Dec 11 2024

Ep. 3520b – Pedos, Ukraine,Syria It’s All Connected, Now Comes The Pain, [DS] Ops Will All Fall Down


Posted originally on Rumble By X 22 Report on: Dec 10, 2024 at 5:30 pm EST

Dec 11 2024

Undermining the Debt Creates Recessions and Depressions


Posted originally on Dec 11, 2024 by Martin Armstrong |  

Bank Run 1931

Many mistakenly look to the stock market as the leading indication of economic security. The true culprit is the DEBT market, not the stock market, that leads to depressions and recessions. A recession, in comparison to a depression, is merely a minor impact that could be isolated to one nation. Unemployment will typically rise up to 10% in a recession, whereas a depression could see a 25%+ turn in unemployment. A lack of work leads to civil unrest and upheaval. Depressions are never isolated to one nation as they spread as a contagion throughout the world.

You could take the stock market down 30%, even 40%, and still not create a depression. Yet, if you undermine government debt by far less, you will create a severe economic downturn. Look to the banks. Under law, banks are required to use government debt as a reserve. Undermining government debt simply wipes out the banking industry as we have historically seen when bank after bank is forced to shutter.

During the Great Depression, sovereign defaults began in Europe. Look at what happened in 1931 when Europe defaulted on its debt, as did Asia and so forth since depressions become contagions. This pushed the dollar higher but not the US share market. Note that the dollar rose in value during World War I, the 1931 Sovereign Debt Crisis, and again for World War II. During those waves of capital flows, the bulk of that capital always moved into government bonds.

This is an oversimplified version of this message but you can read more on the 1931 Sovereign Debt Crisis throughout this website. Governments default and then that often leads to a regime change. The incoming regime will simply say, “Oh, that was the debt of the last government and we need not pay.” Listen, the stock market could plunge 20% and the banks would be OK. But if you saw the same in the debt market, in particular sovereign debt, you’re in serious trouble.

Dec 11 2024

Another Politican Flees the Democratic Party


Posted originally on Dec 11, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Democrat Donkey scaled

Yet another politician has come out to abandon the Democratic Party, which has begun breaking off into factions in recent years. Donald Trump himself was once a Democrat, as were RFK, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, and countless others. Rep. Susan Valdes of Florida has become the latest politician to switch affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

Valdes explained that her affiliation with the Democratic Party was simply out of habit. We see this throughout the nation as people who have historically voted blue or red will continue to vote on party lines even if the ideology has changed. “I have done so as a Democrat partly out of habit — I come from a family of Democrats — and partly because I believed the Democrats were the party most concerned with the working families I represent,” Valdes stated.

The Democratic Party is no longer the anti-establishment, anti-war party that it was decades ago. The false virtue signaling to specific groups while ostracizing others is not the same Democratic Party of love and peace that opposed the Vietnam draft. Countless citizens and politicians simply vote along party lines per tradition without realizing that the ideology has completely changed.

“I’m tired of being the party of protesting when I got into politics to be part of the party of progress. I know that I won’t agree with my fellow Republican House members on every issue, but I know that in their caucus, I will be welcomed and treated with respect,” Valdes continued.

Florida has never had more Republicans in the House of Representatives. Some may say this large switch happened during COVID when people flocked to the Sunshine State to flee oppressive COVID laws. Especially with remote work becoming commonplace, people then had the ability to move to states that aligned with their viewpoints.

The Democrats have refused to acknowledge that their entire Marxist agenda failed. Bidenomics failed. The Build Back Better movement is failing and the people are not sold on the globalist regimes. The left bought their personal political narrative that demonizing Trump would indeed send people running into their arms. Trump’s victory sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party once they realized that all their propaganda had FAILED – the people still preferred Trump over the current status quo. Americans are not happy with the leftist regime.

Then we had countless Dems come out like Fetterman and Sanders who blamed their own party for becoming completely out of touch with the people. The uniform group thought that the Democrats demanded is what will destroy their party, for like a trader who loses and blames everyone else and continues to make the same decisions, his thinking leads to his bankruptcy by refusing to look at himself in the mirror. This is the fate of the Democratic Party that will eventually cease to exist.

