Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 51 – December 23, 2011
Bon Jour! Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.
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It is now Christmas Eve Eve. Do you have all of your decorations displayed in your home? Is the tree up and decorated? Have you purchased all of your gifts and wrapped them? Are all of the gifts under the tree? Have you done all of your grocery shopping for Christmas dinner? Are you having turkey or ham? Are you entertaining for Christmas? Or, are you visiting for Christmas? If visiting, do you have a hostess gift?
When George and I were first married, we began doing our Christmas shopping the week before Christmas because we both worked and any Christmas bonus that we would get from our employers came right before Christmas. We would take a day and head out to the stores. In the early days, that meant that we had the boys with us. We didn’t have cell phones and internet back then. No shopping online. That last week, and sometimes it was Christmas Eve, we would head out to the malls. Everything would be decorated. Christmas music would be piped in everywhere in the mall. Sure the shelves had been picked over but we always managed to find what we needed. The boys would visit Santa Claus. We would usually go out to eat and make it a festive, if not tiring, day.
We did this every year and panicked each year, thinking we may not get everything. As time went by, we began purchasing presents throughout the year, always with the goal of avoiding that last minute present buying extravaganza. One year we actually made it. We had everything done early in the year. You know what? We missed all of the hustle and bustle of last minute shopping. We had actually created a family tradition. So, as long as the boys were living with us, we always made a point of last minute shopping for Christmas. Nowadays, with the internet and online shopping, those last minute shopping extravaganzas are just memories. Instead, we find ourselves hoping this or that present gets delivered in time for Christmas. My, how times have changed.
This year we sent very few Christmas cards. Most of our friends and family are sending e-cards instead. I think that’s a great idea, very environmentally-friendly. Although, I wonder what that does to the Hallmark Company. Some aspects of Christmas have changed drastically with technology.
Last week’s Mystic Krewe of Nereids Christmas Party was the best ever. As planned, I did spend the night. I think I finally got to bed around 3 a.m. That was a blast. In fact, this entire Christmas season has been a blast.
Nothing was planned this past week. We wanted to make sure we were available for last minute orders. It’s been a stay at home week. That’s not to say we didn’t have visitors and customers. We truly enjoyed one of our neighbors dropping by twice this week for wine in the evening and chit chat. I love having company. With all of my newly acquired serving dishes, no one should hesitate visiting us.
I decided to do one final harvest this week and picked tomatoes and cayenne peppers. The peppers were boiled with vinegar and water for about a day. At the same time, I boiled and processed the tomatoes. All day I was stopping by the stove to give each pot a good stir with my trusty wooden spoon. No spices were used at all. I stopped at the tomato pot once and tasted and it definitely had the pepper bite to it. It wasn’t hot but you could taste the pepper. At one point I stirred the peppers and just touched my finger to the spoon and then my finger to my mouth. My tongue went numb it was so hot. After cooking everything, I put the peppers in the blender (yes, I was reading recipes) and blended the peppers into a puree. The pepper puree is now in the refrigerator in a glass jar for spicing up food. I instructed George to use only tiny servings. The recipe said that this will keep in the frig for at least a year. I did the same thing with the tomatoes and have a really nice tomato sauce. We may have spaghetti tonight.
A look outside of my kitchen and into my garden will show that we have more tomatoes and peppers to harvest. Wow! This has been a great gardening season. In fact, the carrots are looking like they are about ready to be harvested. We also have an eggplant that is ready to be picked and noticed that there are more eggplants growing. This is not eggplant season but don’t tell the plants that. The garden is flourishing and I know in just a week or two it will be over. Didn’t I say that a couple of weeks ago?
All of our Christmas orders have been done and the last customer is dropping by today to pick up her package. We have a few orders remaining but those are not for Christmas.
A new customer contacted me this week. Her son graduated from college and she wanted to give him some really nice business shirts for Christmas. She contacted the Eddie Bauer Company online and got a couple of very professional white shirts. Whoever she conversed with at Eddie Bauer told her that if she wanted to kick it up to the next level of classy, she should have his initials embroidered on the cuff. Eddie Bauer no longer provides embroidery services for apparel and suggested she find a local embroiderer. She found Cajun Stitchery via a simple Google search. I reviewed my handy dandy placement guide and found the proper placement for embroidery on cuffs and we were off. We did one in navy blue and one in black; although, you can hardly tell the difference in the colors. She was very pleased and, once again, I made a new friend.
Next week, the week after Christmas, is notoriously known for sales. I’ve written before about my friends who have their immediate family Christmas on Christmas day but wait until New Years for their large family gathering so everyone can take advantage of the sales after Christmas.
Cajun Stitchery has quite a bit of stock and so we are selling whatever shirts that we have in stock from $5 for short sleeve tee shirts to $10 for polo’s. Napkins are $2 each for napkins in stock. We have ball caps, sweat shirts, jackets and all sorts of stuff that is on sale. If there is anything that you are looking for, email or call and I’ll let you know if we have it in stock and I’ll give you a discount. Or, if you want to come to the house, I’ll be glad to set everything out and let you browse. All of our handmade cell phone holders have been cut drastically, some are only $1.00. In fact, I’m thinking about putting a lot of our handmade items on sale, too, so we can make all new things in 2012. Sorry the market baskets are not on sale but we do have lots of little totes to sell for $2 and some cute purses for $5. If you don’t like our prices, counter-offer. Who knows, you may get me at a very giving moment. As usual, call (850)261-2462 before you come. We always have a pot of coffee brewing.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM Cajun Stitchery
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Thank you Paulette Provost for the following:
A Cajun calls up his lawyer and asks "Wit all dem lawsuits going on I'm
feelin' kinda left out.
How do I get in on some of dat action? I hears dat people are suing the
cigarette companies 'cause dey got
cancer and others are suing the Big Mac company cause dey got themselves
fat and all kinds of stuff"!!
His lawyer asks "And which one of those categories do You fit under?"
The dear ole Cajun, God bless his soul answers.....
"Neider cher, I just wanna know if I can sue Budweiser for all
dem ugly women I woke up wit...
feelin' kinda left out.
How do I get in on some of dat action? I hears dat people are suing the
cigarette companies 'cause dey got
cancer and others are suing the Big Mac company cause dey got themselves
fat and all kinds of stuff"!!
His lawyer asks "And which one of those categories do You fit under?"
The dear ole Cajun, God bless his soul answers.....
"Neider cher, I just wanna know if I can sue Budweiser for all
dem ugly women I woke up wit...
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C’est tout, mes amis
Cajun Stitchery
(850) 261-2462
P.S. You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.
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