Instead of looking through all the cookbooks in the store today, I decided to ask the next person who passed my office what they cook when they don’t want to use a recipe.  Penny, thank you for this one!

Taco Pasta

Ingredients
Cooked pasta of your choice
1 lb ground beef or boneless chicken
1 small to medium onion
1 package taco seasoning mix
as much cheese as you can stand

Cook the meat and the chicken together.  Mix with pasta, taco seasoning, and cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Serve with a bag of steamed vegetables and a salad.

Alright!  That’s as easy as hamburger pie, but with cheese.  I like it!  So, that’s your easy-peasy, make-it-quick dinner at the end of a busy day of searching for parking spaces and waiting in check-out lines.  {But not our checkout line!  We have the fastest-moving line in town, I promise!}

In the local paper yesterday was a recipe that sounds so good, it makes me want to buy this serving tray just to see if I can recreate the neat diamond shapes they achieved for their photograph!

Here’s a link to the article, “Cookies & dessert bars take celebrations over the top.”  Look at the recipe for Gold Rush Bars.  The instructions call for making a fruit spread of dried apricots, figs, dates, and a sweet dessert wine, layered between a lovely buttery cake-like batter, the whole dusted with powdered sugar before serving.  It sounds fairly easy and looks so elegant. 

20!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

If you are a fan of the colorful and imaginative creations of Jim Shore, you’ll surely want to add one of these wonderful ornaments to your Christmas tree.  The star has been a particular favorite this year, and the cross is so wonderfully detailed and representative of the ultimate hope of Christmas.

Would you like to delight a child in a special way on Christmas eve?  Offer him or her a bottle of Santa Dust to sprinkle around the front door ~ Santa will be sure to stop at your home for Christmas!

Only 23 days left to wrap presents, cook and bake, decorate, and celebrate.  Use them well!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

There is still time to help Wreaths Across America place Christmas wreaths on the graves of fallen service men and women all around the country and across the globe for the holidays.  This year’s wreath-laying will take place on December 12th.

An extension of the Arlington Wreath Project begun in 1992 by Morrill Worcester of the Worcester Wreath Company, the project has expanded across the U.S. since 2005.  In 2008, wreaths were laid in every state, Puerto Rico, and 24 overseas cemeteries – over 100,000 wreaths were laid by over 60,000 volunteers last year.

You can sponsor an individual wreath in your name or someone else’s name for only $15, or participate as a family, small or large business, or make  a donation to the project.  It is a comfort to the families of our fallen service men and women to know that their sacrifice is remembered at Christmas.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

As promised, the specials keep coming.

Today is the final day to take advantage of our Thanksgiving special, an additional 15% off all clearance items plus free shipping on orders of $50 or more.

Also on special this week at ChristmasPlace.com:

• Christmas trees 20 to 30% off (is it time to re-green your tree?)
• Stockings, buy one – get one 50% off
• Winter White LED light strands, buy two – get one free

Yankee Candles BOGO sale is continuing all month long, and don’t forget about the free gifts we are including with all qualifying orders.

Get in the Cyber Monday spirit and place your order today!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Miss Patty’s gingerbread house was the winner in the Gatlinburg contest!  Congratulations, Patty, on your sweet success!

Come by Mrs. Claus’ Candy Kitchen for a closer look at her confection creation.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Yes, I’m sure you’re stuffed to the gills ~ or, let me say, I hope that everyone reading this has been blessed with an abundance of good food and family fun this week!  But you will, one day, be ready to eat again … I looked for a cook book that included recipes just for Thanksgiving leftovers, but had no luck.  Here’s my favorite:  turkey sandwich, but add a slice of cranberry sauce.  The sweetness, next to the turkey, lettuce, and a bit of mustard and mayo – yum!  Sends me over the moon.  If you have leftover rolls, use them for your bread … even yummier.

So, have a great weekend!

Why are you still reading?  Do you need more ideas?  Hmmmm … okay, how about Comfort Foods, by Gooseberry Patch.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, even foods for one or two – who knew you could make a tasty bread pudding with just one slice of bread??

I have selected a dish that seems appropriately named for this weekend.  I need to try this, because I just don’t quite get the concept of potatoes cooked in pasta, yet people really love a well-made dish of pierogi.

Lazy Pierogi

Ingredients:
15 lasagna noodles, cooked & divided
2 C mashed potatoes
2 eggs, beaten
8 ozs. shredded Cheddar cheese
garlic salt, pepper, & onion powder to taste
1/2 C butter
1 onion, chopped
Garnish:  sour cream

Arrange 5 lasagna noodles in a lightly greased 13″ x 9″ baking pan; set aside.  Combine potatoes, eggs, cheese, and seasonings; spread half of mixture over lasagna.  Cover with another 5 lasagna noodles; spread with remaining potato mixture.  Top with remaining lasagna; set aside.  Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat; sauté onion until tender.  Pour onion mixture over lasagna.  Cover with aluminum foil; bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing into squares.  Serve with sour cream on the side.

