Merry Christmas from Yankee-Belle!

It's crunch-time.

Or kick-back time.

I aim for the last week before Christmas to be quiet and prayerful, joyous and good.

I fail, utterly because I always think I can do one thing more.

 Me and 'Lijah showing off twin aprons Mom found at a garage sale this summer! Chic-on-a-dime, LOL!

 Dave and 'Lijah cracking eggs for the chocolate chip/peanut butter chip cookies they made... Dave's apron was made by my friend Becky Prophet, daughter-in-law Lacey's amazing mother. She made 8 aprons for us, in different styles. What a blessing she is!

 Yes, I keep my sugar in a garbage can!  It holds a twenty-five pound bag of sugar and keeps ants at bay... but not small children. :)

The Safety Board would fine us for letting kids bake on chairs.... silly safety board! What's a broken arm among friends?

 And here's the flour container, laugh out loud for real! Dave is modeling how strong it is... yes, it's an Igloo liquid container but holds a twenty pound sack of bread flour from Sam's Club and keeps out bugs... beetles, gray moths, etc. That's important in our hot (if short) summers. And durable, too, as modeled by Dave! (This is little Dave, not to be confused with my husband who is big Dave although neither one of us is very big... we are the runts of both litters!)

Not as cool as Edna, this is the Kitchen Aid that my beloved mothers at daycare gave me last year...

This baby (and its trusty still-working predecessor) are at work daily with my little crew.

The Chocolate Chip cookie dough. Dave wanted to make sure everyone saw it.

Sneak peak at Dave's dad, my son Matt... Note that he's searching for food.... He'd just run 10 miles and got back in time to shower and head to the Christmas train show at a great garden center near here.

But food was clutch to a successful afternoon!

So we're busy like everyone else, but that's okay. It all gets done, no one dies and we have a great time.

Most of the recipes I'm using this weekend are already on the blog.  We're making Ree Drummond's mother's apple dumplings that are now a family and crowd-pleasing favorite:  RECIPE HERE

We're having the stuffed mushrooms that were such a hit at Thanksgiving, and so simple. With a food processor, this stuffing takes minutes to make and my family devoured these babies...

For Christmas Eve, Dave's family comes to celebrate with us. Everybody brings something. I love that!

For our family celebration on Sunday, I do the cooking.... and then we're sending one family on the Polar Express train ride as part of our Make-a-Memory Day.

So we have Make-a-Memory Days and Bake-a-Memory Days because who needs more toys, right?

Then on Christmas, we have a small group this year because some are heading to other places. So that day will be easy: Mass in the morning,  Steak on the grill in the snow, baked potatoes, veggies, more mushrooms, pie and we might even do something we've never done before: Go to a movie. Les Mis opens that day... Or The Hobbit, maybe?

Don't know, we'll see how the day progresses! From my heart and house to yours, I wish you the peace, blessings and tidings of this holy season...

A baby, born in a manger.

Simple.

Christmas.

Keep a Simple Christmas.

:)

God bless you!

Ruthy (The Yank)