moreholidaze

Ordinarily I do not approve of "jar" gifts - yippee, gee thanks - a gift that makes me work. However, dumping the basics into a pot and maybe adding the few extras suggested is a different story.

"Looks very pretty layered in a jar or clear plastic candy-type bags (seal bags well, they are not as airtight as a jar)." From Lizzy, "I'm Not Martha" newsletter, subscribe: http://www.shagmail.com/sub/notmartha.html

1/4 C dried garbanzo beans
1/4 C dried navy beans or lima beans
1/4 C dried red kidney beans or pinto beans
1/4 C dried whole or split peas
3 T minced dried onion
2 T whole wheat berries (optional)
2 T pearl barley
2 T dried celery flakes
2 tsp. instant beef bouillon granules
1/2 tsp. dried basil, crushed
1 bay leaf
dash Salt

Combine all ingredients in a plastic bag or layer in an air-tight container. Store, tightly sealed, until needed. Add the following recipes:

Basic Bean Soup: Combine contents of package with 7 cups water in a 3-quart saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour. (Or soak bean mixture in the water overnight in a covered pan.) Do not drain. Bring beans and liquid to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1½ to 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaf. Season to taste. Makes 6-8 side dish servings.

Meaty Bean Soup: Follow basic recipe through the soaking step. Add 1¾ -1 pound smoked pork hock or beef shank crosscuts. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 hour for pork hocks or 1½ for beef shanks. Remove meat, chop coarsely and return to soup. Remove bay leaf. Add 16-oz. can tomatoes, cut up and undrained. Add one medium carrot, chopped. Cover and simmer for 30 more minutes. Season to taste. Makes 4-6 servings.

Spicy Bean Pot: Follow basic recipe but reduce water to 5½ cups. Remove bay leaf. Brown 1/2 pound ground beef and drain off fat. Add 1 tsp. chili powder and cook 1 minute. Add to bean soup along with 10-oz. can Rotel. Heat through, stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Serve in tortilla bowls or with corn chips. Garnish with jalapenos, if desired. Makes 6-8 main-dish servings.

Cheesy Bean Soup: Follow basic recipe through the soaking step, except reduce water to 4 cups. Remove bay leaf. Mash beans slightly. Add 2 cups milk and 6-oz. cubes of cheese (American, Cheddar, or smoked). Cook and stir until beans are soft. Makes 4-6 main dish servings.

Rotel tomatoes and peppers used to be a little hard to find. OK to substitute another brand, or try the store brand combo.

Rotel (or substitute) and Velveeta make the best tortilla chip dip. Melt together over low heat. One can to large or small cheese block, depends how hot you want it.

To decorate jars for giving, cut a circle of gingham or calico material with pinking shears and lay it on top of the seal. Then screw on the ring - the ring holds the cloth in place. You can tie a ribbon around the ring, and add a bow for a finishing touch. Or, cut a circle of wrapping paper and put it over the lid. Hold in place with a rubber band and tie a ribbon around that. Also you can use a paper doily or a Battenburg lace doily. Insert a silk flower under the ribbon for added decoration. If you make ornaments (for Christmas or otherwise) it is nice to attach one to the top of the jar.

Don't forget to print recipes and attach to jars. Use heavy/construction paper, fold in half, punch a hole in top corner, thread ribbon through. Trim card edges with pinking shears or other special cut designs. This link may inspire you: http://www.myownlabels.com/foodhome2.asp

Cookies - one recipe, numerous options
Makes about 24-36 cookies depending upon how big you make them. Recipe can be doubled or tripled without problems.

Basic recipe
2½ to 3 C flour
¾ C sugar
¾ C brown sugar
½ C butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

You can bake on an ungreased sheet or lightly grease or spray with cooking spray.

