goodbye Christmas kitchen

Since it is so cold this weekend it seemed like a good time to remove my Christmas decorations.  We had celebrated late at the farm--well into January--and I really didn't do a lot of decorating but I took a couple of pictures while it was still up.    The area that serves as a butler's pantry got a little tree with a wine theme.

 The west side of the kitchen had a bit of garland over the stove with red lights, candy canes, rolling pins, copper cookie cutters, mini spatulas, mini wooden spoons and red barn ornaments. 

 The east side of the kitchen had a little tree with red lights, gingerbread boys, rolling pins and candy canes.

The northeast corner is home to my new to me kitchen nutcrackers, found on a thrift store trip and a framed gift bag, a gift from my sister quite a few years ago. 

a little farm update

It has been an interesting few days of weather at the farm an it appears that it will be interesting for the next day or two as well.  We had the big snow in November which had been pretty much sticking around.  Where it was packed down or driven on had become treacherous, the wind had polished the packed snow into a glare ice situation.  We had  lost a bit of snow earlier this week but yesterday and today the snow really left in a hurry.  Yesterday was in the 40s and today was over 50.  I was outside today without a jacket.  It was cloudy and damp but even overnight more snow disappeared.  Two days ago the ground had a white layer that was still several inches thick and today there are big swathes of grass.  It isn't going to last for long, already there is a winter storm warning for tomorrow predicting rain followed by snow.

I did take advantage of the snow melt to do a couple of things that didn't get done before the big snow came.  My white gate that sits at the edge of the orchard was still decorated for Halloween/fall.  So now that the snow was gone I was able to move away the soft pumpkins and gourds and move the bench and milk can to the shed.  I got the snowflake out and hung and took a quick picture of the gate before it was dark.  All around you can see the grass.  

I am probably the last person to get my tree up and decorated.  My mom and sister have had theirs done for a couple of weeks already.  We always do a real tree and last year our closest Home Depot had tabletop trees and we tried it and it worked out really well so we are doing the same thing again this year.  I have had the tree for a while and last time Cait was home we got the table ready for it in the corner.  It makes the most sense as my rooms are small and things get a little chaotic when we all get together.  This year there will be seven dogs.  There is a possibility that they won't all be in the house at the same time but I am not betting on it.  I can brag a little that this I am farther along with my shopping than is usual for me.  I have just to wrap up my purchases and finish up the loose ends.

I mentioned the seven dogs.  Today I made a triple batch of homemade dog treats.  These are Harley's favorite treats.  The recipe is here.   I plan to package them up and send some home with the doggie parents.  I am also planning to send a jar with Caitlin to take to her work.  She works at an architectural firm and there are several dogs that come to work with their humans.  Tomorrow I am going to be roasting some pumpkin and making a second kind of homemade dog treat, a soft pumpkin treat (recipe here).  Here is a picture of my dog treats from today.

I have a small artificial tree in my kitchen which I put up yesterday.  It is decorated with red lights, miniature red-handled rolling pins, faux gingerbread boys and candy canes.  My gingerbread boys are the recipe made with applesauce and cinnamon.  I made them quite a few years ago and they still have a subtle holiday aroma.  I bag them up in a zipper bag when I take the tree down

gingerbread boys

I also put some garland on the shelving above my stove.  It has red lights, small wooden spoons and spatulas, copper cookie cutters and bigger miniature rolling pins.

I hope to soon have the blog post done about our Norsk baking day with links to all the recipes.  And Mom shared that she has decided on a plan for her Christmas eve menu.  In addition to our traditional halupsha she is going to be serving appetizers and hors d'oeuvres.  I think that will be a fun theme and it will work out well with the timing of church services.  I am excited.  I have an extensive collection of pins on pinterest that are appetizers, dips, nibblers and snacks and other bite sized treats and party food.  It should be fun.  :)

  
 

another collection

Twenty years ago my mom started a collection of Christmas dishes for me and every year she added to the collection.  

Some years there were place settings,

 some years there were serving pieces,

Platter

nesting storage bowls with covers

salt and peppers

and some years there were fun accent pieces. 

cookie jars

candles

cookies and milk for Santa

pitcher and candy dishes

The pattern is Happy Holidays by Nikko.

I like the swirled edges on the plates.  I like that each of the pieces has the same Christmas tree on it with the teddy bear and the star on top.

But what I like most are the collector plates.

Beginning in 1993 the Happy Holidays pattern produced a dated collector plate. They all had the same tree.  The first year the tree was the same as the place setting tree.

First Edition

Sometimes the scene was an indoor one 

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

and sometimes the scene was an outdoor one. 

Frosty the Snowman

White Christmas

Always the plates were named for a favorite Christmas carol. 

And then something happened in 2009.  

There was a shortage of plates and we were unable to get one that year.

And so the decision needed to be made.  Do we skip that year and have a hole in the 'complete set' hoping to be able to find one later on?  Or do we stop where we are?  When 2010 rolled around I decided to stop with the plates that I have.  Sixteen is quite a few.  Added to the 12 place settings that I have I could serve 28 people which is much more than I have room for in my little house.  I used to display them on the wall and 16 is even a lot to find room to display.  

I still look every once in a while to see if there is one out there for sale online knowing that if I found 2009 those that came after would be easier to find and I could fill out my set.  Nikko also has another set of Christmas dishes called Christmastime which is an octagonal shaped stoneware with the exact same design on the collector plate and I have thought occasionally about getting the 2009 plate in that pattern but it wouldn't be the same. 

And it is fine.  There are still pieces that I need to fill out my set.  More salad plates, more bread plates and more glasses.  And oh the cute serving pieces and accent pieces--new ones every year.  I will be okay.

Here are the dishes waiting to be put away.  I gather them all together and then using a ladder tuck them away in the uppermost cupboards above my sink.  Until next year.

Thanks Mom for the not so small fortune that you have invested in these favorite dishes over the years, usually it was my favorite present under your tree.

i collect...

rolling pins.  

I collect rolling pins.

These are my antique rolling pins.  I keep them corralled in a crock in my kitchen.  Along side of the crock is the rolling pin that i most often use--a French pin. 

  

 Missing from this picture is my lefse pin.   It is actually with the rest of the lefse making equipment at my Mom's.  I usually use the lefse pin for rolling sugar cookies.  My sister, Lisa, does the rolling of the lefse for my generation as she can get them nice and round and thin and I cannot. 

I am pleased to say that my daughter Nikole has taken up the mantle of lefse making for the next generation.  She does a nice job and I am very proud of her.

This is a rolling pin carved from Italian olive wood.

It was brought from Italy by my daughter, Caitlin, who spent a semester in Orvieto. There was a wonderful group of shops selling the wares of local artists. 

Here are a couple pictures of the shop where this treasure came from.

A few years ago I found these cute rolling pin ornaments

and ever since at Christmastime they have graced a tree in my kitchen

This year i found some that were slightly bigger 

so i added garland on the chrome rack surrounding my stove in order to display these as well.