Christmas Eve

I know everyone is rushing around with last minute shopping, cooking, baking and all the other little last minute things that need to be done. Strangely I find myself without anything really pressing to do. I did all my Christmas baking yesterday and I made enough cookies to satisfy the sweet tooths coming for dinner tonight, but not enough to linger around the house finally coming to rest on my hips. I made two Christmas cookies yesterday. I made the family favorite Russian Teacakes. Now I am a firm believer that you have to use all butter for these cookies (any Christmas cookie for that matter) and the nuts have to be finely chopped walnuts, and yes they must be rolled twice in the powdered sugar. I mean after all it is Christmas!

The next cookie is one I haven't made since my children were very small (it has been about 15 years)and let me tell you if you have RA (rheumatoid arthritis) like I do it is not easy to make these. This is the same recipe my mom made when I was little. I always loved the Candy Cane cookie probably because even as a small child I appreciated the work that went into making them. Again I use all butter, but here I subtract the vanilla flavoring and I do not use peppermint candy. I do not lightly grease a cookie sheet before baking I use parchment. and I sprinkle my sanding sugar on before they go in the oven.

My son let me off the hook of spending all day cooking an elaborate Christmas Eve dinner this year. He and his wonderful girlfriend (whom I truly adore) have her extensive family to visit so this year we are celebrating Christmas Eve...how did I get out of spending all day in the kitchen you may ask...I simply asked " Do you want me to cook a big dinner?" The answer I got was "No can we have pizza?" Turns out we can...Thank you Domino's Pizza for being open and for tirelessly working to serve the public. Your tip is forthcoming. So tonight we will eat drink and be merry.

Now do not think for one minute that Christmas dinner has been completely derailed. I am cooking for the bf and I tomorrow night and yes it will be delicious Prime Rib, potatoes and a veggie or two. I will make a dessert but it will be on a smaller scale, and after a nap to let the food digest (lol) we will be heading out to go see a movie. I may even do a breakfast after we get back from the family tradition of going out to get coffee.

I am feeling very fortunate to have the rest of the week off, that in a sense, is paid thanks to my Christmas bonus. Now if the weather would at least clear up I need to put some miles on my bike to work off some of the holiday weight gain. Nollaig Shona Daoibh