The Shrinkage Diaries: Hot Cocoa Revamped

Good news, people! The Shrinkage Diaries is back. I haven't been posting about it recently, but I am still eating better and exercising more than I did in days of yore. Haven't been AS lovely about it as my sister Leah who is now a little skinny-minny while I am still...not, but I am doing far better than I once was and I like how I feel when I'm working hard. :)

In the last two days we've had the first fire in our woodstove and the first snow. Of course it wasn't much snow and it didn't stick but for an hour there were spittings of white precipitation that was undoubtedly snow. And that's a big thing in Southern Virginia, to get snow in November. It is a truth universally acknowledged though that with cold weather comes the desire to do sedentary things like sit by that fire and read James Herriot and drink hot cocoa. Also to listen to Christmas music. I almost never listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving as I don't want to get tired of it, but somehow with the weather being so cold and everyone from the radio-stations to Ann Voskamp playing the old favorites (not to mention the girls practicing carols on the piano) I'm starting to slide into the realm of listeners. I'm actually feeling very holidayish: we're having two friends to Thanksgiving who are single and have no family nearby to spend the holidays with. Cannot wait to take Tatum Black Friday shopping for the first time! To counteract the demands all these cold-weather activities make on my waistline, I took a long walk in the cold, biting wind yesterday and arrived home with all my makeup wiped off by the tears I kept having to wipe away in the face of the blast. Feeling thoroughly frozen at that time, I marched into the kitchen and made myself a cup of hot cocoa. But not any cocoa, since I didn't want to undo the benefits of the walk for which I'd sacrificed my carefully-applied smokey-eye makeup. This cocoa is what I call "clean". No one, not even the Chocolate-Covered Katie herself, could crrrrrriticize its ingredients. (unless she's lactose intolerant or something) I mentioned something of this wonder-drink in a Facebook post and it was suggested that I post the recipe here after I explained what the heck "clean hot cocoa" was. Of course posting a recipe meant I'd need pictures which meant I'd get to make more today...so I did. Here, then, is the result:

Clean Hot Cocoa:

• 2 Tbs. (or less) of pure maple syrup
• 2 Tbs. cocoa powder
• A dash of salt
• 8-12 oz. milk (I usually go for 12 or it gets too rich)
• Splash of vanilla

On the stovetop, whisk-together the maple syrup, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir constantly while simmering for one minute, then whisk in the milk. Heat cocoa per your preference in temperature. When hot enough, remove from stove and stir in vanilla. Enjoy!

This cocoa is smooth, rich, and creamy (and would be more-so if I had been able to get hold of some raw milk), and you won't miss a thing from the normal junk that is full of refined sugars! Feel free to adjust the ratio of maple syrup to cocoa powder--mine was a little sweet. I am excited to have worked out a clean way to have cocoa this early in the cold-season. Also in preparation for the fall/winter, I have been training myself to drink tea and coffee without even honey as a sweetener so hopefully my waist will continue to shrink. (ha. HAHAHA. ha.) Stay tuned for more "clean" holiday treat posts! I want to try my hand at peppermint-bark, fudge, gingerbread men, and more! Let's see what I can do, and if my waist survives the holiday season! Let's call it: The Shrinkage Diaries: Candy-Cane Style. ;)

Toodles! Let me know if there are any specific recipes you'd like me to renovate and I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, drink this hot-chocolate without guilt: your health will love you and give you a nice slap on the shoulder for being such a spiffing fellow.

Silver Bells

Dear, dear me! Here is, December 19th, and nary a sign of Holiday Cheer on this blog! It's abominable, I tell you! Absolutely abominable. So to make up for it, I thought I'd give you a nice plummy post today filled with this Christmas, Rachel-style. Ready for it? Okay.

It begins with liberal doses of hot chocolate periodically. I heat the water in the old blue and white teakettle, then dump in far too many spoonfuls of the powder if we're out of cocoa and milk to make it the real way.

