Dear Santa Cake

Here is the dessert I made for us to have with our Christmas dinner.

It is the "Dear Santa" December cake from the 1956 Baker's Coconut Cut-Up Cakes booklet.

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All I could see when I looked at this cake is The Baron from Mr. Husband's TV show Nightmare Theatre, so I did some alterations:

See?!

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Cheese Nippies

 

Another edible gift I made for fam was a batch of these "Cheese Nippies" featured in Skelgas Tips and Treats for Christmas booklet.

I have a couple of family members that are diabetic so I try to find something not sugar laden to make for them. 

 

I made a half batch using 2.5 cups of krispies.  I had to triple all of the spices and seasoning though because this stuff was bland!  I used siracha salt and added garlic salt as well.

They still turned out ehhh.

A little added bonus to this post are those sweet little plastic canvas craft snow people seen in the back ground.  We found them at an estate sale this month but I forgot to photo them in their own post because they were out in my car as decor! 

Merry Mint Brownies

 

I made several edibles for fam and friends for gifts.  One of them was inspired by this vintage ad for Spry and a recipe for Merry Mint Brownies.  I can't really make out what the ingredients are and don't care.  I'm trying to make this sweet and simple.  I used a boxed brownie mix which I added broken up peppermint patties to the batter.  After they baked and cooled I then covered the brownies in an icing that was suppose to be like Lofthouse cookies.  I then drizzled melted dark chocolate over the top.

I took a picture and then had to throw it all in the garbage.  

This simple treat was a disaster from the start.  It began with my trying to avoid a possible problem.  I greased the baking pan and lined it in greased wax paper.  I did this to help prevent the peppermint patties from sinking to the bottom and causing the brownies to stick to the bottom of the pan.  Instead the waxed paper fused to the bottom of the brownies.  I also over baked them and it was like a slab of slate.  The recipe I followed for icing didn't set as it should and looked grainy or curdled (but tasted fine).  None of this was acceptable but I went ahead and photographed it as a serving suggestion. I suggest just not overbaking but I had 3 other things going on that I was trying to make and it is what it is...the stress of Christmas.  

 It wouldn't be Christmas if I don't have some kind of last minute disaster.

FallMas

Yes, Yes Ya'll!

It's Fall...Mas!

At the beginning of the Christmas season I was lamenting that I was not ready for my Fall decor to come down and I just wasn't in the Christmas mood.  Maybe I could do something I penned "Fallmas" but there would be no way I had enough stuff to pull that off...but I did!  And it turned out so cute!

It's kinda more woodland, Fall, Winter than really Christmas.

And I am okay with that!

Behold the beauty:

The antique Slyvania bulb rack (aka the green shelf) set up:

Close ups:

Corner tables in Livingroom:

Coffee table:

Top of Display case:

Inside Display case (not much here in this photo, Mr. Husband later put the Tauntaun in it):

Record Cabinet:

Dining room, top of the china cabinet:

Dining room table and side board:

The tree and the cutesy Deeries!:

The only things I bought for this theme were a bag of mini snowballs (vase filler from Hobby Lobby) for 2 bucks and the gold vintage satin ball ornaments (from a thrift) for 10 bucks.  Yikes on that price. I bought several bags and they were 3 or 4 bucks each bag.  But they were perfect and as soon as I bought them I knew I was going to pull this look off. 

I went with a color scheme of fall oranges, browns, and golds, winter whites, silver for shimmer and black and green to ground everything.

I removed purely Thanksgiving items such as turkeys and pilgrims and left woodland features such as squirrels and mushrooms.  I relocated some of the fall decor to mix it up a bit such as the garland in the dining room is the garland that was around the front door.  The Christmas items I added in were the deer, trees, and ball ornaments.  The gnomes are kinda elf-like but also woodland so they play up both themes (they usually live on my back deck). 

It's been interesting and a nice change this last season with transiting the decor.  I started with my regular tiki decor and added in voodoo witch doctor vibes for Halloween.  Then for fall I did  Falloween adding in more black to the autumn look.  Now for Christmas it's Fallmas.  I could see removing the fall and leaving the white and silver for a winter look but people it's got to stop somewhere!  I usually do a small winter display with snowmen but that's it.  Spring can kiss my ass and summer can go to hell.

🍁❄ 🍂❅ 🍁❆ 🍂

Happy Fall(mas) Ya'll!

🍁 ❄🍂 ❅🍁❆ 🍂

Merry Christmas...Pleasant Smoking!

 

"This Christmas, Give yourself (and your friends) satisfying flavor... so friendly to your taste!"

~Pall Mall Cigarettes

This Christmas I decided to give myself a slight break on all of my over the top food craft gift giving but hopefully still maintained " satisfying flavor" for friends and family.

In the past I have made and put together some pretty snazzy stuff such as: 

1951 Pillsbury Cookie gift Box

Log Loaves and Fireplaces

Chimney of Sweets

This year I went simple and with something I have made before for other occasions.

Pretzel rod candy coated cigarettes!

I covered a gift box in mini printed images of vintage Christmas cigarette ads.  I also perfected the lit tip although it's not visible here.  I typically just use red sugar sprinkles but this time I added in some black sugar sprinkles and some silver flake sugar sprinkles (looks like ash!)

To make these it's just rod pretzels dipped in white almond bark and then tipped in sugar.

Here are some of our past cigarette inspired themes, including our Cigarette Christmas tree and two other versions of the candy coated pretzel cigarettes:

Light up the Holidays!