Dec 11 2024

Steve Bannon Focuses MAGA On Its True Objective: “The Most Important Thing Happening Right Now Is The NDAA”


Posted originally on Rumble By Bannons War Room on: Dec 9, 2024 at 6:30 pm EST

Dec 11 2024

Women Prohibited From Self-Defense in Germany?


Posted originally on Dec 11, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

German Refugees

The migrant crisis in Europe is far worse than the mainstream media will let on. It began in 2015 when then Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the door to Syrian refugees. That door has remained open, and a new wave of unaccompanied men who do not understand or respect Western women have made the country a dangerous place to live or even travel.

A 20-year-old American woman traveling alone in Germany was sexually assaulted by a 64-year-old Eritrean migrant at Kaiserslautern train station. After exchanging words, the woman pulled out a knife and struck her attacker with a fatal blow to the heart. She claims she was acting on pure instinct, and video surveillance verifies her claims. However, proof of intent to kill is not required by German law to be tried.

“The public prosecutor’s office does not believe that the stabbing was justified by self-defense,” a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told reporters. Authorities have charged her with bodily harm rather than manslaughter, but still, she now could face up to 10 years imprisonment.

Should she have allowed this man to proceed? The German authorities would have preferred it that way as they have been ignoring the wave of migrant violence against women for many years. In 2015, over 1,200 girls across Germany were sexually assaulted by 2,000 men.

Initially, there was dead silence from officials and the press was not reporting the truth after joining the cover-up conspiracy. Only after reports hit the internet (we even had clients contacting us) did the truth begin to surface.  The police were even told to remove the word “RAPE” from all official reports on the Cologne attacks. Police Chief Wolfgang Albers, age 60, was fired after criticizing the police’s lack of involvement during the incident.

Now, foreigners account for 41% of all crimes in Germany after rising by 23% in 2022 and 19% in 2023. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed to address this matter and increase border patrol measures. On the other hand, he says Germany has an international obligation to permit foreigners to seek asylum. How are women to protect themselves when the law is skewed in favor of migrants? The law will not permit a woman to use weapons in self-defense if her attacker is unarmed, even if he could easily overpower her. Every country led by such leftist ideology is facing a similar, dangerous situation.

Dec 11 2024

Washington DC Preparing for Civil War – Disarm all States Now!


Posted originally on Dec 11, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

National_Guard_1953 postage stamp

The National Guard turned 100 years old in 2003, and Washington is seeking to usurp state’s rights and federalize the National Guard to circumvent the Constitution and to use them against the people of the United States in true tyrannical fashion. During the American Revolution, the troops were predominantly state militia. That is the origin of the National Guard, and the Second Amendment was actually intended to secure our liberty from federalism.

U.S. Senator Charles W. F. Dick, a Major General in the Ohio National Guard and the chair of the Committee on the Militia, sponsored the first attempt to control state militias. In 1903, he moved the 57th U.S. Congress to transform militias into the National Guard. Under this legislation, passed on January 21st, 1903, they transformed the organized state militias by giving them federal funding and requiring them to conform to the Regular Army organization within five years. The act also required National Guard units to attend twenty-four drills and five days of annual training per year for the first time. In return for the increased federal funding, the federal government took oversight control, subjecting them to inspection by Regular Army officers to verify they met federal standards.

However, the authority to call out the National Guard rested with the states. What is going on now is Washington’s attempt to usurp total control of the National Guard. They will use that status to send troops domestically against civilians, and the army is prohibited from acting domestically. This is a serious threat to the liberty of every citizen. The National Armed Services Committee is clearly preparing for the rise in civil unrest and wants to be able to send troops against the people. This is overthrowing the state’s rights and the separation of powers.

WhiskeyRebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion was a violent tax protest in the United States in 1791 extending into 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The “whiskey tax” was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. President Washington was confronted with what appeared to be an armed insurrection in western Pennsylvania. He was determined to establish the federal government as supreme authority. He understood that this would not be popular among the public. He called a cabinet meeting, and all but one said attack.

