Well, it is time to start baking and getting the Christmas gifts ready here at my house.  I am working on the gingerbread cookies today and starting on the many batches of fudge.  I want to make chocolate fudge, peanut butter, maple and a new sour cream fudge.  Then this weekend I can work on decorating the gingerbread boys and girls.

I like to use a soft gingerbread recipe for gifts.  My whole family loves them.  Aloey my oldest son likes simple chocolate chip cookies.  But, when he was younger he would only eat grilled cheese sandwiches when we went out to dinner so I am not surprised.

As anyone who has baked the Gingerbread Cookies knows it takes awhile to get them done. Most recipes call for time in the fridge before baking.

I used to make fruitcake for gifts too. But, since I moved to New York this is not a desired gift here. I made it a couple of months ahead so it could be soaked in Bourbon and aged to mellow the dried candied fruit and it turned out very well. It was a tradition my Grandmother taught me but my husband’s family did not care for it so I don’t make it anymore.

I am also going to make the Elegant Tiramisu Cake that I have listed in an older post.  It is a simple cake but very elegant and everyone loves it.  I found a simple recipe on Alrecipes site.

We started to get snow yesterday and it has continued through the night so it looks like we will be having a “White Christmas” after all. Suprising enough that doesn’t always happen here. There has been years where it didn’t start until after Christmas. But, then once it starts to snow it is usually here until around Mother’s Day and sometimes longer.

Now, all I need to do is to go shopping for the containers I want to use to give the baked goods in. I like to use decorated tins and holiday decorated baskets which are very popular and easy to find.

Well, time to get baking. Do you have a favorite recipe you use for the holidays? How about sharing it in the comments. What do you like best about the goodies you get for Christmas, do you have favorites too?

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Today is the last week of Deer Hunting here in Upstate New York. It is the first day of Muzzleloader or Black Powder Rifle hunting.

My husband did not get a deer yet this season. The weather has been rather warm for hunting to be good this year. It was last year too. The deer don’t move as much when it is warm out and that makes it hard on hunter’s.

We have a small group of hunters that have joined together to lease land to hunt on. They take small older campers over to the hunting property and camp there off and on through the hunting season. It has been a tradition in our family for many years. I can’t say that the wives are totally against spending some quality time on their own either.

Twenty years ago when I first moved here I did not appreciate this as much. So, I do understand the younger wives being a little apprehensive about the husband spending so much time away.

While my husband was working last week a couple of the family members were out hunting and they did get two deer.

The weather has been cold but not cold enough to get much snow here which is very unusual. Yesterday we got a lot of freezing rain. This in my opinion the worst of the weather you can get here. The rain immediately freezes on and forms an ice crust on everything which is very slippery and dangerous. Today we are back up in the 40s. The real shame of this is we are looking to be back in the lower temps by next week and be covered in snow. The same thing happened last year. It is too bad the hunting season dates can’t be more flexible to accommodate the weather changes because when the hunting is bad then the deer are too plentiful and you get more auto accidents involving the deer and the farmers have also have to protect the crops more. You get more of the deer starving to death because of lack of enough food to hold them through the coldest part of the winter too.

So while other family members are home processing their harvest I wait form my husband to get lucky enough to get a deer too. Then our work will begin.

I did find a good website with some great free tips on deer hunting at Mary-prokop.com It has some tips on safety while processing your deer too.

When the kids were young we depended on this harvest of venison to help us make it through the winter and help the food budget. But, in the last two years with the increase in fees and the price of everything going up it has become quite an expense.

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Lots of holiday shopping still getting done.  I thought I was so smart by doing most of my shopping online and not fighting the checkout lines and shopping crowds.

I got my order today by UPS and I it made me very upset.  I got most of the stuff I ordered but the one main family present I ordered that I could give to each of the families is on back order until January 20th.

I called to find out why I am just finding this out now when it still says “in stock” on the internet ad.  Well, the customer service lady was so nice that I couldn’t be mad at her.

Long story short I still have some shopping to do.  I was told that I still have time to order for Christmas.  I was also told that if you call the orders in and speak to a representative that you can find out immediately if it is in stock or not.  My husband said they say that but they probably don’t have any better access to find out then we do.  We shall see.

Due to my limited mobility I am rather dependent on getting my shopping done online and will have to continue with it.

So, any tips?  Have you done any shopping online?  How did it turn out for you?  I usually have pretty good luck with it but that is just it.  Most people don’t want to depend on luck at this time of the year.

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