Holiday: Tis the Season

As soon as the dishes are done from Thanksgiving the Christmas season has officially started, for me that is. Most years I take 2 weeks off to spend time with family in Seattle and Alaska. This means I only have a few weeks to live with my miniature fake tree and sugar-cookie-smelling candles before January rolls around and I have to put everything back in the storage unit. I have never been that big into holidays, despite the fact that this entire post is about all the wonderful seasonal things that are made better solely based upon the fact that they exist for 1 month out of the year. Tis the season for:

1. Method Cleaning Products - I stock up at Target on Method Products every few months. Lucky for me, they had their seasonal stuff already out. Check out the peppermint vanilla and cinnamon bark dish and hand soap.



2. Silk Nog! - Of course I cannot have the real egg nog stuff but I sure do love the flavor of Silk Nog. It looks like they have a new flavor, Pumpkin Spice, on their website but I have yet to see it in the store.


3. Mandarin Oranges - In Alaska we get mandarin oranges, from China, in the local Fred Meyer around December 1st. I could eat a whole box ! In fact, I probably did split a box with my sister at some point. Those little orange segments easily went into the tummy since they are easy to peel and have no seeds, what is not to love.

4. Pumpkin Pie - Sure you can make pumpkin pie any ol' time of the year because you can buy the stuff canned. But because pumpkins are a fall gourd then I only make it in November and December.

5. Flannel Pajamas - In December flannel pajamas in bright colors show up in almost every store window. It would not be Christmas without snow, flannel pajamas, and a steaming cup of hot carob. These particularly cozy pjs are from Toast, UK.

photo credit: pumpkin pie CNC 11.22.07; mardarin Karin Elizabeth on Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/phantomato/