Christmas is coming, Christmas is near

[fantasia]

I make it from scratch.

3 1/2 cups chilled whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract

Add heavy cream to mixing bowl, mix starting with low speed, then gradually increase to medium speed until the cream starts getting thicker (the gradual speed progression prevents you from spraying yourself with cream).
When the cream starts to thicken stop the mixer, add in the powdered sugar and then resume mixing again starting with low speed and increase to medium speed up to high speed.
The cream will thicken and start to peak. Stop the mixer and add in the peppermint extract. Mix on high speed until the cream is thick and stiff.
Enjoy!

[Kalta79]

Okay I think I have mint extract still, just need heavy cream, got lots of powdered sugar still from when I was going to go crazy baking last year. I went crazy, but not so much baking

[Anfinwen]

So, Tell Me What You Want For Christmas?
Mostly boring practical things Actually I picked out a lot of my presents myself. My Grandmother and Great Aunt Gave us money to buy whatever, and we gave it all back to them to wrap.
When do you decorate?
As soon as Mom can get away with it. The tree is usually up before Thanksgiving.
Favorite songs?
Impossible to say
Favorite music album?
Tough call, I guess Avalon's "Joy" or Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "The Lost Christmas Eve"
Favorite movies?
"Shop Around the Corner" with Jimmy Stewart. It's sad, funny, romantic and heart-warming. Pt. 1: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18l9pt
Pt. 2: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3hvyxq
Favorite books?
The A. D. Chronicles by Brock and Bodie Thoene. Books 4-6 cover the birth of Jesus and can be read as stand-alones. They are very authentic feeling and can be graphic (I skip parts). They really immerse you in the time period, the hopes and fears, the prophecies and the meaning of what happened even though they are fictionalized.
Favorite tradition?
We always read the Christmas story as a family. At my grandmother's we have a cake for Jesus and sing the "Happy Birthday, Jesus" song. It's a way of making sure we remember the reason.
Favorite foods or recipes?
Chocolate cookies with peppermint melts melted on top like icing, classic cut-out cookies and ginger cookies. My grandmother usually makes an amazing orange marmalade cake from the "Mitford" Cookbook.
Colored or white lights?
White, we like classic.
Real or fake Christmas tree?
Fake
Gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Both actually. We celebrate with on set of grandparents on Christmas Eve, and the other on Christmas Day (that's when we open our gifts to one another too).

[SnowAngel]

Oh, I love peppermint whipped cream. My Dad and older brother aren't really fans of peppermint, so we don't have it very often. Reading this thread had got me really wanting to make some.

Anfinwen, I love Avalon's Joy! It's definitely on my list of favorites, I played it a lot as a kid.

We finally decided on a Raspberry Chocolate Trifle for Christmas dessert. I love experimenting with trifles and trying new combinations. I have made a raspberry chocolate one before and that was a big hit with the whole family. I will be making my favorite buttermilk brownie recipe (has cake-like texture), chocolate ganache, and whipping cream, all three will be layered with raspberries in a green glass dish.

My younger Sis baked more Christmas cookies today, but she wouldn't tell me what they were until they were finished. She made Christmas Stick Cookies with chocolate ganache and mini M&Ms. So yummy and cute.

On Monday, we kind of got an early Christmas gift. A second cousin by marriage (on my Dad's side) sent my family a box of old family photos. So incredibly exciting! There were pictures of my granddad, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents. We only had a few pictures of my granddad (he died before my parents were married) and in the box there are several of him as a boy. Plus we didn't even know if pictures existed of the great grandparents and great-great grandparents. Scarlet and I have been working on our family genealogy this year and this was just so awesome.

SnowAngel

[waggawerewolf27]

So, Tell Me What You Want For Christmas?

To survive Christmas plumbers/electricians/glaziers/doctors/ radiotherapy etc unbeaten and unbowed. Perhaps some news of Silver Chair? Oh yes, it would be nice to see next Christmas as well?

When do you decorate?

We did. And then the plumbers etc arrived, and any decoration bar the tree had to come down again, Christmas or no Christmas.

Favorite songs?

"I'm dreaming of a nice Christmas, even if there won't be any snow,
With church bells ringing, and our congregations singing,
When it isn't a heatwave that makes me glow."

With apologies to Bing Crosby.

A merry Christmas to all, and let us count our blessings that we still have a roof over our heads, decorated or not.

[johobbit]

'Tis interesting and fun to read of different folks' Christmas traditions. I don't have time for a long post now because ... our kids arrive today so we are in the midst of the final prep. All the food is pretty much made (that was my focus this past week) and stored away, the house is clean and very festive-looking (we cut our lovely spruce tree down two weeks ago), and the beds are made up fresh and tidy. Excited!

And we will definitely be having a white Christmas! Snow has fallen a fair bit over the past couple of weeks, with the exception of a couple of days early this past week, but then things rebounded and we're getting more of the beautiful white stuff today. An even larger storm is forecast for tomorrow afternoon, through Christmas Eve and overnight into Christmas Day. Difficult for travelers, but so picturesque and magical-looking otherwise.

Have a special and meaningful Christmas, everyone! Love to think on Emmanuel, God with us!

