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Sunday, December 12, 2021

Finally Some Snow! Merry Christmas!


Thank you to all who expressed concern in their comments on my last blog post over the wildfire that was burning in our local foothills. Thankfully, the brave firefighters made many firebreaks and there was a light snowfall that night which helped contain the fires until they could be extinguished.  Later that week we received a long-awaited snow accumulation of 2 inches!



 

After the unusually warm autumn we had, it was a welcome sight to see snow instead of very dry tinder in our hills! 




A herd of deer came running into my neighbor's yard during the storm and they made me smile as they looked confused by all the snow!  It had been 232 days since they saw snowfall in our area, which broke a long weather record for late snowfall.



It was a winter wonderland for a day!



I have been busy decorating and doing Christmas preparations. 

I was also fortunate to see Santa Claus come to our neighborhood ranch house where our oldest granddaughter was able to tell him her Christmas wishes!




I've also been busy shopping for our Christmas Eve dinner which we celebrate annually with an Italian "Feast of the Seven Fishes."  Can you guess what the fish above is?   



It is Baccala--salted codfish.  We send away a mail order for it from New York every year as we find it difficult to find it in Colorado. It is my husband's favorite and he looks forward to it every year!  It is soaked in water for a few days to remove all the salt and I prepare it two ways. I cut pieces and make the thick portions of the fish floured and deep-fried and the thinner pieces I simmer in tomato sauce with peppers and olives.  If you are curious as to the recipe for the second preparation you can find it in this older blog post--click here --in which I wrote about my favorite movie, Moonstruck, and included a recipe for Baccala Fiorentina.



For the next two weeks, I'll be extra busy baking for Christmas.  I always make the same favorites every year.   You can find the recipes in this older blog post--click here.

When I look back at these old posts I am amazed how long I've been blogging and wonder how I've had so much to say over the years. Thank you to all my readers for keeping an interest in Mille Fiori Favoriti along with me! 

 I'll be taking a blog break until after Christmas so I can devote all my time to last-minute holidays joys.


The true reason for the season.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

I'll see you all back here in a few weeks!

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Monday, December 6, 2021

100 Things I Love about Grandma Book Review


This is a new journal book I received as an advanced reader's copy for an honest review-- A Love Journal:100 Things I Love About Grandma, by Lisa Carpenter, which will be on sale December 7th, 2021. This delightful book provides a variety of 100 prompts to help a grandchild recount important milestones, funny moments, and all the special things they love about grandma. An older child can fill it in by themselves and a younger child can answer the questions with the help of a parent. Either way, it is a gift all grandmothers would cherish receiving.

When I first began to blog, back in 2007, I first "met" Lisa Carpenter and her blog "Grandma's Briefs."  Back then blogging was rather new and blogs were simple and brief, yet right away I knew Lisa had a flair for writing and shared my joy of becoming a new grandmother.  She asked me to participate in a feature she has on her blog called "Grilled Grandmas" where she sent us a list of questions about being a grandmother to answer and asked us to send a few photos of our grandchild(ren). It is a fun feature and a nice way to find other blogs written by grandmothers.


My oldest grandson as a baby

I only had one grandson at the time and lived in New York City--quite a distance from Denver where my son and family lived. Lisa was also a long-distance grandmother at the time and we commiserated over living far from a grandchild. You can read my 2007 Grilled Grandma Q&A on this link




My sweet cheeked little baby grandboy from 2007 is soon to become a teenager! He now has a younger brother and sister, and, along with my daughter's little girl, I have four grandchildren now whom I adore and love with all my heart!  Happily, nine years ago my husband and I were able to retire and move to Colorado to live close to both of our children and all our grandchildren.  We have been so happy and blessed to have been able to spend lots of quality time with them all.



This brings me back to this wonderful new journal book by Lisa Carpenter --A Love Journal: 100 Things I Love About Grandma which publishes December 7, 2021.  Not only does each page have an easy-to-answer prompt to be filled in by a grandchild, but it also has spaces for "extra love" on which a child can do a drawing or post a photo, etc.   

Some of the heartwarming prompts are:
 
#13 You encourage me to be better at _______

# 36 I hope I get to _____ the next time I visit your house

#43 We both like ______

# 65 I was thrilled when you surprised me by _____

#98 I know when you were my age you loved to ______

I think you can see how any grandmother would love to read their grandchild's answers to these questions (and more!) and would treasure a completed book like this. It would make a wonderful gift for a grandchild or grandchildren to give to their grandmother!  I look forward to giving it to my grandchildren to fill in. 

If you would like to order a copy of "A Love Journal:100 Things I Love About Grandma" you can order on this link.  I'm so excited and happy for you Lisa Carpenter!


Now for what is new around here...

Photo collage of Denver area foothills and wildfire.

Our area of Colorado has continued to be in extreme drought.  The long-time record for the latest snow in the Denver area has been broken already by weeks.  The weather has also been unusually warm. We broke a high record of 73 degrees this past week. As we feared, the dry conditions and wind brought Red Flag Warnings, and then today a wildfire broke out in the foothills above our community.  The terrain is rough and dangerous up high in the hills and the high winds were preventing helicopter water drops as is the usual way to fight fires like this. All we can hope is that fire breaks can be dug overnight and that the winds will die down. Please keep our community and the firefighters in your thoughts and prayers!

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