I don't do resolutions

I don't do resolutions.

Nope, not my thing. I like to make lists for shopping, because this old brain just can't remember everything anymore, but I hate resolutions. I just don't see the point. Life gets in the way, and then my resolutions either become moot, or never accomplished.

My philosophy is that if it's worth doing, I'll start to make it a habit without giving myself the pain of guilt for not completing a resolution.

I also don't do diets. Again, I don't see the point. I don't even weigh myself all that often. Only at the doctor's or at my parent's house, because they seem to have a really good accurate scale, but since I'm only there about 2 times a year and I might hit the doctor's once, maybe twice, a year, I don't really keep running tabs on where the weight is.

My diet philosophy is that I try to limit my sweet intake, so we don't have sweets in the house very often. (This season is an exception) I also allow myself some vices, caffeine is one of them. Instead of weight, I gauge by how my clothes (especially the ones that are as old as my son) fit. If the clothes are 9 years old and still fit, well I must be doing something right. My final determination is to boost my exercise level, which really is what I think I need. I think a stronger body that doesn't get winded chasing after kids or biking with them is really the main goal. In addition, I would hope it pulls my stress level down. That last one is more difficult and I've been fighting myself to get going since last spring. So I'll try to do better, but I am not going to make it a resolution either. Because sleep might become more important at some point.

I have some goals and objectives for the upcoming year, but they don't need a resolution, because I started them before the new year and intend to finish things soon.

So the rest of you enjoy your resolutions, and I will just enjoy the new year. As much as I can with the stinking snow that keeps coming. Someone put in a call to Mother Nature and tell her we've had enough.

New Year's Eve 1999

In lieu of Monday night memory, here's one for Tuesday.

Remember all the craziness about Y2K? Yeah, we sort of remember it, too.

I was due with Wild Child #1 at the end of November 1999.

Nope, no kid.

Waited another week and I was still working.

Nope, no kid.

Took that next week off, because surely he'd be coming anytime soon.

Nope, no kid.

Went in for inducement (do not recommend that) and 22 hours later, yes, finally a bouncing baby boy. Except he was in the hospital 2 extra days longer than me. (Long story short, he didn't pee, and then he did and I scared the poor boy half to death when I was so excited that he did pee. Oh, and don't recommend baby staying in the hospital longer than you, very hard on the nerves and the hormones).

Needless to say, I started off not having had decent sleep, and a newborn continues to make that hard. I know, all the mothers have been there and done that.

Needless to say, new parents are NOT going to go out partying on New Year's Eve when they have a two week old. Nor do they stay up for New Year's Eve. Are you kidding? We tried. We put a puzzle together. But we turned in about 9:30 pm.

The last thing I said to my husband was, "I guess we'll find out about this Y2k when he wakes up for his next feeding."

So, about 2 am, little Wild Child #1 wakes up, and Mr. Wild stumbles to his room to change his diaper (he's good like that). Lo and behold, the light comes on in the baby's room (Mr. Wild didn't want to grope around in the dark for stuff). I haul myself to the living room to nurse the tyke (don't ask, I just couldn't get the hang of nursing lying down at that point, new mom, remember?). Lo and behold, the light goes on there.

Me to Mr. Wild, "Guess that Y2k stuff didn't happen."

Hunh. Such a let down. But kind of funny all the fuss that was made over nothing. Except that I will never forget that particular New Year's Eve, because of sweet little #1, who turned 9 this year!

Christmas is about....

My wise 5 year old daughter:

"Christmas is not about eating stuff, it's about loving people." (giving mommy a hug)
"Red is for heart and green is for I love you!"
"And I'm loving you...and Daddy. Even #1."

(Ok, yeah, I know she said his name, but he's #1 here)

["After you're done with this Mommy, can I please go to Pixie Hollow.com?"]

Then I have ham, lemon apple salad, green bean casseroles and sweet potato casserole to put together.

Merry Christmas to all!

Monday Night Memory--Christmas

Ok, I'm going to make a confession. I think I'm old enough, that I can handle the razzing. I do not want anyone to make fun of me.

I believed in Santa until seventh grade.

I see some jaws dropping.

But you know what? I am really glad I did. Because I had 12 years of magic that maybe many kids did not get. I feel sorry for those youngsters who were spoiled by 1st or 2nd grade.

