Amazing how quickly this year has passed. I want to express gratitude to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting this wonderful series of In My Kitchen glimpses from around the world. It is fascinating to see what is different and what we all have in common.

Being the first of December, it is time to start using the “holiday china”.

I  use it the entire month of December and put it all away on New Years Eve. Actually, the china gets pulled out while putting away Thanksgiving dishes. That’s because we seem to use every dish in the house for Thanksgiving and while everything is out of the cabinets, it’s easy to reach the holiday stuff before replacing everything we just used.

I’ve been studying “The Taste of Herbs” course and have been ordering many herbs for the exercises. The ‘homework’ has resulted in making some of my favorite lip balm. I’m one who can’t leave home without lip balm. It’s always in my pocket. Since it is something that goes on the lips, it is also ingested so I prefer using all natural products.

And wouldn’t you know, it can get expensive and not always ‘perfect’. So one of the assignments was this lip balm. I ordered the tubes online and made a small batch. This stuff is amazing. It is my new go to solution for all my lip balm emergency needs.

Ever made Chai  at home from scratch, rather than bought tea bags?

Well, if you want a home with an amazing aroma, and an entire body warming that feels like a great big bear hug, you’ve got to try making your own. I simmer the concoction in a crock pot on low either overnight or during the day. If you simmer it on the stove top, it is ready to sip and feel dreamy after an hour.

We’ve been enjoying using my tea pots and tea cups. They were in storage for so long, it’s nice to be using them again.

Each day we make at least two pots, one traditional orange pekoe black tea and an herbal tea. We sip them both hot or cold, sometimes we need to make more, depending how cold it is outside.

I am gearing up for Christmas with gifts and cookies from my kitchen.

I’ll be doing posts on ideas and things as the month progresses. I refuse to be part of the shopping hoards, just refuse. I need to be practical though because how many would actually appreciate a bottle of Burdock Root Tincture?

Related articles

• Frugal Tips: Peppermint Lip Balm (homefront.prudentliving.com)