I'm Just Not Feeling It This Year.

You know - Christmas.

Have A Cookie

It's a little Holiday Party!

I didn't sign up for the cookie exchange this year. So I decided to pass out cookies in my blog today. These are some of the best cookies I have never made!!! Really delicious. See, every year I cut about 14 exotic cookie recipes from the Taste section of my newspaper. Most of them I never make but I am sure they would be delicious These are my never-baked favs:

Cardamom Cookies (mmm - cardamom)
Ricotta Cheese Cookies (a superiorly tender sugar cookie)
Roll-0ut Cookies (extra quick & easy)
Dot's Blondies with Chocolate Chips (bar cookies - blonde fudge w choco chips!)
Gold Mine Nuggets (with crushed pineapple) (mmm - pineapple)

This is so much easier than baking. What are you bringing to my party?

Also, my mom used to make a blonde fudge called spinochie (or something like that.) I can never find a spelling for spinocche that is googleable. *sigh*

Because I am lazy today

Well, lazy AND procrastinating about everything Christmas. Because of that I am going to post a quiz I put up somewhere else I go. Hopefully it hasn't been over at Over There - I'd hate to bore you with something you've been looking at and waiting to disappear off the front page.

I am procrastinating because we have brought all the Christmas boxes up from the basement - and I want to edit 15 boxes and 2 bags down to about 6 boxes. How will I ever do that?

The Christmas Quiz:

1. The real, historic St Nicholas was born in what modern-day country?
A. Israel
B. Pakistan
C. Iraq
D. Turkey

2. Who narrated the classic 1966 TV special "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"?A. Burl Ives
B. Charlton Heston
C. Boris Karloff
D. Thurl Ravenscraft

3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created as a promotion for what department store?A. JC Penney
B. Montgomery Ward
C. Macy's
D. Nordstrom

4. In the 1965 TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" who builds a gray snowman?
A. Charlie Brown
B. Linus
C. Pigpen
D. Snoopy

5. What was the name of the magician with the magic hat in the 1969 TV special "Frosty the Snowman"?A. Black Bart
B. Black Peter
C. Professor Finkle
D. Professor Hinkle

6. In "The Twelve Days of Christmas" there are how many drummers drumming?A. six
B. eight
C. ten
D. twelve

7. In what country are outdoor barbeques a traditional part of Christmas festivities?
A. Mexico
B. Australia
C. China
D Germany

8. In what year was Santa's wife, Mrs. Claus, first introduced to the world?A. 1889
B. 1902
C. 1929
D. 1935

9. Eggnog was first consumed in what U.S. city?
A. Jamestown, Virginia
B. Provincetown Massachusetts
C. Boston Massachusetts
D. New York, New York

10. In the classic 1964 TV special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", what did Hermey the elf want to be?A. a psychologist
B a magician
C. a dentist
D Santa Claus

You May Send My Holiday Card To:

Lol - while looking around for some old addresses I stumbled across my original, old address book - one I have had since I was about 12 years old. On the inside cover were all my former address, with the older ones crossed out and the newer ones written beneath. What a trip down memory lane! So, leaving out some numbers and stuff to protect the innocent (well, to protect me anyway), here are all the addresses I have ever lived at:

XXX Deerpath Rd
Merrilville, Indiana
(the house where I was born; we moved away when I was 2 years old)

XXX Main St W
Grimsby Ontario Canada

4625 Clara Dickson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY

534A Donlon Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY

XX Caranzalem P.O.
Goa, India

XXX E Buffalo St
Ithaca NY

XX Bijai Church St
Mangalore 4, Mysore, India

XX Pleasant Grove Apts
Ithaca NY

XXXX Grant St
Columbus Ohio

XXXX Irving Ave S
Minneapolis MN

616 6th Ave SE
Minneapolis MN

XXXX Eldridge Ave W
Roseville MN

XXXX Humboldt Ave S
Minneapolis MN

XXXXX St Croix Trail X
XXXXX MN

I never really realized how many places I have lived in.

I Cheat At Cards.

Do you?