Do you remember the magic? Coming downstairs, or coming to the living room and seeing all those "other" presents. The ones HE brought. That magic man in the red suit, how did he do it? Because you cannot imagine that your parents could be so sneaky and secretive. I mean, when did they go shopping? They spent all their time with you!

Leaving the cookies and milk out for Santa and they were gone, eaten, drunk up! How did that happen? Because you cannot imagine that your parents would be so conniving as to eat and drink what you left.

It's very difficult for me to remember one specific Christmas before I was in seventh grade. But I do remember the awe I felt when I came down the stairs and just saw so many more presents around the tree than there had been the night before. I remember the bulging stockings we had, which were sitting on the living room chairs or sofas, because we didn't have a fireplace. We always got an apple, an orange, and nuts. I never worried that we didn't have a fireplace and chimney per se. It never seemed to be an issue. Santa was magic, so I'm sure he could adapt with the times. I remember thinking how much more sparkling the tree looked, even in the daylight without the tree's lights on. It was like the magic had cast its spell on the whole room and it was full of joy and anticipation.

When in sixth grade, I had friends talking to me about Santa, questioning it, talking about parents pushing on them to see if they were awake. I thought perhaps it wasn't Santa, but maybe there was still some kind of magic taking care of things. That was ok by me.

Seventh grade, we were in a new town. I was in a new school, a junior high. Maybe high time I let go of the fantasy. But the clincher was that Santa brought be a brand new sweatsuit, with the school name and mascot logo on it. Red and gold. It was awesome and I knew, that clearly, it was from my mom and dad. Dad was the assistant principal at this junior high. For some reason, I couldn't believe that Santa had done it. It made more sense that my dad had picked it up from school. I don't ever remember telling my parents I didn't believe anymore. The next year, I got to be Santa, by making my very little sister a bracelet for her new "Santa-brought" Cabbage Patch Kid doll. I really felt special, because I got to be "behind the magic." I knew it was also special not to spoil it for my brother and sister. I knew what they might miss if they found out so soon.

I suppose that's how the magic gets to live on. It is a grand, huge lie we tell our children every year. But the looks on their faces, and getting to remember the magic through those looks, why give it up now? For me, I'm going to try my hardest to let my kids have the magic as long as they can. Because once we're grown up, it is hard to find the magic in our own lives.

Though with children, you can still have the chance to feel it every day.

And every year, at this time of year, you know the big man is filling up his pack and sleigh and getting ready to put some magic in your house.

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy. "
....

"No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, maybe 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the hearts of children."


--Taken from New York Sun editorial, September 20, 1897 by Francis. P. Church

Productivity

So you know about the woes of our household items kicking it just before Christmas. Nice.

Well, today was about productivity. Wild Child #2 was invited to a birthday party in the town down the road that we go for major shopping (i.e. they have the Super Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Old Navy, Sears, Hobby Lobby, Menards, a mall, you get the picture). We needed to buy the birthday child a present (Ouch, how'd I let that one slip?). We needed a new snow blower, because, shock, more snow on the way. We needed to finalize our Christmas shoppping (Santa was low on presents for the children). Finally, we needed to get this all done before 2:30 pm so Mr. Wild could get back for a D&D game (yeah, I know, don't knock it, he's a stay-at-home-dad and needs some boy time away from kids).

10:52 am All family members in the car, Wild Child 2 in her nice Christmas dress for the party.

11:08 am Hit the outskirts of said town. The traffic was fierce.

11:13 am Make it to the Super Walmart. Mr. Wild drops me and #2 off at the door.

11:16 am We head straight for the Barbies, got one picked out, started walking to the gift bags. Meet Mr. Wild and #1 near the My Little Ponies. #2 gets slightly sidetracked. Mr. Wild takes
#1 over tothe snow blowers to see what they had, we head to the gift bags.

11:25 am #2 and I have gift wrap that costs as much as the present, pay for it in line.

11:33 am On the road to the party place, Mr. Wild thinks we're going to be early.

11:45 am Traffic is pretty bad, still haven't gotten halfway.

11:55 am Arrive at party place. Drop #2 off.

12:00 pm Stop in Sears.

12:10 pm Have the snow blower picked out. I head to car to go to Target, leaving Mr. Wild to pay for blower and he and #1 to get lunch in the mall.

12:13 pm Make it to Target. Instead of looking for close parking, pick some a little farther away, so I am parked in no time, next to a cart corral.

1:07 pm All the Christmas shopping is done! Seriously. Whew! I head to check out.

