OMG, Mindy. I love cheesecake. I’ll be right there.
I’m making a chocolate bundt cake and a lemon creamcheese pie tomorrow, plus a few dozen sugar cookies.
None of my goodies have alcohol in them. I think I’ll just have to drink it while I make them! 
So here are my gifts this year!
For my mom, I got a bicycle seat pad, a mug, and a pair of Cardinals (baseball) pajama pants
For my dad, some bicycle gloves, some regular gloves, a measuring cup that pushes up from the bottom like Alton Brown has, and another one of the same style that is small and measures tablespoons/teaspoons.
For one sister, I got a grow-your-own carnivorous plants set, adopted a tortoise for her (along with a cute stuffed tortoise), and got her the cast recording for Miss Saigon.
For the other, a cute box/basket for storage filled with: a nice umbrella, a bunch of hair stuff, hat and gloves and a scarf I made. Also adopted an orangutan for her.
For my best friend, sea monkeys and a sock monkey.
For her parents (who have been very good to me this year), a windchime and for her son, a set of dinosaur magnets (he’s a toddler and loves magnets).
For my other best friend, a specific hat she coveted and some cool socks. For her kids, a geode each and a set of jacks for the girl and a whistle that blows bubbles for the boy.
I’ve been saving for this for a long, long time. yay Christmas! I hope everyone likes their stuff.
Sorry, Tigs, but the hot tub is out here and I need it before my massage… sinks into hot tub with a kitten smile, trains jets onto lower back Oh yeah, that’s the one…
Thanks, Taters, but you had a crap day or two as well, wanna come soak for a while? Hot tubs with snow piled around are the coolest thing ever!
Mork, I think I gained a pound just reading the recipe, dayum!
You look so cute in your Santy costume, Bobbio! Lucky kids who get to sit on your lap… wink
Shoots Morg in the ass with a rubber band How you feel about it now, still think it’s cool? 
I think I’m punchy… :smack:
Thanks for the invite, **Smartie, **but it’s a little far to drive, especially in these conditions. It does sound awfully nice though…
Cripes, I’ve got to get the presents wrapped tonight, but I’m just not feeling the motivation.
Let me get this straight… you’re complaining because, unlike some of us, you don’t have a lot of fat all over your body, including your butt!? :dubious:
… So, how you doin’?
This place remembers you! Hi!! :waves:
Hey, I’ll bring it if you’ll let me watch.
I’ll do the mopping if you let me in on the fun! 
Sorry you seem to be getting the “Grrr” end of the stick so often lately 
Hope next year is better!!
Winter has (well, sort of) arrived here.
As in, a LOUD thunderstorm over night, overcast skies, and occasional downpours (and, natch, flooding. City Governments, you realize winter comes back to haunt you year after year? :rolleyes: )
And daytime tempartures of less than 60 degrees (F). I’m actually wearing a long sleeve shirt today :gasp: :horror:!!
I’m not complaining. Og, FSM and the IPU all know we need the rain!! But I do admit I’d love to take some of your snow off your hands. Just because I’m nice (dammit!) and want you to have less to suffer through. Yeah, that’s the ticket… (OK, I admit it. I love snow, as long as either I’m visiting it, or it’s visiting me. I’m sure I wouldn’t want to live there.)
Considering my target audience was a set of 4 y.o. twin boys, eeeeewwww. I may be a perv, but I don’t perv that way.
That said, Taters, Spicy, Smarty: y’all can come sit in Santa’s lap any time you want. We’ll talk about the first thing that pops up. Santa knows who the naughty girls are… ;)
Mornin’! 'Tis the day of Christmas eve, I’m caffeinating, and we kick off at noon for the company party, which we’ll be having at a rather nice restaurant with some rather good food.
The cheesecakes baked up just fine last night; the top tier (the Bailey’s) kinda cracked on top once it cooled, but I’ve decided to make some cream cheese icing to cover it all up, which should work out rather nicely. The rest turned out well though. I’ll save you a slice or two, ReBo. 
Back to work an’ tryin’ to get a few blog posts done before I head off to the party.
What would be the best way to get your attention?
It’s too cold here to take my pants off, so cross that one off your list.
I hate to disappoint anyone who’s looking for a tale of sickness/blood and guts or personal disaster resulting in homelessness. This entry goes in the book because it involves the fire and rescue stations however tangentially, and is a glaring illustration of why I’d rather roll in the mud with the rednecks that drink brandy and smoke cigars with the hoity-toity.
