It's Beginning to Look A Little Like Christmas

   Had to change the lyric to the Christmas song because the snow we've been getting hasn't stayed for more than a few hours so, it's beginning to look a little like Christmas!  We picked up the tray of cookies I ordered from the Java Shop in Herkimer yesterday and oh, were they worth it!  They look so nice and taste out of this world!  (I enjoy baking but it's so hard to do 4 or more kinds of Christmas cookies alone!  Besides, Robbie is a better baker than I am!!)  Anyway, I put most of the cookies in a Tupperware-type container and put them in the cupboard to try and save them for Christmas but I did fill a plate and put it in a ziplock bag and put it on the table so we would have something to have with our coffee. I picked a Cucidati for my 1st cookie when we got home and after supper, I tried another and what to my wonderful surprise, found I had an almond paste cookie!  Right there, those 2 made it worth the cost of the tray!  Today I tried a biscutti (it had yellow frosting and was lemon flavored) and a sesame seed cookie.  Both were better than I could have ever done. Jeff likes the Reese's treats (a PeanutButter cookie w/a Reese's cup on top) and the Cucidati's. I know we'll have enough cookies to make it to Christmas if I keep the big container hid in the cupboard!!  

   We went to Ilion today to the Library and made a quick stop at Aldi's.  I saw last Friday that they had panettone...an Italian dessert bread...so I got one.  It lasted until today (I was the only one eating it!) and I decided to get another.  It was great for breakfast, lightly toasted.  They were only $5.99 and the ones I got were filled with chocolate chips.  Traditionally, panettone is filled with dry fruit but since I'm not a big fan of dried fruit I went with the chocolate.  One of 

my mother's older sisters made it for Christmas and Easter but this one beat her's hands down. My mother never made panettone but until this year, I didn't know how good it could be.  My aunt's version was good but this one from Aldi's is better.  The score between homemade and storebought is Homemade 0, Storebought 2.  Now if I could just find some Honey clusters....

  The 3rd thing that is different this year is I'm not involved in any swaps.  I've been so busy trying to keep my stock up in the shop and do some special gifts that I just didn't have time to do anything else.  Besides, since I wasn't working in the shop, I wasn't tempted to buy any of the fantastic and different stocking stuffers that the shop members produce and that left me at a loss as to what to include in a swap package.  Just as I was feeling really disappointed because there wouldn't be any great packages in the mail, the group administrators decided to skip swaps this year.  I'm not sure why...I haven't been following the FB pages that closely, but hopefully, next year things will be back to normal for all of us.  I know I'm not the only one who is missing those great packages!!

  We haven't got our Christmas tree up yet but that should be done tomorrow.  My little table top tree has taken a beating over the years as Fanny, our Australian cattledog mix, usually knocks it off the table with her tail at least 2 or 3 times a year.  I've pushed the tree 'trunk' (a metal pole) back in the styrofoam base so often there's not much styrofoam left to hold it steady!  I bought a piece at Walmart today and tomorrow I'll try to fix things.  Last year I ended up having to tie the tree to the window frame to keep it upright! I looked at artifical Christmas trees today but they were all too big and too expensive! I'll post a photo of our tree here:

Cucidat