1:13 pm Hardly a line at check out. But there's a line at the Starbucks. I was going to get a beverage, and I hadn't had lunch, but the lady that wasn't really in line, but jumped ahead of me, ordered 4 drinks and I didn't want to wait. Figured I could just get a coke and food at the mall. I was pretty hungry.

1:30 pm Make it to the mall, despite the traffic (frontage roads were a good choice). Walk down to the food court, but nothing appealed to me and I didn't have any cash.

1:40 pm Walk over to the party place and sit with Mr. Wild and #1 while #2 is watching presents unwrapped and plays a few more games.

1:45 pm Mr. Wild goes to pick up the snow blower.

1:55 pm Finally get #2 to go pick out prizes. Mr. Wild runs in and says he only can be parked there 5 minutes. Takes #1 with him.

2:00 pm #2 decides she needs to go to the bathroom, so we are delayed gettting the coat on.

2:13 pm By now I have a blazing headache from lack of food and caffeine (yes, I am addicted)

2:25 pm Drive by Mickey D's to get me a Happy Meal and diet coke. Oh, sweet relief!

2:42 pm Make it back to our town with everything.

Mr. Wild sets up the new snow blower in anticipation of tomorrow and puts the oil in, so he's ready. He was a little later than he meant to get to the game, but we did well.

Old fashioned living

What an interesting day. I say that with a touch of sarcasm. Snowfall of at least 12 inches hit us last night. A week ago, the snowblower started having problems and has been in the shop. Yesterday, the shop told us there was nothing we could do to fix it, well, not unless we wanted to spend $250 on the repair. We decided we may as well get a new one.

No snow blower 2 days ago was fine. The snow was light and fluffy and not too deep. Aside from getting up at 6 am to help Mr. Wild shovel (which really wasn't too much shoveling, we just pushed the snow out of the way for the most part), it wasn't that bad.

I knew today would be worse. Mr. Wild was a bit impatient wanting to get out and get rid of the snow. It was about lunch time when he could borrow a neighbor's snow blower. This time it was 12" of heavier snow and it was a lot of work for him even with the snow blower. More snow on Sunday, and we have to now think about shelling out over 300 bucks for a new one.

However, to top it all off, the water heater is also on the fritz. Water from the hot tap was ice cold Wednesday night when I tried to give the kids a bath. We just skipped the baths. Mr. Wild flipped the breaker switch Wednesday night, and when I got up Thursday, thank God, there was hot water. I could shower for work and gave the kids a bath Thursday night. We were going to call the plumber on Thursday, before that worked, because we knew Friday would be a bad snow storm clean up and it would make it harder for people to get here. We thought we were in the clear, however, and that we'd be fine.

Friday morning, I tried to wash my hands with hot water. No hot water. Argh. No shower for me. No hot water for dishes. No hot water for washing hands. Grrrr... So, Mr. Wild called the plumber, who said he'd call back. He didn't call back until 7:00 pm! In the meantime, I heated water on the stove so I could do dishes, because I couldn't do anything else in the kitchen with the mess all over the counter. I was going to make cookies, but didn't really have the room with dirty dishes and so forth.

I talked to one of my friends during the day and she joked that we were just wanting to live in the past with the hot water on the stove and the shoveling things ourselves. Which, in normal circumstances, might be funny, because we're both history museum professionals. But today, really not very funny. Mr. Wild thought he would be handy and it was worth a try. He tried to remove and change the elements in the water heater (which is electric). There's so much sediment in the bottom, that he can't get an element out. He had the whole house water shut down, so we weren't flushing toilets while he ran to the hardware store. And I needed to finish dinner and couldn't even wash the vegetable I wanted to chop up. I was so desperate, that I grabbed some ice cubes and microwaved them to try to get even a little water. It worked, but we are both frustrated with the running around and no results.

So, I'm here, waiting for my hot water to boil on the stove, so I can at least take a maybe warm bath, Mr. Wild is worn out from shoveling and snow blowing. As he said at dinner, he likes his modern conveniences and doesn't like having to go without. I have to agree. I may like the historical past, it may be fun to visit, but bring me back to my modern convenient present anytime.

Grrr...I'm going to check and see if my water is starting to boil.

What I learned from a nine year old boys' slumber party...

