As my kids become busier with college and college prep, I find myself doing more on my own.
Although I miss the old days, I’m happy that they are growing up to start new lives of their own.
Meanwhile they are still home to enjoy in the bits of pieces we have left of time before they fully leave the nest.
Regarding my son’s schoolwork, there was no time for delay as we did in year’s past, because this was his senior year.
Since our Progressive Era Becoming History presentation needed to happen soon, I wove a bit of Christmas into it.
But first…the tree.
CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
On the day after Thanksgiving, with a nip of frost in the air, we took time to choose our tree at Evergreen Acres Christmas Tree Farm.
ADVENT BEGINS
After decorating the house, I created clove-studded oranges to decorate the Advent candle arrangement on my own, since my daughter had college finals to prepare for and my son had senior year homeschool rhetoric studies to conquer.
On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we began our Advent Scripture readings and carol singing around the piano, to prepare our hearts for Christmastide.
SNOW AND ICE STORM
And then a snow and ice storm struck, adding to our holiday decorations of red bows and greenery.
Easily seen here is a touch of Colonial Williamsburg Revival influence with the electric candle in the window for a Christmas which hearkens to the 18th century.
WHITE HOUSE GINGERBREAD TEA PARTY
On Friday after Thanksgiving, while the kids decorated the tree, I kept my yearly tradition of preparing our gingerbread dough for cookies, then baked them.
My cookies are much simpler than my artistic son’s, in that they are plain.
From the batch I placed an assortment on a platter, paired with lemon curd, for our Becoming History treats Progressive Dinner.
Since I was portraying the Napoleon of the White House (aka the first social secretary for the first lady, namely Edith Roosevelt), this looked elegant enough to serve for our White House Christmas Progressive Tea Party.
With all the Christmas cookies in the house, I decided to use what I had, gingerbread cookies with a twist.
Since Progressive Dinners were quite popular at the turn of the century, I thought this literal progressive dessert would be fun.
BAKING CHRISTMAS COOKIES
Then I pursued the rest of the Christmas baking, which wasn’t as much as in the past since much of my time is now spent driving my daughter to and from college and waiting for her in between when it’s only for one class.
For storing my cookies, I try to collect the prettiest of tins to decorate the house so we always have merriment to serve when company arrives, or we just want a sample for ourselves.
German snowy-white spicy Pfeffernuse cookies…
Buttery sugar-coated almond cookies…
Dark chocolate fudge with macadamia nuts…
Nutty chocolatey coconut bars…
CHRISTMAS EVE
And then we enjoyed the final night of Advent on Christmas Eve…
After Advent, we enjoyed our various snacks, featuring Texas tamales thanks to Harris Teeter, and desserts while watching It’s a Wonderful Life.
