A Primitive Christmas…
First off you must all ‘THANK” our host Stacy, for this Christmas blog hop with 12 cookie recipes and 12 new ornaments for your tree…It takes a lot of time to organize and get everyone on the same page for one of these events. Please let Stacy know how much of a gift this was this year…her blog post is on the 21st.
Now I know a lot of the designers have talked about their traditions…As a kid growing up…with all brothers there are a few highlights I remember from Christmas…One was the time when I got a DOLL for Christmas…I was in shock!!! I didn’t want any stupid doll…I wanted a bb gun and big Tonka trucks like my brothers…why did Santa bring me a Doll?…I was so mad I opened the basement door and tossed her down…hoping she would go away!…lol…Another is my Mom is and was a great cook…she would spend days making all kinds of candy and cookies and then freeze them in the freezer for the Big day and the family parties…well one day I heard this scream from the basement…I went running Mom was in the freezer looking at empty candy boxes…One of my brothers ate the whole box!!! I know I have lots of pictures from Back in the Day…I wish I had time to look through the pictures…but maybe we will do this again…and It is on my list to go through my pics in 2013 so I will be ready for next Christmas…
Here is a peek at our Home decorated for Christmas…A Primitive Christmas explains it perfectly….I love to use lots of quilts. Someday you will be seeing all these quilts most of which are antiques. Maybe a calendar, maybe a book, recreating them… or using them for inspiration that may spark a new design or even a fabric line. Ever since I have been a shop owner I have been collecting them…Mostly because I think these orphans needed a good home…but partly because once you become a shop owner, going to big quilt shows is not the THRILL is used to be…which was all that excitement of what you are going to find, seeing the new fabrics, kits and gadgets that all the shops have to offer. For me…I seen most of it 6 months ago at Quilt Market and what I loved I bought for our shop…do you kind of get what I am talking about?…so at each show I attend I try to do my part to stimulate the economy by bringing home an orphan antique quilt. Now antique quilts are kind of like kittens or puppies…you can’t just go home with one is all I am saying…so thus I have a nice collection of antique quilts started….I mostly love scrap quilts…but lately I have been buying red/green appliqué quilts. The prices of appliqué quilts have come down a bit…usually they were out of my price range…
So take a bit and browse through my pictures and hopefully you can get a couple of ideas for your own decorating…I am a small town girl, living in a my primitive world and loving it. Double Click on the pics to make them bigger if you wish for a closer look…there are two galleries here…make sure you click on both of them for a close up of the last three pictures…
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- The Bongean house lit up at night…our angels have a garland and bulb that spell out Peace on Earth…
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- Our two babies…Presley and Jeter… posing for their 2012 pic. They were 2 on December 7th…no party…it is a party everyday for them!
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- Front door entry wall…Presley is wondering what the heck I am doing???
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- Our Tree undecorated…I buy a 15 foot frazer fir and cut off about 6 feet off the bottom. This ensures I have a skinny tree and lots of boughs for decorating.
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- End of Hallway…most of my quilts are not Christmas quilts but look good at Christmas time…
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- Dining Room
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- All my Eldreth Pottery Santas…1 for every year since 2000
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- Old santa on a cool, basket quilt…sunroom…
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- Quilts in the 1800′s wardrobe in the Sunroom…not near the sun…
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- My kitchen Island decor….
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- This table is under the TV that is hung on the wall…
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- Kitchen table center piece…this quilt was made by Nick in his beginning quilting class many years ago…
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- Jeter…always snoozing by the fire…
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- Hall Entry…
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- On the end of my Kitchen counter…the tin is an old Hershey chocolate…yum!
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- Love this picture of Santa…
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- Primitive Star on top of tree…
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- Santa…hanging out in a basket
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- Small display in the Kitchen…
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- Garland in the Kitchen leading to the Sun room…I actually leave this up all year, but take off the mittens.
