CHRISTMAS EVE

Never, by any stretch of the imagination, a traditional Christmas--much to my sorrow.
Eric is at work. He works every Christmas Eve, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, etc. My son is in Texas working. He works trauma in an ER. No hope of seeing him or the grandchildren this year.

Today, I'm wrapping a few little gifts for Eric to put out tonight. Tomorrow, I'm cooking a turkey breast and a couple of special little fixin's from recipes I got from Ruthie. She does an absolutely lucious cranberry relish and whips up a delicious whipped yams dish. The cranberry relish includes apple, celery, crushed pineapple and a scattering pecans. It is really quite incredible. I fix a turkey breast because there are only two of us and neither of us like turkey dark meat.

I'll be writing a long addendum to a report I submitted 2 years ago. There's a deposition scheduled mid January. All the research has evolved in the two years the defense attorney has stalled so I have to write an addendum to the original report. I don't have any time unscheduled between now and the deposition. So, I have to get it done and submitted over the Christmas holiday. I also evaluated a man yesterday with really high risk scores. That has to be written up and submitted by Monday. He's being released on the 5th so I have to get an entire report written and into the AG before the 1st. We'll have to go to court on him before the 5th. So, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Saturday and Sunday--I'll be churning out reports! I leave for Danville Monday to evaluate yet one more. Every single case I got assigned for December and January look really bad and I fully expect that I'll have to churn out reports on all of them and go to court and testify on all of them.

Oh well, it helps pay the bills and it helps keep sex offenders off the street. So, you just keep plodding along---doing the work, winning some, losing some, just keep pushing that boulder up the hill.

Memories and Carrot Cake

Many years ago when we were living in Austin, Texas, Mom and Dad were visiting. Apparently, I asked Mom for her carrot cake recipe. She had made it many times in her life and grabbed a Graybar Electric Company memo pad, which happened to be nearby, and jotted it down for me.

Today, I was searching through old boxes--throwing things away. I found the faded copy of the recipe in her own handwriting. Mom has been dead 30 years and yet, the minute I saw it, I recognized her handwriting.

Here it is:

Mom's Carrot Cake

1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. If I remember correctly, she used a Bundt pan or a ring pan.


4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Wesson oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tps soda in some of the milk
3 cups flour
2 tps. cinnamon
1 tps salt (she always cut back on this)
3 cups grated carrots
1 tps lemon extract
1 cup pecan pieces


Put sugar & oil in mixing bowl. Mix. Add other ingredients in this order: eggs, milk, flour, spices & extract, nuts, carrots. Mix.

Pour into oiled & floured pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. I'd probably spray a pan with Baker's Joy, but that was not available 60 years ago.


Glaze with Orange Sauce:

1/2 cup orange juice
1 tps orange rind---nowadays we call that zest and use one of our fancy zesters
2 cups powdered sugar