The Holiday Spritz

December 16, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

I am baking up a storm over here in the land of incredulous liberals who are (to a person, I believe) avoiding the news. (I did take a quick peek at Facebook earlier and saw that the incredible Randy Rainbow has just dropped a new video, which basically says it ALL.)

Back to baking…the holiday spritz is a tradition for my family. I received a fine Italian-made cookie press from my childhood friend Bethanne at my bridal shower 30+ years ago and have been making these cookies pretty much every year since. (My mother had a cookie press and she made them for years too.) They are strictly a holiday cookie. I’ve never made them at any other time of year.

I also received a cookie cookbook from Bethanne at my bridal shower (we had baked many batches of cookies together as girls), and I still use the recipe from that very same cookbook:

If you’re not familiar with how a cookie press works, you stuff a pump/barrel full of cookie dough and then squeeze it out through little silver discs, which form various decorative shapes. (There are about 12 shapes to choose from.)

Based on input from my son, the fleur-de-lis 🇫🇷 was added to the more seasonal snowflake and tree shaped cookies this year.

And just for fun, here’s a photo of Bethanne (top right) and me (bottom right) with my mother and two other friends, circa 1977.

Fire playlist

December 15, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

We hadn’t lit a fire in our fireplace for at least five years, until this winter. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the election and my strong urge to circle the wagons, protect hearth & home, and generally ignore the outside world that led me to open up the ole flue and insist on a firemaking lesson from my husband. In the past, he always made the fires, but now I really wanted to know how to do it myself.

After the first fire, I reverted right back to Fireplace Princess and he does most of the work—quite willingly—including lugging in the heavy firewood from the garage. (It’s such a great, practical application for all that powerlifting he does in the gym. The guy can deadlift over 500 pounds, why would I get the firewood?)

It’s funny that we went for such a long stretch of years without ever lighting a fire. A fireplace was one feature we both really wanted when we were house hunting. (Our first house didn’t have one.)

So as I’m staring into the pretty flames and toasting my toes, with a glass of wine and/or a weed gummy, the question becomes what is the best music to enhance the experience?

One night, I told Alexa to play Leonard Cohen’s “Who by Fire?” which I absolutely love as the theme song for Apple TV’s brilliant “Bad Sisters.” This led us to watch the newish Leonard Cohen documentary on Netflix, which is largely focused on his most famous song – Hallelujah. It was a wonderful pairing of fire and music. (And by the way, after watching the entire documentary, I decided that my favorite version of Hallelujah is John Cale’s. His voice has the perfect quality for the lyrics. The more angelic versions just don’t hit the same.)

Another great pairing was “December” by George Winston, which might just be the most perfect solo instrumental album ever made.

December was first released in 1982 and I’m sure many of my fellow GenXers know it well. It’s impossible to have a favorite track on this album, because they all run together so beautifully, with familiar holiday and classical melodies interwoven throughout. The piano is the star.

I’m sensing a theme. I like piano music with fires.

If anyone has any other great piano songs or album suggestions for me, I’d love to hear them!

Winterlights

December 14, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

Stevens Coolidge House & Gardens in North Andover, Massachusetts

I want to get some of these sphere lights for a tree near my driveway.

Shooting in 0.5x (ultra-wide lens) mode on iPhone gives a wider field of view but is available on the rear camera only, so you have to take a blind selfie (with the back of your phone facing you). It gives the photographer a very long arm.

It was in the low 20s last night on my son’s birthday, but we were dressed for it because we know how this works. It’s all about having the correct outerwear!

We added our wishes to a wishing tree. “Learn Italian without Trying” was my son’s.

All in all, a fun outing, but the lights were not quite as impressive as I’d hoped.

For some truly impressive winterlights, check out Brian’s post from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

More white chocolate

December 12, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

I know that nobody really cares about my baking besides me. But hey… it’s my blog and I like to have a record of stuff I’ve made, with a link to the recipe and photos.

In case you’ve been lying awake at night wondering what I did with the rest of those white chocolate chips after I made Sally’s White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies, rest assured. I used them up in yet another holiday cookie recipe from Sally: Snickerdoodle Blondies.

Studded with white chocolate chips and ribboned with sweet cinnamon-sugar, they’re a bit like thick and chewy cinnamon-vanilla brownies. No dough chilling or individual cookie making required.

Recipe

I didn’t have a 9×9 pan, so I used an 8×8 pan and baked them at a lower temperature (325 degrees) for about 6 minutes longer than the recipe said – about 41 minutes.

Here’s how they looked before I cut them.

Yum. Especially good with a glass of milk. I’m going to bed now and I’ve only had one. My self-control is off the charts tonight…but I’m pretty sure they’re going to make a delicious breakfast cookie.

Whacky Mom Confession

December 11, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

For those of you who successfully raised kids who are now independent young adults in their 20s and 30s, well done. It’s a heavy lift. From sleepless nights to FAFSAs, it’s not easy. I mean just keeping them fed, clean and alive for 18 years is a major undertaking.

People are understandably proud of their adult kids. They worked so hard to get them to that point!

I think it’s that primal, arduous journey of parenthood that makes becoming a grandparent the most incredible blessing imaginable, and I am not someone who typically uses the word blessing. But having a beautiful, healthy baby grandchild in your arms, smiling up at you, is like walking through a field of flowers on a sunny day with a double rainbow overhead. It’s pure joy. Pure love.

