The Halls Are Decked for 2012!

A closeup image of the nativity scene I have in front of my Christmas Tree.

This Christmas season is extra special to us this year as I have my 23 year old son back home with me at last.  My son has faced many challenges throughout his life and while he has tried to go it alone, we have decided life will be much happier for both of us if he lived under the same roof with the rest of the family.

I really want to enjoy this holiday season like no other so didn't hesitate to get a jump on decorating and preparing.  The day after Thanksgiving the boxes of Christmas decorations came out of storage and we had at it.  Inevitably we always find items in the storage boxes that remind us of Christmas' past, such as a booklet from a school Christmas play my son was in and several handmade ornaments he has given me over the years.  Of course the pictures of my then youngster son sitting on Santa's lap are priceless.  Then there's the very old and fragile ornaments of my grandmother's that were passed down to me as well as the ornaments that my own mother had given me.  Finding these memories and pausing to talk about them makes decorating much longer than it should be, but we don't mind a bit.

My friends, may your strings of lights never be tangled causing you to lose your temper in this holiest of seasons. lol

Here's a brief tour of some of the Christmas decorations we have up in our living room this year:

Thanksgiving 2012 Menu

Image of 2 Falmouth Farm free range chickens in a foil lined roasting pan in the oven.

Yeah, I'm late getting this one on here, but as they say, "Better late than never".

Home Canning Pork Shoulder

Image of a quart canning jar filled with chunks of pork shoulder in the meat juices.

Alright, I think I've got the hang of this new video camera & editing method!

About a week before Thanksgiving I caught a good sale on pork shoulder at the grocery and bought two 10 pounders.  Since I'm trying to save freezer space, I decided to can the pork.  You might be surprised to know I only got 6 quarts (loosely packed) of meat from the 20 lbs I bought.  A quart is plenty enough to feed at least 4 adults depending on the recipe you use it in.

Due to this past summer's drought the price of animal feed is sky high; therefore, the ranchers are going to be culling more of their herd than usual rather than pay more for feed - IF they could find feed to begin with.  This means the price of processed meats is going to go down temporarily - so STOCK UP!  The price of meat will surely shoot much higher than it is right now after the "glut" is over.  After all, it takes many months to grow a beef steer or hog, so there won't be any meat relief for a while.  Chicken may not be as hard hit as it takes much less time to raise a chicken to maturity than our four-legged farm friends but they still need feed just the same.

You might want to be on the lookout for some good vegetarian recipes and/or maybe think of meat as a seasoning rather than the main course.