Oh no, just 51 weeks till Christmas

I began this Christmas prep post last week and plan to continue it until the week before Christmas 2025 to keep my resolve strong but also to keep me accountable. I am pretty sure there will be weeks when I do absolutely nothing and I will post that. Honest reporting! So this is my update for the 51st week until the big day.

This week saw few purchases for Christmas, other than buying some deeply discounted Christmas wrapping paper and gift tags. 

One of the first thing I did this past week was create a Christmas folder to keep hard copies of any ideas or templates I find that I might want to use for next year. I will store it with my cookbooks for easy access.

I decided one thing I need to do is to try new to me Christmas recipes (at least one a month) to possibly add to my Christmas baking, which was virtually nonexistent this past holiday. 

I tried a recipe for gingerbread cake. It is not something I ever make, but I remember Mom making it when I was a kid. I had no tried and true recipe to use, so I just tried a googled small batch recipe.* I think making the same size recipe would be a nice small addition to the assorted dessert tray I have out for Christmas brunch.

Though most of my Christmas decorations were packed away, normally I leave the Dickens village  up through January.  I really do like the way the lights from the little houses make the corner cabinets in the dining room sparkle. This year I had to take it down much sooner than I wanted to. 

To created elevations in the scene  I have always used books. I just don't like the way it looks with everything on the same plane. The houses on different levels make the village look a little visually more interesting.

Sadly I could not find a particular book I needed for class this week. After searching the house for it, I remembered all those books underneath the snow scene. So not even a week into January I had to start taking it down.

(The book was not there after all! No clue where I might have put it.)

At some point in the process of disassembling the village I had an AHA! moment. It was something I should have thought of years ago, but I didn't. 

I got some card stock and traced the bases of each house to use as  template to make wooden risers sometime between now and October. After measuring the bases I should be able to cut them out of 4x4's. I think I will cut 3 for each house, then can decide the height I want at a later date. Since my aim is to be completely decorated before Thanksgiving I want the bases cut, glued and ready to put underneath the "snow" by early November.

And that is the update for this week. I could probably do more, but why? I have a lot of time before Christmas comes again. (Which is some seriously bad thinking on my part, and why I was not prepared for this past season.)

* Small batch gingerbread cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup molasses ( not blackstrap)

2/3 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup hot water

In a small bowl stir the butter until it is creamy (a wooden spoon works fine for this entire recipe)

Add the sugar and molasses and beat well. Toss in the dry ingredients and mix well, then add hot water and beat until the batter is smooth.

Spray a 5x5 inch pan (if you don't have a pan that size bake it in 4 greased muffin tins) with cooking spray and put batter in the pan. If you want you can use a spatula to smooth the batter, or be like me and just hit the bottom of the pan several times to level the batter.

Bake  for about 25 minutes.

Let is cool a bit before serving.

It was very good and I will make it again this winter but might add chopped walnuts before I bake it.