Christmas Memories
Posted at 12:00 AM, Dec. 18, 2006
One of my very favorite Christmas memories is Christmas Eve at your house in Pomona, CA There were about 20 of us, mostly family, maybe some friends and others without a place to spend the evening. Long tables were set up in the family room (which was an attached garage that my dad and grandfather had converted to family room) right off the kitchen. The decorations, the music, the family all together were none but the best times. The food was scrumptuous. Although when I was younger I may not have thought that! One of my favorite dishes that my mom made only once a year was an "Oyster Casserole"....it was her Christmas Eve tradition to make it. Unfortunately the recipe she used went to the grave with her back in 1987. 
Thanks to the internet and a real estate related 'list-serv' I participate in I have found a recipe similar to the one my mom made, and I will be making it this Christmas Eve. (I remember 'scrunching' the saltines for the casserole, that memory came back as I read this recipe).
Provided to me by Reba Saxon a Realtor with Keller-Williams in Austin, TX:
Here is what I do, it may be what you remember, or not. It's one of my favorite dishes at holidays, simple (5 ingredients), but expensive (oysters $10/pint=$40!!!) Just seeing that number makes me realize that this is REALLY good, if I don't bat an eye at $40 ingredients for a casserole!!
4 pints oysters
3 sleeves saltines
cayenne pepper
stick of butter
half & half
Butter a casserole dish. Crumble 1 sleeve of saltines, more if you need it to cover dish well. Cover saltines with oysters. Dot with butter, dash of salt and fairly liberally with cayenne pepper. Repeat twice, using all materials, ending with buttered, peppered saltine layer on top, not oysters. Soak with half & half, don't allow the level of the liquid to rise above the level of the crackers but close. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Christmas Cards for Our Servicemen/women
Posted at 12:00 AM, Dec. 17, 2006
Many of our men and women who have been serving in Iraq this year will return home, either on leave or because their tour of duty is over, and will spend Christmas at home with family and friends. But a lot of them did not make it alive and these families will not spend Christmas with their loved ones. They paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Let us not forget not just our servicemen and women but their families as well. These deployments are hard on the whole family....wives, children, brothers, sisters, parents and friends.
For our servicepeople Xerox has a great feature - they will send care packages with cards that you can format online at www.LetsSayThanks.com. You can visit this site every day and send cards to servicemen and women thanking them for
their service.
12 Days of Christmas at Today's Cost
Posted at 12:00 AM, Dec. 16, 2006
22nd ANNUAL PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX UP 3 PERCENT;
DANCERS, DRUMMERS AND PIPERS EARN MORE IN TIGHT LABOR MARKET.
Read the full article at PNC Christmas Price Index
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