As I sit here writing my column, it’s officially December 1! It’s so hard to believe. I feel like I just told my momma on the phone on June 25 that it was six months until Christmas! I also said it would be here before we knew it, and in a blink of an eye, here we are. I’ve made it over to my happy place four times so far, and that was even before December!
I’m sure most of my readers know where my happy place is this time of year, but in case you don’t, it’s Candy Cane Lane over in South Williamsport. Yes, I’ll be doing my annual Candy Cane Scavenger Hunt for you all, of course, and will save my “how much I love that magical street” speech for that week’s column.
Every year I tell myself that I am going to start shopping. Even if I started with one person each month with a little something. NOPE. Never happens. I’ll get little things through the summer, but that’s as far as I get. Then the following year, I’ll say, “OK, this year I am going to buy a few gifts each month and wrap them as I get them. NOPE. I guess I’m a big talker. (It always sounds good, though!) The year flies by; then it’s buying everything in two months. I honestly don’t mind the shopping. It’s the wrapping that takes forever. I enjoy wrapping; it’s just finding the time. Each year I set our card table up in our living room, lay all the wrapping things out on our couch, and start a Christmas movie extravaganza. I always start with one of my favorites, White Christmas. Ahh, a classic. The ending gives me goosebumps every time. When Bing slides open those doors and a horse-drawn sleigh rides by in the freshly fallen snow!? Then it continues with them singing White Christmas and a real-life snow village in the background. Hands down the best part of the whole movie. If you have never seen it, you need to! It’s a heart warmer for sure. It’s a two-hour movie, so you can get a lot of wrapping done in that time! I just love that movie so much.
I have hours and hours of wrapping, so I get to get in quite a few movies in this time. My family each Sunday night loves to watch the Christmas classics. Movies like A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, The Santa Claus, Elf, Polar Express, and more. So when I get wrapping time, I watch the ones they are unlikely to pick. We draw a name each Sunday, and whoever gets drawn gets to pick the movie while we eat dinner. We love it. It’s such a fun tradition. But there are ones I love that my teenage son isn’t big on, like White Christmas, The Muppets Christmas Carol, Christmas of Many Colors, It’s a Wonderful Life, and more. My great Grammy Perry would have the Muppets on her tv Christmas Eve night when we went over. So it brings back those Christmas Eves for me. And the true classics like Rudolph, Santa Claus is coming to Town, The Grinch, Frosty, and A Charlie Brown Christmas are truly my childhood favorites. Especially Rudolph. I’ve collected the Enesco Rudolph figurines since I was in high school. I still light them all up in my cabinet every year. I bet I have at least fifty. My Pap and Gram Perry bought me my first two when I was in 9th grade. They are something I will never part with. But I’ll never forget the Rudolph special on tv as a little girl.
Tomorrow night we will chop down our tree we tagged back in October. A big old fat one that smells like Christmas! We love the Concolor. It stood so beautifully on the side of the hill and spoke to us like the tree on Christmas Vacation. “There it is!” As the sunlight beamed down on it, and it sparkled in the sun like little twinkling lights. “The McElroy family Christmas tree.”
It was perfect. Mr. Betts, who we buy our tree from each year, said a lot of people loved our tree and then went and saw it was tagged with our name on it. Many of them who we knew. They would say, “We knew this was Andrea’s tree!” My girlfriend Kristen Patryna was one of them, and she texted me a picture of it that day and said before she even saw the tag, she knew it was mine because it was such a perfect tree. She knows I like those fat ones! Who wants a skinny tree!? And she wasn’t the only one! I’m tellin’ ya; it’s one good-looking tree. To all those people out there who think I’m crazy tagging in the fall, this is why. Early bird gets the worm? Yea, well, fall pickin’ gets the ticket, baby! Ya snooze, ya lose. Hahaha! OK, sorry. Well, kinda. *wink wink*
Isn’t this time of year just the greatest, though? All the hustle and bustle, favorite movies, shopping, wrapping, Christmas trees, the music, cookies, lights, and don’t forget sugar-covered pecans! It’s the most wonderful time of year. Enjoy every moment because it’s going to go fast.
Sugar Pecans
Beat two egg whites till stiff.
Add 1 cup of sugar and a dash of salt, and beat until you get a meringue.
Add 1 1b. of pecans and stir until they are all covered.
Melt one stick of butter in a large, shallow pan.
Spread nuts over melted butter. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes while watching the magic happen!
Place in different Christmas tins or bags and give as gifts, or deliver to the ones you love for a little delicious Christmas surprise!