(On the facing page to this recipe is Grandma Shady’s Ham Loaf.  We must hope that the editors were quite careful in the placement of that ’s on Shady instead of Grandma, mustn’t we??)

Here’s a quick and easy recipe that would be great for the party and homemade gift-giving season that is already upon us.

Grandma’s Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients
14 C popped popcorn (okay, in today’s world of bags of microwave popcorn, does anyone know how many bags that might be??)
3 C crispy rice cereal
1-1/2 lbs. melting chocolate, chopped
3 T creamy peanut butter
Optional:  2 C dry-roasted peanuts

In a large bowl, mix popcorn, cereal and peanuts, if using; set aside.  Combine chocolate and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes until melted, stirring after every minute.  Pour over popcorn mixture, tossing to coat well.  Spread onto a large, greased, non-stick baking sheet; cool completely.  Break apart; store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

C = Cup; T = Tablespoon; t = Teaspoon

Wishing you a delicious weekend – and reminding you that there are fewer than 30 days to Christmas … !

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

We receive many, many Letters to Santa at the store and the hotel every year.  Most are very cute, all are hopeful, and once in a while there is a letter or two that touches our hearts and reminds us of the true spirit of Christmas ~ family, and the promise of hope for the future.

Dear Santa,
    Please pray to God that my dad gets better, that’s all I want for Christmas.  I want us to spend more time together.
     Love, Sierra
P.S. He has chronic fatigue syndrome

Dear Santa,
     My cousin is 44 yrs old and is dying with cancer.  She recently lost her husband in a car accident, and remarried, when she was diagnosed with cancer.  She has 2 children who are 18 & 13.  They lost their father in an accident and now may lose their mother.  Please pray that God will heal her and that she can watch her children grow up!  Thank you so much!  This would be the greatest present I could ever receive!!  Time is running out but I know miracles still happen!!!
     Jeremy

In this season of giving, often the greatest gift of all is time with the ones we love.

Have a blessed holiday.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Everyone ~ guests and staff alike ~ in the store today is in such a festive mood now that Thanksgiving is here and Christmas is just weeks away!  It’s always a treat to see wonder and joy light up the littlest children’s faces as they look around at all our trees and decorations.  Sure hope you’ve had or will have the chance to stop by sometime this season to see for yourself.

This first Santa was found on my desk, of all places … He’s a woodland Santa, with a beautifully embroidered coat and a blanket of frosty snowflakes all over.  He has a hanger and is meant to be a tree decoration.  He has a snowman and an ice skating angel for his companions.

And here’s another special fellow ~ the Elegant Traditional Santa, appearing as an elf!  At 22″ tall, he’s very grand with his velvet leggings and sparkling wings – and pointed ears.  He is fully wired, so you can easily pose him to fly from the ceiling or perch in your Christmas tree or on a shelf or mantle.

Doesn’t he have the most magnificent footwear?!

It’s beginning to look a lot more like Christmas!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

They keep coming, new product specials every week!  Check these out:

• 50% Off selected outdoor lighted decor
• 35% Off selected glass ornaments
• 20 to 30% Off Christmas trees (we have the very best around!)
• 25% Off red and gold decor
• 20% Off Jim Shore’s Eeyore figurine (the cutest!)
• Possible Dreams Santa & Rudolph figurine, specially priced at only $59.97 (a fantastic centerpiece for the fireplace or dinner table)

In addition, we have several other offers going this month:

• From Yankee Candle, a BOGO sale on six candle scents (Buy One, Get One Half Off)
• Free shipping on all on-line orders over $100
• Week 4 of the Gingerbread Theme Giveaway – a gingerbread house, rug, flag, and more
• Free gift with qualifying orders – receive a reindeer ornament or a beautiful angel.

We hope you’ll find just the items you’re looking for among all these offers!

Congratulations to our Week 3 Gingerbread Giveaway winner, Carol D. from Wayne, New Jersey.  Remember, you can enter once a day for the duration of the giveaway to improve your odds of winning.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Patty, our lead in Mrs. Claus’ Candy Kitchen, has entered a wonderful gingerbread house – well, a row of gingerbread houses – in a local competition.  Here are some pictures of her entry, on its way to Gatlinburg for the contest.  Looks good enough to eat … and then lie down and take a long, long winter’s nap.

The house is about 24″ long, 12″ wide, and 18″ tall.  I wonder how long it took her to place all those wafers on the roof?

Good luck, Patty!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place