Well, the holiday season is in full gear.  Which means, insane busy-ness.  Thursday was Oak’s work holiday party, which was fun and gave me an excuse to get dressed up in a new dress.  It was hot.  All the holiday parties at my work are during working hours, which leaves little room for dressing up.  Even wearing Christmas colors is probably a bit much for those.  I’ll do it anyway. =)

We’re also in high production on our homemade holiday gifts.  They are obviously Top Secret at the moment, but perhaps after the holiday I will have to share what we made.  I think the trick is in high volume production – not making different things for different people.   This is a trick we learned from Martha, whose Christmas book we’ve been pouring over this year.

I found  Martha’s Christmas book at the flea market a few seasons ago and it is definitely a worthy investment.  I think Christmas time was when I first encountered Martha as a child – when she was spray painting pine cones gold and sticking cloves into oranges.  Those, and many other ideas are covered in the book.  Some ideas, like the gingerbread mansion and cassoulet, are beyond insane.  The cassoulet serves 100 people.  If you ever find the book – read the ingredients – it has ingredients like “10 whole chickens” and “20 pounds of carrots.”  Holy moly! Martha, we don’t all have THAT many relatives! hahaha.  However, I do think we’ll want to try her eggnog recipe.  Oak has had some brewing in the fridge since before Halloween, but it is way too strong for me and most other people that have tried it.  Maybe that’s the point so you don’t drink very much of it.

Progress is also being made on decking the halls, sending Christmas cards and gifts, and holiday shopping.  Our holiday potluck is at work this week, so I’ve got to think of something to bring to that as well.  We’re also having a party next weekend where we are making a (to be determined) selection from Gourmet’s favorite cookies 1941-2008.  Should be interesting!

Assuming I have a few free moments from holiday preparations, I’ll be posting again soon

Posted by Carrie on Monday, December 8, 2008
Categories: life happenings, martha stewart · 2 Comments »