I don't cheat at poker and hearts and solitaire and stuff. I cheat at Christams cards.

You know how so many people, including people who are me, send out their cards so late that they get there on the 24th or later? Well I like to use cards as part of my holiday decor. I put cards on the grapevine wreath on my front door. I use them to frame the doors in the hallway. I just like pretty cards. So I save last years cards and use them starting in early December. My middle DD thinks this is really creepy cheating. I think it is quite reasonable. Which is it?

Also, some very special cards become perennial favs and get hung up every year!

So I cheat at cards - and I'm not sorry.

I Will Photocopy No More Forever

Chief Seattle should have said this.

I decided that for Christmas I would give my Evil Sister Carole a photocopy of all the letters from my mom which I have faithfully saved since the late 60s. Most were written in the 70s and 80s, mom died in 1999.

Evil Sister has always been insanely jealous of me and thought that Mom Liked Me Better. Really, she has serious issues about this. She has photo albums hidden in her bedroom (old family photos) that she will not let me look at. This is in retaliation for what she considers that time when I "tricked her" out of our childhood family colored slides.

(In reality mom gave the slides to me. I had them put onto videos in 1987, at some expense to myself, and gave copies to everyone in the family - Evil Sister, other siblings, nieces & nephews, a couple of cousins, etc. Mom always said she was so glad that she gave the slides to me because Carole had them for almost 20 years and never did anything with them but keep them in her closet.) (Almost all the slides were taken by my dad who died in 1969. Carole also has Daddy Issues, lol, which is why she wants to control the slides too.)

Anyway - do you know how freaking long it takes to remove a letter from an envelope, unfold it, lay it page by page upon the photocopier and then hit print? Way too long! Evil sister does not deserve this. And yet? I have already made a pile of copies about 1" thick so I am committed. And barely 1/3 of the way through my stack. *sob*

Will Evil Sister appreciate my gift? Or will she get mad at me for not telling her I had all these letters? I'm guessing the latter. Stupid Evil Sister!

Wait. It's December!?!

1. Cyber Monday shopping.
Completed. Free shipping on everything except an order for DS where a $20 off code was a greated savings than the free shipping.

2. State of the Turkey.
Half eaten, half frozen. We have one more scheduled turkey feed tonight, then - beef tomorrow! Yay! Also, I had the audacity to serve Mr Swami a turkey dinner without gravy last night, lol. He was so confused. It's not like we're a gravy eating family - gravy is rare around here - but I usually wind up with a boatload of gravy on turkey day.

3. Middle Daughter: Cancelled our invitation to dinner again. She moved into her new apartment on Sept 19th and neither Mr Swami nor I have seen it yet.

4. Oldest Daughter: Has confided that she is developing a "exit strategy" from her marriage. Sad, but necessary. If not for grandson she would have left years ago.

5. Oldest Cat: Has decided that he needs to stand on my stomach when I watch TV. Not comfortable! Tippy Toes, a big neutered Tom, is quite the heavy-weight cat.

6. Younger Cat: Continues to want fresh parakeet for a snack. My parakeet cage looks quite unique - with chicken wire bumpers on the top and 2 sides to repel the darn attack cat.

7. Weather: The ground is white with snow. Not deep cover, but white enough to make me start feeling all Christmasy.

8. Carnage in Mumbai: Continues to boggle my mind. The Taj is an absolutely gorgeous old hotel! I've been in it, although I've never stayed there. I have also eaten in the Oberoi Hotel restuarant that was all shot up. Terrorists targeting prominent hotels just for joy of killing mass numbers of people is a very scary idea to me. Hotels are so vulnerable.

9. Why did I jump to Mumbai after deciding I felt all Christmasy? Probably because I have CNN on. Speaking of CNN I now have 2 politicians I instantly mute: GW Bush, who I have automatically muted since about 2003. I will read what he says in the paper if need be - but I will not listen to his whiney voice. New to mute-a-tude is Sarah Palin. I have zero interest in this woman, and I don't want to start a run-up for 2012 yet. *sigh* So I just mute her.

10. Hey! It's time for a white sandwich!!!