Lots of warm fuzzies, everyone!

That is my wish for each and every one of the great folks who stop by here, snag a recipe, enjoy a story, share some good clean joking with me and others, and those who never leave a trace that they were here.

So, what do you think BW is doing today?

and . . .

When you settle down in your night cap tonight (or settle down WITH a night cap), and check all your favorite web sites, I would sure like to know what YOU did today and what you plan to do tomorrow.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

BW

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51 Comments

  1. We be doing the same as you cooking. I have been baking bread and making candy most of the week. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. Bill

  2. Here’s wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, prosperous 2011.

    Me? I’m washing clothes and pegging them out while the sun still shines. Rain arriving tomorrow and who wants to wash clothes on Christmas Day, anyway? LOL

    There’s rain forecast for Sunday, too, along with rumors of snow. I’m not holding my breath. The NWS keeps waffling back and forth but we might get some flurries along the coast.

    My Dad can likely expect 1-2 inches starting tonight or tomorrow and off and on all the way through Sunday up in Greenwood, SC.

    Got a little last minute wrapping to do. A dish to prepare for a shared dinner with cousins tomorrow.

    Monday, I’ll drive up to spend a couple of days with my Dad. Takes me between 4-5 hours, depending on how many pit stops I make, stops to get the cricks out of my back or how many road side stands I see.

    “Wait! Is that someone selling hot boiled peanuts over there? Gotta stop and get some!”

    Hope the roads are clear and dry by that time!

  3. Sweet Potato pies! I Win! I did my little bit of baking earlier today. A Pecan Pie and a Derby Pie. I need to shoot up one turkey and brine the other then put them on to cook in the morning. Everything else is put together and needs to be cooked tomorrow.
    Hubby and I will be going to church and serving Communion. Although I serve communion on a regular basis, this time is really special for me. Merry Christmas everyone!

    1. Steffi, don’t know what a Derby Pie is, do I? We are going to Methodist service tonight, too! That is where Dotter and MuzicMan do the music now . . . can’t wait!

      1. Derby pie…pecans, chocolate chips…easy to make and VERY RICH! A normal person can only eat a sliver! It’s a recipe I’ve had since the early 80’s but haven’t made in years. I will absolutely cheat tomorrow. I don’t even think I’ll check my blood glucose tomorrow night. Why waste a test strip! I know it’s gonna be high!

  4. Merry Christmas to you and yours there on the bayou.Today I went to help serve Christmas lunch for the needy,so many doing without nowadays(SO SAD),This afternoon we’re having Christmas with my sons’ girlfriend before she heads upstate to her grandparents.Used several of your recipes for gifts(great reviews),painted a few pictures to give also.Did one of the gulf coast that I think my cousin will like.Again BW,I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a even better 2011.

    1. So, Mr. Gibbs, you’ve been holding out on us? Where might I see these paintings? I’m very interested . . . always happy to do a feature story on the blog. Which recipes did you give? And 2011 WILL be better, cuz I’m believing no more explosions, leaks, dispersants, or hurricanes! Thanks for the wishes and same to you and yours. BW

      1. BW,sorry for the delay in responding.The recipes I used were (1)the spicy oyster crackers,I added nuts;(2)the corn dip(3)rasberry/fig preserves and (4)Les Bines Blanc(my favorite).Oh,I almost forgot,everybody also got a jar of my bread and butter pickles.About the paintings,the pieces that I paint,I only do a few a year and by the time I’m finished someone wants it,so I just give it to them.I wish I was fast enough to do more.I do make a lot of cards,that I do in watercolor,that’s a lot of fun.I will add you to my list for Easter.

        1. You are certainly a busy person, C.E.! I’m glad you love the white beans. We love them, too! Oh, I really LOVE bread and butter pickles but have never made them myself. This week, Dotter and I developed a new ham salad recipe that uses chopped bread and butter pickles (rather than store-bought sweet relish), and it is DELICIOUS!!! Wonder if I might post that recipe . . . . so good with that leftover holiday ham. Watercolors are some of my favorites, as well!

  5. Merry Christmas BW,
    I spent the day mostly talking on the phone with friends from all over and a little work in the yard,I did make a fine duck gumbo with some mallards we brought back from Tunica Ms this week.Built everybody a fire outside just now and snuck off for a few mins computer time.
    Going crabbing tomorrow for a while as it’s the only other nice day I will see for 3 or 4 days and I need to move some crab traps offshore.

