Remembering my Mom, While Baking a Very Special Batch of Cookies for MY PAL, Old Saint Nick #FFF
Knowing Santa Clause as well as I do, I figured that it was time to put my skills as a 3 time @fff Belt WINNER to good use.
Before I get started, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, from now on when you think of Old Saint Nick, you may be shocked to learn that there are two of them. Yea, it was news to me when I found out.
Twin brothers, and you can tell by the pose they're striking, they have Christmas under control.
When you come to think of it, it makes all the sense in the world. I always wondered how the old fellow got around to every house on his list. Now I know how he always delivered the goods on time, with two of them it has to be a piece of cake.
Coupled with the fact that Nick doesn't condone naughty behavior, that makes his list totally manageable!
Being that we're such good friends, blood brothers sort a speak, I just call them Nick 1 and Nick 2.
You guys should probably keep it formal, and use their whole name, and then just add the 1 or the 2.
I think the news about these special cookies has hit the air.
Gosh darn internet, can't keep anything a secret these days.
I guess Nick is a little ahead of schedule, always fun when he visits, a really jolly gentleman.
He could give UPS and fedex a couple of lessons on making sure all of the good folk out there get their s--t on time.
On top of that, the Old Man brought the wife. Let me rephrase that, being that we're the same age, to the exact second. Nick brought the very spry Mrs Clause, and yes, even I call her by her proper name.
You really, really don't want to cross her!
I think she's here to try and get the recipe.
They may be good friends of mine, but I wont be sharing this special recipe with anyone.
The guy is all over the place.
I hear you Nick, it's freaking freezing out there. What did you say, you're going for the sled with the enclosure next year. 👍
This is Nick 1 after the holidays last year. He looks a little worn down, totally understandable. His brother just couldn't make the trip, he was totally shot.
The year before last, they both lost a considerable amount of weight. These special cookies should head that off at the pass. I've got a feeling they may both be gaining a little weight.
We're such good buddies, the brothers even set up shop right outside my door. I think they was expecting a little help. I guess they forgot that I was retired. Got you there Nick, I'm forgetting some stuff lately myself.
Okay, I heard you my friend, lets get busy baking. I wish you didn't bring the kid.
Way to block out the kid, these are cookies for ADULTS ONLY!
Stop pestering me Mrs Clause, there's no way I'm giving away any family secrets.
I'll tell you one thing, the ingredients are measured to the gram, the chocolate chips in each and every special cookie are counted out exactly, kind of like what @puravidaville does with her grapes and strawberries.
I know she's on your list, along with her man @dandays.
Put the measured ingredients on a none greased baking tray, and sprinkle in the special sauce. Fold in gently, and place in the oven for about 12 minutes.
Of course, preheat to 350 degrees. I understand, you guys live at the North Pole, you know what they say, " If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen.
Now, that's all you're getting out of me.
Now it's probably time for you guys to make the return trip back to the North Pole. I promise I'll save a couple of these very special cookies. I did cook them for you, my best friends, Mr. and Mrs Clause.
This time of year conjures up so many found memories of my mother, Ethel.
I know most people would say the same thing about their mothers, but in my very humble opinion she was the best of the best.
What stirs up these memories are all of the wonderful handcrafted gifts she bestowed on me, while enjoying her life so fully.
Almost all of the Christmas gear that I have so proudly presented in this post, was made by my mom.
Having four other siblings, each and every year, for as long as I can remember, she would make 5 of each gift and present these gifts to all of her children, with so much love in her heart.
Thinking about you always sweet lady of ours!
I hope you all had a couple chuckles, it is that time of year.
Hope my pals @dandays, @jlsplatts and @idig are laughing with me.
The @appreciator is a top notch supporter, thanks my friend for your continued support.
Have a laugh whenever you can, and let's all #steem on right into the New Year!!
In Sweden, we call him Jultomten or Father Frost.
Thanks for stopping by @njord. Being of Swedish decent you would think I would know that, but I didn't, that is until now. Thanks for the info. That little fact I will tuck away and share with the family when they visit for Christmas.
Place looks good look forward to spending some xmas time there!
Your Food Fight Friday Contender has been entered into
Round 74
May your contender make it out alive and not be placed in a permanent
Food Coma
source
Good Luck
and
Have a
!BEER
Thanks gentlemen for entering my contender into the 74th round of the #fff cook off.
thanks for everything you guys do to keep this contest at the top of the charts.
With this time of the year being so busy, and with time being at a premium, you're efforts are more than appreciated. @idig, @jlsplatts, @dandays I'm sure Santa has a special gift for all of you.
View or trade
BEER.Hey @thebigsweed, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @foodfightfriday for you. Enjoy it!@fff thanks so much. I'll need all of the beer I can get my hands on, this is the jolly holly season!
Oh buddy, your mom was the best, I still miss her as well as my mama. Both of them were so extraordinary, strong women, I pray when I grow up, I will be just like them. Amen
You are the best @farm-mom. You have taken the best of both ladies and stitched it into the fabric of your very being. Both of our Moms were so proud to call you their daughter! 💕
C'mom @thebigsweed, you are going to make me cry. I loved both of those ladies so much, such fantastic examples of motherhood. They both worked so hard to make everyone happy and healthy, dedicated their lives to their hubbies and children . I miss them
Merry Christmas 😄
Back at you @idig.