[SnowAngel]

Our Christmas Day menu is brisket, cheesy potatoes, strawberry jello salad, and green beans with raspberry chocolate trifle for dessert.

I haven't read as many Christmas books this year I was hoping to, but I did read Home, Hearth, and the Holidays by Melody Carlson, The Promise by Michael Card, and I am halfway through Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn. I still hope to read One Shenandoah Winter before Epiphany.

Christmas Eve 2017:
This morning we went to church, then we came home and ate chili for lunch (it's a tradition to have chili on Christmas Eve). After lunch we took a bunch of family pictures, lots of group shots, as many as I took I wish I had taken more.

This afternoon we opened a couple of presents, I baked breakfast and dessert for tomorrow, Mom prepped the cheesy potatoes, the brisket came out of the freezer, and one of my sisters made a jello salad. While I moved pictures from the camera to the hard drive and then copy and resized several to email to family and friends there was a game of Quiddler being played in the dining room.

Our Christmas Eve movie for 2017 is We're No Angels (1955), it's a family favorite. And just hearing everyone else watching it is totally distracting me....

Merry Christmas, everyone!

SnowAngel

[stargazer]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Snow began falling in Seattle this afternoon, bringing a rather unusual white Christmas. The slick roads made getting to Christmas Eve services this evening a bit interesting, but the chance to sing beloved carols with many others was more than worth the effort.

Tomorrow my mother will be joining us for Christmas dinner and gift opening. Should be fun!

[Kalta79]

Went to Christmas program at church this morning, then to the cafe for lunch, and...uh oh...just realized I forgot to clean the litterbox this afternoon. Oh well...maybe that's why I found that one of the four-leggers had gone potty on my bed...bright side, I get to go to bed with sheets/quilt straight from the dryer.

[Movie Aristotle]

Merry Christmas all! So, I got Rhindon for Christmas this year. This was a huge surprise! What did you folks get?

[waggawerewolf27]

We did have a lovely Christmas, with enough to eat and the weather was lovely. Cool, and a little drizzly. The people who visit Sydney specifically to spend Christmas on the beach weren't impressed, though. Some of you are still celebrating Christmas, so I hope you are really enjoying yourselves.

Gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Christmas Day to be sure. After going to church, which we did. Interestingly, the young minister started his sermon by pricing the presents listed in one Christmas song: A partridge in a pear tree. He asked us which of those presents would be the most expensive. Nobody knew. I quibbled that it would be hard to find as many as nine lords a'leaping, as they would all have to be fit enough to leap. Not easy on a walking stick. But the lords a'leaping would cost $7,000 at least. Seven Swans a'swimming, would cost the most, according to the minister, even though Australia has its own variety of swan. Which of course are a protected species, as they also are in UK. The minister said seven swans a'swimming would cost about $70,000. And you would have to be running a zoo or bird sanctuary.

And of course Mary's own gift to the world on Christmas Day, her son Jesus Christ, and the salvation he brought, was priceless.

Favorite movies?

Yesterday afternoon, we watched the Queen's yearly speech, and afterwards, annual Royal Variety Show, though we don't always watch such television.

Boxing Day is the big day for movies in Australia. Star Wars: the last Jedi beckons. Also, a Dr Who special.

[fantasia]

I hope everybody had a great Christmas Day Ours was very nice, but no snow.
I got mostly books and clothes, but I've been having more fun playing with my kids' toys. Yes, I've been sharing

[SnowAngel]

We had a very merry white Christmas. Started the day off with opening stockings, followed by mix berry cream cheese coffee cake and BRCC coffee for breakfast, then everyone scattered to change to open the big presents. My favorite presents were a magenta shawl, berets (I got six! - two black, one each red, purple, pink, and royal blue), snowflake printed flannel sheets, and a red and black dress. I have a Noel pin that looks awesome the blue beret and purple/silver snowflake that looks great on the purple beret, I am still debating which one to wear to church this week.

We played a bunch of games: Scrabble, Canasta, Sequence, Bible Sequence, and Set. We were going to play Bananagrams, but when we couldn't find the it, we played Set instead. Bible Sequence was a Christmas gift for the whole family from the younger siblings; it's a hard game to win. I still like the classic Sequence best, but Bible is nice for a change of pace. Set is a rather loud game at our house, especially when played with Christmas music in the background.

My Mom, sisters, and I enjoyed watching all, but one of Hallmark's new 2017 Christmas movies. Yes, we watched 36 of 37 new Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. I think my favorites were Engaging Father Christmas (sequel to the 2016 release Finding Father Christmas) and Christmas Homecoming. And of course, the When Calls The Heart Christmas special - The Christmas Wishing Tree that aired on Christmas Day, we watched it on the 26th. It tied into the end of season 4 surprisingly well with the events in TCWT taking place 6 months later.

And I finished reading Engaging Father Christmas.

SnowAngel

[SnowAngel]

We took down most of our Christmas decor on the 5th. We changed the decor on the Christmas tree to silver, gold, and blue for January. It's so bright and wintry.

For Epiphany, we didn't do a whole lot. We played a bunch of games, much like on Christmas day. This year we didn't make a special dessert, we had so many sweet things the week before. But it was still a wonderful day complete with chocolate.

SnowAngel