  6. Had Christmas eve lunch with the neighbor family. They are a blessing. their Grand kids told me ,after EJ passed , to not worry I “have plenty of family” It seems I have been adopted! They all come run to hug me when they see me,which is often.
    Spent the week baking goodies to go with jars of preserves for Christmas baskets.
    Midnight mass tonight, My favorite part of the holiday!
    Dinner tomorrow with my “adoptive” family and a quiet evening to count my blessings.
    BW, I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed and happy new year

    1. We certainly will, Moura. Sounds like you have a great day ahead of you as well. Santa is up late wrapping gifts and just got finished. So it’s time for her to head to bed! Those boys get up early!

  7. A most merry Christmas to ye & the whole family!
    Health, prosperity & happiness in abundance for all the year!

    Tonight there’s a huge pot o’ Vietnamese Pho’ (rare beef soup with star anise, cinnamon & noodles) a brewin’ on the stove…tomorrow a journey to the QM’s family homestead for roast turkey & all the trimmings.

    Give our regards & blessings to the Bayou and all it’s inhabitants…Peace!

  8. HMMM! Sweet Potato Pies don’t look like that in Kansas, oh wait, I have hard time even finding them here. Getting ready for our Christmas Eve shrimp boil, by little bit of Louisiana that I have been able to sneak in.

    1. Shrimp boil? Are you serious? Where did you get shrimp way up there? Louisiana? We hardly even boiled shrimp in North Louisiana, girl. Can’t believe you do that in Kansas and at Christmas time at that!! More power to you, Terry! Enjoy!

    1. Yes, Blu fishes and fishes and fishes. And you didn’t get enough while you were here, did you? Bah humbug, Blu! (Thought that would make you happy since you have this thing about de Baby Jesus and all.)

      1. Well I used to be pretty neutral on the baby Jesus thing till I found out ya’ll baked the boy in a cake. PTL.

        Well I was going to try and get oysters for dressing but still missing in grocers here.

        Got my sock up 24/7 365 and my hand made santa sculpture on the rolltop the same. Every day is Xmas.
        I tossed 9 inches of snow around in last 24 want some?

  9. Happy Holidays everyone, no matter your religion.

    Spent the day cleaning and cooking Gumbo. Family tradition on Christmas Eve, it’s gumbo ( Pecan smoked sausage, Guinea hens and oysters), then a ride down the river checking out the bonfires on the levee. Back in my youth I built a few. Now I much prefer to drive and look at everyone else’s and save all that liquor and clean up, not to mention the sores, scraps, and bruises. After the trip we all exchange presents. I know, but it was how Mom always did it and when you’re a kid, Christmas Eve is so much better than Christmas Morning. My god-daughter’s new baby was here and I named her sqeaky! Her laugh sounds like a squeak and she laughs all the time.

    Now its clean up the house and kitchen, I wonder if the plastic/paper throw away plate/bowls inventor got a Nobel prize, I’d vote for him right now. Round two tomorrow, ham, sweet taters and mustard greens. Then its just reheat till its all gone.

    Too much candy, not a single pie or cake here this year. So when do those bowl games start? Good looking pies Ms. BW.

    Ok, Breaks over, its time to start again. Don’t ya hate cleaning when you’re full! There should be a required time like swimming that you are required to wait.

    1. Foam, your whole evening sounds just divine and chockfull of tradition. I love it! Imagining the bonfires on the levee. Dotter and I made pecan patties again yesterday . . . took a LONG time to set up in 89% humidity . . . had to lower AC to 65 to fool it. I’m losing my touch on the pies . . . don’t make ’em nearly enough. Gonna end up just making the half-pie turnovers you see on red cloth. Easier, too. Merry Christmas, Goldie.

  10. I have spent the past three days cooking and cleaning and Lordy but, I wish I had a dishwasher during the holidays!! Talk about dishpan hands!
    I love those half moon pies! Mom made them, mother in law made them and I tried a few times. Notice I said “tried”.

    We had our Christmas tonight with our kids and grandkids. I did all the cooking and a whole lot of the eating too! M&M cookies, sugar cookies, rocky road fudge, peanut brittle, tiger butter, chocolate pie, lemon pie, a HUGE ham, pintos, mashed potatos, potato salad, homemade yeast rolls, cheese tray, pickle tray, green onions & sweet, iced tea.

    I’ll vote for the inventor of toss aways for the Nobel Peace Prize too! I still had a double sink of dishes to wash after everyone headed home.
    So, tomorrow, I plan to sleep as long as possible and if it is still raining, that will help. Then I will put a big iron skillet of cornbread in the oven at some point, heat some left over beans and ham and that will be our Christmas dinner for the two of us. I am going to vegetate as much as possible and try to stay warm.

    A Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday to all of you great folks on the Bayou and from all over.

