Postby BookSaver » Sun Dec 01, 2019 5:47 pm
It's time for full steam ahead on Christmas prep.
I have crocheted half of the dish scrubbies needed for gifts. Ran out of supplies and need to wait for the online order to arrive before I can make any more.
I've decided on the pattern for the shopping bag I will make for the co-worker whose name was assigned to me. Need to find the pattern but I think I know where it is so I will look for that tonight. I have found acceptable fabrics in my stash. Now I need to find time to sew.
I bought a cute little container of Santa chocolates to put with the shopping bag for co-worker.
My family will gather Christmas Eve for supper. DSis offered to make 3 soups with the rest of us bringing sandwich fixings and sides. Then DSis got her work schedule and now she has to work a full 8 hours that day. I suggested that instead of the soups that take a lot of kitchen time & effort for her, I will cook a big pot of sloppy joes meat and everyone else can bring the buns, condiments, chips, etc. I can start cooking and freezing ahead in small batches as I have the time. The next time I go to buy groceries, I'll buy more ground beef since I don't think we have enough in the freezer right now for the large group. I'll need to get a solid head count the weekend before Christmas to be sure I'm cooking enough.
I've made the sloppy joes twice now for my sewing group and everyone liked the recipe enough that I didn't have any leftovers to bring home to DH. The last time I made it, I cooked it more than a week ahead and put in the freezer. I didn't notice any negative change in the taste or texture from cooking it right before the meal, and obviously no one else did, either.
I already bought all of the ingredients for the nachos that were in the original plan, so I will go ahead and make that for Christmas Eve as well. We will have the nacho sauce in the small crock pot and the sloppy joe meat in the large crock pot.
Must not forget to make fudge. I already have those ingredients in the cupboard. I can't make that too far in advance, though, as the texture changes over time.
OK, that's the plan for gifts and my family's party.
We have not heard anything from DH's family. Each of his siblings have children, grandchildren, and the oldest DB now has great-grandchildren. Locations are rather wide-spread. It's really difficult to schedule family parties with them but I hope we will be able to see at least a few.