As mentioned previously, Brassy Deb from the rescue squad was the ringleader in a conspiracy to bring Christmas to one of her neighbor families, who, while working, have been hit hard by the economy, and are spending all of their money to keep their mortgage out of default. Kind of like the situation in the VunderLair…
I’m a sucker for little kids, especially when they’re not my patients, so I volunteered to get the Mayberry VFD Santa suit and play the part. I also contributed a few bucks to the kitty, and found out later that I provided for the stocking stuffers. 
.
The first task of the day was to stop at the fire station on the way home to get the suit. Then I had to stop at the courthouse around the corner to collect a little nugget of information on Sharon the Felonious Housekeeper to use in filing papers in our case against her.
When I walked in, I was hit with a wall of smell that screamed ‘Potluck!’. There were several tables set up outside of the sheriff’s office with goodies, and the usual county employee suspects were milling around. I stopped to BS with a couple, got my information, and started to leave. Billy, the outgoing rescue chief and the present Emergency Management Director, was coming in from the outside. “Bob, you really need to hide your clothes better.” He had seen the Santa suit in the Foomobile.
“It’s nothing to worry about. I flashed him a gang sign before I mugged Santa for his duds.”
Later at home, I tried to put the suit on, and found 2 problems. The first was I could not wear blue jeans underneath the suit and get my legs in the boots, and the second was, get this, fat little ol’ me was too skinny to get the belt to buckle. Problems solved by wearing shorts, and getting pregnant with a rather bulky feather pillow.
I was to meet Deb at her place around 6:30. When I got there, she told me about her niece who was there for Christmas, worried that Santa would not know where she was this year. On went the beard, wig, and hat, and an impromptu appearance was made. Santa was on the way home to the North Pole from the last appearance in Betsytown and had to stop so the niece would be reassured…
We loaded up the Mother Of All Present Piles into the van, and went over to the family. Mom was sort of in on it, but not, and was ultimately surprised. The target crowd were the twin boys Kyle and Cody, and I was clued in on Kyle opening one of Cody’s meager gifts earlier in the day.
The boys were surprised, and the two tweenage sibs both mouthed ‘thank you’ to me when I walked in, because they knew how tight Christmas was. I gave them a lot of ‘Ho Ho Hos’, tickled the boys, and sat for pictures.
Then I asked them if they knew how many reindeer Santa had. The two youngest had no clue, because they couldn’t count yet. Then the sister said “nine”.
“Close, but really ten.” Looks of confusion from the tweens and adults, the twins were otherwise occupied, bouncing off the walls in excitement.
“Let’s go though the list. There’s Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.”
Kyle piped in “And Rudolph!”
“And Rudolph. That makes nine, but I said I have ten.” More looks of puzzlement.
"The tenth reindeer is Olive. You know the Rudolph song. “Olive the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names…’?”
It’s not nice to throw things at Santa.
Mom walked us out, shut the door, and bearhugged Deb and I for saving the day for them. It was my pleasure.
Good morning.
Had a bit of a scare early this morning - Dad woke me up at 4:30 knocking on my bedroom door. He was scared because his right hand and foot had gone numb, or fell asleep or something. Getting up and walking around must have stimulated his circulation, because it went away fairly quickly, and hasn’t come back. I’m keeping an eye on him. He won’t go to the doctor very easily. Right now he’s in the recliner sleeping.
Lots of baking to do today, and I have to clean the guest bathroom, and vacuum the living room. Plus run a couple of errands - I’ll do those last. I want to hang around here for a good while.
Merry Christmas Eve, everybody! And Happy Hannukah, and all the rest of the holidays. Is it Kwanzaa yet?
Blurf. Mornin’.
Glad your dad seems to be okay, Rebo. Sounds like he just slept in a funny position.
Vundie, that’s some seriously bad humour, mister. Just because the pillow around your middle is good padding against little fists doesn’t mean you should incite the wrath of small children.
It snowed again last night, but because today is unseasonably warm, it looks like we’ll be having ourselves a grey, wet, lumpy sort of Christmas this year. Ewwww.
My trusty rainboots and I will venture forth later today to gather provisions for Christmukkah dinner (except for the goose, which was picked up yesterday). I’m not looking forward to that, but if that’s the price I must pay for a tasty dinner, I suppose I’ll suck it up.
Mindy, can has cheesecake? Leftovers is OK. kthx?
MamaTigs, I left my phone at work last night and I don’t know if I’m going up there to get it today or not, so if anything important comes up you can either post here or email me.
