Christmas

Well it is that time of year again, The Christmas Season. I have been thinking lately - wow I sure have a lot of rituals this time of year. I guess you could call them habits or routines also but it all boils down to a lot of extra work and things to do at a normally very busy time.

This is not a very good photo but it does show our Christmas tree. This year I went with a red and white theme. It was the first time I did the entire tree in a theme. The lights are white, angel on top white and all the ornaments are either crystal, white, clear, or red or a combination of both. It turned out really well and I love it!

I also have my Christmas cards mailed. I know you are thinking Christmas cards??? Who does that in this electronic age. Well I do. I love getting cards in the mail. They are always so beautiful and sometimes come with a nice letter from a friend or relative. It gives me joy to write our annual letter. It gives me pause to reflect on our past year and all that we did. I count my blessings I guess.

Baking...Yes I do all the baking I can this time of year. Cookies and candies. The kids love this part of my rituals.I have done one batch of both and have another batch to do yet. In addition to the kids scarfing down many, I give some to neighbors. I also donate to the church cookie bazaar so others get to eat the fruits of my labor.

Shopping - yes I force myself to do this also. People close to me always get presents. It is the season of giving after all. Some people also get the true fruits of my labor some of my canned goods! I hope they enjoy the love that goes into those gifts.

Cooking. I am sure I will cook a large Christmas dinner for family and friends. This entails cooking and cleaning. Not that my house doesn't need a good cleaning but it still adds more to the to-do list.

Here is to a lovely holiday season - no matter what your rituals or yearly to-do. Take a moment to breathe and enjoy a slice of time.

Love to you all.

Canning!

I thought for today's blog I would share some photos of all the hard work I do in my spare time. OK, so it takes up ALL the time that I am not at my day job earning money, or running around with the children... I have to note that hubby has been very helpful in this endeavor so I can't take all the credit here.

Sitting back and looking at these photos makes me think - wow we really do a lot of work to enjoy this tasteful food. We plant, tend, harvest and process it all ourselves.

These are by no means "professional" photos but I do my best. So now sit back and enjoy.

First, we have some pickle relish. I love all the colors in one jar.

 

Here we have a new jar of peaches canned in a honey sauce. Since everyone is yelling about sugar these days and how honey is more natural, I thought I would try a batch or so and see how they turned out. I have yet to taste them but they sure look pretty.

Here we have some canned tomatoes and onions. It is a nice bright red that contrasts well to the previous jars.

 

These are dill pickle slices. I usually do dill refrigerator pickles but we have so many cucumbers this year I had to branch out and can some of them as I ran out of refrigerator space. So picture about 20 jars in my garage refrigerator in addition to all the jars I have in the basement.

 

 

This is peach sauce. It is just like applesauce only you use peaches instead of apples. Can I say Y-U-M in a jar? I have to ration out a large quart jar for dinner so everyone gets a taste. I am sure you could use this in baking also but ours never gets that far. It is a great way to use a lot of peaches at one time which our trees deliver.

This is another one of my pride and joys. This is seedless blackberry jam. I planted some blackberry sticks a few years ago and they have gone wild! They produced a lot of berries this year so with one batch I made this jam.  Isn't the color beautiful?

This last shot is of pickled beets. I know a lot of people do not like beets but I happen to love them, especially pickled. Some years they don't grow well and other years the rabbits eat them so to get enough to can was great. Plus this year we tried beet greens just to eat fresh. They were pretty good and I may do that again next year.

I don't think I could choose which canned product is my favorite. I pretty much love it all or I wouldn't do it.  The next two shots are more an overall view on my basement shelves of the bountiful harvest.  We still have apples to do this year so I will have to squeeze them in somewhere!!!

 

Boy this makes me a bit hungry looking at everything...