About a month ago two cute girls came to my door selling a box of oranges for their dance club. I bought some and a few weeks after they were delivered. When I was a kid my grandpa Tiffany would buy a box of apples and a box of oranges for us for Christmas so I thought it fitting to have a box this year. I don’t know what my mom did with all the oranges. I do remember eating quite a few of them. Maybe we did eat them all before they went bad. Well my little family doesn’t go through oranges that fast. When I looked in the box yesterday I noticed that they were starting to get soft. I need to use them and soon. I have never canned anything after November. Usually canning season starts in June and last until November and by that time I’m so tired of it that just looking at another jar makes me nauseas. I have to say it is a little weird to be canning at the end of December.
A few years ago my sweet husband made some orange marmalade. The problem is he used the whole orange including all the bitter whites. I’m not a huge fan of orange marmalade in the first place and his was just too bitter to use for anything. So today I set out to use some oranges and make some marmalade myself. I’ve come across a couple of recipes that call for orange marmalade but I never had any on hand so I couldn’t try them. Now I will have some ready to use!
I just followed the directions on the sure gel pack and a few hours later I have some nicely jarred marmalade. There were a couple of things that I did different. I didn’t have 2 lemons so I only used one and added an extra orange. I don’t have a zester so I used my cheese slicer that I got in Sweden almost 16 years ago. It worked great! When I got done boiling the peals and the juice I didn’t have enough for the recipe so I juiced 5 more oranges to get enough. In total I used 10 oranges! I’m so glad to make something useful out of all those oranges.
Tomorrow is a new year and I can’t help but look back on the past year and be grateful. We had many things happen this year but the biggest was moving. When we moved we were really blessed when so many of our friends and neighbors stepped in and helped. I had friends help me paint, pack, lift, patch, and even had some give us dinner. This move was by choice. We just wanted a little bigger place to call home. I do love this home! I Also love all the wonderful people who helped make our move smoother. We do miss our old neighborhood and I actually find myself back there quite a bit. I still like to go walking with my friends and playing pickleball with them too. The kids also like to play with their old friends from time to time and their piano teacher is still there. I love that whenever I come to visit it feels like nothing has changed. They still welcome us with all their hearts. I love these guys! I’m excited about our new neighborhood too. So far we have had many plates of cookies and a couple of dinner invites. Everyone seems very kind here and I’m excited about making new friendships too. I wanted to thank all those who made my year last year a memorable one and I can’t wait to see what the new year brings. We’ll spend this evening with some friends ringing in the new year. I can’t think of a better way of spending it.
