Christmas Prep - Dec. 11

I can't seem to post as regularly lately.  I had hopes on Dec. 1 of posting most everyday as we prepare for Christmas, but obviously that hasn't so much worked out.  But that doesn't mean we haven't been preparing for Christmas. 

When I last posted, G, my singing Silver Fox, was carefully selecting his top 3 or 4 treats to make this year.  We have made one of those - his peanut butter balls.  They are like a homemade Reese's peanut butter cup but with a bit of a jus' deb touch.  At the very end, I garnished them with a drizzle of white chocolate.  I began by a simple zig-zag drizzle, but then I got a little crazy and put an L on some of them.  See how pretty they turned out?

Why an L?  Well, that's a part of the story that I haven't told you yet.  L is for G's last name....which will be my last name in about 3 weeks.  If you are a relative stranger to me, you aren't even aware of my current last name, but that's ok.  My new one will start with an L. 

So, um, yes, there has been preparations of another kind going on, too.  We're not just preparing for this Christmas; we're also preparing for a wedding.  And I'm the bride.  I've told a few folks that I made a much better MOTB than B.  But I love this Mr. G guy, so I am the B.  More on that later.  For now we're back to Christmas.

We've made 2 of my 4.  The first was the peanut brittle.  G and I made it Friday night because the weather was clear and low humidity.  This was G's first experience with peanut brittle, but don't let that fool you.  He has some serious homemade candy experience.  Let me put it this way:  the man comes with his own candy thermometer.  How cool is that?  So when it comes to buttering the counter top, he does it like an old pro.  Or stirring the peanut brittle and pouring it up on that buttered surface - again like an old pro.  He even "got" the stretching and turning over part like he'd been doing it his whole life!  My mother would have been so proud! 

And since Saturday was also clear, we made toffee - a double batch of a compromise recipe - my old stand by but with a couple of additional touches.  We also poured it up a bitter thinner since that was what G was used to.  You should have seen us scoring and breaking the cooling toffee into rectangles ready to dip.  We were like a well-oiled machine.  We still have about half that needs to be dipped in chocolate, but here is a view of what we've done so far...

I want to tell you a couple of other things about my G.  He does lots of things around the house - like very well.  His efforts are really turning this house into our home.  He chose this poinsettia and has been teaching me about new leaves.  I love poinsettias, but I've never gotten one myself before, but I love how it looks in the living room.  We took 3 of the centerpiece bases from S & K's wedding to create the pyramid and then added a couple of Christmasy candle figurines, and voila!  We have Chrismas!

Here's a pic of the tree.  While I love the tree, what I really want you to notice is the newly painted walls in the background.  Yep, that's G's handiwork.  For the first time in my life, I have accent walls.  Can I keep him?

He has even helped to decorate the dining room.  Shopping with G is easy.  He cares about creating beauty in what will be our home.  How cool is that?  That doesn't even count his ideas about making improvements around here like adding hooks for us to hang pots and pans on.  Or adding cabinets.  Or organizing the garage and basement.  Again, can I keep him?

Anyway that's what we've been doing.  We both love Christmas, and G comes with Christmas music.  My home is suddenly full of music again.  And singing.  And spontaneous dancing.  It's wonderful.  This is the most romantic holiday season of my entire life. 

Can I keep him?

Merry Christmas!