Wordless Wednesday - Busy Holiday Stuffing

Phew! the race is on to get Christmas baking wrapped up - literally, and to get packed. Pray I'll keep my cool - I am STRESSED! I'm glad my kids are big helps! I don't know why I decided to make caramel popcorn this year. I am so tired of popcorn with all the boyscout popcorn we sold.

Shock

I am in shock. I called Phillips Garden Center to check on the landscaping plans we are having drawn up for our back yard. The sweet lady, Michelle, who was working on them, was tragically killed in a car accident on Saturday on Hwy 78. It was in the newspaper this weekend. She has a young son and a daughter a little older than Cameron. Another death of a young woman. It has made me stop and think. I plan on savoring the little things and making each hug last a little longer.

Trainers and their diets

Funny story - we have a new trainer. He came to the Christmas party yet he had worked for us maybe four hours on Friday, his first day. At dinner he passed up the appetizers before the meal. We cajoled him to partake of the strawberry butter and bread yet he still declined and Mark asked him about his diet. It's the typical trainer diet; a little more extreme and not as much protein as we would have thought. Talking eating habits is a topic of interest to trainers, so no, my husband was not out of place asking this (to those of you not in fitness circles.

You can imagine my surprise when he was at the dessert bar and turned around with SIX brownies on his plate. After I picked my mouth up off the floor, I asked him if he wanted any toppings on all those brownies - oh where were my manners? I really did say ALL. No, plain was fine. He doesn't do dairy! I was once again tickled when I saw him later with TWO thick pieces of pound cake. Once again plain (to alleviate guilt?) Guy, next time just eat the bread! He took it all in stride. I'm still laughing!

Christmas Staff Party

Saturday night was our Christmas Staff Party. It went great! We had a good turn out, and it's neat because we have some staff that drove 3 1/2 hours to have dinner with us!
We went to Romies for dinner, which is a small restaurant that serves gourmet southern cooking. It has awesome food! When we go there for dinner, our favorite - and I mean favorite entree is their ribs. It is a special, they don't have them as a staple on the menu. The menu (notice I'm starting with food first!):
Ribeye with garlic mashed potatoes and green bean bundles
or
Shrimp and grits.
They served a broth over the shrimp and grits, which is the first time I've had that before. It is different enough that I had a hard time comparing it to Harvey's new menu item of shrimp and grits with andouille sausage. My goal was to see which was better, but they were just too different for me to pick. The ribeye was great, too. It was one of those nights where I was so disappointed when I was full, the time to stop eating came too quickly. Before the meal we ordered artichoke dip and crab dip, which were both tasty as well.
OK, back to the party. Mark and I got there early and invited the staff to meet us at the bar early for drinks, and a few staff came. It was a nice, intimate time of conversation before we moved to the table which was too large to talk to everyone. Every year we joke about playing musical chairs halfway through dinner. Next year I might very well do a Chinese fire drill!
Dessert and awards were at our house after the meal. I had planned on having a dessert bar with brownies and pound cake and toppings. The toppings were homemade chocolate syrup, caramel sauce (Smuckers), Cool Whip and homemade whipped cream, pineapple topping, cherry pie filling, almonds, vanilla bean ice cream, and a cherry for the top. I envisioned creativity and lots of people smothering their desserts making killer brownies that would make TGI Fridays envious. So I was disappointed when I saw brownie after plain brownie. Oh well, everything else went great.

Awards ceremony - as many of you know, we had virtually a complete staff turnover this summer. All of our staff were different at this Christmas party. So, no one knew we gave awards to everyone. We could, at this point, make up traditions and no one would know any different! This year we threw in a huge bonus for the salesperson of the year. I won't bore you with the other categories. They all focused on sales and club culture. That was my favorite part of the night. Susan (our partner) and Mark and I have already thought of a few fun things to add next year.

Christmas Cutout Cookies

Stars, Chirstmas trees, angels, candy cane cookie cutters. Lots of sprinkles, m&ms, green icing, and the not-quite-red pink icing. Floured noses, sticky hands,and powdered sugar snow mountains. Throw in friends and sugar highs, messy tables, and very messy floors. We are thankful for good friends.


If I can just scrape hard enough, maybe these cookies will come off! Mom, watch the timer. You're too busy talking!

Ever since the first year I was married, I would get together with friends and we would divide and conquer holiday baking. It became a tradition and I always smile when I use my candy thermometer because Amy C. gave it to me in honor of our failed divinity. My kids are older and they love helping in the kitchen now. We had a blast baking cookies with our good friends, the Huffmans.