 I always use a Christmas mug this time of year, because what is better, honestly, than a Christmas mug at Christmas? (Thank you, Mary.)

I read books till my eyes are heavy and my mind is full of noble thoughts that never make it onto the blog like I mean them too, and I glance up at our Christmas tree and realize just what a beautiful one it is. The book I'm reading might be "A Christmas Carol"--a stave or so each evening.

“And therefore, Uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that [Christmas] has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”

I might still shake inwardly over Marley's ghost. I might still smile and chuckle over the Crachitt's Christmas meal, thinking how like our own it is. I might, even, tear up when Tiny Tim comes on-page because if one can't be sentimental at Christmastime, one must be strangely inhuman and bereft of all feelings.

My season is interrupted by pleasant but odd things like 3D glasses and small glimpses of what C.S. Lewis called "Joy", but what manifests itself in odd, sharp-sweet stabs. I go to the midnight premier of a fantastic movie and stay up till 4:30 watching a meteor shower--stars dropping from the sky--and then take pictures to commemorate it.

The season continues. I make gingerbread men. I attempt to make fudge. I eat the not-so-fudge anyway, and discover Fudge-ish-gloop is quite as delicious as what it was meant to be. My friends concur. We imbibe deeply in not-so-fudge and then take a long walk to counteract its effects. Mama makes sugar-cookie dough--tradition of all childhood traditions!--and I pinch a bit when I pass the fridge, reveling in the taste of childhood.

I go shopping with the girls--my first trip to The City by myself as a licensed driver, and I did not get lost! Furthermore, it felt awesome having hard-earned money to spend, taking myself to spend it, and coming home all in one piece.

I sing. I sing lots of everything ranging from Matisyahu to Tenth Ave. North, to Bing Crosby's "Let it Snow" and a new-found-appreciation-version of "White Christmas." I listen to the girls play "The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" on the piano and I get my yearly yearning to try a sugar-plum...whatever it is. I sing "Marshmallow World" before I can help myself, and then regret it immediately afterward.

I smell Christmas trees--coming in from being out and getting hit with the scent of fir. It's one of my favorite things in all the year! <3 There is nothing like home, for comfort, after all. I also sniff cinnamon, cider, vanilla, and my 7 different bottles of lotion from That Place. Ahem. Yes, I caved and went into That Place and blushed all the way home. Dear dear. 

I look at the world differently. Everyone has a story. The world is lit by candlelight and evensong and amethyst dusk. People go around acting different as if, for this one month out of the year, they sense a bit of what it means to be compassionate and loving.

I hear jingle bells and I smile. I hear accents and I smile broader. I hear "Far Over the Misty Mountains" as sung by Richard Armitage, and my heart both soars and plummets. Soars because the wander-lust is soft and swift, plummets because there are no literal dragons to slay.

I wait. I wait for Christmas Day, I wait for friends to arrive, I wait for parties and roadtrips and other beautiful events of the season. I wait for my family and friends to open the gifts I've given them, and I wait to open a few myself. I wait for Les Miserables to come out. But mostly I wait with expectant heart, arms high, and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all.

Can I get an Amen?

Oodles of holiday cheer. :)

Traditionally we kick off our "holiday" messes the day after Thanksgiving with a round of Black Friday shopping. This year Abigail joined us which was gobs of fun. She was a good sport. She doesn't like shopping, but she went with us. :) We joined up with others of our Peoples and had a good time of it. I didn't buy much--only a book I'm not liking and a cute belt--but I got to explore a store called Wet Seal and loved it! Some of their stuff is a little out there, but for the most part I had an odd, glorious sensation of "ME! SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS MY STYLE!" I was sorely tempted to buy a red beret/tam, but I didn't have enough money. Instead, Abigail and I bought matching belts. We also tried on "scandalous" dresses in JC Penny's, and though you might get a severe case of the giggles from seeing the pictures, I don't want them up here for everybody and his brother to see. ;) We shall keep this on the down-low.