Smokes for Father's Day

Coffin Nails

Hot Chocolate Cocoa bombs

Another little treat I added to the gifts this year were these Hot Chocolate Cocoa Bombs.

I came across these on pinterest and thought they were super cute!

I am late to the cocoa bomb trend (but that's how I like to be!) so maybe you all know how these work and how to make them but for those who don't: it's simply a hard chocolate hollow shape with powder cooca mix inside.  When you add it to hot milk or water it melts into a drink.

A bonus for this post is showing off my favorite holiday "Christmas in Hollis" RUN DMC inspired mug I picked up from a thrift several years ago.

Here is the how to I based my cocoa bombs from.

Suchcicki Santas

This year we attended the annual lighting of the Suchcicki Santas with it being it's 25 year anniversary!

Each year they add another blow mold Santa to the front yard display since 1998.

The first one (seen near the rear of the sled above) was given to him as a gag gift from his family and so it continued.... 

Now it's something that we love to drive by and check out every holiday season.

For the 25 year celebration the new guy is the stunning 5 foot tall Santa seen in the middle.

They had him draped in cloth for the big reveal before the lighting.

Here is the whole spread.

They have a cute website that gives a bio of each Santa.  It was based after something that his daughter and her friend wrote up as teenagers.  If you go to the "Logbook" area of the site you can see the original bios which are hilarious!  The new ones are polished, socially acceptable versions which means it's lacking comedy which was the original point.  

My favorite info tidbit was the martial status of  MC Hairy Holidaze: "Got Hoes"

That's awesome.

Check it out: Suchcicki Santas

Don our Gay Apparel

I have something fun for you guys!  Last year before I put away all the Christmas I thought it would be fun to do a post for 2022 on all of my Christmas attire!  So I set up the boobless model and created a "look book".

The sweatshirt you see here is my most favorite!  It has puffy paint bears all over it doing all the holiday fun!  I picked this up about 8 years ago at a thrift store.  It's dated 1991.

Here is a close up:

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This next sweatshirt is some good ol' fashion nightmare fuel!  I bought it at a thrift store 8 years ago and not too surprising it even still had it's original tags on it.  Who would wear this for serious?

I bought it for PB and here he is wearing it in 2014.  He obviously has out grown it so I squeeze myself into it for Christmas parties sometimes when I want to look really whacked out.

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This is a bear-ed up Christmas turtle neck.  It is a huge size and I got it originally for Mr. Husband but he couldn't bring himself to ever wear it.  But I LOVE 80s-90s Christmas Bears in a sarcastic way so it has become mine.

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Here is another turtleneck that I picked up from a thrift store clearance rack.  I thought at first it looked tame in this photo and why did I even buy it .  But then I wound up wearing it 2 days into this holiday season for the event I'll be sharing in the next post!  It "clashed" really well with my red hair!

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Now we are getting into the bought-brand-new items, which is normally not my thing.

I got both of these from Walmart for super cheap.

First is this Boston Terrier turtle neck:

And no, this isn't the back of the model or a dude model.. It just has null boobs.  I'll have to give her a stuffed bra next photo shot.

Close up (I think they may actually be French Bulldogs...but in my house they are Bostons!)

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Cute Christmas Kittens!

I bought 3 of these shirts (S-M-L) several years ago for Mr. Husband, PB, and I to wear together some place.  Only I didn't realize they weren't unisex and were girlie fitted and had capped sleeves which doesn't work on men's bodies...but I kept them anyway and wear which ever one fits me each season with my fluctuating weight. 

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And part of a late entry into this gay apparel...accessories!

I didn't even think about showing you all some of my icing until yesterday so I snapped a few cruddy pics to share.

I made these bear earrings from some mini ornaments I picked up at an estate sale. 

I bought these rings 20+ years ago for my mom and I.  They are retro flicker rings with one view of Santa and the other says "Sears has everything".

I bought these earrings on a card of ten pairs from Dirt Cheap several years back.  I kept these two pairs and gave the others away as gifts.  

And these are my crown jewels!  Or toe jewels?  I bought these Converse at the flea market for 4 bucks 25 years ago.  They are a green and red plaid, green soles, a wreath graphic around the star, and the back of the high top has a jingle bell!  I only wear them on Christmas or for gatherings so I plan on them outlasting me.

If you need more gay and tacky Christmas, check out my blow out Tacky Holiday party I did for PB's 5th grade class (see my bear tree skirt turned apron!) and a set of tacky sweater stockings he and I made for his cousins a few years back:

Tacky Christmas Party 2014

Tacky Christmas Sweater Stockings

 

Felty Candles

 

{New stuffs Xmas 2022}

We picked these cuties up at the thrift for 2 bucks a couple of weekends ago.  The one on the left looks like a dog has been gnawing on it...

So normally these 'new stuffs' that have been the last few posts would have missed the boat for 2022.  I would have just counted them in next year's haul because I have a cut off time usually of Dec 1 so I can start preloading and scheduling the posts for the month.  This helps to make MHiCTy not another damn thing I have to take care of for December.

I decided this year to submit down to the wire because I have it in my head that next season I have a goal of not adding to my holiday hoard.  No New Stuffs.  I doubt that will actually happen but it's my goal as of right now.  I am planning for next year to showcase items I already own, articles and ads from my vintage December magazines, and vintage inspired crafts/foods.

I don't think it's going to be all that hard to not add to the stash because I don't go to estate sales or thrift stores but once a month anymore.  Also I have noticed that the mid century well has pretty much gone dry in my area.

We'll see if I resisted next season!