Hi fellow list members:
I don't know about any of you, but now that Christmas has come and gone, I
feel like I have ssurvived something big and gone on to tell about it. The
baby has had cold simptoms off and on for most of the past several weeks, and
then, the Tuesday before Christmas, the stomach flu ravaged our family as well.
It hit the three year old first and hardest the Tuesday prior to Christmas
Day. It attacked her in the evening and kept us all up until past 3 in the
morning. A couple days later, Emily got it as well. This was on top of the
three year old fighting off a cold at the same time. Fortunately, everyone
pretty much seems to be over it all, and somehow, I made it through it all with
no illness whatsoever. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I'm glad I have so
far.
Christmas for us was a good one this year, despite at least one person in
the family fighting some sort of illness. Our finances were very tight for the
holiday season this year, so it was a modest Christmas for our family. Still,
Heather made out pretty well, getting her very own doll house we found on sale
earlier this year, and complete with furnishings and little household items. I
am somewhat dismayed that my big gift this year was something I have never had
an interest in and don't want, that being an air fryer. I want nothing more
than to return the thing and get something I want, but my Mom has to find out
where she put the receipt. If that fails, I may sell it on E-Bay or something.
I have no problem with someone else using one and enjoying it, but I have a
major issue with the way this thing is being labeled and marketed. There is no
exact substitute for the process of shallow or deep frying foods. Perhaps you
may get similar results with a couple of items, but the fact is that hot air
cannot produce the same results as hot oil when cooking food. It is
scientifically impossible. So, I'm anxious to be rid of mine. The other big
gift I got this year was a small amount of the King Arthur flour sourdough
starter. I have been giving a starter serious thought for some time, but
haven't got around to it until Emily ordered it for me. I'll give it my best,
and hopefully, this time, I can get a really good starter going. So I'm
curious...how did the rest of you make out this year? Are there gifts you were
given that you didn't want, or things you wanted but didn't get? I'm very
interested in getting a Pazel maker as well as a Belgin waffle makeer for
myself if I can, but I'll have to wait and see how things go with getting this
air fryer off my hands. We did not make anything special for Christmas this
year, but we were given a honey baked ham by a good friend of mine, which we
enjoyed a couple days ago with some cheesy scalloped potatoes that the baby
couldn't get enough of.
Jon
