A Jen Too Many

Somehow, we always wind up wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. I suppose it's a sign of how much I've come to dislike the task that I always leave it until the last minute. That's not a tradition though, just a bad habit!

Out traditions include going out on the lawn before bedtime to spread a few handfuls of oatmeal out for Santa's reindeer to snack on while he is in our house. The girls write letters to Santa and leave them on the table with cookies and eggnog using a special Santa-decorated mug and plate.

During the day we follow Santa on NORAD's Santa Tracker (if we remember to do so - last year we forgot until just before bedtime.) Today we will be making cookies for Santa, baking the pies for dinner tomorrow (pecan, apple, and mince) (I love mince pie; we're going to find out this year if the rest of the family can learn to like it too), and making the Jello Salad of Instant Diabetes*. We will hang up the stockings at some point.

We will eat cookies. We will drink eggnog. The girls will try to persuade us to let them open, "Just one present, please, please, please?" (The answer will be, "No.") Eventually everyone will fall asleep (this will take awhile) and then Santa will come.

Small people have been instructed that they are not allowed to get up until their alarm clock goes off (6:30 a.m. has been negotiated.) They are allowed to get Mommy and Daddy up at that time. BUT NOT BEFORE!!
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*Jello Salad of Instant Diabetes

Ingredients
1 3 oz box of flavored gelatin
1 8 oz tub of whipped topping
1 15 oz can of crushed pineapple
1 8 oz can of mandarin oranges
1 16 oz tub of small curd cottage cheese

Directions
Drain the crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges; save the juice. Prepare (according to package directions) whatever flavor you prefer of gelatin. (Lime is popular for this. I like raspberry, personally. Cranberry is also good, especially at Thanksgiving.) Use the saved pineapple and mandarin juice in place of some of the water.

After making the gelatin, put it in the refrigerator to chill until it is about the consistency of a raw egg white. Mix in the fruit and cottage cheese. Fold in the whipped topping. Return to refrigerator and chill until firm, in whatever bowl you will be serving it in.

Variations
Some people like to add nuts and marshmallows. Maraschino cherries are also popular. Feel free to throw in whatever goodies your family likes best. (There are a lot of variations of this. Throw the search string "jello cool whip cottage cheese" into a search engine and you'll come up with a ton of recipes.)