a bread Santa - seen here on the left - as part of her contribution. Considering that I worked the night before, came home and crashed until 2 p.m. then got up to clean the house and get ready for 25+ guests at 6p.m. it went pretty smoothly. Daughter # 2 and her intended arrived about 2:30 p.m. and decorated the tree, peeled 5 lbs of carrots and 20 lbs of potatoes and generally were kitchen assistants so that saved the day. Considering that I came home that morning at 8 a.m. to find a note from the shore captain instructing me to 'call me cell' which I did only to find that he was just heading in to the Moncton exit as he'd had to drive up to get a part for the boat. I promptly advised him that since is was HIS family who were arriving in a few hours he had better make a major effort to be here himself. He arrived only moments before his mother but he did make it. Two of the three lobstermen were late and one was absent as it was the first day to haul in a while. But a good time was had by all and we weren't long shutting the lights out after the last guest and heading to la la land ourselves.Sunday was a major blizzard so a good day to stay inside and read in front of the fireplace. I managed to get all the ornaments on the tree, wrap a few gifts and do some cooking. Nice to not have to go anywhere in that white stuff and good to have a quiet day for a change.
This morning it took 12 tries for the boy to get my car out of the driveway and the smell of burning socks when I got in worried me but he said "just the transmission heated up or something, wait about 1/2 hour until you drive it" so that was reassuring. Mind you he has 4 wheel drive and it took him almost as many tries and some very near misses of building, gear and my car before he extricated himself from the driveway and headed over to help the diesel mechanic wrestle the reduction gear into the engine room of the boat - he gets all the good jobs he says. After getting myself on the road I picked up some last minute things and groceries and came home to do some baking. Made jam cookies, brown bread and cranberry squares (which are like date squares but easier) from a recipe in the Lobster Bay Shopper - here it is:
Cranberry Squares
1-1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup crushed nuts
1-1/2 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine
1/4 tsp. baking soda
can of whole cranberry sauce
Mix first six ingredients into a crumble. Press half in the bottom of an 8 x 8 in. pan. Spread cranberries over and cover with remaining crumbs. Bake 350 x 35 minutes. Cool before cutting.
Very Christmasy, less cooking than date squares and not as sweet. Yum.
So tomorrow is some more last minute errands, wrapping and then Wednesday will be to put the feet up. One thing about working Christmas is that you have to be ready before you head back so there's not the last minute panic.
The baby daughter is flying out west tomorrow to visit her oldest sister and since she's had a nasty bug she now has painful sinuses - not exactly the way you'd like to start your five + hour flight. She says her roommate has some gravol for her so she'll plan to sleep her way across if necessary. The flight ends in Calgary so the cabin cleaners will kick her off if they find her curled up in a seat anyway. She's staying the night with the bride to be and will be transported to her early morning flight from there. She sounded a bit better on the phone this evening, perhaps the adrenaline is improving the sinus situation.
Well, I must make my way through a few pages in my library book as I have 10 - 10 - 10 by Suzy Welch and it's a great read. Not to worry, you'll hear from me again before the five days off are done.
