Pepparkakor Cookies and Prayers

I've made pepparkakor cookies every year for over 36 years.

This year the smallest batch ever. I merely doubled the recipe.

I use every ounce of dough down to the last small bit,

making bears and trees, stars, moons, hearts and trees...

Large and small cookies for various appetites.

I was alone this morning while baking them,

 but I was not alone in my thoughts.

My dear friend Annie and her husband Ron

have been waging war against his cancer for

 some time now and he was doing so well

except for a nagging pain in his arm, what

seemed to be a nerve issue.

Yesterday it became severe enough

 to head to the emergency room 

and today, in a few minutes actually,

 he is headed to surgery to have a

 tumor near his spine removed.

They discovered it late last night.

As you can imagine they are frightened

and bewildered by this sudden turn of events,

and the seriousness of the location.

So I baked and I prayed

and I prayed some more.

My dear friends

please send some more prayers up

or out into the universe if that is where your beliefs lay.

For Annie and Ron.

It's Christmas Eve and my

friends are hurting, and I pray and pray,

for these good people and their family.

I will hug my children even closer today

and give additional thanks for my many blessings.

May your families be blessed 

and healthy

this Holiday Season

with great affection from me to you

Suzan

Cookie Time

First holiday Batch

Peanut Butter Blossoms

A Classic Holiday Cookie around here

My favorite part?

I race to see if I can unwrap the kisses

 before the cookies come out.

Silly I know, but it's part of the tradition for me.

Tomorrow I make the dough for my

 Mexican Chocolate Hearts

which I'll bake Friday.

Friday I'll make the dough for 

Pepparkakor ( a gingerbread type)

which I'll bake Saturday.

Tonight I have another bar cookie to make. 

The name escapes me.

(Snickerdoodle Bars - came to me 12 hours later)

I used to make 8-12 varieties  for many years

and drive myself crazy with  

multiple cookie exchanges etc.

Now I make the 4 types my family enjoys 

and we gobble them all up. 

Well, maybe a few go to friends here and there.

Thursday is Darling Daughter's B-Day,

so no baking.

Remember that young girl I dropped

off at NYU a few years back?

Thursday she is 23

Graduated, Working, In Love, 

Living in NYC

Turns out I will have a house full of 

young folks here after Christmas as well as before.

Seems Hannah and her beau have several 

friends coming in for New Years and I am

already out of bedrooms.

Time for the blow up in the living room.

 A loud and busy full house...

Time for soups and chili and casseroles..

I'll go easy on myself and buy the breads...

Lord knows we'll have enough cookies

and how happy this mama will be.

May you be as blessed this Holiday Season

Z

bet you can see my grin from 

wherever you are

Homeland Granola

Ya gotta do something while waiting for Homeland to air

Homeland

Home Made Granola

We Have A Winner

Diane @ Lavender Dreamer 

will be warmer this winter.

She won the lovely 

embroidered robe 

from Comfy Robes.com

It was so early this a.m. when I 

pulled out the slip I needed my glasses.

Congratulations Diane!

Remember there is still free shipping

and embroidery

(Use the code - crown)

and there is still time to order 

and receive before Christmas.

Thank you to all who linked and commented

and entered.

****************

Now back to Christmas at oldgreymare.

The kids are coming!

Hooray!

Five years ago it did this

in lala land

Now it would be fun again, but ONLY

after long drives and air travel are completed.

All you guys who know how to handle 

the white stuff, you should 

see how cuckoo it gets here.

You might as well see pigs fly!

Want a FREE Robe?

THEN ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

RIGHT NOW

RIGHT HERE

OLDGREYMARE GIVEAWAY

HURRY!

DEADLINE FRIDAY @ MIDNIGHT

STAY MERRY 

STAY HAPPY

STAY COMFY

AT

COMFYROBES.COM

a special thank you to all my friends who linked, 

posted and FB'd etc about the Giveaway

You guys ROCK!

Comfy Robe GIVEAWAY

IT IS  GIVEAWAY TIME

and I have a wonderful gift for one lucky winner 

and special perks for non winners.

One lucky winner will win an embroidered robe 

from Comfy Robes.com

valued up to $100.00!

Comfy Robes is a family owned 

"Giving - Back" small business.

Their robes are luxurious

 with many high quality styles

 and colors to choose from.

Imagine the kind of robes

you want to steal from 4 star hotels.

(OK, maybe I just think that...)

How do I know this?

The last two winters I have worked 

for my good friend Ronda who partners with 

Comfy Robes.com 

The owners are very excited to 

offer this giveaway to my readers.

Comfy Robes refined ordering process

 even ensures that nearly every embroidered robe

 ships out the same day the order is received.

Where else can you find that kind of service?

These are robes that will make your Christmas 

morning comfy and cozy. If you are the lucky winner,

you may also select your winning

 robe as a very special gift 

for your special someone.

The winner may choose any Comfy Robe

from the website valued up to $100.00

and then select their choice

 of embroidery style and color.

We even have fabulous crowns!

Ronda has also generously offered a special

holiday gift available only to my readers.