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- Center Piece for Living Room coffee table which is a wheelbarrow…
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- Jeter…again… snoozing after all the work is done…
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- Sunroom Coffee table…old antique quilt with 3 candles and one huge cast iron star
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- Wardrobe with antique quilts and crazy quilt from A Primitive Christmas…
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- And the stocking are hung under the collection of bellsnickle santas
Hey Everyone!!! Glad you stopped by to see what Christmas is like in our Wisconsin Winter wonderland…we are in for a doozy of a storm tonight (Wed)…like 11″ is predicted…just in time for a nice White Christmas…the kids will be able to go sledding and build snowmen and ice skate!
My recipe…I try something new every year…this year I picked a cookie that is supposed to better for you…no flour, no butter/oil…If you didn’t know it my son Jake is getting married next July and I would like to trim a little fluff off this bod, if you know what I mean….I found this on Pinterest, of course….Let me tell you they did not disappoint!…soft, gooey, chewy even the next couple days after they are baked….good thing it only makes about 24…I ended up with 27 so that means they are even less calories!!!..lol…
And now…for my ornament…Well now what should I do??? It is kind of hard being one of the last ones…I have to admin I did several, but I will save them for a book on ornaments or something like that!!! After decorating my tree I noticed I did not have any sheep on it! How can that be? So here is my Sheep ornament decked out in her poinsettia corsage…Click on the PDF here: Sheep ornament
If you would like a kit for this ornament your may also order it here: Sheep Kit for $7 per kit.
Gather up all your necessary equipment as follows: Pressure canner, canning salt, funnel, big ladle, paring knives lids, rims and jars and jar grabber for taking out hot jars from the canner. We made two kinds of tomatoes: Stewed ( with green peppers, onions and celery) and then just whole tomatoes alone in the jars. So if you want to make stewed tomatoes, you will need some green peppers, onions and celery. 
Cut or chop your green peppers, onion and celery then add a little water and simmer them for a bit to soften them a little .
While that is simmering, dump your tomatoes into the sink and rinse them to get any dirt or bugs or junk off of them. 
Then place them into a roasting pan with boiling water to scald them for a few minutes. The skins with break. Do not leave them in too long or they will become too hot and mushy to handle. 
Transfer them into a sink of cold water. You will then remove the center stem and all of the skins, Cut then in quarters and place in a bucket. Do this until you have all of your tomatoes cleaned, scalded and peeled and cut.
Add fixings for stewed tomatoes if desired to pot of cut tomatoes, stir…
Looking real good right now!
add about an 1″ or two of water to the canner.
add a teaspoon of salt to each jar
using a large funnel (get it at fleet farm) scoop your tomatoes in the jar- i used small mouth jars for the stewed tomatoes and wide for the whole. You would use your hands to pack the whole tomatoes.
fill jars almost to the top and leave a half inch of space at the top not counting the lid rim.
carefully wipe of the top of each jar- so the lids will seal properly
Place lid and ring on jar
place 7 jars in canner, place cover on and place the “jimmy” that is what I call the pressure gauge, on 10lbs of pressure
I place the burner on HIGH until the “Jimmy” starts to jiggle. I then turn it down a little. The “Jimmy” does not have to jiggle constantly. Once the canner start to jiggle you need to let it pressurize to 20min. After 20 min. turn off heat and let the canner release its pressure. When it is all out it will allow you to open it. I have to admit Mom taught me how to cheat and hold a long meat fork on the pressure gauge until all of the steam is let out. This helps if you have lots of canning to do and don’t have time to wait, but I am sure this is not recommended anywhere and you cannot hold me accountable if something happens to you when you are doing yours.
When all of the pressure is released from the canner open the lid and lift out your jars with the canning tongs. 
Here are our 84 jars! It took us from 10am to 7pm when the last 7 were processed. We have 31 stewed tomatoes and 53 whole tomatoes. I think we will be set for awhile. We did this last Wednesday. My uncle brought us over 2 bushels and this is how many we ended up with. Now I will remember how to do this and maybe you will now try it yourself!
Here is the recipe as promised.
