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It's The Holidays!

We're in December now!  Seems like the older we get the faster time flies: July didn't seem that long ago!

Thanksgiving was very nice; we spent it with Dad and Michele at their townhome in Branchburg.  Because I wasn't cooking this year, Al was very disappointed that I wasn't making my sausage stuffing.  But, of course I went ahead and made it as a surprise while the Thanksgiving Day parade was on (recipe below).  We enjoyed it when he got in.

Black Friday did not find us among the throngs at the various "door-buster" sales.  Seriously, I cannot believe that human beings act like complete savages just to save a few bucks on material items at the big box stores.  My mother participates in this madness...she and my stepfather went to Walmart (ugh) to buy two flat-screen TVs...on Thanksgiving!  Sure, a deal is nice, but this part of the Holiday season has been a complete turnoff for me for at least a decade now.

I used to enjoy the Holidays.  Really.  There was something nice about heading out to the malls all day.  We'd see Santa.  We'd shop.  We'd have lunch at the mall.  Sure, the malls would be crowded, but the behavior was far more subdued back then.

I digress.

Al and I attended the wedding of our friends, Susan and Monica on Friday evening.  They were on Cloud 9; both of them were beaming through the ceremony and the reception.  The ceremony was lovely, as was the reception.  This was the first time that Al and I felt comfortable enough to dance together at a reception, because there were many same-sex couples (along with straight couples) there.

We did, however, have an unfortunate incident with the car between the ceremony and the reception, and wound up stuck in a foot of mud, which caused us to miss the entire cocktail hour.  Suffice to say, we got lost, and attempted to turnaround on what I assumed was grass, and the ground was saturated.  AAA sent a truck out to us, and fortunately, they were there in about 30 minutes.  Of course, the car was a muddy mess when we pulled up to the Laurel Creek Country Club.

On Saturday, I headed back to Avon and rested for the Navesink 5K/15K, held on Sunday.  The race went well, and I did fairly well.  My time was 27:06, which surprised me because I thought that the inclines would have slowed me down, but my time was just a tad longer than the Avon 5K.  I haven't run since September, and my legs are still complaining to me!

So that's about it.  Here's that stuffing recipe:

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 carrot, peeled and small-diced
2 stalks celery, small-diced
1 onion, small-diced
1 bag, cubed, seasoned breadcrumbs (Arnold's or Pepperidge Farm)
2 cans College Inn chicken broth
1 stick, unsalted butter
1 tsp. dried Italian herbs
2 handfuls of grated Romano cheese
2 tsp. poultry seasoning

In a large bowl, empty the entire contents of the stuffing cubes.  In a saucepan, bring the chicken broth to boiling, and reduce to simmer.  In a skillet, brown the sausage in olive oil.  When fully-cooked, remove the meat with a slotted spoon, adding it to the stuffing cubes and retaining the fat in the pan.  Next, melt the butter in the pan and saute the diced carrots, celery, and onion, and a couple of dashes of the dried Italian herbs until the vegetables are soft, and add the entire contents to the stuffing mixture.

Add the hot broth and stir the stuffing mixture.  Then, add the grated Romano and the poultry seasoning to the mixture.  Mix well.

Serve hot.
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