With 2 feet of snow on the ground here in Upstate NY, it feels a little funny asking this question. How is your garden going.
Lol, oh my. I was about 10 or 11 the first time i saw snow 😅. I do love the cold tho, and i have been taking ice baths or cold showers for over a year now(Wim Hof Method).
Garden is doing great. Im having a blast. Definitely alot more organized on my next go. I already had a salad w the Romain Lettuce im growin. I think the green beens will be my first main harvest. Ill be doing an update soon. But yeah, definitely better organized next time. Plus im pondering what to grow...
That Wim Hof method is extreme, and I'm not sure how you do it.
I remember watching the video you posted not too long ago about it.
In my neck of the woods it would not require much preparation, just walk out side and your good to go.
Green beans are prolific, and always fun to grow.
It seems like you are really enjoying growing stuff, and with experience the yields only get better.
Pondering what to grow is always a lot of fun, we try a couple new veggies every year.
With Christmas right around the corner, I hope you and the Misses have been behaving yourselves.😁
This is a lovely post!
Thanks @amberyopper, glad you enjoyed. Enjoy the holiday season!
Some chuckles and a totally warm fuzzy feeling in my heart. Love this! 💚
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Thanks for the wonderful reply. Growing up in a household with such a loving lady, guiding me every step of the way to becoming a good man, was her ultimate goal. To this day I can hear her saying, "Robert, the most precious of all of the things your father and I have given you is a name you can be proud of. "
That was all I needed to hear. That one line has helped me make so many of the right choices that one needs to make while navigating past the many temptations one faces while growing up.
I hope your holidays are filled with family, friends, and happiness @planttoplanks.
I’m going to use it now, too. I haven’t been awake too long, I’m glad I made it to this reply page this morning cuz that was a nice read. My mother used to say “you’re driving me up a wall” and “blank in one hand....” you know that one. But I know what she meant, “a name you can be proud of.” Well said, Rob’s mom—it’s obvious he owned what you told him.
I'm not sure where I would be in my life without her guidance, but one thing is certain, I wouldn't be where I'm at today.
This one of those times when your one-liner has just as much of an impact as the novels, @thebigsweed.
Dooood! You had me at the Santa Clauses. Are those, wait, before I get started..
Did you say three belts?! Certainly there’s some under the table wagering going on because you haven’t released a contender this dope for as long as I can re..... wait, what was I saying?? 🤔
Dooood! You had me at the Santa Clauses. Are those Santa’s the battery powered ones? Sweed, I don’t know if they are or not but I haven’t thought about that battery powered Santa since forever. My grandmother used to have one of those and she would laugh at it, just as hysterically, year after year. My uncle Paul bought it for her—RIP to both of them. Thanks for sparking that memory. Speaking of sparking..
And then you busted out the weed cookies—right over the fence, sir, ka’pow! I don’t know any other way to say “great contender” other than a shout out to @appreciator for the generous upvote and a Resteem from me—good luck @the bigs Weed! You got my vote and I haven’t even ventured the others yet.
You and Mrs. Clause enjoy the rest of your weekend, you really outdid yourself with this one.
See what happened? I enjoyed this one so much I never even mentioned so much as a thank you for the special shout-out to me and that knock out of mine.
What's happening @dandays. Yes, the two Santa brothers in the first pic are the battery operated ones. They both do a little jig and sing a Christmas tune. The grand kids get a big kick out of them. With so many of the Christmas decorations being handcrafted by mom, breaking them out of the boxes and putting them around the house is always a very special time.
An upvote and resteem from the @appreciator is like getting an early present.
What are you talking about, weed cookies, who ever told you what the secret recipe was is just spreading rumors. 😉
With Christmas right around the corner, do you guys have anything special planned.
If not, we're having a get together with our best friends from up the road, and two of my sons will also be visiting with their families, it would take but a minute to set a couple more plates at the table. 👍
Tickets for the the flight could be purchased at sky scanner, they are the best around. A buddy of ours turned us onto this service, and he swears by them. Oh, I forgot, that buddy was you. 😁
Maybe one day we can hook up, but for now this pen pal stuff feels pretty good.
Have a great day and stay safe!
They’re the exact same Santa that my grandmother had then dude. What a great spark that was, thank you.
Hey, sir, Eye did that resteem, danget! You must’ve ate too many cookies. Speaking of Danget, I use that wOrd all the time. One time recently, it was one of those English friends of ours, he said to me, several days later, “why do you always say ‘Danget,’ is ‘nonce’ a loose term in the US?” I was “uhm, what?” Check this out, he showed me the urban dictionary definition. That’s funny! Those Brits are funny sometimes. “Nah.. it just means whoops are darn or something.” He was like “oh good! I’m so glad you explained that, I thought you didn’t like me!!” Lol.
I was waiting for you to respond to this one before I mentioned these things, check it out, question and a suggestion.
