Last Celebration

The last of the holiday parties was yesterday. My side of the family. I think it was too far away from Christmas. I was ready to be done with parties, but so happy to gather with my family. I have three favorite traditions with this gathering. One is the family slide show. My brother Jed puts together a show from all of our digital photos. It has a great soundtrack, too. The grandchildren (my kids and their six cousins, ages 1-15) have a book exchange. I think this is the 5th year. Really works out well. They are all readers and have enough in the way of toys. The last tradition is for the adults: my brother, his wife, Mark and me. We always watch an irreverent movie. This year was The Hangover. In the past it has been 40-Year-Old Virgin--movies like that. Not our usual fare, but we laugh when we are all together. It was a great holiday season, but now that we have had this party our holiday is finally at a close. I am ready for some normalcy.

Recipe for the day: Butterscotch Krimpet Cake When we were little, my brothers and sister and I gathered in one of our bedrooms at 5 AM on Christmas day and had a pre-party. We weren't allowed to go downstairs until 7AM. We always had Tastycake Krimpets at our party. This year, I made this recipe for the holiday gathering. A trip down memory lane.