First, do not let your husband talk you into inviting more boys than you are really prepared to handle. I was going to have my son only invite 4 boys, so we'd have 5 at most. But Mr. Wild said, "We should invite more, because you know some are not going to come." Then, about 5 days before the party, all boys had RSVP'd that they could come. Gulp, that makes 8! In the end it was 7, but it was still a lot.

Second, tell the parents you are actually going to feed their sons even with the party starting at 6 pm. We had three, maybe four, out of the seven who had actually already eaten. So the three large pizzas were not necessary. Lots of leftover pizza in our house.

Third, it's very hard to keep the attention of boys at ages 8 and 9. Trying to get them to be quiet to listen to how to play a game or even to sit still for a Harry Potter movie. It was too bad a couple of them couldn't stay in one place, because my son really wanted to sit and watch the movie all the way through. It made the movie experience not so good for the rest of them.

Fourth, you never know what you're going to get, behavior-wise. There were two boys I would have been much happier if they had never showed up. And these boys aren't what I would think of as ordinary boys, they were all of varying degrees of higher intelligence. I guess I assumed they would be better behaved. I suppose I should understand more that "boys will be boys" and that it takes all kinds of parents that make all kinds of boys. I hope my son isn't someone that parents want to send home when he goes to parties.

Fifth, boys can sleep on the floor in the winter in sleeping bags and be comfortable enough. Mr. Wild was all worried about the cold and them sleeping on the floor. He was afraid it would be too cold. No dice, they were fine. They actually did all hunker down and sleep by 10:30 pm. I'm sure if it had been girls they would have stayed up talking longer.

Sixth, homemade waffles, let alone pumpkin waffles, will impress today's crowd of pre-made toaster waffle kids. This is a sad statement on our society when at least three boys specifically made statements to me that they had never had waffles made from scratch. I thank my friend, MS, for getting me into more made from scratch things like waffles and scones and dinner in general. At least my kids will remember making waffles in a real waffle iron and maybe will do it with their kids, too. I will say, the boys were very nice in complimenting me on the waffles.

"These waffles are great Mrs. Wild!"

That was a pretty good end to the event.




P.S.-Did I mention we had a Harry Potter theme? Mr. Wild's handy work on the tokens for the game Aurors and Death Eaters found here. For Herbology class we made "dirt" sundaes, "repotting" our screaming mandrakes.

Soup for a winter day

Baby, it's cold outside. So warm up with this. Our new favorite soup. Mr. Wild loves making this soup (he says it's easy) and it tastes oh, so good! In addition, one out of two children will like it (well, at least in our house). If you are vegetarian, you could use vegetable broth instead.

We found it when someone at work gave me leeks and carrots from the garden. I looked up potato leek soup on the internet and this is what I found.

Potato Leek Soup

2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 lb leeks, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
5 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. milk
4T butter
salt and pepper

Optional:
6T cream or half and half
1/2 c. shredded cheddar or chives
Crumbed bacon

Melt the butter over med heat in large saucepan. Add the potatoes, leeks, onion, celery, and carrots. Cover and cook 5-7 mins. stirring frequently.

Add chicken stock, milk, and salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender and potatoes are soft.

Remove 1/2 the vegetables from the pot and let cool for 15 min while soup on the stove is kept at just warm. Put the cooled vegetables in blender and puree until smooth. Add back to pot, stir, and reheat.

You can swirl in 1T of cream and sprinkle with cheddar, chives, and/or bacon. Serve with crusty bread.

Snow Day!

Even I get a snow day today. To celebrate, I made pumpkin waffles. I am not attempting to drive the 22 miles to work in this snow, so I have to take a vacation day, but that's okay. I guess I will have to clean up though, too.

I am feeling more zen about the snow. I was not ready for it at that end of November and the first couple of snows in December. After last year's super heavy snow and last spring's floods, this winter is already not looking promising. We get to feeling cooped up and overwhelmed by so much snow and it's hard to feel excited about it like we did when we were kids. At some point I have to dump the kids out in the snow today though, or we will all go crazy.

As Mr. Wild said, we can put up the tree. Yes, we have an artificial one. I can't see shelling out the money for cutting a perfectly fine live tree that was growing so nicely where it was, just to put it in my house decorate it and then toss it out unloved in January. And the shelling out the money every year, just seems ridiculous. So our artificial is just fine.

But poor Mr. Wild is out trying to fix the snow blower. Not good on a day like today. It seems he's gummed up the carburetor with gas that was stored for a year and has learned he cannot use gas that's been around that long.

