Happy New Year's Eve!

Hello, everybody!! Mary Jane here wishing you a VERY happy New Year's Eve!

If you haven't claimed your prizes, please be sure to contact us by our blogs or facebook pages so we can get those to you. :)

If you have a party planned but still don't know what to cook, check out our list of delicious appetizers, warm and filling easy recipes and melt-in-your-mouth delightful easy desserts!

Also, be sure to stop by Seekerville tonight for their annual New Year's Eve blowout! Lots of fun book chats and (of course) giveaways. Yours truly will be there around (counting backwards an checking time zones) 2PM Pacific Time so come on by and tell me what YOU do to beat discouragement!

I hope to see you there, and may your New Year's Day be peaceful and bright!

Christmas Eve Simmering Potpourri and Other Traditions

Jan here, with a post full of Christmas traditions, because what is Christmas without traditions? 

When my husband and I celebrated our first Christmas together thirty-four years ago, we had to merge strong traditions from both sides of extended family.

We inherited his family's creche, and stuck with my family's tradition of opening presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve.

And we started a few of our own traditions that we're handing down to our children. 

Of course, as our children form their own homes with loved ones, they'll sort through the family traditions and start their own. That's the way it's supposed to work, right?

One tradition we started several years ago is a Christmas Tea on Christmas Eve. After church, whoever wants to meets at our house for spiced cider, little sandwiches with meat or cheese spreads, spanokopita (recipe here), Black Forest Ham pinwheels (recipe here), and other Christmas goodies.

We chat a little bit, but the main event of the evening is a game. It was dominoes one year, Carcassonne another. Sometimes it's Settlers of Cataan. It's always a fun (and highly competitive!) time!

Wynter is waiting for her share!

And in the background is the heavenly scent of spices and fruit in a simmering potpourri.

Simmering Potpourri

Ingredients:

1/2 bag fresh cranberries

1 apple

1/2 orange

3 or 4 cinnamon sticks

1 Tablespoon whole cloves

Cut up the apple and orange (go ahead and eat the second half!)...

...and put everything in a pot with a couple quarts of water. I like to use my little one gallon crockpot, but you can use a pot on the stove, too.

Heat, covered, until the water gets steamy and the cranberries get soft. Then reduce the temperature, remove the lid, and let the Christmas scent make its way through your home.

I hope you enjoy your Christmas Eve as much as we do! What are your plans for the festive night?

And it wouldn't be the Twelve Days of Christmas Treats without a giveaway, would it?

Comment today for an opportunity to win a signed copy of "Mattie's Pledge"!

Here's a little bit about the story: 

Mattie Schrock is no stranger to uprooting her life. Even as her father relocated her family from one Amish community to the next, she always managed to find a footing in their new homes. Now as the Schrock family plans to move west from Somerset County to a fledgling Amish settlement in Indiana, she looks forward to connecting with old friends who will be joining them from another Pennsylvania community—friends like Jacob Yoder, who has always held a special place in her heart.

Since Mattie last saw Jacob, they’ve both grown into different people with different dreams. Jacob yearns to settle down, but Mattie can’t help but dream of what may lie over the western horizon. When a handsome Englisher tempts her to leave the Amish behind to search for adventure in the West, will her pledge to Jacob be the anchor that holds her secure?

Tender, poignant, and gentle, Mattie’s Pledge offers readers a glimpse into Amish life in the 1840s—and into the yearning heart of a character they’ll not soon forget.

Pinterest style Christmas Table Topper tutorial for under $10 and Stained Glass Window Cookies-- with new giveaway and WINNERS!!

Hello everybody! Mary Jane here with an easy peasy Christmas table top tutorial for UNDER TEN DOLLARS, a recipe for delicious Christmas cookies, a giveaway AND winners!! *whew* That's a mouthful! Good thing I'm typing...

                               

First of all, we have a kitty ornament thief!! We saw him stealing ornaments off the tree and found his stash! Rude.

                                               

We have had the most AMAZING snowfall the last week. It's so beautiful!

                                          

Oh, teens...

 Just walking to the neighbor's house is so beautiful.
                                          
My daughter went out to cut greenery. She looks like something out of a fairy tale.

