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Both the snowflakes and the cookies have been coming fast today.  Our yard is filling with snow, and I chose to stay in all day and bake.  I don’t do that much for the holidays, especially in the years when we travel.  No tree, simple window lights with no outdoor lighting, a poinsettia and now my Solstice cactus - gee, this sounds like a lot now that I list it, but compared to friends’ homes, it really isn’t.

What I do pursue intensely is cookie baking.  Some years I’ve done over a dozen kinds, but this year I’ve only gotten to 9, I think.  This year we have 2 different kinds of cut out cookies - sugar and gingerbread.  Note the many gingerpeople for dressing up to look like the other guests at the decorating party.  Also plenty of dinosaurs, as I believe some Dinosaur Comics re-enactments are being planned.

Date pinwheel rolls are in the refrigerator  chilling for baking tomorrow.  They are one of Karen’s favorites.  The almond cookie dough, which used to be made into adorable mice which took forever to mold and decorate, now get a simple cookie stamp and taste just as good.  The cinnamon logs, being drizzled with glaze here by Jenny, are one of Merry’s favorites.

I was going to make a new recipe for Macadamia Lace Cookies, but guess what?  Even frozen, macadamias just don’t keep for years without going rancid.  (Jenny definitely has a point when she suggests my freezer may be a bit, ahem, overloaded.)  Guess what else?  Pine nuts make a great stand in.  I’m calling these Lacy Pignons.

Helen loves the lemon slices.  They look pretty convincing here, but wait until they get piped with lemon glaze to mark rind and segments. I’ve also got dough in the refrigerator for a Swiss chocolate spice cookie that I recollect Helen liked quite a bit.  Why Swiss?  It uses Dutch process cocoa and spices from the other side of the world.  I guess anything that tastes that good doesn’t have to make sense.

And finishing the day as it started, with a snowstorm, some Mexican wedding cakes or Russian tea cakes or whatever you happen to call these goodies.

With the peanut butter kisses from earlier in the month, I think we are fairly well set.

Sweet things to you,

Ellen

Dear Ellen,

I decided to find a means to do a brief post while on this trip — otherwise I will keep waiting for enough time for a proper post and will never get one up at all. So here are a few photos and some minimalist comments to accompany.

Max hates squirrels. They have no place in our yard. Here he is diligently on guard for the squirrel who has had the audacity to make a nest in the tree growing next to our fence. Technically the nest is outside of our yard, but as the branches do emanate from our tree, he feels it is a violation of policy. When the squirrel comes out of the nest, Max barks ferociously and chases the squirrel along the fence till he/she (I have no idea which) leaves the area. If he/she does not leave the area, and instead chooses to chatter at Max from the fence corner post, Max will charge said corner post and nearly scale the upright to try to make it clear to the squirrel that this is totally unacceptable. As a result, Max will sprain his ankle and be required to wear fashionable leg wear in the form of sock and bandage to help provide support and compression. He also got to have ice compresses…and seemed to enjoy all the babying. This was just over a week ago and he is trotting around just fine now. Ruby pretty much slept through it all.

I have continued to enjoy knitting with the “Spinners with Altitude” group. Here’s a shot from the meeting two weeks ago at “Table Rock Llamas.” The lovely space in which we are seen knitting (okay, I’m not seen — I’m taking the picture) is the back room where there is some extra storage and where classes are held for dyeing, knitting and especially spinning. The problem with this group is that they are trying to tempt me into yet another craft by offering the claim that spinning is really just a “companion craft” to knitting — not to be considered a detriment to knitting time. I don’t know, but I must admit it truly is starting to tempt me. Flash (Anne’s new baby) is not tempted by spinning, but he does enjoy a comfortable sweater (Anne’s Enchanted Forest sweater). I have a feeling that Flash could be spun into a delightfully soft yarn and all that would be left would be a cute little bark.

We are all moved in now — my office is making progress. This photo is about a week old and there has been much improvement to include the stashing of the stash in “cube” shelving that I put into the closet. When I finish I will post photos of the completed effort to prove that my office/craft room was very neat and organized at least one moment in time.

The day before our birthday I had a surprise party and cake at work, the day of our birthday I was serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by both NPR (coincidentally they sang “Happy Birthday” to their listeners to embellish a story about wacky copyright issues) and the Colorado Navy community at the annual picnic. There were two huge cakes at the picnic, one chocolate and one vanilla, and I was told I was expected to have a piece of each. (NPR did not provide birthday cake.) That evening Dale had a few friends over and we had red velvet cake that he baked himself. (He is truly mastering high altitude directions!) So, that made it a 4 cake birthday…guess there’s some good in turning 50 after all! I hope you had a wonderful day too!

Love, Jan