Blurf. Another snowstorm tonight. Several inches overnight and more in the morning, could be another foot or so. At least I don’t have to work until 11 tomorrow – yes, I have to work Christmas, but except for digging my car out before I go in I’m fine with that.
Brown Cow Paddy
Pour 1 part Kahlua and 2 parts milk over ice in glass. Top with 1 chocolate truffle. Try to catch the truffle in your teeth.
Dolo, lemon cream cheese? Could you possibly share your recipe once you have a spare moment?
::Eyes SuperSoaker sadly and digs out kevlar underwear::
Bobbio, you’re much taller on the internet than in my head!
Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your gifts, SurrenderD. I really like the adoption idea.
I spent a good deal of time yesterday ogling the cold storage rooms and pantries for the 2 kitchens here. Intel from said reconnoiter indicates dinner tonight will be seared scallops with a thin citrus mayo to start. Main course is looking like pasta with smoked salmon in a cream sauce.
I’m off to start breakfast and say good morning to the doggies. When come back, I try to bring pictures.
It’s Christmas Eve, the mumblelth night of Hanukkah, and the third day after the Winter Solstice. I’m hitting the road in a few hours, but until then I’d like to share my favorite Christmas movie with you all.
Lupita Beats the Devil: Video review (contains Language)
Link to part 1 on YouTube (It’s in nine parts–just keep clicking the top link in the “Related Videos” section for the rest of the film.)
Brought to you by Jose Cuervo!
Tis the Eve of Christmas Day around here. Canadians. :rolleyes:
I’m up (not willingly–I think I have hibernating genes), and facing a busy day of tidying and cooking and celebrating. Oh, and driveway shoveling–we get to chip off the 2 inch layer of ice on the lower drive today (because it has thawed and it’s melting like a mother, but bound to refreeze soon).
Happy Hanukkah Day [sub]mumbleth[/sub]; Happy Kwanzaa (is this a real holiday? I hear about it, but know noone that celebrates it, but if YOU do–make it a good one); Happy Solstice (oops, belated), Happy Pagan Day Can’t Remember the Name Of–Oh, Yule!
Off to take the garbage out. To think what our ancestors lacked in holiday traditions…
The drink sounds nummy!
The pie is super easy.
Lemon Cream Cheese Pie
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 10oz jar Dickenson’s Lemon Curd (in the baking aisle)
2 8oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs lemon zest (you can leave this out, I’ve made it both ways)
Beat all ingredients on medium speed until creamy. Pour into pie crust. Lick the spoon. Chill about 2 hours.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Festive Yule, and I don’t know the rest. Best wishes to all who celebrate the various and sundry holidays.
I’m here at work because I’m all dedicated like that.:rolleyes: Yeah right; it’s just that stuff needs doing, I’m the only one here, and I don’t like stuff hanging over my head.
I plan on taking 59 minutes though. After that, I’ll race home, scoop up the family, and rush to MiLs. She’s probably not gonna be happy as I’m showing up without the green bean casserole. I’m sorry, I just don’t have time to take care of that while I’m at work. Besides, what is the freakin’ deal with these people and green bean casserole? I just don’t get it.
Bobbio, your story brought a little tear to my eye. I well remember my mother struggling around Christmas. She didn’t have much, but did the best she could to give us some kind of Christmas. People like you and Deb put a real sparkle on the holiday.
Sigh…back to the projects at hand.
Morning, all. Man, all these fattening recipes; I feel my butt growing just reading them! It’s not helped, of course, by Papa Tigs bringing home massive quantities of fattening goodies that were forced upon him by folks at work; people want to do stuff for the wounded soldiers, but they get such massive quantities that there’s no way the patients and staff combined could eat it all! Not that I’m complaining; he brought home all kinds of yummy stuff.
It’s grey and gloomy here. Christmas was long-distance for everybody but Papa Tigs and me this year, and we opted not to give ourselves any stuff (well, except for this scarf and hat set I’m knitting for him, but it’s something I’d be doing for him in any case since he needs it), so no packages to open. And you know what? I’m fine with that. We have a roof over our heads, two stable jobs, and lots of fat, dumb, and happy pets. If we can’t be content with what we have, there’s something wrong with us!
Anyway, back to knitting. Shame on you for forgetting your phone, snowbunny! If I need to tell you anything, I’ll let you know here or via email, but nevertheless, shame on you! And be careful digging out from that snow!
ETA: I forgot to say good on yer for doing such a great Santa job, Bobbio. You’re good people, just in case you didn’t know.
What, everyone’s forgetting about Festivus?
Heathens.
Dammit, I have a bad boy reputation to uphold. :mad: