The End
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, which for the Christian calendar closes the Christmas season.
Not everyone closes their season on this date. Many shut 'er down right after the 25th. Christmas trees have been sitting at the end of driveways, awaiting garbage collection, for over a week. Slowly you notice the dimming of the holiday lights, always a source of sadness for me in this gloomy darkness of what has been a grey, slushy, muddy, brown winter. The stores turned everything over on the 26th and now the pinks, reds and whites of Valentine's Day brighten the aisles.
Being the fan of the Christmas season that I am, I start early--mid-November this year--and will begin the dismantling today. Tomorrow I will pull the plugs on the outdoor lights. We will bring the fake deer gracing the front lawn into the storage shed. The planters will remain until the medium holding the decor in place melts, probably late March. The Christmas dishes will go back into the cabinets and I'll once again notice the chips on the everyday dishes for about one or two wash cycles, then that will fade into non-importance.
Actually, the Christmas season ended for me a couple days with this:
Yes, the consumption of the final Fannie May Mint Meltaways.
This tradition dates back to my childhood, when, if I remember correctly, my mother would frequently receive a box of Fannie May candies as a Christmas gift. The assortment, naturally, contained the dreaded nougats and a couple of those chocolate covered jellied thingys. But, oh. The Pixies (commonly known as turtles) and the Mint Meltaways. Better yet, when Fannie May acceded to consumer demand and began boxing just Pixies and just Mint Meltaways--an entire box of deliciousness!
Fannie May is not a brand commonly sold in Minnesota so it is a particular treat when I find the Mint Meltaways at the local grocery store. No regard is given to the price; the box is slipped with great delight into the grocery cart and then its contents parceled out during the holiday season so it might last as long as possible.
On Thursday, I ate the last two Mint Meltaways.
And on that note, the Christmas Season officially ends.
Cooking:
We made a couple crock pot concoctions this week, including this one from the New York Times.
I'm going to add in here, I have limited success with getting into recipes. Sometimes the web site allows you access; sometimes it wants you to subscribe, which, as readers know, I refuse to do just on the principle of the thing which truly makes no sense but there it is. Because it is being ornery today, I'm only providing the link to the recipe.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019699-slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-soup-with-lemon-rice-and-dill
Not everyone closes their season on this date. Many shut 'er down right after the 25th. Christmas trees have been sitting at the end of driveways, awaiting garbage collection, for over a week. Slowly you notice the dimming of the holiday lights, always a source of sadness for me in this gloomy darkness of what has been a grey, slushy, muddy, brown winter. The stores turned everything over on the 26th and now the pinks, reds and whites of Valentine's Day brighten the aisles.
Being the fan of the Christmas season that I am, I start early--mid-November this year--and will begin the dismantling today. Tomorrow I will pull the plugs on the outdoor lights. We will bring the fake deer gracing the front lawn into the storage shed. The planters will remain until the medium holding the decor in place melts, probably late March. The Christmas dishes will go back into the cabinets and I'll once again notice the chips on the everyday dishes for about one or two wash cycles, then that will fade into non-importance.
Actually, the Christmas season ended for me a couple days with this:
Yes, the consumption of the final Fannie May Mint Meltaways.
This tradition dates back to my childhood, when, if I remember correctly, my mother would frequently receive a box of Fannie May candies as a Christmas gift. The assortment, naturally, contained the dreaded nougats and a couple of those chocolate covered jellied thingys. But, oh. The Pixies (commonly known as turtles) and the Mint Meltaways. Better yet, when Fannie May acceded to consumer demand and began boxing just Pixies and just Mint Meltaways--an entire box of deliciousness!
Fannie May is not a brand commonly sold in Minnesota so it is a particular treat when I find the Mint Meltaways at the local grocery store. No regard is given to the price; the box is slipped with great delight into the grocery cart and then its contents parceled out during the holiday season so it might last as long as possible.
On Thursday, I ate the last two Mint Meltaways.
And on that note, the Christmas Season officially ends.
Cooking:
We made a couple crock pot concoctions this week, including this one from the New York Times.
I'm going to add in here, I have limited success with getting into recipes. Sometimes the web site allows you access; sometimes it wants you to subscribe, which, as readers know, I refuse to do just on the principle of the thing which truly makes no sense but there it is. Because it is being ornery today, I'm only providing the link to the recipe.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019699-slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-soup-with-lemon-rice-and-dill
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