Sorry for the late start, folks. I dozed off writing this last night, woke up to put myself to bed and found the laptop closed and put away, and assumed I’d finished it up.

Anyway, last night my friend Sarah and I took ourselves down to the Kennedy Center to see singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson perform Christmas songs with the National Symphony Orchestra. It was great fun!

The orchestra performed a few songs themselves to start the show and when we came back from intermission. And then the rest were Ingrid performing either holiday tunes or some of her other hits with them.

Apparently, every year, Ingrid puts on a show in New York City that the bartender at my local dive bar assures me is life-changing, so maybe some future Christmas season, I’ll head up for that.

But in the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the songs she performed (and a couple she didn’t, but that I’ve really liked over the years:

Today, we have another post from my mom, about the downtown Christmas shopping experience:

I grew up in southern Connecticut, so, as a kid, we had to travel in from the country to New Haven to shop. It was always a treat when we could go just to shop rather than to pick up needed parts for my father’s garage. And Christmas was just plain special with all the street decorations along and above the streets as well as on the New Haven Green.

There were two special department stores at that time, but the one that was most special was Shartenberg’s. It had an intriguing start when you parked your car. The parking garage adjacent to or part of Shartenberg’s was an automated elevator for you car. (Like the Carvana tv ads.) They would drive it in and up it would go to an empty slot. Mum would stop to let me watch the first couple of times, till she finally said you already know where it’s going! Nonetheless, still fascinating to see in the ’50s.

We would then go in the back door of the store into the lunch room. In those days, you looked to see who was almost done and you would stand behind the stool of that person. We always hoped to find a couple to get two stools, otherwise I would sit and mum would stand behind the person next to me. An added push perhaps? This was normal to do and no one thought twice of it. Imagine that today, someone hovering over your shoulder? Anyway, I would always get jello (red) with whipped cream … always a treat as jello was pure sugar, and never allowed at home.

Then we would go into the main part of the store. This was one of the tallest buildings in New Haven at the time … six floors with each floor devoted to different departments. After what seemed like forever we were allowed to the top floor … in that creaking elevator with the attendant opening and closing the gates till you got to … The Toy Department!!!!!!! (I’m sure the threat of being good was offered up beforehand so mum could get her shopping done.)

The top floor was always the beat up looking one that looked like half was used for storage the rest of the year, but at Christmas it expanded and became a Christmas wonderland. In one section was Santa, just as you see in the old Christmas movies with the lines meandering through the toy aisles. But there were two other special parts that you silently kept trying to get mum to move faster to get to for she still had toys to buy to send home to England. I’m sure there was a lot of jiggling that had nothing to do with the ladies room!!!! They had a “fishing pond” filled with wrapped presents tied with a ring. I’m sure mum had to pay for it, but I never noticed. You had a fishing pole … in those days a stick with a string and hook … and you fished for a present. I have absolutely no memory of any of these prizes, it was the joy of the hunt! But I do have a vague memory of being pushed aside one year by my brother when he wanted what I was after. Hmmmm.

And then … they had the train. I had never seen anything like this before. It didn’t go far, just in an odd meandering shaped oval around a fake ice rink as it was confined to a corner of the floor, but it had a Santa’s helper conducting and the individual cars to sit in. I remember anxiously waiting in line and then handing over my paper ticket. (Must have had one of those tickets for the fishing pond as well!) It didn’t get any better for a little kid. The rest of the year it sat behind a partition of some kind only to come back out every Christmas. You would try to catch of glimpse of it other times of the year, but that made it all the more exciting when you went and it was finally open once again.

Thanks, again, Mum! This sounds like such fun!

This doesn’t seem to be an especially popular year for our Virtual Advent Tour. Maybe we’re all tapped out after nearly two years of pandemic living? Or maybe everyone’s so busy making up for last year that they don’t have time to post? Either way, I remain grateful to my stalwart participants, Bridget, raidergirl3, Rudi, and Karen.

My parents also have stepped into the void. You’ve had some musical posts from my dad in past years, but this is the first time Mum has sent me a post — and with a family recipe I’m unfamiliar with! How exciting! Here, she shares a story of Christmas baking with my grandmother:

Growing up in the 50’s, there was always a homemade dessert at the ready. Store bought desserts weren’t a thing — yet. I really don’t remember why, but I took over much of the baking from my mother at a young age. (Perhaps when she had a prolonged illness and tired easily.) Every weekend a dessert was made for Sunday dinner, often a frosted cake. Grampa did love his sweets! Can’t you just hear him: “How about a nice hunk of…?” [I absolutely can. – sprite]

Come Christmas, Gramma would find a cookie recipe for us to try, as it usually started with both of us. Only a few stood the test of time in my memory bank. Of those, one was a favorite for many years. Oddly, I’ve not made them since becoming an adult. I either became leery of ruining that memory, perhaps if they didn’t live up to my expectations, or were just too sweet … or I’d eat them all. Yeah, that’s probably the one! Maybe it’s time.

