Sleigh bells ring...

Well, here we are.  We've made it.  Christmas is just 2 days away.  If it ain't bought, baked, or cleaned, it ain't gonna be.  Now we just slide into the holiday.  

I picked my cake.  An orange flavored genoise sponge with a chocolate orange frosting.  I didn't realize it was a genoise.  After several really, really bad experiences trying to bake end throwing away genoise when I was in my Julia Child incarnation earlier this year, I'm not sure I would have made it if I'd recognized what it was.  It was half assembled before I saw that grainy looking texture that isn't grainy at all and seems to be a hallmark of genoise.  This one came out perfect, but not until I'd had a little adventure.  

All the ingredients were on the counter, the oranges were squeezed, the eggs and milk had come to room temp, the butter was soft.  Next step was to grease three 8" cake pans.  The only 8" cake pans I have were my Mom's and they are beat to hell where she creased them while trying to get cakes out by banking and using the point of a knife.  And, there were only two, so okay, let's run up to the store.  I decide to try one of those stores that sells stuff that didn't sell at other stores.  Two Martha Stewart cake pans, $5 each.  So, I go next door to Michael's.  Cheapest one they have is $12.99 and there are only 2.  Next one up is 19.99.  Not!  So, I go to another store that's related to the first one and is a few doors down.  They have one Martha Stewart cake pan, $5, so I buy it and then go back to the first store and buy two (and a small casserole dish I'd seen in there and couldn't resist again) and then I came home and made cakes.  Fortunately, all that only set me back by 40 minutes.  I guess I was speed walking through stores.  A man with a mission.  And the mission was cake.  

I wasn't paying attention and almost bashed into a lady about my age waiting in the checkout line.  I apologized and explained I was looking at the pretzels with lust in my heart.  And, then I realized I'd just said lust to a lady in the checkout line and sure hoped she didn't think I was a creeper.  

The cakes aren't decorated yet.  That's today's job.  I realized yesterday that my Christmas cakes are about more than just cake.  They're about challenging myself to try new things.  Be a little extravagant in my cooking, have an adventure.  Yesterday, I candied orange slices to go on top.  Never did that before.  They sure are tasty.  For background TV, Rob put on the GBBO Holiday Specials, so I got to watch former contestants bake holiday treats.  I loved it!  It was great inspiration.  

On Saturday, Rob cleaned up all the leaves in the back yard.  It was a LOT.  While he did that, I prepped the tropical plants to go in the greenhouses.  We had a couple of cold nights and it was time.   Then there was a little shopping and some lunch and a nap and Mexican food for dinner and a movie and that day was suddenly over.  Yesterday, I spent the whole day in the kitchen and it passed just as fast.  

Here are the last holiday decorating pictures.  

Here's the village that started it all.  My Mom was doing the village pieces and I found this smaller scale version in a store and bought it.  Rob loved it and would set it up every year.  Then, my Mom gave him a full scale piece and he really fell in love and it developed into what we have now.  

This is Retroville and is set in the 40's.  I think it's Rob's favorite.  It was a limited series and he has all the pieces except 1.  

We bought this ceramic tree at a garage sale.  It was a fun story where the seller's price was so unreasonably low that Rob offered her double what she was asking and still felt like we'd gotten a steal.  We love the old ceramics class projects.  

My Mom's ceramic tree was white, so when I saw this ornament at JoAnn's, I knew I wanted it as a reminder.  It's been sitting next to my work desk and I've enjoyed looking at it while I was on boring work calls.  

Today is my Dad's 91st birthday.  This is him with his first great-grandchild.  He still lives alone, keeps house, cooks for himself, works in the yard, helps his kids and grandkids and neighbors, drives his tractor around, looking for stuff needs doing and sings in church choir.  We should all be so lucky, right??

Everybody have a great Christmas week!  Enjoy yesterday's traditions, but don't forget to create some new ones for tomorrow.  May your holidays be a time of abundance, especially abundant joy and happiness. 

Lane