Jell-O makes you lose your mind and other Christmas Eve ramblings

Good grief, Charlie Brown. How many times do you think I made the base for tomorrow's mandarin orange Christmas salad this morning? You gotta plan for Jell-O. It doesn't just happen. It's super easy, but also. You gotta plan for it. So this morning, on this blustery and starry-sky Xmas Eve morning, I made the base for the retro Christmas Jell-O salad for tomorrow's meal. Twice. 

No, I didn't have to use a second run of ingredients, but I did have to take that hot mess out of the refrigerator once and re-boil it as I recalled it needed to boil for five minutes and not just be "brought to a boil" (like my temperament when I started making it for the second time). The color has to be what you see below, nearly a clear tomato soup color rather than a cloudy orange color (this has pudding AND Jell-O in it, fancy, right?). 

Needless to say, the base of it looks correct now, and it will chill overnight. Tomorrow, I will add the drained mandarin orange slices and the Cool Whip and wah-la! 1970s on your Christmas table! It'll be eaten with the following items:

Ham (we are vegetarians, but there will be ham for the meat-eaters)

Hashbrown casserole

Green beans

Rolls

Magic cookie bars

Coffee, tea, soda

No over-doing it this year, just a good comfort-food meal with a nod to 1970s childhood and holiday citrus orange, which I love. You can see the ingredients below. I always gauge flavor versus cost, and for the few extra pennies, if I am making something that tastes better with name brand items, I will buy those instead of the store or generic brand. There's frugal, and then there's just knowing when spending the extra pennies is worth it for the taste. Nobody sponsors my blog, so these are 100 percent my taste and choice in the products. And for the record - you HAVE to use the cooked kind of pudding in this. Instant won't work. I'll try to remember to take a picture of the salad all put together tomorrow. 

Well, here we are at Christmas Eve already. We knew it was coming, but it felt a long ways off but then it really didn't, either. Time is flying. True story - we are heading into the low 70s for a couple days starting Sunday. I'm ecstatic! Monday and Tuesday look particularly beautiful, and I hope to be outside as much as possible, even if it's just sitting in a chair in the sun, reading a pointless book! The upcoming weather is God's gift to me, for sure. I hate high heat (sorry, out west, I think it's just miserable there for way too many months out of the year), and I hate uber freezing cold (sorry Alaska and parts of New England, you're beautiful but way too cold). Give me the in-between any day with four seasons thrown in! Right now it's 29 degrees, but we go to 59 today with sun, so I'll take it.

I spent yesterday wrapping presents, so it's really nice to have that already done. I'll do a bit of cleaning this morning, then we'll spend the rest of the day doing whatever we want. Salmon patties over a big salad tonight will be our Xmas Eve meal, no miles of finger foods and holiday goodies. I like all that stuff, but I find as I get older, too much of it just sends my body into gag over-drive, and a big goal of mine is to try to enter deep into my 50s and then my 60s without having to rely on any medications. Tweaking some things will be necessary but worth it.

Hard to believe, but we haven't had a cheese ball yet this year! I think we'll do that for New Year's Eve. I love a good cheeseball with crackers and a bowl of tomato or broccoli cheddar soup. I'll worry about that later, though. First, we have Christmas! 

Love to you on this Christmas Eve, 2021. I hope your day brings you rest and contemplation and peace. Christmas has no room for chaos or celebrations outside of its true meaning. It's a sacred acknowledgement of a baby sent to earth who would later on become the savior of mankind. Love came down that night, and I am redeemed because of that love. I am forever grateful. Peace to you. 🎄💖🌟