Christmas Preparations!

There has been a lot going on around here.  The Christmas Day meal will be at my house, and we have taken the opportunity to get a few things finished.  Like painting the stairwell that I had started several years ago, spokes and all!  Dear One also got out the saw and finished up some trim that had been left unfinished for just about as long!  To help pass the time, I listened to the Hobbit on the Ipad. I will probably never be able to look at that stairwell without thinking of Bilbo Baggins!  While painting and sawing, and nailing and caulking don't usually go in the Christmas list, it was all very necessary, and a great accomplishment.

Cleaning has also been high on the list, deep cleaning down to the corners, I have uncovered a couple of treasures that have been buried for ages.  Like, for example $100 in a Christmas card and a Panera gift card from last Christmas!  The guest room has gotten particular attention since the guests that are due to arrive on Sunday cannot have any fibery goodness in there at all!  No wool, no drum carders, no spinning wheels, no nothing!  All of that has been transferred across the hall into the main studio, and the door closed tight!  There is the small loom on the landing, but I cannot do a thing about it, it won't fit in the studio!  I will dust and run the sweeper in their room again before they arrive.

Now for the fun part, the more Christmas like, kinds of things.  Today, I will take the turkey out of the freezer and pop that bird into the fridge to start defrosting, tomorrow I will do the same to the ham.  There they will wait until the proper time for roasting.  For the turkey it will be Christmas eve after the Church service, it will roast slowly all night and the tantalizing smell will wake me when it is done..  For the ham it will be late Christmas morning.  I will also be doing the mashed potatoes and gravy on the day, all the family is bringing side dishes and desserts to complete the meal.

 Today is also the day I will make all the cookies.  I plan on a double batch of gingerbread girls and boys, and a double batch of sugar cookies.  We will decorate them tomorrow to help celebrate a granddaughters birthday!  (That family was the first of the travelers to make it home.)  Today is my Birthday, (she missed it by about 3 hours!)  We will celebrate it by meeting for lunch with those that are already in town.  That will be 5 grandchildren, 2 of my children and their spouses, along with Dear One and myself, and who knows who else we can include in the fun!

 This afternoon then, I am going to make up the Cinnamon Rolls, ahead of time, for Christmas morning.  I will let the dough rise, form the rolls and then cover them really good and pop them in the freezer.  I will bring them out of the deep freeze Christmas Eve around the same time I put the turkey in the oven.  They should defrost and have risen just enough to be popped into the oven as the turkey comes out.

We will make our way to my Daughters house by 9am, for breakfast and presents.  Then the rest of the day until 4:30pm we will be in the final prep for the big extended family meal!  I am expecting roughly 35 folks to show up on my doorstep!  That is a lot of  mashed potatoes and gravy!

But that is getting a little ahead of myself, today, all I need to think about is the cookie dough and cinnamon rolls, then lunch with my kids, then get out the cookie cutters, and fire up the oven, here we go!

Until next time, Merry Christmas to all, Tina