Merry Christmas

As you stand in the barn in the very early morning hours, it's quite easy to imagine why Joseph and Mary chose a stable so many years ago.  There is something comforting about the soft rustling of the animals, and the smells of the barn all mixed together.

Without much effort you can envision Mary with the newborn Jesus sitting in the hay. The sheep would have been curious as they often are. Wondering what this new thing was, can you eat it? What does it smell like? If anything I am sure Joseph would have to shoo away the nosy ones.

People often ask us why we chose this lifestyle. "why on earth would you give up your lovely house in the city to move to the middle of nowhere and have to do so much work?"

It's hard to explain. But standing in the barn on a cold snowy December morning, it's quite simple to feel.

Let's start with the front door...

I decided it was time for a little bit of holiday decorating, with Christmas only weeks away I need to get myself into a festive frame of mind.  We are going tree hunting on Saturday, but in the meantime I could at least drag out some of our decorations and get a move on.

I decided to begin with the front door. It's a small area and relatively simply to decorate!  I began by finding the wreath, which thankfully last year I put away in a box labelled "wreath".  Very helpful.

Then I began to walk about the yard looking for items to put into the planter. It's amazing what you can find only steps from the door! The colours, textures and amazing differences in greenery were quite lovely.  In minutes, I had an interesting array of plants to add to my Christmas display.

A wee wooden sled finished the look.

Now, to begin the holiday baking....

Ruth's Lemony Wisdom

Our neighbours are well into their 80s, and we have adopted them as a part of our "farm family".  We keep an eye on them, and when they are feeling poorly we drop in a lot under the guise of wanting to drop off eggs, but really wanting only to ensure they don't need any help.  

I am forever being advised by her, and sometimes I wonder if she is really the one caring for me.  On my last visit, after she chided me for not taking better care of my "froggy voice" - I tried to explain it was allergies but she was having none of that - she soon had me sipping on vinegar and honey.  It stung, but it actually did help my throat.

Recently she shared with me simple recipe for lemon squares, they are so lovely and lemony that I simply had to share. All of my Christmas tins will have Ruth's lemon squares this year.  
Ruth's Lemon Squares

What you need:
2 good sized lemons.
1 can of condensed milk.
1 box of graham crackers, and make sure they are square. 
Icing sugar

What you do:
Take an 8x8 pan. Put it to one side.
Now grate the rind off the lemons. Divide it into two dishes. Juice the lemons but put aside about two tablespoons in a separate dish.(that's for the icing later)
In a small bowl mix the condensed milk, the juice of the two lemons and the lemon rind of one lemon.  Whisk it well until it is smooth.
Place one layer of graham crackers in the pan. Put a layer of the lemon/condensed milk mixture on top. Continue layering - 2 more times. End with a fourth layer of graham crackers.
Now in a new bowl mix butter icing (butter and icing sugar) with the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. It should be a fairly thick icing mixture about the consistency of thick honey.
Top the graham crackers with the icing mixture. Then crumble a graham cracker on top for decoration and the remainder of the lemon rind.
Cover with wrap and refrigerate over night.
Cut into squares.

If you like lemon, you will love these squares! I am also thinking you could make them with coffee, and it would turn out a bit like tiramisu.

They will go well with my tea tonight, after all - I can't place them in my Christmas tins without trying one!