My 2021 Christmas Card

It is, once again, the time of the year where I share my annual Christmas card. (I have shared a number of my cards with you here, here, and here.) This year marked some big changes, one of the biggest was that the lanai that I had built in 2017 (and that you can read about here) was torn down and replaced with a four-season room, now referred to as “The Conservatory.” Suitable, I thought, considering my love of the mystery game “Clue!” coupled with the fact that it is loaded with plants.

 

 I spend every morning out in this room working on various pursuits, basking in the sunshine coming in from being surrounded by walls of windows, and gigantic skylights overhead. For that reason, I knew as soon as it was completed, that it was going to house the Christmas tree this year. I took a photo of it on the evening after Thanksgiving, and thought it suitable for this year’s card. So, without further adieu, here is the card, front, inside, and back, as well as the collaged envelopes in which they traveled.

Merry Christmas to all!

 

Sharing Greetings & Recipes

If you're looking for a unique way to share a recipe with a friend or family member, I thought this seasonal postcard might prove to be inspiring. I made it years ago to send to a number of people who'd requested the same recipe. We were traveling at the time, so I made up about a dozen of these cards and hand-colored them as we made our way to New Haven, Connecticut where we would be living for a month while working on a research grant at Yale. I'd mail each one as it was completed, so sent greetings all along our way. 

All I did was to buy six sheets of oatmeal-colored card stock, and then, using Microsoft Word, made two 4” x 6”"boxes on the document, filling the left portion of each box with my recipe, and the word “POSTCARD” across the top. After printing the document and cutting out the postcards along the lines, I rubber-stamped the bat and “ghost post” (when I mailed them I placed the postcard stamp to the left of this), and witch. I hand-colored the witch using colored pencils and markers, making each different and therefore unique. Then I addressed them and popped them into the mail. It was a fun way to share a recipe and served the dual purpose of also being a seasonal card.

For more recipe card making ideas, you might want to read this post. For a printable version of the recipe, click here.

This post is linked to:

Amaze Me Monday

Metamorphosis Monday 

Cooking & Crafting Monday

Busy Mondays

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

Great Idea Thursday

What To Do Weekend 
Weekend re-Treat

Weekend Blog Hop

Simple Saturdays

Saturday Sparks

Handmade Gift Challenge

My Mother's Recipes

 This is my mother's recipe box. Or, rather, this was my mother's recipe box. It is still very difficult for me to think of her in the past tense. This is the one thing, more than anything else, that I most wanted after she passed away. It is no ordinary recipe box. My father made it, I painted it, and my mother filled it with decades of culinary history. I had considered cleaning it up, and touching up the paint, but thought that I would leave it exactly as it was when it sat on her counter now that it has taken up permanent residence on mine. 

This box was just one of the many craft items that my mother and I made to sell at our annual holiday bazaars, a tradition that began in the seventies and lasted for two decades. We always enjoyed doing crafts. She was the seamstress, I was the stitcher and painter, and for a while, my aunt joined us contributing her extensive designs of dough ornaments. As we became more experienced and mature, so did our offerings. Looking back at the early pictures makes me wonder how we managed to sell anything, much less sell out in the course of mere hours.

Here was are, ca. 1977, l-r me, my mom, my aunt.

Here is an assortment of our handmade items.

 In addition to selling our handmade wares, we spent two days prior to the sale (always held the first weekend in December) baking cookies, candies, cakes, pies, breads and sweet rolls. When I look back on these energetic and productive days, I wonder how we ever did it. 

The secrets to a lot of our sought after baked goods are contained within this box. One day I invited my aunt and cousin over for lunch and to sort through the recipes.  It was like taking a walk back in time as each of us had own our memories of different recipes and how and when the prepared dish had been served. 

I'm going to share both recipes and memories with you here on the blog beginning tomorrow. Tell me about the recipes from your past that have the most meaning for you.

This post is linked to: 

 Mosaic Monday

My Favorite Things
Martha's Favorites
Tablescape Thursday
Good Life Wednesdays

Be Inspired Friday

Show and Tell Friday