We are having a very low-key, practical Christmas this year.
Honestly. Like, slippers and tools and such. None of us actually need anything (besides slippers and tools, of course). Except Jordan. Jordan is getting a train table.
Also, further simplifying our Christmas plans: our oven is broken. Well, not broken. The gas to the stove is turned off.
You know, so that it doesn't cause the entire house to explode.
It turns out we had a gas leak inside the oven. The part doesn't arrive until next week.
Betty and Nick are talking about grilling Christmas dinner. I was wondering if you can do a whole turkey on the grill, but I think they're going to make lamb. Sticky buns, however, Betty's awesome North Dakota sticky buns? Cannot be baked on a grill. This, this I find is the tragedy of the situation.
But truly, it's all good. I'm embarking on four days off with my family. And the weather, while not Chrismasy, is really quite nice.
You know what I would really, really like? Like, if I could ask for anything within reason?
I want two solid weekends of movie watching. Two entire weekends in front of the TV with absolutely nothing to do and nobody asking anything of me.
One weekend would be entirely devoted to Star Wars. The original three.
The other weekend would be a Harry Potter-a-thon.
I'd take breaks to make popcorn and take naps, of course.
But I want them AFTER Christmas. Because Christmas is about spending time with the people I love most in the world. We're going to wear our new slippers and put stuff together.
Like train tables.
You can totally make sticky buns on a grill. You just have to watch the heat really carefully, and create a mini-oven inside.
ReplyDeleteI concur with BCN! You'd want to keep the heat on low, and check the temperature every so often, but I bet you could do it. Have a very wonderfully lovely christmas!
ReplyDeleteI really like that 2-week movie-a-thon idea. I'm not sure what I'd watch - not star wars. Maybe Harry Potter - I've never seen the movies or read the books. Are they great?
ReplyDeleteYour Christmas sounds lovely! Hope it's wonderful - love and hugs to all
Glad you have your priorities straight: Star Wars THEN Potterthon.
ReplyDeleteWoman after my own heart! <3
Turkey on the grill is outstanding. As is lamb. (Although I'm a little "lambed-out" - my mom raises lambs and we have about 1.5 whole ones (in parts, of course) in our big freezer. I know, I know, first-world problems.)
ReplyDeleteBUT! Sticky buns can totally be done on the grill - what you need is a pie-iron, or you can make your own by using two identically-sized cast-iron pans. If you can't/don't want to do that, I did find this recipe:
Sticky Buns – Submitted by Paula Sheagley
5 Tablespoons oleo
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons corn syrup
Pecan halves
2 8-ounce packages biscuits (refrigerated)
Cinnamon
Sugar
Combine 3 tablespoons oleo, brown sugar and syrup in pie pan. Heat to bubbly on hot coals. Sprinkle with pecans. Melt rest of oleo. Dip one side of each biscuit in oleo. Put on waxed paper, butter side up. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Put 2 biscuits together. Arrange on syrup mixture. Cover with 2nd pie pan. Seal pans with double strip of foil. Cook over coals for 15 minutes on each side.
But no matter what, it's better than blowing up your house!
This post makes me smile (except the gas leak in the stove). Merry Christmas to all of you! All my nieces and nephews with train tables love them, I'm excited for J. I love it when the sci-fi or FX channel aires back-to-back Star Wars movies. Could you borrow a neighbors oven (literally) and bake an extra batch of sticky buns for them?
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you, Nick, Jordan and Betty! xoxo
ReplyDeleteLisa, Maybe you weren't at your parents the year we cooked the Thanksgiving turkey on the Jordan grill (power out). Between your Dad and Denis they had great fun making it work--and it did! Another time our oven was broken and we cooked a standing rib roast on your grill for Christmas dinner--again with great results. That Christmas you were going out to dinner and your folks had dinner with us (Denis, Becky, and the girls were here). Denis said it's easy, the grilling--just be vigilant.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to all Love and Hugs and Kisses Martha and Denis
You are welcome to our oven! xoxo
ReplyDeleteMerry Merry Christmas to all the Lemon Gloria clan! I envy your keeping it simple. (In other words, omg I have so much to do and no time to do it!) And I love the idea of the movie weekend. Except I would have a hard time deciding which came first -- Star Wars or Star Trek :)
ReplyDeleteHave a happy! And a merry!
Love,
Laura