September 11, 2006

• Those of us who are doing the HGP (Holiday Grand Plan) are cleaning our foyers this week. Normally, that is not a big deal for me, as I do not live in the sort of house where the foyer is a large room with a grand piano and a powder room en suite, but this year I have allowed the coat closet to get entirely out of hand. I also want to make a "salon wall." I'll tell you about that if I actually get around to it.

  We also put another meal in our freezers. I have put in chili. I put it in a very large freezer container, let it freeze, and then filled the container up with well-wrapped whole-wheat rolls. While making the chili (a double batch, for the sake of the freezer), I also made a lot of meatballs. With a jar of spaghetti sauce and a good quantity of pasta in the pantry, they will make a fast and respectable dinner. The idea is that, when we get busy with holiday parties and performances and stuff, we will be prepared with meals in the freezer, and will not have to resort to carry-out food. I have also found that I nearly always have a friend who needs a casserole at some point during the holidays, or a potluck beginning immediately after I get off work.

  You should also put a batch of cookies in the freezer. It is a long time till Christmas, so I put in breads or sturdy cookies like gingerbread that will -- wrapped correctly and left unopened till fully thawed -- keep well for several months. I gradually work up to the more delicate ones. By Christmas, I have a dozen different kinds of cookies, which makes for good cookie boxes and a nice platter on the Christmas Eve table.

  This is also the week for buying supplies for the things we are making for holiday gifts, so I will be making a decision about the soldering iron question. If anyone out there is knowledgeable on the subject, please weigh in with your advice.

  We are supposed to divide all those craft supplies into plastic bags for each project. I confess that I have never yet done that. I haven't yet regretted it, either, but who knows? If you do it and find that it is a wonderful idea, let me know.

  Now, some people do not have a lot of preparation to do for the winter holidays, because they are too young or too male to be responsible for that stuff. And some people like being insanely stressed in November and December. I know this because I have, when friends or customers complain about the holiday rush, shared with them my secret for complete calm during Advent -- namely the HGP -- and been told that they would hate it. And some people may love holiday countdowns so much that they want more than one.

  For all these people, I offer my annual link to X-entertainment's Hallowe'en Countdown. It begins today, which is why I am posting this even though I already posted this morning, thus pretty well guaranteeing that you will not read my earlier post.

  It is worth it. You would not find X-entertainment by yourself, any more than I would have, because it sounds like a porno site. But it actually gives daily reviews of weird Hallowe'en stuff that you would not run into yourself. In short, it is an opportunity to glimpse a side of Hallowe'en preparations that people like you and me just don't get to enjoy without assistance. (I first found out about this at a knitting blog. I have forgotten the blogger's name, but she is a rather depressed person with occasional lovely FOs who posted a link to X's amazing and appalling post about making slice-and-bake Hallowe'en cookies.)

  The HGP does include preparations for Hallowe'en, by the way. It will tell us when it is time to buy a pumpkin and plan for costumes, and of course we have already planned the menu for Hallowe'en and put the ingredients on our Master Shopping List (from which will be buy two extra canned goods this week, one for the Holiday Box and one for the Charity Box). We will get the word on when to buy our trick or treat candy, too, and when to decorate our porches.

  But the HGP will not give us reviews of the special Hallowe'en breakfast cereals or step-by-step directions for putting together cheesy decorations from the dime store. X-entertainment will do that for us.

  • 9:33 am
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