Dasher and Dancer: Christmas All Year

when, what to to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
with a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:
"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen!
"On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!

"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

so many magazines, so many photos

i have so many christmas, holiday and fall -themed magazine clippings and photos. all of these things are filling up space in my crafts area. i really need to get it together.

i have to scrapbook all my photos from... wait for it... last christmas to today. yikes.

and i have to file away and organize into binders all my clippings.

guess what i am doing this holiday weekend?! :)

long time no see

may 15 came and went, didn't it? well, 6 months came and went, actually.

may 15 is important, though, because it is halfway to the Christmas season. I really must get through all my fall- and holiday- themed magazines and organize myself.

welcome back!

gluten free sugar cookies FAIL

unfortunately the consistency for the gluten free sugar cookie recipe that i posted for rudy day testing did not work out. they tasted good, so at least we got that right. but to call them cookies would not be an accurate statement.

trying again soon - and i will post the recipe!

baking lists for rudolph day

as i said before, i will be making sugar cookies using pamela's recipe. however, i am adding a few more items to the shopping/baking list this weekend from the "harvest baking" magazine i recently picked up.

fall harvest muffins
BLT salad
cranberry apple chicken sandwiches

these items should be delicious!

my husband and i are doing a 4k walk this weekend for our favorite no-kill animal shelter, and maybe we will be able to head out to the apple orchards!

today is the first full day of autumn - last night was the autumn equinox!

100 days until christmas!

100 days until christmas! you know everything at the north pole really starts moving now...

planning, baking, and counting down

for rudy day in september, i am making sugar cookies (gluten free!) using pamela's vanilla cake mix. here's hoping that they come out well!

Pamela's Simple Sugar Cookies or Snickerdoodles

1 bag Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix
8 Tablespoons (1 cube) unsalted Butter
4 Tablespoons water

Use heavy duty stand mixer.

Preheat oven to 350°. Use stand mixer to soften butter. Add mix and water, then combine for one full minute or until dough comes together. Roll out 1/8th-inch thick and cut out simple shapes, or make balls (for Snickerdoodles) and flatten (balls can be rolled in ground cinnamon before baking for Snickerdoodles.) Place cookies 1-inch apart on parchment paper. Bake 16 to 20 minutes or until edges are light brown. Decorate!

For fresh cookies anytime, refrigerate the dough in a log (or freeze), then slice and bake.

almost there!

well september 1 is just right around the corner, and then we are just three weeks away from the autumn season (officially).

i have some craft supplies ready for one set of craft gifts, and i really need to get baking again. right now, my baked goods baskets will only contain gluten free cranberry orange scones and gluten free chocolate cupcakes. i would like to add an iced sugar cookie if it is possible, and definitely some sort of chocolate truffle. of course we shall see what it comes down to at the end of the season.

pumpkins! (yes, in a christmas blog)

i cannot help but get super excited when i start seeing pumpkins around. the "ber" months are on the horizon.

i took a weekend getaway with my husband this past weekend only to see a few signs advertising the impending harvest. while in the grocery store, i cannot help but stare at the pumpkin and apple items. i cannot wait to dig in.

september 1st cannot get here quick enough, but once we get there... i'd like everything to slow down.

this part of the countdown is the time to savor.

it's never too early for christmas crafts

this year, with the economy in a serious recession, and a genuine desire to return to the simple things in life, i have really focused my efforts on experiences and homemade things for christmas.

in my baking challenges, i am happy to report that i have a few successful gluten free items that i can share with friends and family this year:
gluten free cranberry orange scones
gluten free chocolate cupcakes
& gluten free pies (apple, pumpkin, strawberry, cherry)

i am hoping to finalize my recipe for gluten free sugar cookies this month.

last year was an embarrassment and a disaster. this year will be better, and i will be able to fill up my gift boxes with delicious things.

as for gifts, i am reviewing my martha stewart crafts encyclopedia, the internet, and magazines to decide which crafts i would like to do as gifts this year.

i'd like to make totes for people, and since i learned to make pillows at my sewing class... perhaps a pillow as well. maybe a set of notecards, personalized for each person.

it's never to early to start planning & working on holiday crafts.

countdown milestone: 100 days until the christmas season!

