Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Holiday Nesting

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afghan

I needed something to keep myself occupied over the holidays. With a lot of time to fill, I pulled out the afghan/throw I started crocheting….well…a long time ago. It was put to the side when I started crocheting all the Obsession Scarves. I’ve spent an enjoyable few days plopped on the sofa in the den, watching The Bishop’s Wife and Meet Me in St. Louis and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (that movie breaks my heart, every time) and old episodes of The Rifleman and The Big Valley.

This is a variation of the ripple stitch in seemingly random colors ( but not really). It’s a scrappy throw for the den. Because it’s so big, I usually leave it on the sofa between bouts of crocheting.

Of course, my little nester had her eye on it and it wasn’t long before I saw this:

scoutafghan

and this:

scoutcrochet

That girl sheds like crazy and everything in me wanted to move her back down to the other end of the sofa. But it was Christmas and, let’s face it, her hair is going to get on it anyway, especially if we use it in the den.

Besides, she’s awfully cute.

I’m glad Christmas is over. It was a long day, punctuated by a couple of Skype calls with Don and phone calls with my sister and dad. I got to say Merry Christmas to my mom, which I’m grateful for. Any sort of phone conversation with her nowadays is very rare and very short – she is not doing well.

I did make myself a special vegetarian holiday dinner: mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, steamed asparagus, some Quorn (which is a chicken substitute – no meat for me), jellied cranberry slices ( I love them) and my grandmother’s Cloud Biscuits:

biscuits

Ummm mmmm good.

I’m off to run a few errands as we have a winter weather watch up for this afternoon and tomorrow. Yuck. I want it to be out of here by the time I have to drive to Hartford on Friday.

Thank you for all the holiday greetings!

Happy Wednesday.

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Christmas and Coffee Cake

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coffeecake

The Christmas Coffee Cake that I bake every year and that is an annual Christmas-morning-in-between-opening-presents-tradition had to be moved up on the calendar this year. I couldn’t let Don leave for California without a few warm yummy pieces of coffee cake in his tummy. So I baked it on Saturday, put it in the refrigerator overnight (this step is essential) and warmed it up on Sunday morning. And again this morning.

Best coffee cake ever.

I only make it once a year. We decided it must be this way. Otherwise, it would no longer be special.

The story of the coffee cake: When we were living in California, we used to shop a lot at Whole Foods. (I’d still shop there a lot if one was nearby. Sob.) One day, I grabbed a free holiday recipes booklet at the checkout and took it home to peruse. This particular recipe looked promising, so I made it for Christmas morning.

A huge winner.

We couldn’t believe how yummy it was, how moist (due to lots of sour cream), how perfectly perfect it was. Our annual tradition began that day. Fast forward a few years. We moved to New York. As I got things ready for that first Christmas out East, I realized two things. We had inadvertently put all the boxes of Christmas ornaments in storage (all decorations that year came from the local drug store) and I couldn’t find this recipe. Anywhere. I looked through all my cook books. I scoured every box in the eaves. I looked everywhere. Nothing.

In a panic, I emailed Whole Foods. I explained my situation and what booklet I thought the recipe had been in and asked if they had a record of it somewhere. The lady I was in contact with looked everywhere. She had no record of it.

I explained to Don that there would be no coffee cake this year. There was disbelief on his part. On mine, too.

I resigned myself to finding something else, though I knew it could never be as special, as tasty, as magical. A few weeks later, I got an email from that same lady. She had been cleaning out some shelves and, lo and behold, there was the booklet. She kindly copied the recipe for me and sent it my way. I’ve hung onto it for dear life ever since.

We’ll have another piece this morning and then, later today, I take Don to the airport. He’ll be gone for two months.

Scoutie and I will miss him terribly. She adores Don. So do I.

It’s going to be a little glum around here for a few days.

Happy Monday.

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Mallomars & A Possible Moratorium On Holiday Decorating

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Need I say more?

It’s that time of the year again. Mallomars, only in stores from October until April, are back. Oh, what a delightful surprise when I spy them in a display at my local grocery store. After completely forgetting about their existence from May through September, suddenly, there they are. And I have to buy them. When we run out, I have to send Don to the store on an emergency Mallomars mission.

The perfect combination of marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker crust. Light as air. Gone in one bite, or two if I’m being ladylike.  Oh. my. goodness. Little bits of fluffy, chocolatey heaven on earth.

Moving on.

Do I want to decorate for Christmas? I have to be honest here, I’m not feeling inspired. Do I want to get a tree (we always get a real tree) when Don is leaving over a week before Christmas? Do I want to go through all of that for just me? I’m seriously debating this subject. Trees are beautiful, but do I want to spend the money on one when money is tight?

I love my Christmas decorations but I may take the year off. Perhaps I’ll just put up the little white tree that I usually have in the living room. And maybe some lights on the porch. Christmas is going to be celebrated via a Skype call with Don. We’ve decided we’ll send each other a present or two and open them while Skyping. That will be our little celebration.

If I’m not inspired, why should I feel as if I must decorate? As it is, I don’t join in on the blogland decorating bandwagon since I never decorate before the second week of December. And if you’re interested in how I usually decorate, you could easily visit my archives.

I’m leaning toward very little to no decorating. Maybe just a smidgen.

And moving on.

I am woefully behind in leaving comments on your blogs. Please forgive me. I try to leave a few each day. I’m trying to catch up. Between crocheting for the shop, helping Don through his illness, trying to find work and other pressing needs, I’ve been a bad blogging friend. I hope you understand. Though I do my best to respond to all your comments here on this blog and I love the conversation that we have. That makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing. Because we are communicating. But it doesn’t take the place of me visiting you on your piece of blog real estate. Believe me, I know that. I’ll be around. I promise.

Okay. I’ll be back tonight for A Favorite Thing. 8:00 EST.

The winner of Judy’s lovely Christmas pillow is Leann from The Old Parsonage. That’s just perfect, because Leann loves Christmas! She even has a Christmas countdown on her blog. Leann, send me your mailing address and I will forward it on to Judy.

Happy Friday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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