You Realise Christmas Is Approaching When …

[2jakes]

Super Girlfriend got up early and has been Christmas baking for many hours, so far today's output is:

Caramels (precut on round plates), Coffee cake (on small rectangle pan for friend's Dad who just loves it), English toffee (pre breaking into pieces when cool, next to coffee cake), 2 more Gingerbreads, Rum balls (I cannot wait) & Gevulde Speculaas (a first time try at it - I love its herringbone look):

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I really really envy you!

 

[Fading Fast]

I really really envy you!
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We've joked when we've seen empty stores that would make a nice bakery, but also understand that having baking talent is, maybe, 20% of what goes into a successful bakery and the rest is all the usual torture of running a super-small business in a super-expensive town.

So, for now, it stays as a hobby for friends and family to enjoy.

 

[JennDarling]

Super Girlfriend got up early and has been Christmas baking for many hours, so far today's output is:

Caramels (precut on round plates), Coffee cake (on small rectangle pan for friend's Dad who just loves it), English toffee (pre breaking into pieces when cool, next to coffee cake), 2 more Gingerbreads, Rum balls (I cannot wait) & Gevulde Speculaas (a first time try at it - I love its herringbone look)

Those gingerbreads look so good, I love the addition of the crystallized ginger on top. Crystallized ginger is one of my favorite snacks, and I bet it's amazing on gingerbread.

 

[Fading Fast]

Those gingerbreads look so good, I love the addition of the crystallized ginger on top. Crystallized ginger is one of my favorite snacks, and I bet it's amazing on gingerbread.

Thank you so much. And, you are spot on, the crystallized ginger harmonizes wonderfully with the cake giving it both taste and visual punch.

 

[scottyrocks]

Now we're tawkin pastries!

 

[2jakes]

Now we're tawkin pastries!

Oh you beast!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Nope, holy Consumia, nope!

That's not funny, that's hollywoodish!

 

[2jakes]

Nope, holy Consumia, nope!

That's not funny, that's hollywoodish!

I kept thinking of PEPTO-BISMOL!

No kidding!

 

[Trenchfriend]

I just like the mood. It's like diving into another world.

I don't need christmas, but I need such music!

 

[Zombie_61]

I really prefer non-traditional Christmas music like "Run Rudolph Run" by Chuck Berry and humorous songs like "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy Trigg. But I don't get that "Christmas" feeling until I hear "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band:

The thing is, I have no idea why that song, and only that song, has that effect on me. I mean, I'm a long-time Beatles and John Lennon fan, but that really doesn't factor into it. And I can obviously listen to it any time I want to, but that doesn't have the same effect--it has to be spontaneous, like hearing it on the radio while I'm driving. Fortunately it's a relatively popular song that almost always gets put into the "holiday season" rotation on the classic rock stations around here, but sometimes I miss it and Christmas just ain't the same.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Harry Reser's version of "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" was the biggest Christmas novelty hit of the 1930s, taking the country by storm in 1934 -- and its lyrics defined the image of Santa Claus as an ever-watching, all-knowing entity who sees you when you're sleeping for an entire generation. Harry's banjo solo was nice too, and the Clicquot Club sleigh bells get a good workout.

 

[31 Model A]

Retailers have spoiled any childhood memory for me. When shops are packed with ornaments, artificial trees and sometimes music during the first week of Oct, by the time December arrives, I want Christmas over and gone already. I no longer do any decorating outside or inside anymore, call me Scrooge if you want but it's the love for the almighty dollar that has destroyed my Christmases. There is no tradition anymore....IMO!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the spirit of the season:

 

[2jakes]

Christmas was just around the corner when these catalogs came in the mail:

I'd go over each page at night after school until the pages were practically
falling apart, but made sure my folks would get the message of what I wanted.

My best Christmas ever!
Western Flyer Deluxe on the right.
Found out years later that my mom
had put in on "Layaway" to be under
the Christmas tree on the 25th.

Whenever, I get to feeling negative
with the holidays for the reasons mentioned...I see the smiles
on the children around this time which always cheers me up.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Don't forget folks, only 78 shopping days to christmas, not forgeting 'Black Friday' on Nov. 23rd of course, so plenty of opportunities to splash that cash.....oh & don't forget, just after the new year, easter is here, more spending....didn't Jesus say that it was harder for a poor man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a rich man with a Visa card ?

 

[2jakes]

Don't forget folks, only 78 shopping days to christmas, not forgeting 'Black Friday' on Nov. 23rd of course, so plenty of opportunities to splash that cash.....oh & don't forget, just after the new year, easter is here, more spending....didn't Jesus say that it was harder for a poor man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a rich man with a Visa card ?

He is now accepting PayPal!

 

[tonyb]

Retailers have spoiled any childhood memory for me. When shops are packed with ornaments, artificial trees and sometimes music during the first week of Oct, by the time December arrives, I want Christmas over and gone already. I no longer do any decorating outside or inside anymore, call me Scrooge if you want but it's the love for the almighty dollar that has destroyed my Christmases. There is no tradition anymore....IMO!!!

As the late Phil Harper was wont to observe, it is the most holy of retail seasons.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And it pretty much always has been, at least in the United States. Christmas didn't become a really big deal in the US until the latter half of the nineteenth century -- which was just about the time the mutton-chopped, walrus-moustached grandfathers of the Boys figured out there was money in it.

 

[31 Model A]

Anyone else here walked down a WallyWorld Halloween aisle during the first week of Oct and have Christmas carols playing over the loudspeaker? I rest my case!!!!!

 

[2jakes]

Anyone else here walked down a WallyWorld Halloween aisle during the first week of Oct and have Christmas carols playing over the loudspeaker? I rest my case!!!!!

Long as its Gene....I can dig it!