Bon Bon Cookies

Mix thoroughly:

1/2 c soft butter (In those days there was only salted butter readily available, so if you decide to use unsalted, perhaps add a pinch of salt.)

3/4 c confectioners sugar (or 1/2 c brown sugar)

1 tbs vanilla

Food coloring if desired

Mix in by hands (This was as written, but today I would mix by spoon, or low speed mixer.):

1 1/2 c sifted flour with

1/8 tsp salt

*if the dough is dry, add 1-2 tbs cream, one at a time till the dough forms.

Take level tbs of dough. Lay in the palm of your hand and wrap around a tsp of mix into a ball.

Suggested mix (or your own favorite):

A square of unsweetened chocolate melted and mixed with 1/2 c shredded coconut. (I believe that is four pieces in their new formulation to equate the older square.)

My go-to: Maraschino cherry.

Note: These cherries must be drained of juice on a paper towel. If too wet, the dough becomes too wet to bake properly — this I found out as a kid when too anxious to get them done … and eaten!

Place one inch apart on ungreased baking sheet

Bake at 350°F till set, but don’t brown, approximately 11-12 minutes. (Neither the time nor temp were written, so this is my guess based on other similar recipes.)

Dip in icing while hot.

Icing

1 cup sifted confectioners sugar
2 tbs cream
1 tsp vanilla
Food coloring if desired, and who doesn’t at Christmas…

Dry on cooling rack.

Thanks, Mum! I’ll let you know if I try making them!

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Welcome to the second week of our Virtual Advent Tour! We’re delighted to have you back!

Rudi at Random Duck offered me an impromptu post today about a traditional dish often served up at holiday gatherings in the Mountain West area where he grew up. Despite the name, the one time he made it, it was delicious!

Want to share a dish you grew up eating or seeing at Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, or Kwanzaa? Sign up to join our tour here!

I’m sitting in our living room with the lights down low. Our tree is replete with colorful lights and sparkly baubles, and I thought for our first Monday of December, I’d share our tree with you.

Most years, Rudi and I go and cut down a tree ourselves. We’ve bought from a school fundraiser and the farmers market before, but that’s the tradition I grew up with, and one we usually enjoy. However, this year we were pressed for time, so I opted to reserve one from an orchard, having been very pleased with the tree I bought from them last year. You could select a tabletop option, 5′-6′, or 7′-8′. I didn’t want to run the risk of getting a tree that was shorter than me, so I opted for the biggest size. We didn’t have to worry about it being too short.

Rudi sawed off those top two branches, and I strung lights around the tree and added our tree topper, a snowflake. My tree has 500 lights. Possibly I could have used another 100, but this is a good number.

Next come the ornaments. You might think that I throw a tree-trimming party so I don’t have to decorate the tree on my own. And while that is true, these days, it often comes down to me decorating the tree while other people sit and chat with me.

Here you can see one of my oldest ornaments, the angel on the horse, and my newest, a volleyball snowman, a gift from one of my teammates, Jennifer. There are also ornaments from former colleagues, a college Secret Santa, and my parents.

This year, my friend Susan brought her kids, and they took care of a gigantic swath of ornaments in the middle of the tree. (My friend Sarah noted that every time they come, they are able to reach higher and higher on the tree.) Holden was particularly pleased with his thought to suspend the bicycle like a real bike, and both he and Caroline commented on how many cat ornaments we own.

We also have a lot of characters from Rankin-Bass productions, particularly Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This Bumble was a favorite find of mine for Rudi when Karen and I were out shopping a couple years ago.

Even with the kids’ help, I ran out of steam decorating yesterday, so Rudi and I finished the task tonight, hanging the last couple dozen ornaments while middle-aged boy band singers crooned holiday tunes to us. (I made that styrofoam ornament in nursery school.)

Last but not least, the tree skirt comes out. I fell in love with this at a Bon-Ton in Connecticut before we moved and still adore it, even though it’s not wide enough to fit around our current tree stand. The tree is in a corner though, so it will only be noticeable when Corey starts playing under it and shifts it.

I think it looks really good this year.

Happy St. Nicholas Day! I hope your shoes were filled with treats when you awoke!

Today’s post is exactly the sort of holiday treat I adore. Raidergirl3 from an adventure in reading has provided us with a colorful recipe to delight all ages. (I may have already fallen down a candy-themed rabbit hole.)

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