This morning before Abigail and Daniel left for Warrenton to have a second Thanksgiving with her family, we went to Food Lion to pick out our Christmas tree.

Yes, I said Food Lion.

You can stop gawking. 

Food Lion has way better trees than anyone. Seriously. They're way high on the Chub-o-meter, which is important to me! I hate anemic trees. It's like: "You want to be a willow? Okay. Just don't expect me to choose you to stand in my living room all December." Haha!

Sharpening my teeth. Er. Candy cane. Yes. Candy cane. ;)

It's a tradition in our family to whet our candy-canes while choosing a tree. We sharpen them into impossible points and fear we'll pierce our tongue and then break the tips when we get too excited about the Chub-factor of a particular tree.

Mr. Man is growing up! </3

But he still sits in a high-chair and he still eats cucumbers with Great Relish.

Awwww. Such a kissable chap.

*starts humming certain lines from "Santa Baby" and wishing her brain wouldn't do that.*

After we got home it was terriblyterriblyterribly quite evident that we needed to clean our house before church. 

And while we were house-cleaning, we thought we'd better take down all our autumn decor....

....

And while we were taking down our autumn decor we thought, "Why not put up the Christmas stuff?"

....

And while we were putting up Christmas stuff I was like, "Why don't I make Gingerbread men?"

So the All of Us did both simultaneously, and I made a point to take pictures. So there. And my computer accepted them and was ultra-fast in uploading. So there.

The advent log.

**nostalgia**

Beginnings of corner decorating. Over the days I'll take some more pictures. Evening lighting in our house is dubious at best.

My pussy thought it a good idea to sit in a basket and oversee production of gingerbread men...

So of course I picked her up--basket and all--and hugged her...

....

And stole a kiss or two...

Aaaaaaand that's when the calamity happened. 

One of my helpers Whose Name Shall Be Omitted spilled a glass of water all over Gingerbread Town and be-sogged the inhabitants, upon which they unanimously fell apart. Literally. It was devastating.

Cricket sat there like...

"Really? Really? You did not just spill that water."

The Pirate looked on grimly...

THE HULK stared at me in pain as his leg toppled off.

This chap called for help....

So Captain America and the Black Widow came running to the rescue, The Hulk being incapacitated by his late injuries. We mourn his loss...there will be no recovery. Levi and I shared him. :P

 Captain America is getting rather plump of late.

Seriously. Have you ever tried to make a ginger-bread woman have an hour-glass figure? It's impossible. Literally impossible. Now she looks like a clown missing buttons. *le sigh*

Mid-calamity, I paused to bake some rolls...

(we were having a Thanksgiving Dinner re-play)

In the end, the Inhabitants who were not effected by the tsunami helped me set up a hospital where the victims could crumble in peace.

Look: He's crying. It was awful.

This one was brave throughout his injuries. 

But he's an old war veteran--see that scar by his eye? He won it in a tussle with the red fox and the little old woman and the little old man. But he couldn't out-run the tsunami this time. :(

It was not a terribly unhappy ending though, because some of the residents came our all right with all their limbs intact. :)

A good many of them, in fact.

And the Gingerbread Baby was saved, which is a mercy. 

Here are my companions in First Aid Rescue, Gingerbread creation, and taste-testing. They are good sorts, and I am blessed to call them mine. :)

♫"And this song of mine in three-quarter time wishes you the same thing too!"♫

Merry Christmas to all my dear friends and followers! 

I pray that God blesses you richly with a sense of His presence this Christmas! Remember and savor the knowledge of the greatest Gift ever given to mankind this season. :) He is the best present anyone could give.

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"A laptop. And you?"

"Life everlasting!"

