In Winter's Icy Grip

Hullo! It's been snowing tonnes up here... by our standards.

And it got pretty cold too... below 0C and a few days it was down near -10C!

We had put our squash out in a tub on the deck cause... well... cause it never gets that cold out there! But it did get cold... and we needed to do something with the squash before it all thawed and turned to mush...

Any ideas??? Well... we decided to do squash soup!

These are a few of our pink squash...

You need to peel them, cut out the core and then cut them into cubes. We have here a guest chef's assistant... can you guess who it is?

It's Gramma!!!! She was here over Christmas!!

Let me do an inspection... hmmm... pretty good Gramma!

Jerry and Ben want to know if Gramma will be baking any cookies... she says maybe a German nut cake... mmmm....

Alright... first we melt a bit of butter in a big pot...

Then we add one of each - diced onion, diced carrot, diced celery stalk and diced potato...

Get them browning....

Then add the squash.

 Mmmm... looks good!

Then you add some broth - we used chicken broth - enough to cover all the veggies...

Like that... bring it to a burble, turn down to a simmer for 40 minutes.

Hmmm... ran out of photos!! Then you run it through the blender in small batches (careful cause it's hot), put it back in pot and add spices as you like. We added a bit of curry powder and some Montreal Chicken spice - cause we like it a bit edgy. YUM!!

Christmas Morning...

Christmas Morning!!! Do you know that I met Santa Claws just a few hours ago? And no... it wasn't a dream cause, look, there's his hat on the floor behind me!!! Santa Claws is REAL!

What do you mean that is your decorative Santa hat, Mama? No... Santa Claws is REAL! I met him!! We had biscotti and milk together!

See... look, all the biscotti is gone and the milk too!

And I can prove it too... cause I asked Santa for a beary special gift... and I know he got it for me!

Whoa... that is quite a beautiful tree... and look at all those presents for me!

First... we'll open the mail...

 I got a card from Little Fox - I hear he is getting almost as much snow as we are!

 And then a card from Beanie Mouse and Jelly Beanie...

 Finally, there was a package from Horst the Unicorn in Germany! I won a contest on Horst's Instagram page...

There's some Unicorn shower gel... I'll give that to Mama.

 And some Unicorn Ritter Sport!! I'll keep that for me!

 And then there's this package... it has a picture of Santa Claus on the front... so I know it's from Santa...

And... oooohh...

It's EXACTLY what I asked for!! Exactly!!! Seeeee... Santa Claws is real!

I'll just... umph... grunt... show... oof... you!

Ta-dah!!!! It's the latest Winter Gear outfit... I have been oggling this in the Little Bear Catalogue for weeks...

Isn't it fetching???

I LOVE it!!! (And Santa is REAL!)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

T'was the Night Before Christmas...

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The stuffies were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of honey-cake danced in their heads.

And mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the door I flew like a flash,..

Ummm... I heard a noise... out there... in the living room.

 Did you hear a noise?? Me too... I think we should go explore...

I'll go first...

 This massive sideboard display is a great place to hide... except for the fact that I'm not wearing my camo gear!! Oooh...

I heard some rustling!! Maybe it's just the cats?

Over there, in front of the fireplace... do you see it? It's a big red sack.

A HUGE red sack!!! Do you think it's St. Nick?? I did leave out a plate of cookies (biscotti) and a glass of milk... but I can't see them from here.

 I will get closer...

I can hear murmuring... and munching...OK... I am ready...

Oh my goodness...

It's Saint Nick!!! Or as we would say... Santa Claws!! He's real!

Oh wow... Santa Claws... I'm so sorry... I didn't really believe you were real! I like your outfit, by the way... We had a nice chat and Santa Claws shared some of the biscotti with me. Nice...

Wait til I tell Mama in the morning... just you wait... oh wow...

To Be Continued...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you all a festive season and all the best in the coming New Year. I got a bunch of mail this past week and will be blogging about that this coming week. Stay tuned!

Christmas Preparations

Hullo!! We have had quite a bit of snow... for us! Look at the garden, it is totally buried.

But a bit of snow isn't going to stop this bear from going on a foraging expedition for Christmas boughs...

First up... we need some holly... there are some trees near our place, just down the street, around the corner and through a hedge...

Don't they look pretty? Pretty... but prickly!

Alright... what's next?

Hmmm... a bit more of a trek...

Over snow banks and falling into crevasses... I didn't know we were crossing a glacier!

Oof.. are we there yet?

Oh these are nice... some fir boughs...

A few pine branches, skinny ones.

And then a trip to the feral rabbit colony...

 They seem to be managing fine in this cold snap - I wonder if anyone feeds them?

And now... for some more bushy pine trees - these are gorgeous!

 And finally... a stop for some balsam fir boughs.

Whew... there we go... the start of a table centrepiece.

 Or maybe not a centrepiece... it got a bit big. More of a sideboard centrepiece now!

We also had found some blue spruce and some variegated cedar branches... beary nice.

 But we picked a bit too much for just a centrepiece...

So we have to make...

A swag for the front of the house!! Beautiful!