    1. Cammy, my dear, my Christmas gift to you is permission to lay low tomorrow and do a big fat NOTHING! You deserve it. If I were there, I would wash your dishes for you . . . especially if I didn’t have to cook all that delicious stuff. Believe it or not, we did something we’ve never done before . . . . after the Christmas Eve service, we took Dotter, MuzicMan (they played two services back to back) and the two boys out to eat at I Hop! Not crowded, either. It was kind of nice. We’ll have more family Christmas tomorrow. Have a great and restful day tomorrow!

      1. It WAS nice! Those grits were delicious! Not as good as the Captain’s, mind you, but still good! And we had such a good time with all of you on Christmas day… I’m glad we came down. 🙂

  11. To everyone who posted: I LOVE, really really love, reading what everyone else is doing tonight and tomorrow. Can’t believe we went to I Hop. It was nice. We will have brunch here tomorrow . . . a lazy morning with cinnamon rolls, sausage balls, spiced tea, coffee, or orange juice. We’ll laze around and watch a movie or play games and call long-distance family to say Merry Christmas. It will be nice. BW

    1. IHOP Blitzes anytime FTW!! Swim suits or tuxedos a perfect meal……….. AND no clean up! Ya just can’t beat that.

  12. I love IHop too but, it is high dollar over here.

    We laid around, rested & watched some good movies until I heard a noise and saw a squirrel climb into the lint hose outlet of my dryer!! It was making a bed of dried weeds in the bottom of my dryer (which is gas). Guess it thought since the dryer was inside it would be warmer. Smart little devil to climb thru the outside to get into the dryer. Had to scare it out and blow out the dryer! And it was COLD with the wind blowing like crazy on that north side of the house! Heading to Home Depot in the am and getting a louvered panel to put over that hole instead of the metal piece that is open. That is a bon fire waiting to happen! Or squirrell stew.

    Enjoy the day tomorrow and the brunch!

    1. I know grits are cheap enough to make at home, but that is what three of us ate!!! And two of us qualify for the $5.99 senior specials. Hey, it was Christmas, and we were in the “big city” so we lived it up a little. I think all restaurants are pretty high dollar.

      Don’t feel too bad–we had the same problem in our old house with RATS the size of squirrels. I am so glad to be out of there. Now, if I could get just motivated to get the rest of the salvageable stuff out of there and get the old place demolished. It’s an eyesore now in front of the Tree House.

      1. At least with it still standing, the rats will stay there. Hope you have some sort of preventative caps or something around the piling the tree house is up on.

        I think I would make sure that I peppered that old place good with those green pellets and keep an eye on your pets. Oh, put containers of water out inside the old place. Those pellets make them head for water and they will stay inside there maybe.

        1. Oh my goodness! Yes! If someone picks up on this comment and asks, I will tell the story here! Can you help me recount all the hilarious details? Well maybe not ALL the details!!!

  13. What I did today? Check out my daily journal/log.

    What I’m doing tomorrow? Probably laundry, tidying, maybe running the vacuum (around the house–not just running it for the sake of running it); petting cats, and avoiding WalMart–which will probably be overrun by people making exchanges/getting refunds.

  14. Christmas day we took the puppy halfway to my Sisters house exchanged hugs and got back into our cars, it was FREEZING outside and starting to snow just a little bit.

      1. I got my niece and nephew a 6 week old Chihuahua puppy for Christmas and was supposed to spend the night at their house but Coach is sick so we just met halfway. It’s 16 degrees here. I am not a fan of the cold weather!!!!

          1. BW, I’ll let you know what could be worse…16 degrees here in S.La. I’m SO…..looking forward to our cruise next week. 25 degrees, humidity and the wind blowing is not for me!

  15. Yes, I said cruise. Last Mother’s Day Hubby and I were given a manila folder with “Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Father’s Day” written on it. In the folder were handmade cards from all the grandchildren. There were cards for birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Anniversary. Then there were Passport applications and finally tickets for a 5 day cruise to Cozumel! We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary somewhere in the middle of the Gulf.
    For all the bellyaching while growing up…I think as parents themselves, they finally appreciate the “on the job training with No instructions” way we raised them. It was definitely a “Warm Fuzzy” moment for me last Mother’s Day!

    1. Steffi, sounds like you did a grand job of raising them. What a wonderful Mother’s Day gift. One that has lasted for some time with more to come.

    2. I love that! I guess it means all those holidays rolled into ONE BIG GIFT, right? Well, they are great kids! And you did a great job! Have a well-deserved and wonderful time on that cruise. Take lots of pics and have a very Happy Anniversary and a Happy New Year!

      1. Thanks, I plan on having a wonderful time. BTW, I did get a birthday and Christmas present from those wonderful kids too!