Happy Christmas Eve to all of our villagers!
We had the family party today at younger DSis's house. So much fun to see everyone.
I stayed up really late last night to finish sewing gifts for DMom and DSis. It was so late that I ran out of time to make fudge and thought, oh well, there will be so many sweets there it won't matter.
Then this morning I woke up early enough that I changed my mind and made a quick batch of fudge. It's a very easy recipe.
It helped that I had already pre-cooked the meat for the nacho sauce so all that was needed for that recipe was to open some cans, cube the cheese, and combine everything into the crock pot.
It also helped that I had pretty gift bags and tissue ready to take care of the gift wrapping so I didn't have to try to neatly fold and tape paper around odd shapes.
I did not end up making the macadamia nut/cranberry/almond bark candy nor the spiced walnuts I wanted to try. Both of those were new recipes that I wrote on the same piece of paper, and I cannot find the paper.
I left 4 pieces of fudge at home because they looked funny, and took the rest of the batch up to the party. I always encourage people to take fudge with them but I usually end up bringing home half of it anyway. Not today. This time everyone filled a little baggie and my dish was empty. That made me happy. Those 4 funny-looking left-behind pieces will be enough to satisfy my fudge craving.
We also do not have any nacho sauce leftovers. There was a small amount in the bottom of the crock when we drove home from the party. DH carried the basket with the crock from the car to the house while I gathered up all the rest of the tote bags that needed to come in. I got up to the back door and heard DH swearing a blue streak. He said he set the basket with the nacho sauce down on the ground just long enough to unlock the door. When he turned around to pick up the basket, the old gray outdoors cat had nudged the top off the crock and had her face in the nacho cheese.
I didn't realize a cat would be attracted to food that spicy. I told DH not to worry about it, she had her Christmas present and that's why we call her the fierce hunter cat. He said I might as well give her the rest, but I don't think that spicy cheese sauce would be good for her, even with the meat in it. I don't mind throwing it in the trash. After other parties, I've tried converting the nacho sauce into meals by adding macaroni or tortillas and such, but it's never turned out that great.
Tomorrow we do not have to go anywhere, huzzah!
Analysis of gifts given: All seemed to be well received. Must start sewing earlier next year = make decisions and buy fabric in the summer and start sewing in September. This year I counted on being able to sew in November and December. Unfortunately, I did not count on (1) a bad cold that zapped all my energy (but at least it wasn't the flu!), (2) twisting my back so badly that I couldn't sit at the sewing machine for a week, and (3) being called in to work extra shifts when I wanted to be sewing. Those 3 things resulted in too much time under pressure late at night, not a good atmosphere for sewing gifts.