hip hip hooray! 100 days until the christmas season officially begins!

it's about this time of year when i start to look for christmas magazines to hit the stands.

back with cookies!

welcome august! and with it, a few christmas milestones including

• 100 days until the Christmas Season (Aug 5)
• 3/4 of the way to the Christmas Season (Aug 14)
• 2/3 of the way to Christmas (Aug 25)

Christmas cooking and craft magazines should start hitting the stands later this month, and craft planning in my house has definitely begun.



first let's begin our august celebrations with history of the Christmas cookie

Cakes of all shapes and sizes (including smaller items such as cookies) have been part of festive holiday rituals long before Christmas. Ancient cooks prepared sweet baked goods to mark significant occasions. Many of these recipes and ingredients (cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, almonds, dried fruits etc.) were introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages. They were highly prized and quickly incorporated into European baked goods. Christmas cookies, as we know them today, trace their roots to these Medieval European recipes. Dutch and German settlers introduced cookie cutters, decorative molds, and festive holiday decorations to America. German lebkuchen was probably the first cake/cookie traditionally associated with Christmas. Sugar cookie type recipes descended from English traditions. Did you know Animal crackers began as edible ornaments?

"By the 1500s, Christmas cookies had caught on all over Europe. German families baked up pans of Lebkuchen and buttery Spritz cookies. Papparkakor (spicy ginger and black-pepper delights) were favorites in Sweden; the Norwegians made krumkake (thin lemon and cardamom-scented wafers). The earliest Christmas cookies in America came ashore with the Dutch in the early 1600s."
---"America's Best Holiday Cookies," McCall's [magazine], December 1994 (p. 85)

The flood of cheap imported wares form Germany between 1871 and 1906 when the import laws were changed, inundated our Christmas markets with cooking utensils like...cookie cutters...Unlike homemade counterparts, or local tinsmith's wares, these tools depicted highly stylized images, often frawn from secular themes or...with subjects designed specifically to hang on the Christmas tree. Likewise, recipes appeared in popular cookbooks to better match the demands of such utensils...In a sense, with the advent of inexpensive tin cutters, new emphasis was placed on shape, where in the past, many homemade cookies simply had been square or round. Bells, Christmas trees, camels, crimped wares (cutters with zigzag edges), lilies, Sant Clauses, turkeys, all of these elaborate shapes tended to deemphasize texture and flavor."
---The Christmas Cook: Three Centuries of American Yuletide Sweets, William Woys Weaver [Harper Perennial:New York] 1990 (p. 106)

Merry Christmas Cookies
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup hone
1 tsp. lemon flavoring
2 3/4 cups Gold Medal Flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
Mix shortening, sugar, egg, honey, and flavoring thoroughly. Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Stir together flour, soda, salt; blen in. Chill dough. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. (quick mod.). Roll dough out 1/4" thick. Cut into desired shapes (right). Place 1" apart on lightly greased baking sheet. bake 8 to 10 min., or until no imprint remains when touched lightly. When cool, ice and decorate if desired. makes about 5 doz. 2 1/2" cookies.

---Betty Crodker's Cooky Book, General Mills, facsimile 1963 edition [Hungry Minds:New York] 2002 (p. 30)

[source: http://www.foodtimeline.org/christmasfood.html]

christmas in july, other ways

i just need to say
that i wish today
for a christmas in july
whatever that is
for you

celebrate.

since i've been gone

i haven't stopped thinking about christmas but i have had a difficult week of sorts. moving on!

it's monday and i was able to get over to hallmark for their christmas in july ornament premiere on saturday. i bought the ornaments on my wish list. there are more to be released in the coming months, which is very exciting.

they also had some peanuts halloween ornaments and i just fell in love with them. i am setting aside some money to buy them.

i cannot wait for summer to be over and i am glad i have tropical-colored paper snowflakes to keep me satisfied for christmas in july!

top ten tuesday

here are my top ten christmas songs... what are yours?

