Cover picture is from my company's Christmas party, although they call it holiday party.
Time to wind down before the Christmas feast this coming weekend. I’ve said it many times, but time has flown by in the past few months. It is hard to fathom that 2022 is almost over, but it has been a good year overall—more about 2022 in the coming posts.
Let’s focus on Christmas, the last week of work, and the kids wrapping up the first half of in-person school.
Santa will hopefully stop by the little house on the mountain, despite the inflation, high fuel prices, and looming recession. But, unfortunately, fecking politicians are worse than kids in the sandbox, and we have an insane dictator causing mayhem in Europe.
My dear mum’s heating cost has quadrupled in 2022, which is not easy to manage on a pension. And please note that it is in a small country that claims to be at the forefront of renewable wind and solar energy. So the green new deal will not necessarily be cheaper!
The family has recovered from the various ailments we were inflicted with as part of the seasonal viruses. Despite being discovered a century ago, antibiotics continue to kick arse on most viruses. However, after a few days of medical treatment, the ear and throat/sinus infections were successfully eradicated.
Our firstborn daughter graced us with her presence, traveling home from Florida, and will spend three weeks away from the Southern sun, her new boyfriends, and her college friends. It’s tough being back under the parents’ roof. Suddenly there are rules again, no late-night partying, and the boyfriend is “stuck” with his family in Florida.
In full transparency, I did not get a chance to cook any of the meals during the weekend. Instead, I had to pick up our daughter from the airport on Saturday, clean the house, and sort out the laundry before the Sunday family cookie decoration party.
Not to forget that I prepared 18lbs of beef taco meat for an event we, Town 4 Troops, are hosting for the Marines – serving tacos for lunch for approx. 250 marines. An excellent way to support our troops.
Family Cookie Decoration Party
For the past 18 years, since our firstborn joined us in this life, my wife created the family cookie decorations party. The sole purpose is to invite over friends and their kids and decorate homemade cookies.
In the beginning, my wife would help the kids make the dough, roll the dough, make cookie shapes, and then bake the cookies. It worked well when the kids were very young but gradually morphed into a very messy event.
Flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, and nuts were all over the tables, floors, and furniture. Our dogs looked like walking ghosts as the kids kept padding them with floury hands and dropping flour when kneading the dough.
Nowadays, my wife spends 1-2 days in advance of the party baking cookies and cupcakes, so all the kids have to do is decorate their cookies.
Each kid gets 4-6 cupcakes and a dozen cookies and can create their own designs. But, yes, it is still very messy, as instead of flour, we now have all kinds of sprinkles on the floor and furniture, and we continue to find sprinkles around the house.
While the kids are decorating their cookies, I invite the adults to sample Danish Glogg (mulled wine), and on some occasions, I might even offer a few unique Danish Christmas beers from my homeland.
A few quick meals
This week is dedicated to a few freezer meals and leftovers from our family cookie decoration party.
And, it will be a busier week as I have to cook the meals the day of the dinner, causing more stress, but cooking is enjoyable and allows me to destress.
Monday might be my favorite dinner simply because I get to pig out on Danish cheese, much to the dismay of my doctor, who is focused on my cholesterol levels.
But, I’m titillated about the Dublin Coddle dinner, and I’m sure it’ll be a lovely stew with bacon, potatoes, and sausages – a good solid Irish meal.
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Monday | Left-over pizza | Cookies, pizza, and cheese sandwiches |
| Tuesday | Quesadillas | Sweet potato & peanut butter with chicken stew |
| Wednesday | Pasta salad | Wild rice and mushroom soup |
| Thursday | Two-cheese melted sandwich | Dublin Coddle |
| Friday | Chicken meatballs with tomato and chickpeas | Red curry risotto with shrimp |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.
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