Are you ready yet?. . .Hodgepodge!

It is Wednesday, so it mst be hodgepodge!

Did anyone else join in the card swap last Christmas? I cannot remember which blogger started it, but it was so cool to get a Christmas card from a blog friend. I wish I had thought to ask about it a few weeks ago!

Here we go with the Hodgepodge -- thanks to Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for the questions.

1. What's one task you'd like a little Christmas elf to sneak in and take care of tonite? I wish a had a weekly elf to come in and clean while we sleep! We actually do have a lady who comes and cleans for us. She is a school teacher by day so her hours to clean are unconventional. She used to clean for quite a few but she only cleans for me and one other now. She is not an elf but she is going to clean our house on Thursday after school! I'm going to see if she can come twice a month in the coming year.

2. What's your biggest challenge during the holidays? Not spending money, perhaps? I love to pick up a few new decorations here and there. Of course, I spoil the granddaughters (or try). 

3. Are you a cookie baker this time of year? If your year had to be summed up in the shape of a cookie cutter what shape would it be? I have baked cookies at Christmas time. I don't know if I will this year or not. I can't sum it up with one cookie cutter. I thought about a tornado (they do make a tornado cookie cutter - I checked!) because of everything that has happened this year -- a crazy mish mash of grief and joy. Maybe I just need J O Y cookie cutters, because even when bad things happen, there is always a nugget of joy.

4. Santa likes milk with his cookies. Do you like milk? What kind of milk is on tap in your house? (whole, 2%, skim, almond, oat, etc). What's the last thing you made that called for milk? Mark puts a significant amount of half and half in his coffee each morning. I don't particularly like milk. I do enjoy unsweetened almond milk and we keep it on hand. I ate a bowl of cheerios on Sunday morning with almond milk. I don't usually eat cereal but was in a huge hurry. I used this question as our ice breaker with the young adults on Tuesday night. We had a few milk drinkers, and a couple of oat milk drinkers, a couple of people who don't drink/use milk at all, and Mark . . .who LOVES half and half. I made a lot of cornbread over the last few weeks and I use buttermilk. Our German Chocolate Cake also has buttermilk in it!!

5. Share one favorite line from a Christmas carol or holiday tune? You can't spell families without lies. Do you know that line? It is from Four Christmases. That line and several from Christmas Vacation have been quoted numerous times in our home.

6. Insert your own random thought here. In the middle of the night, I thought of a random thought to share with y'all, but it is long gone now. I'll share this instead. The meme and the article by Evelyn Walker were spot on for me today!