A Vintage Xmas

Hello there!

I hope you all had a great Xmas. Mine was wonderful and vintage!

On Xmas Eve it was still 61F! In December in Quebec! I saw guys in shorts and ladies in t-shirts...and a lot of sockless folks.

I got raves for my tourtiere (meat pie) and ragout de boulettes (meatball stew). We all had a great time.

 Fog in Montreal

 Gifts! (we forgot to put away the bag of chips...)

It ended up being a running gag.

 3 new friends! I had the snowman in the store a couple of years ago and I always regretted selling it....

It was the first time I've seen the cute soldier. And how adorable is the reindeer?

 The mantle

Needless to say that with the heat we didn't make a fire!

 The village

 This was in my stocking. It comes from Russia.

The bag shows fries and ketchup. These are not fries...

These are stale bread chips with seasonings...you eat them with the ketchup!

It was disgusting! We had a laugh about that!

After all the excitement, it was time for a little

nap!

Be well and I hope to post soon!

Checking the list

Hi there!

We all know that Christmas is as inevitable as taxes and death...It will come no matter what!

Am I ready? Kinda.

95% of gifts are wrapped, stockings are full, cookies baked (mostly).

I am still adjusting to my new oven. It is so good that I have to relearn old stand byes.

My trusted caramel corn recipe flopped. It wasn't crunchy and overall blah.

I tried it again and this time it tasted like meat....how freaky is that? I tasted the popped corn, the brown sugar, the corn syrup...everything tasted the same!

Except the BUTTER! The butter, brand new pound, never frozen, tasted like crap!

I have been cooking for 30 years and I have never had CRAP butter! What's up with that?

With our combined big yaps, word spread around and we gathered 2 other tales of CRAP butter, one with black spots and one with green streaks....How nice!

It seems that Quebec dairy farmers reached their quotas and there is a shortage of butter (hush, hush of course) and that the butter, some of it at least, is being sourced from less than reliable sources....

So a word of advice, keep your receipt and taste your butter before using it. I finally made a third batch but most of it was already spoken for....so there is none left (except the so-so first batch).

I don't think I will have enough time to make some more....

Otherwise the tree is all finished and the village too.

It is the same as when I was a child. It

smells great. Next year I will buy my tree from

the same couple; my Dad has been buying his tree from 

them for 25 years.

I'll finish watching Scrooge and then off to bed I'll go.

You should do the same, so you'll wake up all refreshed!  

Deep Breath please....

So now that the oven is working fine and that Xmas prep is well under way...

The hot water heater decided to spring a leak on Friday night.  I was running like a chicken without a head!

Finally to calm my nerves I wrapped a couple of Xmas gifts and with a clear head I was able to attend to the mess.

I filled buckets, pitchers and bottles and then I brought out the ladder ,closed the breaker and the valves.

When the water stopped it was 11:30 pm.

 This ol'girl was built in 1998.

 It was running from around the valve.

 That didn't stop me from baking the traditional Quebec

meatpies, just in time for Xmas

 Of course the kitchen was a mess after...and I had to bring 

all the dishes down to my Dad's to wash.

In the meantime.....

 Yoda was lounging in the cat grass.

Here's the new hot water heater.

All bright spanking new

 The installation was over at 1:30 pm.

I was to get hot water by 3:00 pm.

Guess what?

NO HOT WATER!!!

it is 10:39 pm and no hot water....

I just want to scream and cry

They are coming back tomorrow.....

Oh My!

You know how it is...the end of November and beginning of December has been....work,home,sleep and a bit of Xmas shopping squeezed in between!

When we moved back in late August Dan was oh so sure that we were going to watch tv late on weekdays since we didn't have to wake up at 4:45 am to catch the train.

Well it isn't exactly going as declared because I fall asleep around 9:30 compared to 10:00 before...oh well!

Dan finished the oven surround and it was declared perfect by the installer! So Thursday I celebrated by baking some Pillsbury pumpkin pie spice cookies that were purchased on deep discount.

The new oven is a dream....I can't wait to really bake.

I was soooo happy it was one of the best days of my life!

I felt handicapped without a working oven.

 Love that the light comes on when you open the door.

On another note....

I went to a church basement vintage sale.

I had no idea what it was...

Well I was sure I died and went to vintage heaven!

 I had no idea this existed in Montreal

Pyrex, Fireking, Tupperware,Glasbake....

ALL VINTAGE!

I was so happy to look at all these treasures.

It was full of vintage lovers....and so glorious.

The sales are held regularly.

I will be there next time!

On a different note....

 Friday night, I went thrifting and spotted the Santa coin bank which I bought rather quickly.

I then went on my merry way, I heard Dan's voice tell me: Are you going to regret

not buying the candles? YES!!!

So I went back in the thrift and told them : I am sorry but I have no choice, I must buy the candles....

And the owner shaved a couple of bucks from them.

Not the cheapest, but since the lot was under $15, I say yes to the joy of

Xmas blowmolds!

We started working on interior Xmas decorations

Blowmolds and Department 56 Original Snow Village and Dickens Village

Win Win decor win!

Sleep tight!