The kids are in a TV coma right now. I think they were playing, but now it's constant TV. I'm not too bothered, they rarely have time for it after school and after dinner.

Last night I made popcorn. We used to have an air popper, but at some point I misplaced it, or it got lost, or we decided to sell it because all we made was microwave popcorn for a while. But lately, I prefer popping my own and have been doing it in our huge frying pan with a little oil, but I really think I need to get a decent popper. I would rather not make microwave, because popping it myself, I know exactly what oil is on my corn and what fats were used. Plus, it just tastes better.

Maybe at some point today I can curl up with a book and a cup of tea. Speaking of which, I am out of decent British tea and had to settle for crappy American. Oh, well.

Damn crafty!

Really, I do have some talents. At one time, I think I had singing and dancing talents, but there's not much call for that as an adult if you don't make a career of it. No, my talent is sewing. I do lots of different kinds and also wish I had time to do others. Lately my work on my talent has consisted of making my kids' Halloween costumes every year. I think I did an especially great job with them this year.

Wild Child #1--no introductions needed

Wild Child #2--Cowgirl (look at those boots! I did not make those)

This stems from the fact that in the past I have made historical clothing of various shapes and sizes for various people.

If I had more time and money and inclination, I would probably work on quilts. But, in the meantime, if a fabric store has a sale or clearance, I pick up things here and there and think I will work on them. Case in point, two Raggedy Reverse Applique pillows I bought thinking it would go with my sister's decor for her new baby. This new baby, well, she was born nearly two years ago. I decided since baby #2 was on the way, maybe I better get these long forgotten presents done for baby #1.

Here's how it went.
Fabrics chosen were purple, green and orange, based on the recommendation of the kit. The back was a fun print with flowers that exactly matched what I was doing on the front.


In case you're wondering, applique is when you sew some fabric on the front of something (like a quilt) and then cut away the back from it so it doesn't get bulky. Reverse means I'm cutting away the front fabric to reveal the under fabric. So the layers are orange on the bottom, green in the middle and the top of the pillow (background for the flower) is purple.

I traced the pattern of the flower on some see through fabric that I could rip away after sewing it down over all three layers.


You can sort of see the flower pattern before I pinned it, and then you can see the sewing on top of all four layers.




The next step is to cut away the see through fabric and then carefully cut only the layers you need to reveal the underneath layer. Green was the middle layer and orange was at the bottom. The cutting, tracing the outline, cutting away the pattern and sewing the front to back only took me three hours.

However, the next step was what made it a long arduous process.

The final step is to clip the edges like a fringe and then throw it in the washing machine to make the edges ravel. Now for me, I washed the fabrics before starting and they raveled in the machine in their first wash. However, once it was sewn all together, it was hard to get them to ravel like I wanted them to. I think I washed and dried them about five times.

Which is why there's no final picture, because I washing the pillow cases up to the last minute before we drove to my brother's to see him and his girlfriend, my sister and her family, and my mom and dad. I also did not document the cute fish pillow done the same way. But, in the end, I was satisfied with the results and my niece loved laying on them anyway.

Oh, finally!

For the last two or three months I have been thinking about getting my hair cut. I'm not delaying because I don't want to, but I wanted a much better cut than I used to get and something different. I think I was also waiting for my last color to grow out. But if you were to ask any of my friends, the last few weeks I've been going crazy over what my hair is not doing. But I've put it off, because the last 2 out of 3 times I got a cut it did not go so well and wasn't really the look I wanted. Plus working full time makes it really hard to get an appointment in. I guess I'm just a bit gun shy.

So, finally! I called a place and I got an appointment for this Saturday. I've already bought one of those hair magazines and combed (no pun intended! seriously) through it for a look. I told the lady that I needed something new and I had a picture to bring in. She set aside an hour for me, so I am expecting them to really listen and then give it a good try. I am so excited, and when I see my sister and the rest of my family on Sunday, it will all be done!

I am soooo in need of this cut!

Techno deprived

After spending four days at my parents' house, where the computer access is dial up and I just didn't want to spend the time waiting, I got back home and realized how disconnected I felt from the world around me. I hadn't checked my gmail, or our home email, or my Facebook or done any blogging. Sad but true that I feel disconnected.

So, in the scramble on Sunday morning to get ready to go shopping with the girls, I felt the strong urge to check all of those at once. What is the connection and why do I care so much?

