A Very Merry Christmas to all Old Fashioned Gingerbread and candy cane treats

 The packages have been sent to family members so it's time to reveal the 2023 theme.  

Gingerbread Man and girls..with a lot of old fashioned sweets.  An Old Fashioned Christmas.

Last year as I was putting away my Christmas ornaments I noticed my gingerbread men were sort of "tired".  They had been taken out, displayed and stored in their boxes for over fifty years.  I decided not to store them in 2023 but to do some repair and freshening up.  

circa 1970

When I was a young newlywed I wanted to start my own ornament collection for my tree as all young adults like to do when they've moved out of their parents home. Because I loved to sew and because money was tight I decided to make these little guys.  I used a cookie cutter for a pattern and cut  out from velvet and brown gingham fabric scraps.  Then I appliquéd and embroidered the eyes, mouth and cheeks and apple buttons.  A velvet necktie and rick rack around the edge dressed them for display. I still love to hang these old ornaments on my tree each year.  They send my mind back to another happy Christmas time as so many ornaments do.  My friend, Jan, just recently described it as "my life's history is presented on my tree.  So true!

Usually my Christmas theme inspiration comes to me in October or November but this year in early January I knew what 2023 would be.  Gingerbread.  I decided to make more gingerbread men and share them with others:

Start with a set of gingerbread people - yes I have a few..  In my kitchen "more is more"

The originals are on the top and 7 new pairs of gingerbread fabric ornaments made from both old and new materials

white felt, "apple" appliqué , blue felt eyes, embroidery and vintage ribbon

As I decorated the tree I pulled out all the old ornaments that supported the theme of old fashion candy canes and ribbon candy, sweets like cupcakes and chocolate truffles.  Then I added gingerbread houses and candy cane striped ribbon

Here's a look at my tree:

Candy cane paper, gingerbread bags and boxes

Old fashion Christmas tree

Topped with a gingerbread girl  "Jellycat"

ribbon candy, candy cane ribbon, gingerbread garland - all sugar free!

Sweets on the tree from Christmas' past

Ribbon candy tree, Gingerbread nutcracker and a corner of my poinsettia quilt from 2006

And now for the cookies:

It's just fun making cookies: cut out cookies, decorated cookies, chocolate cookies and red cookies:

This year gingerbread men were a must. Then Ella requested peanut butter cookies with the iconic chocolate kiss on the top.  Red velvet crinkles and sugar cookies made the cut this year.  I first made a batch of each gluten free ( for my Denver family) and then an additional batch of each for others.  Really the G-F choice does not compromise the taste at all and I encourage everyone to try it.

Red velvet crinkle batter

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231745/red-velvet-crinkle-cookies/

so pretty and delicious

Don't forget to let your cookie cutters go swimming in the flour before they cut

Red velvet crinkle cookies plus peanut butter kisses  Here's the recipe 

A village of ginger people    https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/230238/gingerbread-men-cookies/

And sugar cut out cookies candy cane, Royal Icing (with 1 drop of peppermint extract)  I use the recipe from Rose's Christmas Cookies book - secret ingredient is lemon zest but if you don't have that bible Allrecipes has a good one too https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10402/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/

And finally it would not be a complete Christmas without including my High Tide Farm animals

A big wag, hug, nestle, cackle, and meow from all of us

The newcomers

Charlotte

The 4 funny goats......plus 6 chickens

And my favorite girls:

 Reina (16) and Gabriela(13)  Visiting from Seattle

Kate(16)  and Ella(20) - my Denver girls - on their trip to New Zealand

May this upcoming year be filled with love, adventures and joy in your lives

Happy New Year 💗

Smell the roses

What about Sunflower?  These new kids are adorable but is Sunny getting her daily back rub and daily treats?  Well I say "Yes"!!!!  But she will stop and smell the roses when she can...hoping to get her head through the fence enough to eat one.....because smelling roses is a good thing but eating them is a delicacy:

smell the roses

Sunflower is not the most charming goat in the barnyard but she shows great tolerance for these new kids (well sometimes) and today she let them jump all over her as part of their fun.  Good girl Sunny

kiddy back ride

Here they are: My new little family

 These little ones entered our world at 5:30 and 5:35 Thursday evening.  MaMa LuLu (Eloise when she's in trouble but she never is) did an excellent job of getting them here.  Meet Levi and Lily

Hi there!

Lily

new little family

MaMa LuLu

 How sweet is this

Rewind

I just had to post this again:  Maverick and LuLu are now a year old and no more goat babies until next spring (fingers crossed) so I just had to have a fix of these adorable ones again

Goat Olympics!!!

 Have you been watching the Rio Olympics?  Of course you have.  We learn that the athletes train for years to be fabulous at what they do.  But look at these babies!!! They are 13 days old and LuLu can jump three times her height!!

high jump

How does she do it?  Just like the Olympians.  Practice

Maverick has been practicing too:

balance beam
Maverick on Sunflower

Off to your new home

The boys go to their new home today.  They are 8 weeks old and wild teenage boys.  They are going to a 2 acre home in Golden ( West of Denver) to be loved by a new family and help mow the weeds.  It has been non stop laughs around here.  Goat babies are the best

Two kids on a kid's lap

Two goats on two chairs

These 10 day old little bucklings are too darn cute.  This morning they discovered the chairs.  They are mostly used for children to sit in but they are kids, aren't they?
It looks like there are no babies for CoCo this year but she does make a very fun Aunt.  Watch these little kids repel of the side of the barn.