Cream all the ingredients but the flour and then gradually mix in the flour. Put in enough flour to make the dough easy to handle. Use less flour if you want thinner, crispier cookies, or add a little more butter if you want thinner, chewier cookies. Bake at 350° 10-12 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

Variations

Add ½ cup peanut butter - may need to add a little extra flour as well.
Add chocolate or butterscotch chips and/or nuts to the basic recipe.
Substitute 1 cup oatmeal for 1 cup of the flour, add 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. milk and some raisins.
Add ½ cup cocoa to make chocolate cookies - add chocolate chips too if you really want to get devilish about it.
Snickerdoodles - Add 1 tsp. cinnamon and roll them into little balls and roll the balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture before baking.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pinwheels - Make one batch peanut butter and one batch chocolate dough, roll them each out in a ¼" layer and place one layer on top of the other. Roll the layers up like a jelly-roll and slice them into ¼" slices. Refrigerating the dough to makes it easier to work with.

From the Dollar Stretcher newsletter: A few years ago, our family decided against exchanging gifts between the adults for Christmas. It was difficult for me at first. But, over time, I realized how wonderful it was that we didn't have to worry about these gifts. We now focus on the main reason that we are together, which is to see family and enjoy each other's company!

Each person brings a "white elephant" item from home, wrapped and labeled for male or female. Everyone picks a number out of a hat. The person who draws Number 1 picks out a gift first. Number 2 then chooses a gift. If Number 2 likes the gift that Number 1 received, they trade. And so it goes on down the line. It's a lot of fun, and we have lots of laughs over it.

Also from the Stretcher: Drop a tealight candle in your cleaned out glass mayonnaise jars, tie a holiday ribbon around the neck, and you have a beautiful candle with Christmas charm. You could nestle the candle in peppermints, nuts, or even sand if you wish. Try grouping several together for a dramatic evening effect.

Kathleen Wilson is the author of "Quick Decorating Ideas Under $20:The Budget Decorator's Bible" and the editor of The Budget Decorator, a free Ezine dedicated to the "budget impaired" home decorator. Visit her at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com for more great ideas.

Jars and candles of different shapes and heights would be interesting. Might get around to trying it by New Year's.

Use less lights and get more glow by wrapping shiny garlands around the tree trunk - lights will reflect off and out.

Set tree on a table or in a playpen to keep out of toddler and puppy reach. Forget about tinsel if there's a cat in the house. Nothing is more enticing than those shiny dangles, however, if swallowed, it will go slicing through the entire digestive system. Flocking, the snow-blown look, can be highly toxic for kids and critters. Poinsettias are also dangerous. It would take a large amount to kill, better to be safe than sorry.

1. Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief
2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds
3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness
4. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere
5. Embellish the interior passageways
6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened
7. Twelve O'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival
8. The Christmas preceding all others
9. Small municipality in Judea southwest of Jerusalem
10. Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders
11. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males
12. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystal
13. Expectation of arrival to populated area by mystical masculine perennial gift giver
14. Natal celebration devoid of color
15. In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity
16. Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature's dormancy
17. The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of Far Eastern heads of state
18. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted metallic resonant cups
19. In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn child's slumber furniture
20. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation
21. Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us

1. Oh come all ye faithful.
2. Hark the Herald Angels sing.
3. Silent Night
4. Joy to the World
5. Deck the Halls
6. Angels we have heard on high
7. It came upon a midnight clear
8. First Noel
9. Oh little town of Bethlehem
10. Little Drummer Boy
11. God rest ye merry gentlemen
12. Frosty the Snowman
13. Santa Claus is coming to town
14. White Christmas
15. Oh Holy Night
16. Winter wonderland
17. We Three Kings
18. Jingle Bells
19. Away in a manger
20. Go tell it on the mountain
21. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Now go out and dazzle 'em with your new vocabulary. Or try some of the kid versions.

Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly
We three kings of porridge and tar
On the first day of Christmas my tulip gave to me
Later on we'll perspire, as we dream by the fire
He's makin a list, chicken and rice
Noel. Noel, Barney's the king of Israel
With the jelly toast proclaim
Olive, the other reindeer
Frosty the Snowman is a ferret elf, I say
Sleep in heavenly peas
In the meadow we can build a snowman, then pretend that he is sparse and brown
You'll go down in Listerine
Oh, what fun it is to ride with one horse, soap and hay
O come, froggy faithful
You'll tell Carol, "Be a skunk, I require"
Good tidings we bring to you and your kid

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas time is here,
Happiness and cheer,
Fun for all that children call,
Their favorite time of year.
Snowflakes in the air,
Carols everywhere,
Olden times and ancient rhymes,
And love and dreams to share.
Sleigh bells in the air,
Beauty everywhere,
Yuletide by the fireside,
And joyful memories there.
Christmas time is here,
We'll be drawing near,
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year,
Such spirit through the year.

Need help shopping for the man in your life? Buying gifts for men is not nearly as complicated as it is for women. Follow these rules and you should have no problems.

Rule #1: When in doubt - buy him a cordless drill. It does not matter if he already has one. I have a friend who owns 17 and he has yet to complain. As a man, you can never have too many cordless drills. No one knows why.

Rule #2: If you cannot afford a cordless drill, buy him anything with the word ratchet or socket in it. Men love saying those two words, "Hey George, can I borrow your ratchet? By the way, are you through with my 3/8-inch socket yet?"

Rule #3: If you are really, really broke, buy him anything for his car, a 99¢ ice scraper, a small bottle of deicer or something to hang from his rearview mirror. Men love gifts for their cars. No one knows why.

Rule #4: Never buy men bathrobes. Once I was told that if God had wanted men to wear bathrobes, he wouldn't have invented boxer shorts.

Rule #5: You can buy men new remote controls to replace the ones they have worn out. If you have a lot of money buy your man a big-screen TV with the little picture in the corner. Watch him go wild as he flips and flips and flips ...

Rule #6: Do not buy any man industrial-sized canisters of after-shave or deodorant. I'm told they do not stink - they are earthy.

Rule #7: Men love label makers, almost as much as cordless drills. Within a couple of weeks there will be labels absolutely everywhere. "Socks. Shorts. Cups. Saucers. Door. Lock. Sink." You get the idea. No one knows why.

Rule #8: Never buy a man anything that says "some assembly required" on the box. It will ruin his Special Day and he will always have parts left over.

Rule #9: Good places to shop for men include Northwest Iron Works, Parr Lumber, Home Depot, John Deere, Valley RV Center, Les Schwab Tire, NAPA Auto Parts and Sears Clearance Centers. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know what it is. Illustration: "From NAPA Auto, eh? Must be something I need. Hey! Isn't this a starter for a '68 Ford Fairlane? Wow! Thanks!"

Rule #10: Men enjoy danger. They usually won't cook - but they will barbecue. Get him a monster barbecue with a 100-pound propane tank. Tell him the gas line leaks. "Oh the thrill! The challenge! Who wants a hamburger?"

Rule #11: Men love rope. It takes takes back to cowboy origins or at least the Boy Scouts. Nothing says love like a hundred feet of 3/8" manila rope. No one knows why.

Rule #12: Men love chain saws. Never, ever, buy a man a chain saw. If you don't know why - please refer to Rule #7 and what happens when he gets a label maker.

Rule #13: It's hard to beat a really good wheelbarrow or an aluminum extension ladder. Never buy a real man a stepladder. It must be an extension ladder. No one knows why.

One word to the wise man: $Money$. If you feel cash would be tacky, there are many suitable options - gift certificates, stocks, bonds, diamonds, silver, gold, platinum ...

Ladies, feel free to contribute your thoughts: MarthaJones1@aol.com - We'd all love to hear from the guys too.

RM: I like the gold/diamonds suggestion. What could be finer? Nothing except maybe a car. A really nice car. ;-)

It is not so very difficult to establish new or your (family's) own holiday traditions. Just do it! "Gift" is simply giving, not necessarily a package. From a greeting card: http://all-yours.net

The gift of hair: http://locksoflove.com/ - Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children across the U.S. under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss. "We found a local salon that would shampoo, cut, style and ship the hair to Locks of Love all for free."

Don't go any further if you don't enjoy off-the-wall - or in this case, on ...