Running out of time!

Gah! There is so much left to do and no time to do it!

We still need to
-Paint wrapping paper
-Build gingerbread houses
-Drive around in our jammies and look at Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music
-Go to Clifton Mills
-Play more charades (sp?) - If you have little kids and have not done this you need to, you will laugh the whole time.
-Finish baking and candymaking
-Deliver baked goods to neighbors

Better get cracking. I can't believe Christmas is this week!

New Territory

I am done with my Christmas shopping and have moved on to baking and menu planning.

This year my parents will be coming to our house for Christmas which is a first. I have several things that I must make according to tradition. Peanut butter bon bons, coconut bon bons, PB blossoms, cut outs, and Oreo truffles to name a few. There are also a number of traditional savory things I need to prepare like raw beef and onions, a spinach breakfast dish, and rosemary Parmesan shortbread with cranberry sauce.

In my family we have no traditional Christmas eve meal or Christmas dinner meal. My mom just made what she felt like making, whether it was ham, turkey, beef, lasagna, or baked potatoes. I am still deciding on Christmas dinner (maybe ham?) but for Christmas eve we will be having prime rib.

This year I will be cooking with two new ingredients I have never used before. Chestnuts and ox tails. Not together mind you. The chestnuts are for a new cookie recipe I'm trying that is on Smitten Kitchen's website. The ox tails are used in a recipe for prime rib found on Steamy Kitchen.