Does it taste as good as it looks?
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Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
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This is the year I caved, and we bought an artificial tree. I feel like I gave up, surrendered to convenience over authenticity. It’s a perfectly nice tree, with the charm of a portrait studio backdrop. I can’t bring myself to put my (German) mother’s tree topper on it; it would probably hurl itself off in protest.
On the plus side, Bitey Cat likes it. TBD if she likes it too much.
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It’s pretty.
Desensitize the tree topper to it over time. 20 minutes the first day etc.
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We’ve had an artificial tree for years because of the cats, it’s easier to keep from tipping over. We use a 20 Lb weight under the stand that turns it into one of those punching clowns that bounces back.
If it becomes a problem some clear fishing line attached to that bookcase would keep your tree upright.
We’ve been putting our antique hand made angel on the tree for over 30 years. So far it hasn’t fallen off, it’s designed with some sort of tube that fits securely over a branch. We personally know the artist. We have more of her work archived in the attic that was collected over the years from the front of our refrigerator.
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This story amuses me more than most people, although the people who know all of us thought it was fun.
We’ve had a customer for over 30 years, they’ve been largely responsible for us living indoors for those 30 years, we’ve become freinds over the years and they are awesome people to know. They are both in their 80s and very old school especially for Christmas.
Me and the wife are their go to people for all kinds of odd jobs that no one else will do, for at least 20 years we’ve been putting up their Christmas lights which consist of several hundred feet of lighted garland around their large showplace home, usually takes half a day.
Every year I tease her that my job would be easier and faster if we just put some blow ups up and call it a day. “No, I hate those damn things.”
I’m getting too old for the climbing up and down so I may be retiring from putter upper to supervisor.
Which brings us to this, I knew they were out of town last weekend so I went off to Home Depot and picked up an 8 foot blow up Santa and put it up because I wasn’t sure how many more opportunities I’d have.
The phone call I got when they got home was worth every penny.
I brought it home and put it in our yard where my wife could see it because she loves those things. Last night someone tried to drown him so now I have to check alibis of the “I hate those damn blow ups” person.
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Gingercats made for the office party. The icing tasted ick so I didn’t use it. Also found out I am not fond of allspice and it is the allspice that makes me dislike most gingerbread. I used ess than called for and it’s still overwhelming in these
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But they are soooooooo cute! I wants them.
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The favorite spice cookies in our house right now have sorghum molasses, which is kinda bittersweet, plus cinnamon and fresh grated ginger. I keep a ginger root in the freezer and grate it with a microplane zester, eyeballing the amount until it looks and smells about right. They are not fancy or even very pretty, but sooo yum.
I like allspice in savory rather than sweet. When I do bake sweet stuff with it, like banana bread, a very little bit goes a long way, and there have to be other strong flavors to balance it out.
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That is the prettiest angel tree topper EVER! 
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Does freezing it help? I used fresh and ended up with these weird big pieces I couldn’t use.
The spouse said they were good for gingerbread and I would totally give you one if I could!
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I think the freezing might help some with the texture, but the zester I use makes a huge difference, fresh or frozen. I shilled for it in the Thxgiving thread and will do so again here (great present idea, might not be too late to order!):
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I find it totally does. I peel the skin off with a spoon, just scrape off the skin for as much as you’ll grate. Then grate. Like said, micro plane is best, but I’ve found the little holes on my box grater work okay, too. I just end up with some scraggly bits that I cut off. If you make infusions, keep the scraggly bits in the freezer until you have enough to infuse some vodka or even just use it for ginger tea.
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