Suggestion—you and the farm should check out esteemapp, it’s available in the App Store. It’s about the only thing I’ve been using anymore for steem. I can’t even think of the last time i used steemit. I use steempeak to add extra tags, otherwise all I ever use anymore is esteemapp. It’s really nice dude! Super user friendly, you just have to get the hang of it. Check it out, I’m sure you’ll like it. Comes with healthy upvotes and you collect points, too, while using it that can go toward higher upvote values. It’s a good one to consider.
Question—you know I’m a big fan of your work, are you interested in aesthetics? Just a way to dress up your articles. Like how i do in my articles and the paragraphs are all aligned? Your blog isn’t missing anything but if you’re interested in dressing up the text like I do, I’ll hook you up. Aligned, I did it in this paragraph just to show you what I’m talking about but I only do it for my articles.
Check me out, rambling off at the thumb again and didn’t even mention Christmas plans.
How fun it would be to join you guys! Pura has been bugging me and bugging me about the “what’s.” The only thing I’ve been able to tell her is “the only thing I want for Christmas is to wake up and still have all of my senses.”
When she saw his package she was like WAYAMENT it's that big
Nothing like to waking up, pouring a cup of bean, and having a good chuckle early in the morning.
I have heard about esteemapp but wasn't sure what it was all about. It sounds very interesting, and I will have to check it out after the holidays.
One thing for sure, I'm a creature of habit, @farm-mom can attest to that. Once I find a way to do something and it works for me, it's hard for me to change.
Hell, I wore the same exact style of black Reebok sneaker for 25 years until they stopped making them, refused to take a short cut to the farm when we were living in NJ, even though it would have saved us around 15 minutes of drive time, I have been swigging milk out of the container for as long as I can remember, and have worn skinny neckties for ever, even when the style was fat neckties. Low and behold, skinny neckties have gone in and out of fashion several times over the past 40 years, making it so that every 10 years or so, I'm styling.
Having my posts be a little more appealing to the eye is something I would love to learn how do do. When I first started to post, I noticed the Markdown Styling Guide, clicked on it and was not sure were to go from there. Does this Markdown Styling Guide I always see have anything to do with what you are talking about?
You're the man when it comes to helping others, and I'm not just talking about here on the platform. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it before, and just in case I haven't I will bring it up now. For @dandays and @puravidaville to donate their time volunteering at that refugee camp helping others, while on vacation,was a very honorable thing for the both of you to do.
I hear you with the what's.
At this age I have almost everything a person could need, but when it comes to wants, I've been asking for a tractor for several years now, and all farm-mom does is laugh.
After she laughs, she asks me, what would you do with a tractor. My standard reply is, I would ride it down to the American Legion.
Have a great day my friend.
First, I’m really glad you think so Bob, and thank you for noticing, I really appreciate that. I relayed it to Pura. “Thanks, Sweed,” she said. You ready? It’s just you and I here, right? This isn’t something I plan on making public. Would you believe she and I went directly from the courthouse (our wedding chapel) to a church in San Jose, both in the gear we got married in and served those less fortunate? :echo: Thank you for noticing, @thebigsweed, I’m really glad you think so! I’m going to elaborate on that story now because you’re the kinda dude that will enjoy it.
Pura was in the kitchen at the church, preparing and serving food, while I was asked to retrieve kitchen items from refrigerator B, we’ll call it, as needed for the cooks and preparers but once those items were all used up, that’s all the less fortunate people were to receive and I wasn’t to retrieve anything from refrigerator A. Also, my gig was to fill their cups as they became empty with either milk or water. Ok, those were my tasks. Well, Sweed, I emptied both refrigerators.
And I didn’t stop there.
I found a pantry with dried goods, all of the junk food like cookies, chips, etc. Even canned and bagged cat/dog food. Bro, I began asking each of them if they have pets and, those who did, I gave away all of the pet food, too, I emptied both refrigerators and the pantry, eventually giving them take-away bags with boxes of juices, pre-made salads, everything that wasn’t bolted down and perishable left the church that night. Thank you for reading. Ok, now to the other stuff.
Dude, I piss standing up. What I mean by that is, creature of habit is me as well. Don’t trip, I’ve been practicing with @esteemapp (it’s available in your App Store) for several months now, I’ve been with them through many updates and it’s not until now I began promoting it. Give it a shot dude, it’s all you need. You gain upvotes, it alerts you to every.single.thing that hits your blog, dude.. it’s great! And user-friendly is what I’m all about. I wasn’t promoting it the past six months though I’ve been using it, and now I am. You’re gonna love it.
About aligning your paragraphs. As this response is, I did it as an example just so you know what I’m taking about whereas i typically just do it on my articles, see how my paragraphs are all aligned and pretty? It’s even easier than pissing standing up! No, it has nothing to do with markdown, I have no idea what that stuff is.
Check it out, there’s two simple codes to type in and you only have to do it one time on your first paragraph. I’ll literally draw you a picture because, well, I stand up.. and I need pictures!
Talk to you soon, sir, easy on the wine or you may have to strategically leave the part out about napping.
What a lovely tribute to your Mom @thebigsweed, lovely little story around the Christmas decorations;)