{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

A decorated tree! Decorated mostly by The Boy this year. Maybe I'll have the mantel fixed up for next week's post.

{happy}

Tasha Tudor's Christmas book,  Take Joy, makes me happy. It's opened up to one of my favorite carols, "Bring the Torch Jeanette, Isabella."  I love that carol so much that I used to tease The Professor that if we ever had a daughter we must name her "Jeanette Isabella."  

{funny}

When I saw what The Boy had done to our Nativity, I had to laugh.

I immediately thought of  this verse:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew 11:12

{real}

An old family recipe!

Aunt Laura's Cranberry Pudding  

I'm including this for shwell, who asked about the recipe in the comments from Leila's Plum Pudding Tutorial.

The Professor's Aunt Laura passed this down to her daughter-in-law, Cousin Ev, and she passed it on to her children and me.  My attempts at making this pudding have been rather pathetic. I think I always end up over cooking it. I am going to be making it again next week.

Aunt Laura's Cranberry Pudding

1 egg, beaten 

1 large T sugar

1/4 c. white syrup *note from me - I assume this is corn syrup*

1/4 c. molasses

1 c. cranberries cut in half

1/2 c. nut meats - cut  *we use pecans, coarsely chopped*

1 1/2 c. sifted bread flour *Cousin Ev says Aunt Laura actually used all-purpose flour, so that's what we use.*

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

1/3 c. hot water - dissolve soda in water

Steam 1 1/2 hours. *Cousin Ev says she thinks it takes longer, but this is what the original recipe states.*

*Also, the original recipe stated that it should be put into a Hills Bro. coffee can and steamed. Ev uses a double boiler. This year I'm going to try Leila's plum pudding steaming method.*

Sauce:

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. cream *Aunt Laura used half and half, Cousin Ev uses milk, I have made this sauce with cream*

1 c. sugar

Boil 1/2 minute -add vanilla (no indication of how much vanilla to add - I use a tsp.)

Serve hot over pudding.

This sauce is so good, you will want to serve it hot over everything!

Capture more contentment over at LMLD today!