10. rudolph the red nosed reindeer

9. jingle bells

8. mele kalikimaka

7. white christmas

6. the christmas song (have yourself a merry little christmas)

5. let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

4. holly jolly christmas

3. silent night

2. the most wonderful time of the year

1. mary did you know?

christmas planning

it's just about this time of year that i start finalizing my christmas plans.

where are we spending the holidays?
what is our gift budget?
what kinds of gifts do i need to make?
what kinds of gifts do i want to buy?
how long is my christmas card list this year?
are there things i need to plan ahead (hotel, flights, etc)?

so tonight i will turn up the air conditioning in my home and start making christmas plans.

and *finally* get around to hanging up those tropical colored paper snowflakes that gave me a carpal tunnel syndrome flare-up!

merry 4th of july!

for us americans, it is our country's birthday.

bless us all!

chocolate cupcakes

last night i did some baking - baking is an event i usually reserve for the holidays seasons in the autumn and winter.

i made some chocolate cupcakes with pamela's gluten free chocolate cake baking mix. it is truly the best if you are looking for a great cake mix. i topped it with a festive white vanilla frosting and added patriotic sprinkles - red, white, and blue stars!

it's fun to celebrate with food. i may just be making chocolate cupcakes for my holiday baking as well - what a success!

the sandman

not much to write today but in keeping with the christmas in july theme... i present to you, the sandman!

the first day of christmas in july

so, what exactly is christmas in july?

now that we have passed the halfway mark to the christmas holiday and the christmas season altogether, we can start preparing - whether that be financially, spiritually, or otherwise - for whatever the holiday season means for us.

it's also a celebration for those of us that abhor the hot weather, if where we live is in the summer right now. however, for those in the southern hemisphere of the earth, christmas in july is when christmas might actually feel like christmas.

christmas in july is whatever you want it to be! i welcome your ideas as we celebrate christmas in july here on the blog.

from wikipedia:

In Western culture, Christmas occurs on December 25. Christmas is generally about gift-giving and holiday cheer. Christmas in July celebrations may be held in July to provide a second joyful celebration in the year.

In the southern hemisphere, Christmas in July is the name given to social events with a winter Christmas theme, as July is generally the coldest month of the year.

In the northern hemisphere during the summer months the weather becomes increasingly warm and many people crave the atmosphere of cooler temperatures, gift giving and holiday spirit. To satisfy this, some people throw parties during the month of July that mimic the holiday of Christmas. The features of Christmas in July include Santa Claus, ice cream and other cold foods and gifts.

The earliest known occasion to make the phrase Christmas in July literal was in July 1933 at Camp Keystone, a girl's summer camp in North Carolina, which celebrated with a Christmas tree, gifts, and a visit by Santa Claus. In 1935, the National Recreation Association's journal Recreation described what a Christmas in July was like at a girl's camp, writing that "all mystery and wonder surround this annual event."

In 1942, the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., celebrated Christmas in July with carols and the sermon "Christmas Presents in July". They repeated it in 1943, with a Christmas tree covered with donations. The pastor explained that the special service was patterned after a program held each summer at his former church in Philadelphia, when the congregation would present Christmas gifts early to give ample time for their distribution to missions worldwide. It became an annual event, and in 1946 the service began to be broadcast over local radio.

The U.S. Post Office and U.S. Army and Navy officials, in conjunction with the American advertising and greeting card industries, threw a Christmas in July luncheon in New York in 1944 to promote an Early Christmas Mailing Campaign for service men and women overseas during World War II. The luncheon was repeated in 1945.

Midwinter 'Christmas' or Yulefest is an unofficial Midwinter/Yuletide related celebration followed by some families, mainly those with a English or European background in Australia and New Zealand during the wintertime (which in the Southern Hemisphere falls into the June-July-August period). There is no official holiday, and the date of observance varies from place to place and even family to family, though it is often around the time of the shortest day or winter solstice, which in the Southern Hemisphere is June 20 or 21.While having little connection with the actual Christmas holiday, it is occasionally an occasion for work functions or similar events celebrating Yuletide traditions in wintry conditions.

McMurdo Station in Antarctica celebrates Christmas in July, as well as in December. Its origins there appear to be how deliveries were made. July is in the middle of winter in Antarctica; high winds and ice once made it too dangerous for planes to land with supplies. Instead, planes parachuted deliveries (such as food and mail) to the ice. The sudden arrival of presents from the sky in July reminded some people of a "visit from Santa."

[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_July]