January 6 - The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Twelfth Night - Twelfth Day - Epiphany

Today's the Twelfth Day of Christmas, but some call tonight Twelfth Night while others call last night Twelfth Night! Maybe better just to call it Epiphany. At any rate, it's the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Carnival if you live in certain areas, which I don't. 

A couple of years ago a friend and I decided to try making King Cakes. That was fun! We made three for Epiphany + three crowns for those who found the tiny plastic baby in their slice of cake.  They were the Three Kings for the night.  

Forgot to take a picture after I'd transferred it to a clean plate!

 Then I think we made a couple more of the cakes for the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper - Mardi Gras!  Guess we got it out of our system because neither of us made the cakes last year and as far as I know we have no plans for this year. It was one of those things that's fun to do once!

Time to take down my Christmas tree and decorations now!

Christmas Baking

Christmas Cookies

Baking cookies has been a part of our Christmas celebration for as long as I can remember.  My mother always baked up a storm, so it wouldn't seem like Christmas without some of our special family cookies. Have cut back quite a bit, but still baked several batches.

Lizzies - getting started

First the raisins are soaked for an hour in bourbon! Lizzies are kind of like little baby fruitcakes - not so popular these days as they once were, but still delicious.

The recipe makes a LOT of cookies!

And here they are! Yum - anyone for a cup of tea and a Lizzie?

"Peeps on a Stick" and friends! The big pink peppermint marshmallows are so cute - they make me think of 'sugar plums'!

Mr. and Mrs. Santa - we've had these for many, many years, a gift from sweet mother-in-law

back when our kids were little.

Also baked Gingerbread Men, Swedish Crescents, Molasses Crinkles, Chocolate Drops with Peppermint Kisses on top, a chocolate cake, Mincemeat Pie with apples & pecans, Cranberry-Apple Pie, and dipped lots of pretzels in chocolate. 

January's usually cool or even cold here, so might bake some more. The only problem with that is that I eat too many of them!

Happy Eleventh Day of Christmas!

Still Enjoying Christmas and New Year's

Happy New Year in Chocolate!

 After lunch with some friends the other day, I found a  mysterious box on my doorstep. Wasn't expecting anything!

Fragile? Berries? Hmmm......

So well-packed! Styrofoam inside the box, foam padding, freezer pack -  no danger of damage in transit. What fun!

Oh, yum! A box of really large chocolate dipped strawberries!

What a sweet gift! How yummy! Almost hate to eat them!

Maybe we should have a Christmas tea party?

I love my little Christmas tea set! Spode's Christmas Tree pattern - spent years collecting enough for our family dinners - and I remember how excited I was when I got the little miniature tea set! No granddaughters, but all of our grandsons have  enjoyed using it for little Christmas tea parties over the years.  

I love this little teapot from one of the dollar stores too, but use it just for decoration.  It's so cute!

It's already the Ninth Day of Christmas! Only a few more days to enjoy the decorations before packing it all away. Everything's so rushed before Christmas that it's nice to have a little time afterwards just to relax and enjoy it all. Years ago we took everything down on New Year's Day, but now I like to leave it up through Epiphany.

Tomorrow(or today!) it's back to school here - so great to be retired!

Happy New year!

Best Wishes for a Very Happy New Year!