Shopping Day!

It is shortly after 6 AM on December 23. I am laying in bed waiting for the phone to ring, because I now know that some schools are not out for break yet, and I will probably be called! I am thinking about how my day will go even though I rarely know what each day has in store for me. I work at Target later today and also tomorrow morning and afternoon before Lawyerboy and I are going to head out to Hanover to my sister Kathryn’s Christmas Eve Service. I am so looking forward to the Christmas songs and listening to her tell the Christmas story. Then the three of us are heading back into Saint Paul and getting on the train so we can be in North Dakota and on the Farm for Christmas Day. I have yet to buy gifts or pack.

Lawyerboy went out yesterday and bought his gifts. My sister Kathryn’s friend does a neat thing at Christmas where they have a theme for the gifts they give and after everyone has opened their gift, they try to guess the theme. We did it last year and it was a lot of fun. I suggested Lawyerboy go to the Hamline bookstore and see what he could find. He got Hamline gear for my parents, Uncle Ray, my sisters, brother, and even something for him and me! I was planning on a Target theme! Everything I was getting was coming from Target for my family. We also needed to get a few things for his family. There is a sibling draw and an extended family draw. We needed four gifts for them, plus his parents.

Lawyerboy’s parents. I get up and decide to head to the workout room and am crossing my fingers and toes that I don’t get called. As I workout with my phone close by me, I think about what he told me they called to say when they wanted to know his plans for Christmas. They think his mom has cancer. She has been having a lot of headaches and trouble with her vision. Lawyerboy hasn’t spoken to them much about his time at school. When Lawyerboy told them he was going to law school, they told him it was a mistake. They will know more about her diagnosis in the weeks to come.

I go back to our apartment and can’t believe that my phone still hasn’t rung! Lawyerboy and I decide we better head to Target to shop for gifts, so I have time to get organized before having to go work at Target. We shop at a different Target than I work at. There is one about two miles south of us which I work at and the other is two miles north of us which we shop. We were well into finding gifts when you guessed it, my phone rang! It was almost 10:00 in the morning. When I answered and she asked if I could sub, I told her I wasn’t even at home. The  girl calling me said she’d try to call someone else and then call me back if they couldn’t get someone. What?!?! All I said was that I wasn’t home. I guess that was taken as a maybe!

Luckily, I wasn’t called back. When we got home I started to pack some things and get organized before getting ready to work at Target. I don’t know how we are going to get all this on the train! My sister Kathryn, Lawyerboy, and I, along with my parents, were really paying close attention to the weather. There were storms in the Chicago area and the storms were headed our way. Plus, the train comes from Chicago. We were getting a little concerned, but we just have to wait and see how this will all play out.

Work has been going by so fast because it is super busy! I got home close to 1:00 in the morning. I would be  back to work at 6. I had requested to work the 6 to 2:30 shift so Lawyerboy and I could drive 45 minutes west to Hanover to the Christmas Eve service. Beings I was so excited for Christmas and to go home, it was good I was exhausted from work so I could get a few hours of sleep because I probably wouldn’t have slept otherwise!

I was starting to daydream and have actual dreams about all the homemade meals and goodies. One treat that I am really looking forward to is actually one that isn’t made by my mom! Our neighbor to the east of my parent’s farm and our friend, Tammy, makes an addictive treat. I babysat her three kids while I was in school and am close to all of them, too. I call her treat Sweet Carmel Puff Corn. There are a lot of different recipes and ways to do it out there. For the longest time, I refused to search this recipe out. Tammy always told me it is super easy and that she makes it with a brown paper bag. I look forward to getting it at Christmas time and beings I eat it for breakfast, I contained myself for years to have it as a Christmas treat.However, I have finally begun to make it myself. I don’t use as much butter as the bag of Puff Corn says or other recipes I have found. I also don’t use a brown paper bag. Here is my version of this addictive treat.

Sweet Carmel Puff Corn

Preheat Oven to 250 degrees – Bake Time: Varies to Preference – Prep Time: 15 minutes – Makes: Enough for many, but sometimes only one!

1 9 ounce bag Puff Corn

1 1/2 sticks butter, no substitutes

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Pour the whole 9 ounce bag of puff corn into the roasting pan and set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and corn syrup. Mix and bring to a boil. Stir constantly and cook for two more minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat. Add the baking soda and vanilla and mix thoroughly. The mixture will foam and expand! Pour half the mixture over the corn puffs and toss. Pour the rest of the mixture into the roasting pan and toss again. Bake it for 15 minutes. Take it out and toss it. Bake for another 10 minutes. Toss it again and spread it out on wax paper. It only takes about five minutes and then you can handle it. Pull the puffs apart from each other so they don’t all stick as clumps. Put the Sweet Carmel Puff Corn in a Tupperware or other airtight container.

*Note: This doesn’t need to be baked at all. If you prefer it soft, don’t bake it. If you prefer it crunchy, bake it for a total of 15 minutes, pulling it out to toss after each 15 minutes. I like it in-between and found this happy-medium! 🙂