It’s over for another year. The gifts have all been torn open with a variety of sentiment… “Ohhh, nice”, “Cool”, or, “do you still have the receipt?” It seems all the packaging made up the majority of bulk and glitz under the tree. The actual gifts account for a small portion of what was hauled out to the trash ( I try to recycle). At least it looked ample under the tree…that’s what counts!

The relatives came bearing more gifts and dishes of yummy food. We ate things we normally don’t.  Ahhh, one day of gastronomic gluttony was a bit painful. The leftovers were “foiled” in the fridge to be used for some quick and easy dinners (yea, no cooking for a few days!!). Unfortunately, as I go to fix dinner, I can’t scrape up enough food to pass for even a “ 2 food group”meal,  (would cool whip fruit Jell-O and roast gravy pass for a meal? Works for me!). It seems like the foraging food fanatics have feasted in the dark of night, while the refrigerator referee slept off a binged stupor. One thing they did not touch (men and kids don’t like this), was my appetizer leftover, Sweet Red Pepper Jelly Cream Cheese Dip.  It’s yummy, easy, and all for me. The diet starts New Year Day…or the day after.

It’s an 8 oz. block of soft cream cheese and a 8oz. jar of sweet red or green pepper jelly poured over top. That’s it! Serve with a variety of crackers (women love this for some reason :). Serve it at the New Years Eve party (don’t invite me I’m partied out).

Then, there are a few other signs that Christmas has run its course… the under-watered Poinsettias are losing their festive foliage at an alarming rate. Also, we’ve packed away  the GOOD family china and silver for another year (yes, Grandma, we did wash it all by hand and pack it in the padded covers). The table leaves have been removed. The tablecloths and napkins thrown out to wash. The extra chairs hauled back out to the garage. A few of the Christmas lights have shorted out and the live Christmas greenery is now “brownery”, dried and brittle. So I guess it’s time to move on to the New Year with an attitude of gratitude for a year in which we could enjoy and be thankful for all of the above.

I hope you had a wonderful
Holiday and many happy memories were made.

A New Year awaits, full of promise and hope and great new year of design, decorating, and making home a wonderful-place-to-be, ideas. So stay tuned….