Do you hang up stockings for Christmas? What’s the best thing you got in your stocking (or equivalent) this year?

What’s your favorite gift you received for the 2007 holiday?

Mine’s easy — my sister came home for the first time in a few years. I’ve missed her terribly.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla ready-to-spread frosting
3 tablespoons red sugar
18 miniature marshmallows
36 currants or semisweet chocolate chips
18 red cinnamon candies
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 400°F. Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Beat butter, granulated sugar and lemon peel in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Break legg and add to the bowl and milk. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Turn off the mixerer thingy. At this point it’s best to make sure the Cuervo is still OK, try another cup just in case.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. If they start smooshing together, it’s okay. Just sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity. Press bottom of drinking glass on each until about 1/4 inch and 3 inches in diameter. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. (Put the oven mitt on first…) Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Check the Cuervo again while waiting. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

3. Smear frosting on cookie (throw stuff on each cookie before starting another. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.). Check the Jose Cuervo. Sprinkle red sugar over top third of cookie for hat. Press on miniature marshmallow for tassel. Press 2 currants for eyes and 1 cinnamon candy for nose into center third of cookie. (if you knock over the fruit, just dust it off. 5 second rule…) Toss coconut over bottom third for beard. (Or all over, who giveshz a sheet, it can be a snowman. They’re lucky you even made them cookies.)

Greash the oven.

Don’t forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS

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What’s your favorite cookie? (I’ll pick two winners from the comments to make up for missing Wed.)

That’s an easy one, isn’t it? Or maybe not.

I know if I really, really thought hard about it I could come up with a dozen, at least. But the one I’m remembering right now is a small keepsake Christmas tree ornament. It’s from Hallmark and it’s a beautiful porcelain doll in a burgundy Victorian dress. I was about seven, I think, when I saw it in a store and begged my mother for it. I remember thinking that I’d never wanted anything more in my life. She told me no and I cried for hours after we left the store. I was so heartbroken. Devastated. I thought about that tiny ornament for days after we left, and when I received it as a Christmas present that year I thought it was the best gift ever. I was given a ton of great stuff that Christmas morning, but nothing held a candle to that little doll. In fact, all these years later, I still have her. She hangs year-round on a peg attached to a decorative shelf near my front door. I don’t have any of my other gifts from that year.

What about you?

I’ve got a Frank Sinatra collection that I love to play during the holidays. (I tried to find the case so I could post the cover, but no luck. I’ll have to find it soon though…)

What about you? Do you have a favorite album that you play a lot this time of year?

I have a few, but the first one that came to mind and one I’ve loved for over a decade is THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

There are so many things I love about TNBC. Tim Burton rocks! Danny Elfman’s voice… OMG. I miss it. And his music… I’d love to have him compose a soundtrack for the MARKED series! (A girl can dream…)

We watch this movie so often in our house that every family member can sing along all the way through.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you should try it. I’ll be the first to say that it won’t be everyone’s cuppa tea. But in our house, it’s well-loved.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?

O happy day! It’s raining here.

I hope it rains all weekend. We need it desperately. Plus, finally, it doesn’t feel like summer. *g*

What’s the weather like where you’re at?

Yesterday my daughter came home from school early with a tummy ache, so shopping time was cut short, but I was still able to cross 3 more people off my list. We’re getting somewhere, at least. So far I’m happy with all the things I picked up. Sometimes I end up with presents that just barely past muster (read: isn’t as good as something else could have been.) Usually it’s because what I really liked was too expensive or I couldn’t find anything better. Not so, so far.

With the rain pouring outside, I think I might light the fireplace in the family room and wrap gifts all day. I love seeing all the presents under the tree.