Email I use to even communicate with my friends across town. Seems silly, I could just pick up the phone, but if its a conversation that I can get answers too any time, it seems easier to email and let my friends answer when they have the time. Rather than taking 30-60 minutes on the phone to gossip and chat. They have kids, I have kids, it seems to be more convenient. So I have to see what everyone was up to while I was sans computer. Then I was updated for conversations in person as we shopped til we dropped later in the day. Not much from family, because I spent the holiday with most of them, or we called and all talked with speaker phone.

Facebook has become a lot more fun since many of my high school classmates have discovered it. A bit strange, but I know I'm a gossip and want to be in the know. But also nice to see everyone with their kids (or not) and where they are in the world. Many are in places I'm surprised to find people at (or not) and others stayed in our home state. I have also enjoyed Facebook because far flung cousins have found it and will post pictures of their sweet little children, whom I have never seen in person.

Then the blog. I hadn't come up with anything good lately, hence less writing, but after Thanksgiving, I had some more ideas to share. Besides that, having a blog also allows you to follow and catch up on other blogs. I particularly enjoy the frosting catastrophes at Cake Wrecks and the person social commentary at Sweet Juniper. It was fun to catch up after the weekend.

It's strange how you can get sucked into this. I think I need to check Facebook now. It's been over two days.

Thanksgiving Stuffing--Monday Memory

Leave it to the Americans to create a holiday that is solely about feasting. I really regret it when I eat so much that my stomach hurts. But when you make certain foods only once or twice a year, it is so hard to moderate your intake.

Thanksgiving is all about tradition, as is Christmas. I find it interesting that each generation creates its own traditions. It is also the time to tell stories about family. The older I get, the more interested I get in the generations before. You'd think this wouldn't be hard, considering I'm into history, but it helps when you get to see photographs of the earlier generations and get to compare. Family resemblance is so amazing. Especially when you compare the photos of youth of each generation. It can be so shocking to see your brother, sister or cousin's face staring at you from the photo of your great grandmother or your grandfather.

Then there's the food. What midwest holiday meal wouldn't be complete without a Jello "salad?" You know the kind, orange jello with mandarin oranges, or orange jello with carrots and pineapple, lime jello cottage cheese salad, lime jello coleslaw salad, orange fluff, you get the picture. So, we did have jello with cranberries and a bunch of other yummy chopped up flavors, but we were conspicuously missing the lemon apple salad that I know is a recipe of my maternal grandmother's (though, she could have gotten it from a magazine). It includes lemon jello, apples, walnuts, and celery, mayonaise and marshmallows (what jello salad doesn't throw in marshmallows?). I can see some of you cringing and I was surprised when I found out all the ingredients, but it is one of my favorites. It was on the menu the next day, but I missed having it with the turkey. The cranberry jello salad is excellent and good with turkey, but still.

Our Thanksgiving dinner also revolved around a discussion of the merits of different kinds of stuffing. If you didn't know there could be so many kinds of stuffing, you should look it up sometime (oh, no, wait, check this out). My brother's (and also my parents' and sister's) favorite is a kind we make in a crock pot (slow cooker). I didn't know that it was a recipe out of a magazine from some time after my parents were no longer going to their parents' for Thanksgiving. I knew it wasn't my paternal grandmother's recipe, because I seem to remember rice in hers and cooking in one of those large throw away aluminum pans in the oven. But I didn't know it was not related to previous generations at all, until this year. Which was kind of funny to me, because it is not Thanksgiving or Christmas without generous helpings of it. My brother was all for it and my parents made extra so he could have some to take home. I, too, really like that stuffing. It has mushrooms, onions, celery, bread cubes, lots of seasonings and chicken broth. It is very soft stuffing. Ok, fine, it is mushy stuffing, but, oh, so good! My husband is not so keen on the mushrooms, nor the mushiness.

The characteristics of stuffing were mulled over as we asked my brother and his girlfriend what kind of stuffing they had at the two dinners they had the day before. My brother essentially said it wasn't as good as what we have. Mr. Wild put in his two cents and sang the praises of stuffing that MS made a year ago, I think, which was more firm and included cranberries. It was lovely stuffing, but it won't bring up the cosy feeling I get when I have the stuffing in the crock pot. Still, I have to get the recipe. Maybe it will be a new family tradition.

I wonder why I don't make these special dishes more often. I enjoy them, they are very tasty, yet I save them for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Ah well, 24 more days until I get stuffed again.