I woke up with no Christmas obligations until 2pm, meaning I had a lovely morning all to myself.
My friend Claire met me for a walk though Tower Grove Park.
I needed to make marshmallows to package with some hot chocolate mix I was giving as gifts.
I needed to make something for myself to eat for breakfast.
Marshmallows proved more of an adventure than I was prepared for. I made them years ago and what I remember is that when I added hot liquid sugar to cold gelatin in the mixer there was an explosion of white mess for a minute, and then marshmallows were made. That’s not exactly what happened here. I used Martha Stewart’s marshmallow recipe, and while the result I got is indeed a marshmallow, I don’t think I would use this again. I feel somewhere along the way I needed more water or less gelatin. They are tougher than I would like.
Hmmm...not easy to get marshmallow out of whisk beater.
They do include my new obsession! Vanilla bean paste so you can see seed specks!
Marshmallows!
My kitchen is covered in powdered sugar.
Buttermilk nutmeg scones for breakfast - with real nutmeg
Have you used real nutmeg before? It’s beautiful on the inside, it has a swirly pattern. And I had eggnog for breakfast with my scone with more fresh nutmeg grated on top of that.
Nutmeg
After all of this I watched a bit of the Disney Christmas parade. Then I turned on Lifetime for bad Lifetime Christmas movies. Guilty pleasure. Then it was off to grandma’s for Christmas, part 3.
Today I did take a few pictures of what my place looks like at Christmas time. I’ll change my table setting up in a couple of days to get ready for a couple of friends coming over on New Year’s Eve. I love having my table set throughout the year, but especially at Christmas.
Chargers, Christmas China and mismatched glasses
Place cards, sort of.
Years ago my grandmother got me these ornament place card holders, which I love. I rarely have parties where place cards are required. I was in Paper Source one year and saw 25 cards with holiday words on them, designed to be used in a scrapbook. They were perfect! So, now my table is set for “celebrate”, “peace”, “magic”, “generosity” and such.
This year the only Christmas tree I put up was the artificial white tree I bought years ago to be the Disney Tree. I was hesitant to put up a real tree because of Oliver the kitten. I don’t care that much if he destroyed the $30 Wal-Mart tree I bought years ago. Which, consequently, he has. Artificial tree limbs do not take the weight of a growing kitten.
how many Cinderella references can you find in this picture alone?
I only put non breakable ornaments on it. It’s not the prettiest tree I’ve ever had, but it’s functional and has plenty of Disney character. I didn’t get out my heirloom ornaments either. Just a few of the toy like Disney ones.
..some of my favorite word ornaments...
And there you have it – Christmas is over. I’m going to spend today monitoring Quinn, who came home last night, and watching the final 2 Harry Potter movies! My dear friend and former roommate Meg sent me one of the best Christmas presents this year – all 8 Harry Potter movies and some chocolate frogs!
Harry Potter year!
I’m so happy to be wrapping up the holidays and 2011. 2012 has such exciting prospects!
Must go make hot chocolate to watch movies. And dunk one of my marshmallows in it.
