Day 11 of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop

 Oh boy, it's that time of year again, Jo @ Serendipitous Stitching is having her annual Advent Blog Hop and I'm Day 11!

Now I know I'm supposed to show you something I've stitched, but I wanted to honour my Mom and show you what she stitched before her rheumatoid arthritis ruined her beautiful hands.  My Dad has these hanging up in the house all year round, as well as the ones I have made them.
 

As for my festive food story, I've got nothing!  Well, maybe a hodgepodge of some small stuff... 
Growing up, we ALWAYS had turkey for Christmas dinner.  One year my brother was home from boarding school and wanted another turkey after we finished the first one.  I think we ended up having three or four total - can you say turkey overload?!  Since I've been married, every Christmas dinner is different.  DH gets to choose our main meal and we work the sides around it.  We've had steak, lasagna, Swedish meatballs, pork loin, just to name a few.  He'd better get thinking for this year, I've got to start planning.
As for the sweets, there's always iced sugar cookies for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve.  It's his favourite at our house!  My Mother used to make these awesome German hazelnut cookies, but it's been years since she's made them.  She gave me the recipe and this year I'm going to attempt to recreate them, wish me luck!
I normally bake bread as gifts - zucchini, lemon, and/or cranberry orange.  I've made banana bread in a jar before for teachers and I'm planning on making some this year.  On Boxing Day at my parents house, we always have Christmas Pudding with brandied whipped cream.  Or should I say my parents and I always have it, DH and the boys don't like it very much!  Oh well, more for us.

Thanks again, Jo, for organising this!  It's always fun to see everyone's stitching and maybe get some new ideas. 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and an Amazing New Year!