My Dear Boo, whew! Family Christmas is now Christmas Past. Aunt Teri and Uncle Joey hosted all of us once more. They are so gracious and hospitable for having almost thirty-five people in their home. I would have been nuts, but they took everything in stride. Their home was perfect, the decorations were perfect, and the food was perfect.

It is always fun to get together with family and friends, especially around the holidays. It is amazing to see how much the nieces/nephews have grown, both physically and mentally. The three year old nephew that could not string together three words for a sentence suddenly is talking to you as if he were your college professor explaining that Schrodinger’s cat is a thought experiment, often described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The thought experiment presents a cat that might be alive or dead, depending on an earlier random event. Heck, all I wanted to know is what he wanted Santa to bring him!

The niece that was sporting braces, and glasses, and pigtails and who walked, talked and dressed like the Ed Grimley character from Saturday Night Live has now transformed into this stunning, poised, graceful young lady. All the teens and pre-teens were texting away and able to carry on three other conversations at the same time. And “talking” in some foreign language…..OMG LOL POS AML ASAIK RUF2T. I can hardly stay focused on one conversation and be able to respond with some intelligence. Crap! When did I get so old?

Since I have not been working this past month I feel like I am living the “Ground Hog’s Day” movie. Every day I would get up, stay in my pajamas, bake like crazy and fall into bed. Get up the next day and do it all over again. I must have brought at least two dozen of eight different kinds of cookies, Puppy Chow, Chex Mix, Winter WonderLand, Pretzel Toffee, pumpkin pie, homemade marshmallows, and S’More Pops. It took an Army of people to get my truck unloaded and all the goodies into the house. There is only so much that we can eat, so I would find myself going door to door in the neighborhood passing out the treats. The first week everyone was pretty receptive, however, by the end of the second week I did notice a change. When I would ring their door bell lights would suddenly go out, the television would suddenly go quiet, but that did not stop me. I would just leave the treats on the door step – much like the gardeners who have their abundance of produce in the summer and try hard to find someone to take it off their hands.

Now that the baking is finished my “Ground Hog’s Day” has varied a bit. I get up, fix some coffee, turn on the television and veg out all day, then get up off the couch and go to bed. I am becoming a slug and watching the FoodNetwork. I believe that I have watched all their Food Challenges. Yesterday’s challenge was to use cereal to build a bridge. Seriously?!! Maybe the Food Network execs are bored, too. Guess this means that my self imposed vacation is over and I need to start looking for a job – Joy Rising?

Sweet Toffee Pretzel Mix

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Ingredients:

• 6 c miniature pretzel twists
• 4 c mixed nuts
• 2 c light brown sugar
• 1 c butter
• 1/2 c corn syrup
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. On a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, combine the pretzels and the nuts.
2. In a large saucepan combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
3. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened (firm ball stage – 260 degrees F). Remove from heat and pour over pretzel mixture and mix until everything is coated.
4. Bake in preheated 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes (stir about halfway through to be sure everything bakes). Remove from oven and spread out to cool on a sheet of parchment paper.

Variations:

Can add 3T pure maple syrup

Can add 2 c chex mix in place of some pretzels

Can add 2T cayenne pepper