Wrapping

All done.
I had fun with bows this year.

Candied Citrus Peel

I squeezed a few pieces of citrus fruit this morning, then I suddenly decided to candy the peels. This is a recipe I used for Greta's wedding cupcakes, and it turns out tender and delicious. It uses lots of sugar!

More Christmas Decorating

Last night we threw a graduation party for Greta, and I finished decorating for Christmas just in time. This is a display of glass and gold and green in the dining room.

Stars and snow in an apothecary jar.

Gold birds under glass, with touches of red beyond.

Swedish Vignette

In honor of the Professor's roots, I create a Swedish Christmas display every December. Recently, I have been building it on top of a fairly high glass door cabinet in our dining room. This year, we had to turn the cabinet around, with the glass against the wall, to keep little hands from banging on (and breaking) the glass.

I start with a base of greens: usually a pine garland swirled around the top of the cabinet. Then I add a holly garland, twisting it in and out of the pine. Next I poke in a few picks with berries or apples, and a few small red ornaments. What I'm aiming for is bits of bright red to add color contrast.

Then I add my painted Swedish wood pieces which I have been collecting for 30 years. The most important piece is the red Dala horse. Some of my small pieces are a Santa Lucia girl, a lady in traditional Swedish costume, and little tomten.

In the back I stand my large Advent candelabra as well as my set of his and her costumed candelabras.The two stacked wood apples are part of a set of five nesting apples. They are not Swedish - they are Chinese! But they fit perfectly in color and style with the Swedish things. I got them many years ago in San Francisco's China Town, before I was even old enough to go to school.

Oh, I almost forgot: underneath it all is a Swedish runner with a tomten design.

I'm linking to Rhoda's vignette party. Go join the fun!

Decorating for Christmas

I somehow ended up on the church decorations committee this year. With our music director AND our decorations gal leaving this year, everyone was at a loss as to how to go about decorating the church. One brave elder stepped forward to sort of direct things, and two other ladies and I stepped forward to actually do the work.

First we spent several hours digging through the attic to find what was available. Then we spent another afternoon evaluating all the bits and pieces and deciding what we could use and what we wouldn't use. Then we gave ourselves the day last Saturday to get it all out and up.

Here are some of the decorations we did.

The atrium wall

The Narthex table:

In the sanctuary:

8 arched windows:

Between the windows:

In front:

A hard-to-decorate side wall:

It only took 11 hours to finish the job.

Free in November

Here is what we were able to get free this month. Listed next to each item is the retail price:
9 spools Reach dental floss: $17.31
2 flu vaccines: $60
14 cans Carnation evap milk: $16.66
6 bags Vigo rice: $7.74
8 bags Mahatma rice: $9.52
Birds Eye veggies: $2.27
8 boxes Muellers pasta: $10.32
Levolor top down/bottom up pleated shade: $985
46" Samsung LCD hi def TV: $1300
19" round glass table topper: $30
Haircut for the Professor: $18
Martha Stewart Living subscription: $59.88
2 little gold birds (Hallmark): $10
2 rolls gift wrap: $6
2 gift decorations: $4

Total: $2,536.70

A Late Season Estate Sale

We hit an Estate Sale on Friday and I got this pan half off since they were getting ready to close for the day.

Then I found it listed on the Nordicware site: it's a $36 pan!