"Your sword, my liege!"

                               
But of course, with teens, it devolved into this.

 We went sledding on the property where I grew up. It was sunset-- well, it was three o'clock but it was basically sunset.

So, first of all, the table topper. I don't know about you but I LOVE fresh greenery around the house. It's absolutely a must at Christmas. We always have an Advent wreath but at Christmas, we like to have a display during our big family dinner.

                                   

This is so, so, so easy. All you need is a pair of scissors, some evergreen bushes, five white pillar candles from the dollar store, a few fake poinsettia blooms (also from dollar store) and some ribbon (ALSO from dollar store- see how cheap an easy that is?) All in all, it cost about ten dollars! Look at this gorgeousness!

 Ha! Love my little guy's expression here. "Mom, stop taking my picture!"

                                

The paper punch snowflakes are a wonderful touch but if you don't have the paper punch (I got it at Walmart, Martha Stewart brand), then you can cut some little snowflakes out of paper... or skip that part. 

                                      

Lay out the candles first. I set them on upside down ramekins or bowls to make sure they were higher than the greenery. Then I gently placed the greenery around it. I put a few folded towels down on the table to keep the branches from scratching the finish because it's a very old family table from the early 1900s.

                                                  

I put in a silver snowflake ribbon and had another ready, but it just didn't look right to me.

                                                            

 You're welcome to put the ribbon on and it might look perfect just like that, but I decided to take it off.

                                              

 Here it is, all finished. Total cost? $10 of Dollar Store materials! I love Pinterest. It made it really so easy to find a look I wanted for the table. I just browsed through the pictures until I found one that I liked. And now you can see how to make your own!

                               

Thrift store candle holders for .50 and that awesome paper punch plus some mod podge = some pretty votives for my kitchen! I'm all about the teal right now.These keep me company when I set up to work at the counter in the middle of the night. 

                          

Have you ever put out luminaria? We use paper bags, votive candles inside, and line our walkway. It's a delightful way to welcome people to the house! (I turned off the outside light for this picture. Otherwise they really WOULD need the luminaria.)

So, on to the stained glass cookie recipe!!

                                                 

What you see there is 15 cups of flour, 12 eggs, 4 1/2 cups of butter, 6 cups of sugar, 3 tsp vanilla, 3 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder. 

Edna was watching with bated breath. She had never seen so many ingredients put in one bowl. 

Boris handled it like a champ.... except for one small incident. Apparently, he is ticklish. I had just put in the 12 eggs, the 4 1/2 cups melted butter and the 6 cups of sugar. I started him up, and thought it was a bit too high so I felt around his ribs for the little lever... He started to twitch and giggle, and I somehow pushed it all the way to the right.

Eggs, butter, sugar.... EVERYWHERE. Boris has power, no doubt about it. It took us 20 minutes to clean it all up. My daughter and I were laughing at how far we found globs of goo. A whole egg yolk was on the opposite side of the kitchen! Ok, once we changed, we started on the cookies...

 Stained glass window cookies are made by cutting out a regular cookie, then making another cut out inside of the first. Break hard candy like Life Savers or Jolly Ranchers and fill the hole. Bake as normal at 350F for 8-10 minutes, on a cookie sheet with tin foil.

When you take them from the oven, let cool on the counter for a few minutes. Then put them either in the freezer or leave them on the counter for ten minutes. Since we only have two cookies sheets, I put them in the freezer for 3 minutes or so to save time.

 OK, so now for this week's giveaway!

I'm offering one paper copy of Season of Hope

And one copy of Good Housekeeping's The Great Christmas Cookie Swap cookbook! 

Now for the WINNERS from last weeks Twelve Days of Christmas Treats!!

* drum roll *


Marilyn R. is the winner from Mindy's post! She wins the THREE mini recipe books, an inspiring Christmas book, and a woman's journal.  Congratulations, Marilyn R!

Debbie Rhoades is the winner from Jan's post. She wins a SET of Sherry Gore books, a cookbook AND a memoir! Congratulations, Debbie!