Wilson James signer

Before troops could be raised, the Militia Act of 1792 required a justice of the United States Supreme Court to certify that law enforcement was beyond the control of local authorities. On August 4, 1794, Justice James Wilson (1742-1798) was appointed to the Supreme Court. Wilson’s most noted case was Chisholm v. Georgia, which found that the Court could hear a lawsuit against a state by a citizen of another state. (The Eleventh Amendment soon superseded this decision.) Wilson delivered his opinion on August 4th, 1794, that western Pennsylvania was in a state of rebellion and allowed Washington to attack American citizens.

Washington had been concerned that such a show of force would support the deep division, reinforcing the growing Anti-Federalist fears of government overreach. Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin agreed and even wrote to Washington on August 5th, 1794, that he “feared that a military force brought into the region would also alienate the peaceable citizens of the region and cause more discontent there.”A staunch Federalist judge, John Wilkins, remarked, “The people engaged in the present opposition to government were not an inconsiderable mob. Rather, they are a respectable and powerful combination…of some of the most respectable people in the country.”

There was a fight for the supremacy of the Federalist movement against state’s rights. This is what the Democrats have adopted – federalism dictating policies to the states in this one-size-fits-all approach. Washington himself commanded insurgents in western Pennsylvania to disperse by September 1st. This is what we are witnessing with this covert move by the National Armed Services Committee. This is all about seizing federal control and effectively disarming the states directly, no different than outlawing guns individually.

I must report that unity is forming among the 55 governors of all states and territories who have joined together to urge Congress to reject Legislative Proposal 480, which would allow specified Air National Guard units to be reassigned to the U.S. Space Force without the governors’ legally required approval. This is a usurpation of power, and it will allow the Federal Government to wage war against the citizens of the United States directly. Some have argued that Biden was trying to circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878, that limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. This usurpation of the National Guard is to completely circumvent this act, pretending that the National Guard is not the federal military, yet they seek to seize control from the state governors and order them, like Washington in the Whiskey Rebellion, to attack Americans on the streets. HELLO – this is civil war!

ANY POLITICIAN WHO SUPPORTS THIS ACTION SHOULD BE STRIPPED OF ALL AUTHORITY AND REMOVED FROM OFFICE

Ca

Dec 11 2024

Man in America on Syria


Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

Man in America
Dec 11 2024

Cycles & the Next Generation


Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

History Repeat Copy

COMMENT: When I ask someone about your theories, they claim you are unconventional. They said the same thing about Einstein and even Kynes in the early 1920s. It seems that anyone who thinks outside the box is labeled unconventional, but in the end, they adopt the very theories and become conventional. They seem to make history repeat, for they always defend their position, which is obviously wrong.

I just wanted to say that historical recurrence is not something new. It has played an important role in developing Western historiography since antiquity. I am sure you are well versed. The view that “history repeats itself” is characteristically Greek. They understood everything was cyclical from the observations of cosmic and social cycles. I believe you have explained that history repeats itself better than anyone. It is human nature for people to respond the same way to similar situations regardless of the century.

Your intention to hold a WEC for the next generation is vital. You are offering something academia will only acknowledge when they are forced into embarrassment as to place during the Great Depression. Only then did they turn to Keynes.

There are those of us willing to donate to such a project.

Please consider the importance of this for the next generation.

Paul

1965 Clad Quarter
Marius AE Antontinianus 268AD Gallic Empire

ANSWER: History repeats because human nature is constant regardless of the century. But it is often also driven by notions of retribution, rebirth, reenactment, and imitation. Both Hitler and Napoleon sought to resurrect the old Roman Empire. Because I witnessed the debasement of silver coinage in 1965 and was familiar with the debasement of Roman coinage and how they, too silver, plated bronze coinage to retain the appearance of silver as we created a nickel-clad coinage in 1965, as a kid, I instantly saw history repeating.