The rest of it really doesn't compare with that! :D Have a smashing day with your family and enjoy every moment of it with the wild abandon of a child. :) I love all of you! May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. (I am looking at nearly 60 degrees tomorrow. :P) ~Rachel

I was so afraid we'd have a green Christmas and I loathe them. You know, when Christmas is a dirty grayey-browney affair, looking as if it had been left over a hundred years ago and had been in soak ever since, it is called a GREEN Christmas! Don't ask me why. As Lord Dundreary says, `there are thome thingth no fellow can underthtand.' 

-Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

"Shake me up, Judy!" :)

All right everyone! At last I have the pictures up of the present for the friend I was hinting about. I made her a cookbook called "Shake Me Up, Judy!" The Purist's Guide to Dickensian Cookery. I scoured my copies of Dickens looking for mentions of food in the text, then pulled those quotes, rummaged up corresponding recipes, and generally knocked myself out making it into a lovely cook-book for her. I tea-stained paper (which I can do a tutorial of sometime if you'd like) and used that as the base, then sort of "Scrapped" it with other paper and original illustrations. Anyway, here is a peek at it! (There were many more pages, but I didn't want to bore you)

This is the page right before "Fezziwig Pie", which is a variation of Mince-meat pie.

Mrs. Cratchit's Christmas Pudding

From The Cricket on the Hearth...

Moving on from the Christmas Tales into Bleak House...

"You have four classes this afternoon--I would recommend a hasty sandwich " ~Mr. Turveydrop, the model of Deportment, and father of Prince.

Mrs. Joe Gargery's Pudding from Great Expectations...

A page from the Great Expectations section with a scene between Pip and Pocket. :)

I had fun with the decor on this one...

Nothin' like a good pen and some ink to set you up for success...

Here are some pictures of the little things my sisters loved that I made to add some flair to the pages...

♫"Brown paper packages tied up with string...."♫

A teeny pass-port...hee-hee. :)

If you look closely you will see that the letters are indeed addressed to Honoria Barbary, (eventually Lady Dedlock) and I took care to include the "Smells like ladies" quote on that page. :D

Love letters...

Anyway, that is just a peep at it! I hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been working on. I know I told you that you could make fabulous presents at home...I spent hours making this book, but guess how much money I spent on this gift?

Any guesses?

Come on now, guess!

Ready?

Okay....

Four Cents. Yep. That's all, and that was for ribbon to tie it with. Score! ;) What sorts of gifts have you made this year?

And so the Christmasing Begins... :)

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. :) So many of my childhood memories are linked to our traditions and the simple joys of this season...each ornament on our tree is so much more than a decoration--it links the present with the past and takes me back to feeling like a little girl. [Though I am no so very ancient now.]
From this point on to Christmas I am always busy making gifts for family and friends--at first through necessity from having no money at all, and now by habit and preference, though this year money is an issue. I love the challenge of making something amazing without spending a red cent. I have a huge [relatively] present in the works for a dear friend of mine, and I will post pictures of it tomorrow night or Saturday morning--after I've given it to her. I am proud to say that I will have spend all of about...10 cents (if that) on this present, but if I was selling it I'd go for....a whole lot more. I ought to patent the idea and make millions. ;)
But back to Christmas--In recent years my satisfaction as far as gifts go has gone far more into making them than into receiving them, though I love to get gifts as well. There is a supreme happiness and rightness in spending hours on a gift for another person. I could make the same exact gift for myself but there would be little contentment in that--why would I want to keep it when I know it will make that person so happy? :)
As this post is already disjointed and rambling and doesn't know Where It's Going, I will kick off two more random points.
Point One: I am loving Michael Buble's Christmas music this year...his voice is just so classic and vintage and perfect for all my beloved carols!

Michael Buble "White Christmas" 

(One of my favorites! Gotta listen to it! :)

Point Two: Click here to read Mr. Woodhouse's opinion on what a lover should give his beloved for the 12th day of Christmas! :D (Thanks to Miss Georgiana Darcy for pointing me to it!)