Learning About Christmas

My sweet 4 year old granddaughter, Taylor, and 2 year old grandson, Logan, took their usual naps on Monday. My daughter took advantage of the time to start decorating for Christmas.  Logan was the first one to wake up.  He's a sweet sensitive little guy.  When my daughter brought him downstairs, he just kept looking around and saying " Oh No, Mama!  What happened?"  He was not content until Taylor woke up and assured him everything was okay.  She, being 4, was very excited to see the decorations so Logan followed her lead.:-)

The weekend before Thanksgiving I participated in a holiday shopping open house.  I , along with several other vendors set up displays of our goods and services.  I got over twice as many orders as last year.  Last  year was my first year and I thought I'd give it another try this year.  It's difficult for me to have goods ready for purchase since almost all of my work is custom and personalized.  I didn't get to sew much the days before Thanksgiving but got to sit down to my machine the day after.  My machine was due for it's annual maintenance check up in October or November.  I was hoping to get through until January.  For a few weeks I've had an occasional time when the thread would knot up on the back of the design and then the machine would stop.  If I re-threaded, it seemed to fix the problem and I could continue sewing.  Monday, that changed.  It would sew a few stitches and then start sounding like it was grinding and knot up  again.  I think the timing is off.  I have no idea how it got off.  The last time my timing was off, it happened when I sewed my finger but I  haven't sewed my finger since then!  I was so frustrated at the end of Monday.  Yesterday morning I called to make an appointment to have my machine serviced.  I take my machine to the closest repair shop, which is an hour away. Lilies of the Field in Easton, MD.  I pay extra for same day service.  My son, has recently started working in Easton, so hopefully , we'll be able to meet for lunch tomorrow.  Thankfully, I started sewing early and have plenty of time to complete my Christmas orders!

Many of my regular readers know that I am a registered nurse.  My last full time job was as a school nurse.  I am still a school nurse, but I do it as a substitute now.  One of our CNA's, Fayetta, has had a rough week.  The home where she grew up and where her parents ( aged 70 +) still live, caught fire Sunday.  Her father wasn't home and her mother is in a wheelchair.  Thankfully, someone pulled her mother out through a window but her mom suffered severe smoke inhalation and is in ICU on a ventilator.  Her dad has many health problems also so Fayetta has not been able to work this week.  Her parents did not have any insurance so this has really hit the family hard. Here is a link to the news video about the fire. http://www.wboc.com/category/174346/main-wboc-video-player?clipId=7997985&topVideoCatNo=109353&autoStart=true If you would like to contribute some financial help, please let me know and I can give you Fayetta's address.  You may e-mail me at nancy@nansnappies.com.

Molasses Gingersnaps and Ornaments

 

Oh my goodness!  Has it really been six weeks since I last wrote a post???  Since blogging isn't my first priority time can slip by me quickly.  My family, job as a substitute school nurse and embroidery usually take precedence over blogging.  When I do finally take the chance to blog, I get so into it, I find myself wondering why I don't make it a point to do this more often!  But then I look and six weeks have flown by.  Oh well, I'll just enjoy it when I can.  I hope you enjoy reading my blogs as much as I enjoy writing them.


Today I have a couple of new treats to share.  One is edible, and the other isn't.  The first is Molasses Gingersnaps.  My father's sister, Audrey, used to make this and I LOVED them.  I've been eating them all of my life and making them for at least 40 years.  I have used various combinations of the shortening.  Sometimes I use 3/4 cups each of Butter flavored Crisco and butter.  You do not want to use 100% butter, and you do not want to use plain Crisco.  You want butter flavored.  When I was a teenager, my dad would provide black strap molasses for me to make the cookies.  I've found molasses that calls itself black strap but it isn't like the nasty stuff my dad was able to get.  I saw nasty because it was REALLY bitter.  But it made the BEST cookies.  The more bitter the molasses, the better the flavor in the cookies. My daughter has been known to eat almost an entire cookie jar in a fairly short period of time!

Printable Version

Aunt Audrey's Molasses Ginger Snaps 1/2 cup  Butter Flavored Crisco 1 cup  butter 2 cups sugar ½ cup  BlackStrap or less sweet molasses such as Grandma's Robust 2 eggs 4 cup  flour ½ tsp  salt 4 tsp  baking soda 2 tsp  cinnamon 2 tsp  ginger 1 Cream shortening, butter, sugar and molasses. Add eggs. Beat well. 2 Add dry ingredients and mix well. 3 Roll into small balls, 3/4" to 1" in diameter. Dip top of ball into sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet - I use parchment paper- about 2" apart. 4 Bake at 350° for approximately 8 minutes. Servings: 108 The second thing I want to share is Christmas ornaments.   I have been stitching lace Christmas ornaments.  I can make them in any color. They measure approximately 3" to 3.5".  They are extremely affordable at $3.50. An added bonus is they are non-breakable! Take a look at the ones I can stitch and see if you'd like one as a gift for a special person.