Jennifer Hibdon and Karen Varrichio are the winners from Ruthy's post. They BOTH win an ebook copy of Ruthy's new book, Silent Night, Star-Lit Night. Congratulations Jennifer and Karen! 

Lisa Hudson is the winner of a copy of Cate's Christmas book, A Winter in Hiding. Congratulations, Lisa !

Deana Dick is the winner of my Cane River Romance series boxed set

And Gretchen Garrison is the winner of the Taste of Home recipe book!

Be sure to stop by my facebook author pages at Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael, or my website at The Things That Last!

I want to wish you all the merriest of Christmases! I read this quote the other day and thought it was just lovely. May the peace of the Christ child be with you all. 

“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans--and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused--and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.”  ― Sigrid Undset

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Grandma's Peanut Butter Fudge

♫ On the second day of Christmas Treats,
                                ♫ my true love made for me... ♫

As Mary Jane told you in her post yesterday, we're celebrating Christmas at the Cafe with Twelve Days of Christmas Treats and Giveaways!!! Merry Christmas to us all!

In case you miss Mary Jane's post, be sure to check it out HERE.

Today I'm sharing an idea that I shamelessly stole from Ruthy. Every year, she does a "Make-and-Bake-a-Memory" day with her grandchildren. (And in case you missed this year's beautiful post, check it out HERE.)

I love her idea of making memories with those sweet grandchildren. Isn't that just the best idea?

One problem: I don't know if you noticed, but we're in wedding mode in our family (our daughter's and son-in-law's wedding was June 2016 and our oldest son and his fiancee have a February 2017 wedding planned), not grandchildren mode.

YET.

But I decided to steal Ruthy's idea anyway, because it's never too early to start, is it?

I invited the girls in our family (my daughter, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, and the middle son's girlfriend) to the first annual "Drexler Family Bake a Memory Day." We had a blast!

We made cookies, fudge, Christmas candy....

Half-way through the day, we were glad we had kept the number of projects small. It's a LOT of work to bake all those cookies!

But by the time the day was over, we had filled all of our containers with Christmas treats.

The recipe I'm going to share with you is one that I make every year, my Grandma's Peanut Butter Fudge.

Okay, okay. I have a confession to make. This isn't Grandma's Fudge. Her recipe is from the Great Depression era, and lacks.... um.... richness.

I learned a lot from Grandma.

1) She could get more pies out of a batch of piecrust than was strictly legal, rolling the dough so thin it was nearly transparent.

2) She knew how to stretch leftovers to get three meals where anyone else would get two.

3) She knew how to lay out pattern pieces to use every inch of fabric when she made a dress.

Grandma (standing in the center) with her sisters and mother, 1964.

But when it comes to fudge...sorry, Grandma, but I had to fool with your recipe.

Even though I have changed this recipe enough to be unrecognizable, I still call it Grandma's. :)

Grandma's Peanut Butter Fudge

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 5-oz can evaporated milk
1 7-oz jar marshmallow cream
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy - your choice)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lightly grease a 9" x 9" baking dish and set aside. Instead, you can line it with aluminum foil, like Mindy showed us in her fudge post last week. You can see how she did it HERE.

Heat sugar, butter, milk and marshmallow cream in a heavy 3-quart saucepan over medium heat until the mixture comes to a full boil, stirring constantly.

And yes, you read that right. In this recipe, the marshmallow cream goes in the first step, not the last.

Once the mixture comes to a full boil, continue cooking and stirring for five minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat.

Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract, stirring until smooth and creamy.

Pour the fudge into the prepared dish. Cool, then cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Fudge and Chocolate Fudge...yum!

And now it's time for the GIVEAWAY!!!

As I hope you know, I write Amish stories.

(By the way, my two 2016 releases would make a great Christmas present for someone on your list!)


What are your earliest fudge-making memories?

Nothing says Spring like Lilac Jelly !

Happy weekend, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have an interesting recipe for you. I've been cooking all month since I only have one deadline left. Although, I had a hard time choosing what to bring to the cafe, Edna helped me decide.

The lilacs are in bloom!

Did you know there are over 60 varieties of lilacs?

We have our half an acre of a backyard ringed with lilacs and there are four different varieties. My favorite are these double blooms.

