Monday, January 5, 2009

On the 11th Day of Christmas . . .

Celebrating for 12 days this Christmas has been a delightful experience. I chose a different country for each night and we explored the food, Christmas customs, music, and more. We "visited" Greece, France, Italy, Mexico, "Norman Rockwell's" America, and others. Within each meal experience I hid something related to the particular "Day" of Christmas. For example: Five Golden Rings = five corn tortillas.

I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking, riddling, and all the rest, but I will admit, I failed to adequately pace myself for all the celebratory wear-and-tear and these past few days I have been dragging my feet a bit. When Pipers Piping came about I readily accepted Rachel's offer to make "piping" hot pancakes.


As a veteran pancake maker, she has mastered the measuring and mixing . . .

Even managing to quadruple the recipe to feed our hungry pack of people piping up for pancakes. "Math is very important in cooking," she confidently states; adding, "Chemistry is too." By George, I think she's got it! : )


Her well-practiced pour technique results in round beauties . . .



. . . that rise to the occasion,

but only with the help of master pancake-flipper . . . Dad. He wields the spatula with an expertise that makes for well-rounded pancakes.


You will have to take my word for it that we ate with delight, as I see that this camera failed to capture the candle-lit dining shots wherein we saluted the pipers piping with piping hot pancakes.


Our 12 Christmas Feasts included:

1. "Pear" & Apple Crisp following our meal.

2. Chocolate-Caramel "Turtles" and "Dove" Dark Squares of Chocolate -- Two for each!

3. Three French Hens brought us quiche, of course.

4. The original song lists "Collie" Birds which posed a puzzlement. Since the root word for Collie is "Coal"(in Welsh), I made brownies and cut them to look like coal chunks. ( I stumped them with this one because they thought it was "Calling" Birds.)

5. Five Golden Rings = Five Corn Tortillas on our Mexican Buffet.

6. Geese laid six ginger cookie "Eggs" (cut with cookie cutters) for dessert.

7. Swimming Swans came courtesy of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet suite playing in the background.

8. Milking Maids? Why naturally they would produce Milk chocolate truffles for dessert. (My friend Karen Deborah had joined us by now and had no idea that her delicious gift of Harry & David Peppermint Truffles would serve as our riddle of Christmas -- fooled her and the rest!) ; )

9. The ladies waltzed to Strauss as we dined. (You can tell I began to wear out and resorted to music again).

10. Those leaping lords sparked a LEAP for pizza by the kids as Dad and Mom slipped away for a Chilean meal at "Diego's." I had macadamia-encrusted mahi-mahi -- I'm sure it "leaped" out of the water once upon a time.

11. "Piping" hot pancakes. (Bless you Rachel, my little chef)

12. And tomorrow I shall make turkey-rice soup with the DRUMsticks I pulled from the freezer, leftover from our Christmas Day feast.


And so we will have celebrated the 12 Days of Christmas. I mentioned that I couldn't wait to hear my children tell their children about the time we celebrated for 12 days straight. Elizabeth piped up and said, "Aren't we going to do this again next year?"

Hmmmmmmmmm . . . I pondered for a moment and my mind spun back all the laughter, smiles, feasts, joy, and good cheer over the past 12 days (I'm counting on fun tomorrow too) without any thoughts regarding dishes and such. "Yes," I brightened, "I can hardly wait." And then I plopped down for a looooong winter's nap. ; )

* * * * *
And so, Merry Christmas continues around here as we prepare to welcome the Three Kings on the 6th.


12 comments:

Becky said...

I thought it was calling birds, too. Maybe it is supposed to refer to the color of the birds... four and twenty black-birds... the color of coal. :-D Either way brownies sound great.

Laura ~Peach~ said...

wonderful idea there... I dont see it ever happening here but still I like it. this years (08) was not good since we all have been so darn sick... lemmie tell you... mike has not missed a days work in YEARS he called in today! I am not sure I am over the shock yet... and he even told his boss he MIGHT go to the DR's If he does I may FAINT!
Love n hugs and hugs to KD too!

dawn klinge said...

Wow...that sounds like such a fun idea! I can understand the need for a long winter's nap though. ;) I'm going to think about doing this next year.

Anonymous said...

Such a wonderful celebration. You are a blessed family, in so many ways, even through your hard times. You have the love for each other.

kylie said...

hi deb,
just wanted to say thanks for dropping by my place. i have been reading all your posts but seem a bit short of comments to make.

have a wonderful week
k

tiarastantrums said...

LOVELY - and she looks like a fantastic pancake maker - I think I need some of her lessons!

Grandma Tillie's Bakery said...

You have a lovely idea for stretching the Christmas celebration--but how in the world do you keep the energy going for so long????? Maybe I am just turning into an old fuddy-duddy because I seem to get so worn out from the holidays.

One day I would like to celebrate in a small log cabin, without presents, with just the people that are closest in our lives. Lots of homemade goodies to share, no cell phones or computers and fun and games a plenty. I hope I am not just dreaming!

Karen said...

We had pancakes last night for supper, and mine weren't nearly as nice as Rachel's. The girl has some serious cooking skills.

Yolanda said...

It looks yummy and wonderful.

Suzanne said...

Buckwheat pancakes with organic oil. I love your family!!! I'm hungry too. I haven't had buckwheat pancakes in years, so I'm going to "pull a Rachel" use her brilliant math and your hubby's flipping technique and make some this weekend. Thank you!
XO

P.S. Your kitchen always feels so warm and cozy.

Theresa said...

Nummy! The pancakes look great. We used to use that mix too, but now I'm grinding my own grains, I haven't figured out a new way yet. It's one of those things on the "list"... you know the one that never ends! lol She did a great job with the math too!

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