So here we are less than three weeks before Christmas, and I am still ordering on line. Not that I am giving a lot of gifts to people, since our family and friends have long since decided we don’t need any more stuff and don’t need to be packing up and standing in line to mail packages. Nevertheless, I do need some last-minute items for cooking and decorating and some small gifts for those whose services I value in my life.  Amazon Prime beats going out to stores, even local ones, considering the traffic and construction all around us here in San Antonio.

     Our little family just returned from spending the Thanksgiving holidays on Cape Cod, thereby revisiting an annual tradition we established years ago while living in Connecticut. It was wonderful; the gods of weather, air travel, and good health smiled on us and we enjoyed what really became a perfect trip. It was our Christmas gift to ourselves, which is a good thing since the shopping days ‘till Christmas this year are considerably abbreviated. But I do have to admit to some holiday rush since I have spent the last week putting away fall decorations before even starting to think about Christmas.

     Part of the challenge is that for a couple years now I have been conscientiously eliminating roughly half of all my seasonal decoration (for each season) as I take them out. Just too much stuff, and too much to arrange, to take care of,  and to put away and store for another year. Honestly, a lot of the decorating for Christmas has become really arduous as we age. This year, for example, the huge four-foot lighted wreath we’ve always mounted high over the garage was put out to the curb for free on a neighborhood marketplace site, first come first serve. Gone in minutes. Gone also are the lighted small trees in the front yard and a big fancy wreath on the front door. Instead, I ordered a lighted wreath from Balsam Hill to match the garland we have over the doors, and a lighted deer to stand sentry on our front entry way. Pretty, but simple.

     But then there is still the matter of the huge, 9 foot artificial tree, ordered two years ago to replace the really, really arduous task of going out and finding a 10-12 foot Noble Fir at a local nursery. We had always had a real tree, and a tall one, our whole lives, but a couple years ago we got the tree stuck in the doorway and had to ask a neighbor to help us get it unstuck and into the house. Once inside, I won’t even talk about the difficulty of getting a tree that size upright and into a sturdy stand. So we gave in to the limitations of age and ordered a lighted artificial Vermont White Spruce from Balsam Hill. It’s beautiful and realistic, but it is not exactly easy to get assembled and upright either. (And by the way, no, I am not being paid to promote Balsam Hill.)

     Now I’m trying to get the indoors decorated bit by bit, dragging out a few storage bins at a time and sorting out the give-aways from the sell-aways. But that effort, too, takes time, as you have to photograph, post and write a description on whatever site, and then be available to either pack and ship to the buyer or to meet and exchange in person. My church is also having a silent auction to raise money and so gathering those items, researching their valuations, and delivering them for the event next month has become yet another little holiday chore, albeit one with good intentions. Later this week, I hope to be done with all the carting and sorting and ready to make my final trip to Goodwill. And then I can start my Christmas baking.

     Though I don’t host dinner parties or huge open houses anymore, I still make some time-honored recipes every year for our little family. The Christmas cookies are a must. I have used a Pillsbury “Make-Ahead Cookie Mix” recipe for over 50 years (from a 1970s booklet). With just a couple additional ingredients to the basic mix, this recipe can be turned into eight dozen of ten  different favorite holiday cookies including decorated sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and those famous peanut blossoms with the Hershey kisses on top. I also make my Mother’s fudge recipe, which again is an easy one using Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed milk and chocolate chips. And then there is always the cherry trifle for Christmas Day. 

     Usually during the holidays, I also make pistachio biscotti and even brioche rolls for Christmas dinner, depending on the entrée. It’s a lot of food for a small family, but tradition is tradition — sort of like midnight Mass and gifts on Christmas Eve. As I do with decorating, I spread all this cooking and baking out over several days too, but this year the days are few — and I’m tired already. 

    And when I get tired, my ho-ho-hos turn bah-humbuggy, so let me get this finished and posted before that happens.