So, to make lilac jelly we must have lilacs! You'll need 2 cups of packed blossoms. This means stripping the flowers from the bushes and picking off the green stems.

I doubled my recipe, but you'll need a package of Sure-Jell.

Rise your lilac blossoms in cold water.

For every 2 cups of packed lilacs, add 2 1/2 cups of BOILING WATER.

At this point I'm thinking this is going to be a big batch! 

Weigh down the lilacs with a plate...

And let it sit overnight or for 8 hours. The water around the lilacs will start to turn brown. Don't worry, this is natural.

Edna had a wonderful time with this recipe. She said it all reminded her of one of her favorite poems.

Sometimes - Sheenagh Pugh

Sometimes things don't go, after all,
from bad to worse.  Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss, sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen:  may it happen for you.

(And in case anyone thinks Miss Sheenagh Pugh is going to sue me for using this... here's her response to whether or not we can use her poem... And I should have left her name off, but Edna made me keep it. Sheenagh can come and discuss it with Edna.)

Of course, we have lilac here and not muscadel (those little grape hyacinth), but indeed, this spring is one of these "sometimes"!

OK, put away the poetry and strain out the blossoms.

Hmmmmm.... The kids are look at this and shaking their heads. 

For every two cups of liquid, add 1/4 cup lemon juice. 

Add  1/2 tsp butter, and one box of pectin to a heavy-bottomed pan.

Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add 4 cups of sugar. Bring back to a boil.

Remove from heat and skim foam. 

Let the liquid cool a bit and then add to clean jars.  They can be sealed with a ten minute water bath. (Put the jars in a pot half filled with water, and bring to a simmer, letting it boil for ten minutes.)

Letting them cool. I really do like how this color came out. I was a little worried by that brown muck in the measuring cup.

I did find some odd bits in the jelly, like insects trapped in amber, but I think it adds to the *ahem* charm of the product.

  Here is Edna, teaching "Sometimes" to the lilac jelly jars. We're going to send them out into the world with that little poem printed on a card, and tied with a raffia ribbon. Because, "sometimes our best efforts do not go amiss" and we wish it for you!

 Happy spring, all! We'll leave you with a picture of the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede. We were the ground crew for one of the pilots and even though we had to get up at FOUR IN THE MORNING, it was a wonderful experience.

 I just saw the sun rise!

 Almost all the brothers...

 Balloons getting ready for passengers.

 Almost... up....

 First in flight!

 Goodbye, balloon!

 Someone is sneaking up on us!

 Isabel wore two sweaters and a coat, thinking it would be cold. She had no idea she would be standing in front of the FIRE.

 Another launches from behind the trees.

 Our pilot, Ingrid, needed some human sandbags.

 Ana is ready to take a nap and it's only 6 AM!

 Little dude hated the sound of the burners. And there were a lot of burners.

 Lots of rainbows!

 The inside of the Liberty Bell. 

 Kids squishing the air out of the pocket, now that the balloon is wrapped back up and inside.

Ingrid taught Jacob the Daisy Chain knot and he's been practicing ever since.

 And then we were part of the Night Glow exhibit. Not early in the morning, but late at night.

 At dusk, all the balloons are fired up.

 All at once, like a race! Up, up, up!!

 This was ours. Great pilot, he was a hoot. And again, we were human sandbags to weigh down the balloon while the pilots made the balloons glow in unison with the music the played through the speakers.

 I went back to the sidelines for a bit and took a few pictures. There were about 15 balloons and they were beautiful at night. Thousands of people came to cheer them on. It was like the Fourth of July... but no fireworks.

 It gets hot right under the burners. But if you get out, it was chilly. Cold, hot, cold, hot.

Here's our pilot telling some story we can't really hear...

And the best part was our friend Mindy was here for a visit, all the way from Savage, Montana! Talk about togetherness time. "Hey, wanna come use your body weight to hold down a giant balloon while having your hair singed by propane flames?" And she said yes, of course, because she's cool like that.

One more thing! In honor of the paperback release of Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits NEXT MONTH, I'm giving away a Jane Austen/ Regency style bonnet on my blog. You know you want it! Edna has one in powder blue and it's quite fetching.