READING: Dante's Divina Commedia
COOKING THROUGH: Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), we are on vacation until January 7th; Baking: From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Real Butterscotch Pudding (and yes there is Butter AND Scotch in it) on page 386.
FAV NEW FIND: Okay, I splurged...and right before Christmas, too...isn't there some sort of rule about that...oh, well, I was at Sur La you-know-where yesterday, getting a gift for someone else, and guess what was on the shelf next to it...a Kugelhopf pan! Only ONE, so really, I HAD to get it because I have been looking all over for one. Sometimes substitutes are just never the same...it was meant to be, just sitting there waiting for me...it just needed the right timing to be mine. Perfect things are worth the wait. So it's now sitting on my shelf waiting for me to make the next Kugelhopf for Christmas morning.
FAV THING TODAY: Wrapping presents...it's kinda fun, isn't it? Who doesn't love getting a wrapped package now and again, right? Donate something to those less fortunate...it will be a gift for yourself and you will feel really good about it. And wrap it up nicely!
GOING TO: Try to finish the Christmas shopping, do a little baking, fine-tune the Christmas Eve menu, watch ball games on the television, go to choir concerts, various holiday activities.
PRAYING FOR: Patience...Understanding...Compassion...Acceptance...I think I need more of all of these, feel free to join me in prayer or add your own.
PHOTO OF THE DAY: The Little Boys' Train under the Christmas tree in the living room before the tree was decorated...Mark's Grandma Sieckmann's crocheted tree skirt always makes an appearance under one or another of the trees as it was the last thing she made before she passed away in 1992 at the age of 92...I treasure having it from year to year. The train is making its appearance after a few years absence due to the tendency of the Two Terrible Tibbies who think that it is a whole lotta fun to kill the train. This year, although they have been giving it the eye, they have left it pretty much alone, deciding instead to kidnap various citizens and denizens of Bethlehem from the Nativity under another tree. So far, all victims have gone unharmed, just been transported to various relocations. We round them up at day's end and tote them back to their homes. Hmmm...I just noticed that the logs from the train log car are MIA...suppose those looked a little too much like sticks for Tibbies to resist absconding with them...need to go on a seek and search mission for those today. Have a great weekend!