Well, the weather is insane here. But we have power and so many Americans and Canadians don’t. So we’re grateful. The wind is relentless; it’s been non-stop since yesterday afternoon. Wind chills are well below zero. Surprisingly, with all the rain/snow/wind and then a 40 degree drop in temperature, the driveway didn’t turn to ice. I don’t know how that came about, but again – grateful.
I made my cookies yesterday, but since I couldn’t find coconut cream, I used coconut milk, which was listed a substitute. The dough was almost unworkable. I tweaked it a bit and I managed to make the cookies, but they are not at all what they should be, so next week I will be searching for coconut cream and I’ll make another batch – though Don thinks they’re ‘great!’ At least it kept me occupied during the Bomb Cyclone. Today, Don is at the helm, making sugar-free apple pie.
We will have our usual Christmas; music playing quietly, some presents, a nice dinner. Mostly, we will express gratitude for our blessings.
I hope you’re all safe and warm as we welcome Christmas Eve and Christmas. May you find time with your loved ones. If you need quiet, I hope you have quiet. If you need lots of people and carol singing and family gathered around, I hope you have that.
Mostly, I hope you have peace.
The girls have a wish, too!
Stay safe. I’ll see you on Monday.
Happy Saturday.
Happy Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas. Thank you for the year with your wonderful blog.
Merry Christmas to you and your loving family, Brenda!
Have a wonderful holiday.
Stay safe. xo
Merry Christmas!
Eileen
Merry Christmas to you and Don and all the dolls!!!
Merry Christmas to you and Don and all of the girls and Bertie, too!
wishing and praying for a very merry Christmas to you, don and everyone else here, your families (people and animals) and friends! may you all have what you need and want, stay safe, have utility power and know the absolute power, love and peace of God.
claudia … thanks for all you do to post daily here at mhc and for sharing so much of your life, thoughts and heart with us here. very kind, inspiring, charming and wonderful.
and to everyone else here … thanks for also sharing your lives, thoughts and hearts, too.
thank you all for inspiration, charm and wonderful kindness, too.
i have received so much kindness, friendship, support and inspiration from you. means so much, helps a lot and warms my heart. thanks again.
i hope you all get the same from me, that you know you have a friend in me who prays for you daily. if i can ever do something for you, please let me know. i love you all.
kathy
kathy, you get what you give; you’re one of the nicest, most giving and thoughtful of persons I’ve ever ‘met’ via a blog; you’re a good woman; always kind; enjoy your special time with your family at Christmas!
Kathy
I always look for your comments; they are so thoughtful and kind and always make me feel better. I am so thankful to Claudia for giving us the gift of a warm community filled with friends we probably will not meet in this earthly life. But nonetheless , we receive so much support and love. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Kathy, as well as all the other readers.
Merry Christmas my friends. I am so looking forward to family time this year with good food and lots of happiness.
Merry Christmas Claudia and Don. Wishing you a peaceful day and many blessings in the New Year.
I hope all of you in the MHC community have a wonderful Holiday.
I could just say ditto to what Kathy wrote because she said it so perfectly.
I hope everyone is staying nice and warm. Claudia your Christmas sounds wonderful, nice and quiet. I am so thankful for your blog. It is the first thing I read in the morning. I always feel like I am living in that wonderful cottage of yours. So to everyone, I wish you all a very merry Christmas. Stay safe and warm!
Ditto to all above! What a heart-warming picture of the girls on the couch!
Merry Christmas!
We have family in the Midwest and this is what one relative wrote to us this morning:
“Our weather is beyond description. I feel pain in colors; there is a name for it, a phenomenon known as ‘extraordinary sensory condition, otherwise known as synesthesia’. I walked outside on Friday and instantly felt deep purple inside my bones. It is actual color; as plain as day to my mind. Pain for me is usually orange or blue but this, again, was dark purple. I cannot tell you how the arctic blast sucks all the life out of you. Our thermostat is set at 70 and we have on long underwear and sweaters (praying nothing goes wrong with the furnace). We have been keeping the blinds and drapes closed to keep in the warmth and hold off the cold coming thru the window glass. It is so claustrophobic. Have a great Christmas and think of us in the Siberian frigid cold. Purple color and all.”
Just had to share; I feel guilty that we’re so warm and sunny in Southern California when our loved ones are freezing off their tushes.
I am so glad to see one of your whimsical figurals in the photo today; was hoping you’d show one or two; thanks. Also appreciative for the girls’ greeting.
Gosh, Claudia, you and Don have a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas. I’m glad you’re not traveling and that you’re home, safe and warm.
Best wishes to you and everyone on your MHC blog!
Merry Christmas Claudia, Don and all the girls. Wishing you a beautiful day, full of warm memories and wonderful food!
It’s warming up here in Alberta, Canada. We were having extreme weather with – 46 C temps with the windchill. But today, it’s a very balmy – 18 C out here at the little cottage in the big woods. In the next few days, it will climb up to single digits, so we’re feeling quite blessed that we haven’t had the snow and other weather that many communities across Canada and in the States are experiencing. Not sure why it has hit us but we know it will likely be our turn at some point. For now, we’re grateful. Hope your weather turns soon.
Enjoy the the day and all it brings.
X Chy
Happy Christmas to Claudia and Don and all the wonderful people who comment. I’ve been absent from commenting this year but hope to return to it soon.
Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous, joy-filled 2023!
Stay safe, warm & well.
Merry Christmas from Australia, much of which is experiencing a heat wave and heat advisory warnings!
Your posts bring me a lot of joy and often challenge my thinking:always a good thing. r
All the best.
Claudia, thank you for your Christmas wishes to all of us. And thank you for faithfully writing your blog every day. Our Christmas and your Christmas sound pretty similar. I just finished making mince tarts for tomorrow. It was wonderful to see all your girls lined up in their holiday best wishing us all a Merry Christmas 🎄. Hope Santa is good to you and all your family. My wish is that you and Don have a lovely, joy filled Christmas. Hugs, Elaine
Wishing you all the best this Christmas, Claudia and Don! We are certainly in the deep freeze here in Canada and it seems that this year it is colder than ever!
I saw “Spoiler Alert” yesterday and was thrilled and excited to see you in the film and credits. I kept telling my husband….there she is! I have to admit I was ugly crying at the end. The acting was great and I loved the movie, even though it made my mascara run a river!
Stay warm and healthy and Merry Christmas!
I’m so glad you saw it, Carol! And that you enjoyed it – even better.
Thanks so much, my friend.
Stay safe.
Merry Christmas, Claudia and Don. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Merry Christmas to you and Don!
I think we had the same weather — and fortunately, kept power. I love the portrait of the girls in their holiday finery!
I had an epic fail making a sugar-free Pavlova for Christmas using Splenda and sugar-free Cool Whip. The cool whip was fine. The meringue with the Splenda was grim. It didn’t set up right and was grainy, not a smooth meringue. And a little runny when it baked — not sure what that was about. The chemistry was all despite their promises of one-to-one for baking. Rick and Kitty ate it and had seconds. I tried it (not terrible tasting) but threw out the leftovers. Never again!
I’m determined to try those cookies again this week. It was maddening, given I’ve made them before. Sympathy for your Pavlova, Jeanie.
Stay safe.