OK, here’s the whacky confession. After spending the day with my perfect baby granddaughter (and her lovely mommy) yesterday, I missed the baby the second I got home. So I requested that my 6-foot 180-pound 23-year old son—MY baby— briefly sit in my lap like when he was small. He obliged. He knows it’s easier to just humor me than to argue.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

December 10, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

I’ve posted about Sally’sBaking Addiction.com before. It’s a great website for free cookie recipes. I’ve tried many of Sally’s recipes over the years and they always come out great. It’s where I discovered my amazing real maple syrup cookie recipe, which people absolutely love!

Last night, I tried making her Soft White Chocolate Cranberry cookies. They looked so pretty for the holidays in her “Cookie Palooza” newsletter. And doesn’t the inclusion of dried fruit make them a tiny bit healthy?

Anyway, they came out great and they are delicious. My only comment is that the dough is pretty crumbly. I needed to use my hands to knead it like bread before refrigerating.

Here’s the recipe in photos, in case the link above doesn’t work:

Here’s how mine came out. I will definitely make them again.

New Logo

December 9, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

My blogging friend Chris (A New Life After Cancer) told me about the free AI Logo Generator in Word Press.

If you can find “Create a logo with Jetpack AI” in the desktop version of WordPress, that’s where you can have your little negotiation with AI.

Based on my site alone, this is the prompt it generated for me: A logo for “50 Happens,” a site dedicated to Gen X moms who embrace life’s challenges with calmness and resilience, featuring a modern and uplifting design that embodies strength and positivity.

OK, but I did not like the colors in this one ☝️ and do I really want to limit myself to moms?

So, this was next: A logo for “50 Happens,” a site dedicated to Gen X women who embrace life’s challenges with calmness and resilience, featuring a modern and uplifting design that embodies strength and positivity. Feature colors like pink, fuschia, purple, and blue

OK, but let’s face it, I’m not this Zen ☝️. I curse and say harsh things on my blog sometimes, especially about Dear Leader, who will be with us for at least four more fucking years. 🤮

Next try: A logo for “50 Happens,” a site dedicated to Gen X women with children and grandchildren who embrace life’s challenges with humor and resilience, featuring a modern and uplifting design that embodies strength and positivity. Feature colors like pink, fuschia, purple, and blue.

OK, NO, this 👆is ugly. Now I’m getting frustrated! I’ll give you one more chance AI. Please enhance the prompt yourself!

A logo for “50 Happens,” [a site dedicated to Gen X women with children and grandchildren] [who embrace life’s challenges with humor and resilience], [featuring a modern and uplifting design] [that embodies strength and positivity] [with an elegant and playful style] [and a harmonious blend of colors like pink, fuchsia, purple, and blue].

Hey, I like that one! Good job AI.

My only criticism would be to make the image bigger within the pink square, but AI really does not want to do that for me. She said enough is enough—this is what you get!

OK, I’ll take it.

Off the rails

December 6, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

Do you ever see wild animals?

I see lots of wild animals around here, but I don’t feel like writing about them today.

Unfortunately I took a peek at the national news yesterday and I’m feeling scared today. It feels as if the country is definitely going off the rails. Humans behaving like animals is going to be the norm.

For the most part, I have not been watching the news since the election, but my husband told me about the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and then my son showed me the horrific video. It was so chilling. I was thinking, “Is this Russia? Is the President-elect somehow involved in this?” I literally thought that…and I am not a whacko conspiracy theorist.

But the reality is almost worse. The overwhelming reaction to this guy’s murder is completely justifiable rage at the health insurance industry. There is very little sympathy for his widow and children. I did a quick check of social media and it seemed the overwhelming consensus to the police’s request for help in finding the suspect is “snitches get stitches.” (So yeah, maybe “the public option” or even “Medicare for All” weren’t such crazy communist ideas after all.)

Animals. We are like animals now.

Then I read a quick article about the animal that has been nominated to lead our Department of Defense—Peter Hegseth. If you think “animal” is too harsh a characterization, please just google him. This guy could be walking around with the nuclear codes as soon as next month. I wonder if he’ll keep them in a pocket near his pro-Crusades tattoo?

Animals. An animal is nominating other animals to help him debase this country to a level we could have never imagined 10 years ago.

Pop quiz

December 5, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?

A year ago this week we were wrapping up a bucket list trip to Paris. I loved it and posted many times about it, with lots of photos.

Below are four iconic works of art we saw there.

Just for fun:

Can you name the artist or title of each work without the help of Google or ChatGPT?

If you took Art History 101 and 102, you really should get 100%. If you weren’t a scarf-wearing liberal arts major in the 80s (like me), I think you should still be able to get a 50 or 75.

Good luck.

Five skills

December 4, 2024September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments

Share five things you’re good at.

I attended a three-hour business zoom meeting last night for my church. We are an elected, unpaid executive board. Someone else was running the meeting and honestly, it was pretty bad…poorly organized and inefficient. We spent an excessive amount of time on non-issues and didn’t even get to the important items until 9:15pm.

I’m realizing that even though I’m good at it, I don’t want to do volunteer roles like this. If I’m going to do “work work,” I want to be paid. If I’m going to volunteer, I want it to be fun.

I still managed to accomplish several things for the church during the meeting using my business skills:

Perceptiveness (understanding situations clearly)
Prioritizing
Speaking directly
Writing succinctly
Getting shit done

I have fully recovered from whatever Imposter Syndrome I may have had when I was younger (see yesterday’s post).

50 Happens

Gen X Mom Keeps Calm & Carries On

Personal Musings