Sundy Soup On Friday & General Musing

So I'm sitting here with my rocker pulled right up to the fireplace. I have my feet up on my daughter's little chair and I'm warming my toes. (and I fully realize I would NEVER let my child put her chair this close to the fireplace ) It's cosy. And quiet. Everyone else is sleeping.

I made my Sunday soup on Friday. We wanted a light supper and my husband suggested French Onion Soup and something else. We never got to the something else. This soup was so good and so easy. I also added 1/2 cup white wine and simmered the soup with fresh parsley and thyme and a bay leaf, all of which I removed before serving. I used homemade bread and Gruyère cheese. I used mayan sweet onions and cooked them until they were golden and soft. Over an hour at least. That is really the key to the whole thing. Butter and onions. You can go wrong.

All in all this is a really inexpensive soup to make. If you don't want to purchase Gruyère you could use swiss but I prefer the Gruyère. I used Wegmans culinary stock for the beef stock and it's rather good. I'm all about making my own chicken stock. And while homemade beef stock makes this soup AMAZING, I find it rather cumbersome so use store bought.

I am so over turkey. So over it. Even a thrifty gal like me needs to stop with the leftovers at some point. We had leftovers for dinner and I threw away the rest. Enough is enough with Thanksgiving food. I am luckliy, not one of those people who has turkey for Christmas.

Which brings me to Christmas. I did not partake in any kind of Black Friday madness. I'm not about the crowds, getting up early (ever), the rushing and spending lots of money at once gives me hives. I'll probably order things on line this week.

This time of year brings out one of my inner struggles as a parent. Too much.....Too little, which way to go? On one hand, I feel like the Christmas season brings with it too much food, too many parties, too much Santa and WAY too many gifts. On the other hand, maybe I need to lighten up.

I'm generally not comfortable with excess (unless it's butter, clearly) so Christmas can really press my buttons.

And Christmas decorations. What is the DEAL with these. I like Christmas decor and have my fair share. I like things to look nice. I like crafts. I get it.

What I wonder about every year is doesn't everyone already have enough already??? Do we all really consume enough to justify stores filling themselves to the brim yearly with brand new decorations? Where does it all go? How many rubbermaid tubs full of Christmas decor can this world handle??? I know that sounds scroogey but really.. It's only one day.... Or at least, one month....

That said, I did put up my favorite Christmas tree today. I have one in my dining room full of vintage looking ornaments. It's a tall skinny tree. I tried to put it in the antique looking firkin next to it but that just was not working out.

I miss fall already....