Use this Discount Code

on the order form 

"Crown"

at checkout

and you will receive FREE embroidery 

on any robe order placed before 

 December 20th,

and comfy robes is already offering

 free standard shipping!

What a deal!

So how do you enter?

You MUST visit Comfy Robes.com

and then leave me a comment 

on this post telling me

which robe you would choose if you won.

You receive a second entry

if you are a follower of oldgreymare.

A third entry is yours if you blog

about the giveaway or link to 

it in a post or on your sidebar.. 

(You may drag off the first photo)

For non bloggers you can get your third entry 

by linking directly back to this post

 on FB, Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter.

This offer is available only to US and Canada.

Winner will be announced Saturday the 14th.

If you are a "no reply" blogger or a non-blogger

make sure to check back to see if you won, as I will

not be able to contact you without 

an email address.

Good Luck!

Z

A Giveaway Is Coming

Something is missing from my calendar.

You

Entering my Giveaway 

this MONDAY the 9th.

I am very excited to be able to offer 

a wonderful gift

to one lucky winner.

All details will be on the blog post

early Monday morning.

Everyone has two chances to win.

Winner will be announced Saturday the 14th.

I am one jolly elf I tell you.

I cannot wait to explain

and give one very lucky winner 

a very warm and "Comfy" 

Christmas.

See you bright and early

Monday the 9th!

Till then stay warm...

Z

Bumping The Recipe

The light in the house today, 

a rainy dark day, is so perfect for me.

This is always my favorite light...

A hot cup of coffee,

warm snuggly clothes,

gentle music and a good book.

Heaven

Join me?

It's 10 a.m. and yet the trees look like early evening.

Justice photo bombing.

I didn't adjust anything in the shots.

This is the "temperature" in my home most days.

I finally had to turn on the heat.

Up there?

Top of the stairs?

My studio

I'll be there all day.

Bumping the recipe from earlier because the light

 is just too delicious today.

Z

Crockpot Bella and Pot Roast Revisited

I posted this recipe

1-2-2010 

and it is still a go-to when 

chuck roast is on sale

Remember Bella?

I love her

All the ingredients are here

This time I used ketchup with balsamic vinegar 

All in one bowl

Spicy Wine Pot Roast

3-4 lb beef pot roast- I use chuck

salt and pepper

1 small red onion chopped

1 package brown gravy mix

1 cup water

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup dry red wine

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire

1/8 tsp garlic powder

Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper - place in crock pot.

Combine remaining ingredients -pour over meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

I serve over buttered noodles.

Super Simple

If you wish - take the broth that is made

and mix with a little flour/milk to thicken 

Perfect for the rainy day we had yesterday.

Lots of leftovers

Darling Daughter - Dearest Son

This week and 

my two favorite people 

Hannah at work on

Kensho At The Bedfellow

She is Production Designer on the film.

You can check it out at the link above.

oh, and like it on facebook if you wish.

Lots of photos there.

They are working so hard on this independent 

film and we all should support independent films.

Ben creating the signage 

for the wedding of his two friends.

According to his girlfriend,

they were the hit of the party.

He cooks, designs, writes, works in film media,

does standup, repairs broken 

everything for me.

One very lucky Mama

And they're home in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I giggle just saying it.

A Few More Touches

Justice has a habit of sleeping behind the wing

chairs in the living room.

A few days ago she got under and behind the chair 

and while trying to leave, got turned around,

confused, and ended up trapped 

and howling under the tree. 

She nearly toppled the tree,

and thank goodness I was home.

 I borrowed this fencing from my pal Sue last weekend.

It needed to be repaired so after a bit of surgery last evening,

I placed it around the tree to prevent any more mishaps.

It touches the back wall preventing her 

from getting under the tree in any way.

I loaned a few bottle brush trees to Sue

for her to use this year, 

and when I saw how many I still

had in the box, well..

a few more showed up here and there

 at oldgreymare.

The ones above are tucked into crystal door knobs.

I also loaned out some garland and some bed springs...

She liked what I had done with some in the table boxes.

Tis the season to share with our friends and family

Family Room

Those of you who have been around oldgreymare awhile 

know that I always use containers to decorate my tables 

during any Holiday. In a moments notice it can be whisked

off the table and out of the way.

Makes for super easy entertaining.

Each year I change it up, but always using

 the same materials I have gathered over 30 years.

Last year's box

My folk's old firkin

The tree in this room is all green ornaments

I start with green frosty berry picks,

tucked in all over the tree.

The required birds nest is in here also.

Lots of big flocked cones and TaDa!

Still more to come and lots more to do.

Stay tuned

***

I have to take the time to address this one last time

 because it seems to happen to me quite frequently now.

"No reply comment blogger"

There is a new RANT over in the 

**** It Bucket

erin's art and gardens has left a new comment on your post "Family Room": 

i'd like to point out, in case someone doesn't know, that if you change over to "Google +" you will have a "no-reply" e-mail...i have switched back to Blogger because of that. 

Erin made a good point.

 I'm confident that many Google + users are unaware of that fact.