Advent calendar

When my four children were little, I made advent calendars for all of them. First I made one board to hang on the wall in a central place. Then I attached 24 ring to which I could tie four presents each day to be opened until the 24th. Each child had a present wrapped in his own color wrapping paper. We were fairly poor at that time, so the presents were insignificant. Maybe one piece of gum or a small pencil or a candy bar. A few days before dec 24th there would be a small box of thank you notes for the four of them to use after the holidays. Sometimes there would be a small treasure fit for the individual receiver. It was fun to do each year, but the wrapping was a forever job. Four times 24 I think makes 96 and it took forever to wrap that many little packages. But when you heard one of them come shouting down the hall, saying 'Look Anna, I got a great little book about birds. Then it all seemed worth it.

I told someone this autumn about the advent calendars an that someone I think was Shreve; She told my four children about the fact that I had told her I had never received an advent calendar. And so this year, on Thanksgiving Day an Advent calendar was delivered to my place. I love it. The base had been used for Anna's two children. On the twenty four rings that have been sewn onto the brown felt covering the board hang a present for each day. The packages are wrapped in three different kind of papers, I know that the one for dec 1 is from Martha. I am eager to wake up on Thursday so I can open it to see what may be hidden under the the white tissue paper.From where I sit it looks as though there are two to open on Dec 2.

The board it self is a wonderful Christmas decoration. There are two larger Santas. A mother Santa with a white apron, making her look as though she was interrupted while baking cookies.

At the end of the line is Papa Santa, and between them are two cute little Santas. signifying Shreve and Karin. What a lot of work Anna had to do to make this for me. I will be forever happy about my first Advent Calendar.

Food

I love it when Shreve talks about food. I have her cook book and I can sit and read it like a novel. It always ends up with my going into the kitchen and since I am not Gluten sensitive I will often cheat and add something she is not allowed to have.

Tonight I am having the noodles with the truffle oil. I have two sections of Tony Roma's spare ribs in the refrigerator, one of which I will heat up on my BBQ. (A gift from one of my favorite sons-in-law) and my dinner will consist of spare ribs, noodles with a drop of truffle oil, a green vegetable also left over from yesterday, with a few drops of Ranch dressing. For dessert I will have a whole Kiwi fruit which I cut in half and eat out of the peel, the way you eat a grapefruit, only the spoon is much smaller. It is noon now and how do I wait.

Since we are talking about food, I will tell you what I had for breakfast, Coffee, one pear and one banana. For lunch I will have two thin slices of Safeway's Artisian black olive bread with a slice of tomato and a slice of cheese. If a dietary expert reads this, what am I missing. and since I have had two worry some instances of what could be gout, is there something wrong with today's menu? I will google Gout and see what that's all about.

Meanwhile, Bon Apetit.