Sentimental gifts and a few 'fast' food desserts...

This post isn't for those thrifty, efficient people who started buying presents back in August during the first series of sales, but for My People.  You know who you are.  December 17th and your budget is no where near as expansive or generous as your impulsive heart.

Things got worse when Publishers Clearing House failed to show in November, so I was forced to change my gift-giving plans.  (Not even a lousy balloon, after all those PCH lotto entries I did on line!)  Anyway, we got our family together and set a very small limit on what we could spend on each other with the exception of the grandchildren.  (Hey, they're still kids, remember?)

Here are some of the gifts we came up with this year and last:

• Homegrown and organic cooking spices:  Coriander, thyme, sweet basil, epazote, cilantro, sage and rosemary, I housed them in those wonderful magnetized metal spice jars (that stack) with clear tops.
• Re-gift of cookbooks to the emerging chefs.  With the advent of 'slow food', these old cookbooks are fabulous.  Also, how many cookbooks do you really need clogging up your kitchen bookcase?  If you are buying a cookbook, the Joy of Cooking has got to be the all-time greatest.  1960 to 1970 vintage hardcovers are often available second-hand.
• Handmade tree ornaments of all types:  (a) Clear glass balls that were made by pouring different colored acrylic paints inside and twirling or moving around for the best effect.  They end up looking like blown glass.  (b) Potpourri sachets in Georgette fabric tied with elegant ribbons and scented with apple, lavender or evergreen tree scented oils.  If your tree starts to dry out or lose its lovely scent, minute amounts of these oils are all that is needed.  (c) Ornaments made from felt, stuffed and decorated with embroidery thread in darling designs or the shapes of cookies, angels, trees, etc.  (Our daughter made these.)  (d) Porcelain ornaments I sculpted by hand or used cookie cutters and molds to shape.
• Knitted scarves, mittens and even an afghan my daughter made for her sister.
• Gifts of books written or owned by admired ancestors including old bibles and prayer books and rosary beads.  These family momentos (unlike my father's stuffed armadillo) are often more meaningful than anything you could buy in a store.
• A printed copy of the family genealogy with all the details of birth places and dates for both sides of the family.  (These types of details can be lost once the older generations go.)
• A CD of old family photos with all the great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and baby pictures identified.  I have taken weeks to scan and label these on the computer as there is nothing more frustrating than to find an old box of photos and not know who anyone is.
• A CD with pictures of the kids themselves, and a box with all the originals.  They are old enough in my family for possession, and I am keeping scans for myself anyway.  Also, in case of a fire, flood, earthquake or other disaster, someone else will have copies in the future. (My father would be very proud of me, as he was the only other amateur genealogist in the family.)
• Family recipes, organized into a cookbook
• Pieces of jewelry that different relatives have admired or just as sentimental gifts.
• Favorite books from the bookcase that are worth preserving for the next generation and maybe even the one after that.  If your child has a particularl interest in a subject or genre, pass them on.
• Memoir pieces about each family member, highlighting their most precious characteristics and showing them, of course, in shining magnificence.
• Family art including paintings, sculptures, wood-carvings, collages or decoupage.
• Flavored nuts - buy them in big containers at Costco, roast them in your oven with flavorings and package them in lovely tins worth recycling or saving.
• And finally, don't forget desserts like sugar cookies, candy or easy favorites like the two recipes below:

Flash Frosted Angel Food Cake:  Buy ready made frosting (I like the cream cheese flavored one), a fresh angel food cake at a bakery and a bag of sweetened shredded coconut.  Frost the cake and then cover it with the coconut.  It is a very pretty cake and the angel food part is less fattening and has more protein than a regular cake.  (Yes, I know, grasping at straws, but you can diet all next year.) Drizzle the cake with Hershey's chocolate syrup in a pretty design for some extra pizazz and then refrigerate it for a few minutes so that the frosting, coconut and chocolate set.  (I just gave one of these to my octogenarian neighbor, and she and her caretaker ate two pieces each, just while we had tea.)

Quickie Ice Cream Pound Cake: If you like something denser than Angel Food, here's another easy recipe with a Sarah Lee frozen pound cake.  Semi-thaw and cut the cake in half down the center so you have a top and bottom.  Then fill the center with ice cream and cover the entire cake with frosting.  If you are slow, you may need to put the ice cream in the center, return it to the freezer for a few minutes and then proceed to the frosting step.  (The ice cream does start to melt if you are not very fast.)  Of course, this cake only has a short transport time after assembly, so after it is decorated, return it to the freezer and refreeze until you are ready to give it away.

Your ice cream cake should be kept in the freezer until about 15 minutes before serving.  This is also a great treat for kids' parties and much easier serving it as the ice cream and cake are already together.  (You can spend a lot of money buying one of these at an ice cream store, but I guarantee a homemade version is much, much better.)  If you want a large cake, keep adding the frozen cakes until you reach the size you need and then hide the seams with extra frosting.  For a more dramatic effect, put different flavored ice creams and frosting on each separate cake and offer them individually labeled with the ice cream flavor noted.  I really hate chocolate mint, by the way, in case you were wondering.

I know this last gift sounds hokey but here it is anyway.  Pack the resentments up and put them into the recycle bin.  Everybody makes mistakes and there is nothing so treasured as a friend or relative who forgives, seems to have forgotten and actually lets it GO.  Why not call up old friends, new friends, distant relatives and those close to you and tell them how much you treasure them?  Maybe next year they'll make that call to you first.