Here is a Roman coin of Marius (268AD). You can see that the silver plating is starting to wear off, revealing the core is merely bronze. Inflation was soaring, and President Kennedy signed an executive order to remove silver from the coinage in 1963. Here, we see in Rome that inflation also soared once emperor Valerian I (253-260AD) was captured in battle by the Persians – the first emperor to have even been captured. That also set in motion a financial panic where bankers were uncertain if they should even accept Roman coins anymore.

Bruno-2

By the middle of the second century BC, Rome, Polybius of Megalopolis, had written his Historiae to explain how Rome conquered the known world. These thirty-nine books received their finality after 146BC. At first, Polybius was interested in Greek affairs. He was stunned by the rise of Rome and its rapid expansion into an empire. He attempted what he would call universal history rather than just looking at Rome as a local aberration or fluke. His Anacyclōsis offered basic paradigms of historical recurrence that were below the surface. Indeed, Polybius established that studying history provided sound political training (cf. Hist. I, I,2).

Polybius’s famous discussion of the mixed character of Rome’s republican constitution is found in Book 6, chap. 5. It was certainly Polybius who presupposed that past events reflected various paradigmatic movements and patterns that would reemerge in current and future affairs. It seems that the Dark Ages, which saw the death of knowledge and independent thought in Europe, also altered our understanding of the world and cycles. 

They burned Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) alive at the stake for merely agreeing with Calpurnicus in suggesting that the Earth rotated around the sun. The stupidity of the closed-minded at that time saw Haven must be above and Hell was below, so if the Earth was not fixed, then all religion was wrong. Thus, burn him alive as a heretic.

I greatly appreciate the offer. We will do something like that, for I do not have the time to write a plan for students.

Dec 11 2024

Unemployment will Rise During Trump Administration


Posted originally on Dec 10, 2024 by Martin Armstrong 

ECM Wave 2020 2028 Pi

The Jobs report illustrates the silent, disturbing reality that has been the truth behind the disastrous Biden-Harris administration’s economic agenda and misplaced priorities from Russia, Russia, Russia to climate change, and the Schwab Agenda from Davos. The reactions from the mainstream media and Washington elites continue the propaganda and skewing of the data to serve their agenda that has been bought and paid for.

The unemployment rate rose from 4.1% to 4.2%, the Labor Department said, but the dirt is in the details. The media spun this as Job gains for September and October were revised up by a total 56,000. September’s tally was upgraded from 223,000 to 255,000, and October’s from 12,000 to 36,000. These changes painted a brighter picture of the job market in late summer and early fall than previously believed.

However, when we dig deeper, over the past year, full-time jobs are actually down by 1.27 million, unemployment is up, and people are being forced to take on multiple jobs to make ends meet that the press does not want to talk about. President Trump is sleep-walking into a recession that he will be blamed for, yet has been inherited from the Biden-Harris administration’s surrender to the NEOCONs, who are more interested in sending g money to Ukraine than looking at the future of our economy. The sanctions on Russia should be removed, and energy prices will fall. But the NEOCONs are desperately seeking to destroy Russia, and this coup in Syria has been their goal for decades to create a pipeline from Qatar through Syria to get gas to Europe and then to cut off Russian income to destroy its economy. With every breath these people take, it is always about the conquest of Russia and to hell with the United States economy and its people.

Lydia Debasement

Coinage began in Lydia, which is located in modern-day Turkey. They waged war against Persia and lost. The economic consequences of war were established back then. Their coinage was debased as the cost of war raged on. War benefits nobody. Our NEOCONs do not care about our future. The legislation I would propose is that anyone pro-war should take up a gun and go to the vanguard position and stop sending other people’s children to die for their dreams and hatred.

US Unemployment Y 12 10 24
US Unemployment Y Arrary 12 10 24

Unemployment has begun to rise during the Biden Administration, and we have a Directional Change in 2026, which is an important near-term turning point. Look forward, and here too we see 2032 as a panic cycle with Directional Changes. It is the 2029/2030 period that looks to be dominated by turmoil. Unfortunately, we must extract ourselves from the NEOCON thirst for imperialism and focus back on what government is supposed to be about – the maintenance of domestic conditions.

