New Bears

Lucy

I've just listed a couple of new bears on Bid4Bears' Holly Jolly Holiday event. The campaign runs through December 20. The graphic to the right will take you to Bid4Bears; click on the "Christmas Cheer" category and you'll be shown only those bears with a holiday look. Of course, there are many other items posted so you may want to look through the entire list.

We'll have a Fireside Chat on December 11 through the Bid4Bears forum. Nancy has a surprise guest but she won't even tell us who it will be. Everyone is welcome to join the chat.

Hope you'll join us.

Cedric

Christmas Cookie Round-Up

Lisa is again sponsoring her Christmas Cookie Round-Up. This was lots of fun last year and many, many great recipes were shared. Click on the graphic on the right side of my blog and it will take you to Lisa's q.D.PaTootie's blog.

Holly Jolly Holidays at Bid4Bears

Beginning November 20 and running through December 20, Bid4Bears will take on a Holly Jolly Holidays look. Nancy lives in Ontario, Canada, and she tells us Santa is a personal friend of hers and he'll be dropping by regularly to give random gifts to our bidders!

There will also be a special Fireside Chat on Thursday, December 11th, with a special guest in our Round Table Forum, as well as an ATC/ACEO swap and other neat surprises. Stop by and take a look at what will be happening.

It will be a month long holiday celebration!

Not off to a good start in 2008

I've talked about my Scotties before...
Tulie, 12; Emma, 10; and Harley 10. The day after Joseph arrived, we were just quietly talking when Tulie, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly went into a seizure. After five days in the hospital and many, many tests, we had to let her go on Christmas Eve. The tests had shown that in addition to an enlarged heart, three vital organs were failing at the same time: kidneys, pancreas and liver. Of course, we knew she was slowing down and getting older, but we had no idea about the all the other issues.

Our Christmas was very subdued and no one feels much like doing anything since we lost her. Even the other pups are unusually quiet and just not acting as usual. After a few days, Harley was back to his old happy, carefree self but Emma continued to seem very depressed. Then we noticed she was losing weight and was refusing even roast beef. Emma never turns down a treat so we were sure, after nearly two weeks, it was more than depression.

So now our Emma has been in the hospital since yesterday. We're awaiting more blood test results and an ultrasound today. We've known she has Cushings disease since she was about 4, but it's been under control with Lysodren. When we took her in her temp was 105, very, very high. Initial blood work showed some imbalances in her readings and an indication of her kidneys not working.

It's very hard to wait and not know what's wrong with her. We pray whatever is causing her illness will be treatable with adjustments in her meds. And so I'm hoping later today we'll get some good news.

Obviously, the picture is an old one, but from the left is Emma, Harley, Hugo and Tulie. We lost Hugo three years ago (when he was only 8) to bladder cancer while our regular vet was in Argentina for the holidays, just as he was this year when Tulie passed.

Christmas Cookie Recipe Roundup

The Roundup is here and it's time to share some favorite recipes with you. If you got here by just blog surfing, you need to begin with Lisa at qdPatooties and she'll get you started with her favorite yummy Christmas Cookie recipes. She'll then send you on your way to more recipes by giving you a link to the next Roundup "hostess."

This should be lots of fun and you'll gather at least a dozen cookie recipes...maybe more.

Thumbprint Cookies

Makes 4 Dozen Cookies

This recipe came from my mother's recipe box.

I have no idea where she got the recipe.

1-1/2 Cups of your favorite nuts, finely chopped

1 Cup Shortening

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

2 Eggs, separated

1 Tsp. Vanilla

2 Cups flour

1/2 Tsp. Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla thoroughly. Measure flour, add salt and blend together. Mix flour and shortening mixtures together. Roll dough into balls using about 1 Tsp. per ball. Beat egg whites slightly with a fork. Dip balls in egg whites, then roll balls in finely chopped nuts. Place on a cookie sheet about 1" apart. Bake 5 minutes and remove from oven. Press your thumb into each cookie. (These cookies are hot so you'll want to use a small spoon on melon baller to press into the cookies.) Fill indention with jelly or jam and return the cookies to the oven and bake an additional 8 minutes.




Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge

Makes 36 1-1/2 inch squares

The note on this card indicates it came from Opal S.

Combine in large sauce pan:

2 Cups Sugar

2/3 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Cocoa

2 Tbsp. Light Corn Syrup

1/8 Tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Butter

3/4 Cup of your favorite coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

Stir over medium heat until chocolate melts and sugar dissolves. Cook at 234 degrees or until a little dropped in cold water forms a soft ball. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat. Add butter. Beat until thick and not glossy. Quickly stir in nuts and pour into a buttered 8- or 9-inch pans. When cool, cute into squares.

Russian Tea Cakes

Makes about 4 Dozen one-inch cookies

1 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Sifted Confectioner's Sugar

1 Tsp. Vanilla

2 1/4 Cups Flour

1/4 Tsp. Salt

3/4 Cup of your favorite finely chopped nuts

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla thoroughly. Stir flour and salt together; add to butter mixture and stir in nuts. Chill dough. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until set but not brown. While still warm, roll in confectioner's sugar. Cool. Roll in confectioner's sugar again.

I'm your last stop so gather those recipes and start baking.

And have a very Merry Christmas.

Two Christmas Bears without Homes

Tommy and Peppermint have not yet found homes for Christmas. Sadly, no one wanted to take them home when they were at the Boutique after Thanksgiving.

Of course, you can tell right away that this guy is Peppermint.

And this is Tommy wearing his Christmas jammies (which is part of his design).

But you just never know. Santa still has time to find them a home before Christmas.