Christmas!

What can I say...I have way too much going on.

I'm on "Island Time", which means I can do what I want, when I want. 

(This NEVER works, but I know a lot of people who try to pull it off regardless.)

So here is a christmas recap, and since it was over a week ago, I'll keep it brief:

There was waaaaaay too much food. And we ate it all. (Took us 4 days.)

There were too many desserts. And they're all gone, too.

The pizzeles were the best I've ever made. Finally- crunchy and crisp!

We called this our Hannukah Bush. Thing Two picked out the tree (we groom them on our front lawn, and cut one every year). It was...smaller...than our usual. Just as well; when we went to put it in the house, we couldn't find the stand. After much argument ('tis the season), we realized that the stand broke last year, and we never went off after Christmas to get another. The Big Guy devised this classy system, which worked like a charm, and was very fitting for our Holiday Season this year.

He stuck the tree in a five gallon bait bucket filled with rocks. (I bleached it out first!!)

He even arranged it so the bait company logo faced outward, isn't that thoughtful?

Needless to say, I was horrified.

Tammy laughed so hard I was afraid she was gonna hurt herself.

Wrap a white towel around it, she said. It'll took like snow.

Looked like a small tree stuck in a bait bucket with a towel around it.

Emmie said- wrapping paper! It will blend in with the presents! 

And it did. 

You'd never know, which is the only reason I'm telling you about it. We will be doing this again! We never had to worry about watering the tree; it had gallons of water. We never had to worry about a screw letting go (like last year), and the darn thing falling over because it was held tight by rocks in the bucket.

Worked like a charm!

There were a ton of gifts. 

We really enjoyed Christmas this year, with one exception- which was my own fault (I'll get to that in a minute).

The Big Guy provided lobsters, which were dirt cheap this year. He also provided  mussels from our mooring chain. We thought he'd provide us with scallops as well, but his gear was not quite ready, so we broke down at the last minute and bought some! The kids provided us with clams.

They had to break up ice to find the clam holes. They learned great respect for clammers. (They've only dug in the summer. This was quite different!)

And they were freeeeeezing!

For the first time, I let her into the kitchen to learn to make Lobster Gravy.

I think it's gonna take a few tries.

I hate anyone being in my kitchen when I'm cooking. It lasted about 10 minutes.

As a compromise, I let them frost the cookies.

 

And they did better than I did! I dropped two cookies, frosting side down, onto the floor. They didn't drop ANY!   (Yeah, I ate 'em.)

"You just keep feeding me shellfish, and nobody will get hurt!"

Santa brought a Wii!

But the tv died on Christmas Eve day, so they're playing on a 13-incher from my bedroom.

Such is life!

And what did I do this year, to derail me, at zero hour, when Christmas preparations should have been well underway?

I opened an etsy shop. 

http://www.TheSugarPlumFairy.etsy.com

This has been in the works for some time, but I still wasn't entirely ready. And then it was December! So all is not listed, and the banner is generic, but hey, it's there.

I've been having fun though- check it out!

The truffles are becoming a problem. I was experimenting. 

New rule: I will make these only when ordered, and get them out of my house! If there are extras, they are free! I cannot have them hanging around!!