunday am.) and wrap some presents (tonight) and finish one knit hat (tomorrow night). I think i am doing ok… I cut back on so much of my “usual” holiday stuff.

    A happy and merry to you and yours!
    🙂 Kate

  10. YYUUUMMMMM!!! Shall I send you my address? Looks delicious! I still have some cookies to bake on Saturday and doggie biscuits to whip out for the pups in the family!

  13. Are your peanut butter balls made with rice krispies?

    My holiday prep has been bare-bones as of yet, but I have big hopes for this weekend 🙂

  14. hehehe I always get a chuckle from your commenters. Who is this Norma who keeps showing up and saying funny things? heh

    I think maybe this year I’ll come to your house. I wanted a roast but we’re going my MILs for turkey.

  15. I finally regained my sanity and dropped the most labor-intensive cookies from the line-up, so the cookie/candy making is done. Still to make a pie, a noodle kugel, gingerbread, and clean the house in preparation for dinner for 16 on Christmas day.

    My biggest job, of course, is the Christmas Eve marathon of wrapping and assembly for the kids’ stuff from Santa. No getting ahead of the game on that!

    At least I managed to get my husband out of the house to get a new Christmas outfit after wearing the same 20 year old cardigan sweater (it was his grandpa’s!) every year. Time to freshen the wardrobe, hon.

  17. Yum, your cookies look great. I’ve been making Polish Tea Cakes for years (but my recipe doesn’t use the jam on top). It’s another Polish thing we used to tease my grandmother about – you know. the Polish Tea Cakes that are actually cookies that you have with coffee!!! 🙂

  18. Your preparations sound much like mine. I do a big Christmas eve partry every year here and like you, I don’t vary the menu very much. My kids like to call it tradition, especially the home made eggnog. 🙂

    Nice bows, baby 🙂

  21. aside from the baking i’m woefully behind. i’m getting my hair cut and colored sat. a.m., then will make a last minute run to the market, then home to wrap presents and more presents (assuming i can remember where i hid them all) :o)

  22. Wow-you have shamed me! Look at all the work you’ve done! I get a ‘get out of jail free’ card for this holiday. But next Christmas- NO MERCY!

  23. I didn’t get any cookies baked this year (something about a power outage 😉 ) but much of the rest is done. Presents are appearing under the tree at our house too. but a bunch of bags are in the bottom on my closet screaming for me to wrap them. ho ho ho.
    hey – prime rib is on our menu too this year – I found a great recipe for horseradish crusted prime rib. delicious.

  24. I’m going shopping today but for the actual day we’ve been invited over to friends’ houses which is nice. We normally don’t do anything except open up presents and then complain about how everything’s closed. I always yell, “What about the JEWS!?” lol

  25. Things are sort of under control here … I’m fighting my impulse to go out and buy a bunch of small stuff for the older kids, who are now in the fewer-but-more-expensive-presents phase of life. Most of the wrapped gifts will be for Young’un.

    The menu for Christmas dinner is set: roast beef, mashed potatoes w/gravy, green beans and homemade bread. It’s just the five of us, so no need to get fancy. This is a menu I know everyone will enjoy.

    Baking? Just getting started. Young’un’s illness and computer hell set me back.

  27. Fun posts for the last few days. Let’s see, I’ve sent off my two handknit gifts, definitely made only for those who GET it. And I’ve only got a few more gifts to pick up, and a few to wrap. Just received a holiday bonus this morning at work, which is WICKED AWESOME, and I intend to hoard it all for my own delight, because I don’t think anyone is going to give me Legos, or Tinkertoys, or a new paint set, and heck, I think I could use a spinning wheel, you know? Besides, love will fill the yarns I spin, and flow into the items made from them, and into the souls of those who wear them. So really, it’s a gift for others, you see? Don’t you? Tell me you do…. Blue skies, Lark

  28. I have mostly cooking left to do. My daughter and family is arriving today, so I will have a busy and full house until after Christmas. I am very much looking forward to it.

  30. Can you put an extra dish at the table, hehehehe. Your preparations are amazing! My only preparation so far is that I have to get up and give the kiddos their presents.

  32. I really stink at making bows, no matter what I do they end up entirely lopsided. I envy you your lovely bows! All the cooking sounds amazing, we always do a chateaubriand for dinner but the rest of the menu varies from year to year.

  33. Wow…you certainly have been busy. I enjoyed reading your post about a Civil War Christmas. My husband is from Chambersburg. WE just moved back to NH (where I am from) five years ago. We always used to grab some coffee on the weekend and go sit in “Devils Den”. We are heading to Pa. on Saturday for a few weeks. I look forward to roaming around Gettysburg again. I am sure I will think of you on our visit. Happy Holidays!

  35. You are so well organized & prepared! If only some of that would rub off on me, I’d be set! Currently I have a to-do list that’s going to take 3 days to get through, but unfortunately I only have 24 hours to complete it before we drive away on our Christmas road trip.

    Maybe I should stop reading blogs & start on my list? If you all would stop posting such interesting reading, then maybe my list would be complete? (probably not)

  37. Actually, doing good this year, I don’t know what went wrong! those Polish Tea Cakes look great! Haven’t had one of those since I was very little!

  38. I’m all done and ready to Gloat this weekend. The only thing left is to take of of Dad’s stollens out of the freezer, put it in a box and gift-wrap it. It IS one of his gifts, after all, so I want Christmas-morning credit for it! (grin)

    Your cookies look just wonderful!

  39. I am not finding your email addy on this site, probably because I took yarnival’s advice about beverage choice .. but I digress.

    I have a nomination for the next issue of yarnival. It’s about moving house and IKEA. It’s pretty funny.
    a href=”http://castadrift.blogspot.com/2006/12/ikea-its-swedish-for-divorce.html#links”

    I’m sorry if this is in the wrong place…

    ailsa

  41. I fashion my own bows too. We’re having scallops in tarragon cream sauce, artichokes and crusty bread for Christmas Eve and the the usual beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce, potato bread, yorkshire puddings,mushroom soup, green beans and balsamic glazed cippoline onions on Christmas Day. Your baking is delicious looking.

  42. I’m better now. We threw our husband’s staff Christmas dinner last night and I spent all day cooking. Since my holiday baking amounted to two batches of cookies (pathetic, but I’ve been busy) I was thrilled when one guest brought THREE full tins of cookies, candies, and peanut brittle. I’m sure we’ll have drop-ins today and now I can offer them sweets. Phew.

    I freaked out a little this week but now I’m pretty much coasting into Christmas. The wine last night helped a bit. 🙂

  43. I just noticed that you make cookies and Hubby drinks Jim Beam. We are moving next you, right away.
    Marshall

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