Left-overs are us!

Hi neighbors. Left-over week is officially here! The "what-is-in-this?" casserole is king! Did you get your running shoes on early enough Friday? This first official Christmas shopping day thing is really something else.

Just when you thought you could sleep in late and digest all of Thursday's food, you find out you have to be at the stores by five am! What is up with that? It seems it would make more sense (and be kinder) to start the shopping day later the day after America's annual turkey day. Why can't the stores open at noon and stay open later? I suppose for the men it's pay-back time for watching football all day Thursday.

The guys who don't have to take the family shopping have it easy though. They can sleep in as late as they want. The wife and kids are out shopping before dawn and out of their hair. There's plenty of food in the fridge to tide them over till the exhausted foragers return home at dark.

Of course, there are some sales targeted just to the men as well.

What is the rush? Does anyone get all their Christmas shopping done the day after Thanksgiving? Or do a lot of people find things they really want for themselves and get that instead? I suppose if they have their spouse or kids with them they can tell them to get it for them as a Christmas gift.

To me, the best thing about Christmas gift getting is the surprise. I knew a woman who always bought clothes for her grandchildren for Christmas. She took them shopping, made them try them on, and then wrapped them for Christmas. Now that might be practical; but since when is Christmas about being practical? Have you noticed Christmas lights and decorations already up around town? I used to resent them going up before Thanksgiving, but now I think it would be festive to have them (at least the lights) up all winter.

I've even heard Christmas carols being sung at work. Someone told me that the stores were playing Christmas music already. Oh well, why not? Top ten songs get played twice every hour on the radio so why not Jingle Bells. Christmas music only gets a few weeks out of the year to shine.

It bothers me when I hear younger folks talk about not being able to find the "old" claymation version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Especially when I remember the first year it was shown on television -- yes -- the FIRST year.

Holiday traditions are fine, but when you can remember when they started, that's not so fine.

It's good to know at least a few things pre-date my personal experiences! I bought a sweet potato pie the other day and it wasn't very good. There wasn't enough pumpkin pie seasoning in it.

I told a friend about it and she asked why I didn't just get a pumpkin pie if I wanted it to taste like pumpkin pie. I thought I was doing a good deed supporting one of the lesser valued vegetables.

My friend also reminded me I could have made a sweet potato pie myself. I told her I would have if my stove had an oven.

She pointed out the large open space under the burners, behind the white door with a glass in it. I thought that was a pan storage area.

Kidding aside, my Granny always said about making biscuits, once you stop doing it you lose your touch. I think that's happened to about everything I used to cook. I don't know if my tastes have changed or my cooking has gotten worse.

I suppose that's why I like Thanksgiving so much. It's a lot of cooking for one day; but then you can not cook for a week.

When people really like my cooking and ask for my recipe I always start with the same directions. "Get in the car and drive to a grocery store. Find the deli section. Pick out what you want. Bring it home and nuke it if it's supposed to be hot and has turned cold. Freeze it if it's supposed to be cold and turned hot." That's pretty much my recipe for most things I 'cook.' Until the next time friends remember, if you joined the fray Friday morning; at least you didn't have to cook when you got back home.