Unemployment Y 8 2 24

It is the prospect of Europe in the hands of the NEOCONs, desperate to create World War III to invoke Article 5 to compel Trump to send troops to invade Russia, that remains the greatest threat to our future. These people will destroy Western Civilization in the process, and that is what 2032 is all about—the destruction of republican forms of government.

Dec 11 2024

Christmas Treats, Appetizers, and Party Food


Posted originally on the CTH on December 10, 2024 | Menagerie 

^^^Nope, not my table, but isn’t it beautiful?

How about a thread for party food and treats? Lots of people are entertaining in these last days running up to Christmas. Sometimes in our family we just have a night or two where we serve appetizers or favorite party treats, even if it is just a few of us here. Most of this is copied from last year. I took a look at it, expecting to juggle it around a bit, but I’d forgotten how much time I put into this one last year, with some really special (to me) recipes and ideas. I love all of these, as does my family, and I hope you will as well.

I shared this recipe last year for venison meatballs.

Of course you can use beef, but it isn’t nearly as good. I never have recipes, except for breads or cakes, so just have fun with this.

Saute an onion and several large cloves of garlic, finely chopped, in olive oil or butter until onions begin to be translucent. Add a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and seasonings you like to taste. I use three onion seasoning by Epicure.

Mix a pound and a half of ground venison with a half pound ground pork, an egg, bread crumbs or almond meal, and the onion mixture. Shape into small balls and bake at 375 until brown, which should take around 25 minutes, but check on them to be sure. Every oven is different. Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

Here’s the link to a recipe for mini corn muffins with a cheddar filling. Being a Southern gal, I absolutely refuse to put sugar in my cornbread, so I’ll be leaving that ingredient out, but that’s an argument for another day. These would go very well with the meatballs.

Here’s a recipe shared with me by Treeper maryfrommarin. It’s from the cookbook Keeping the Feast, which is organized around the church’s liturgical feasts. It’s a collection of recipes from the women of St. Thomas Church, Episcopal, Abingdon, Virginia. I chose this recipe because when I was growing up, no southern hostess ever had a party or luncheon without these.

Miss Annie White’s Cheese Biscuits

1/2 pound cheese

1/2 pound butter

1/2 pound flour (about two cups)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper

1 egg white

75 whole pecans

Grind cheese. Cream cheese and butter. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Work well. Roll thin and cut with a small biscuit cutter. Brush with egg white and place one whole pecan on top of each biscuit. Bake on cookie sheet at 425 until light brown, about 7 minutes.

Yield: approximately 75.

On to sweeter things.

I am sharing some lengthier (and fancier) recipes below. I have copies of the pages from some old cookbooks, so I no longer even know where they came from, and I can’t credit the original authors. I tried to google these two recipes, and come up with similar things, but they just don’t look as good, or I’d just link them.

First, have you ever heard of a Croquembouche Christmas tree? I hadn’t either, and while this looks so elegant and beautiful, if you read the directions, it seems quite doable. It’s made from individual cream puffs around a white foam core, put together with melted white chocolate. I have kept this recipe for years, but I haven’t made it yet. Too good to get rid of though!

Since I’m typing this out, with the help of pictures provided by my favorite Pud, Ad rem, I am not including the recipe for pastry cream and making the cream puffs, you can google those. If I make it, I plan to just buy cream puffs, and start from there. I seriously doubt my guys would know, or care.

Ingredients and supplies:

white foam cone, white parchment paper or clear plastic wrap, six large white chocolate bars, shortening, white and silver edible glitter, cream puffs, serving tray.

Wrap the cone with white parchment paper and secure with straight pins, or wrap with clear plastic wrap. Place on large serving platter. Melt 6 cups white chocolate bars and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon shortening in saucepan over low heat.

Beginning at the base of the cone, dip puffs into melted chocolate and position them side by side, forming a ring. Continue layers, stacking each successive ring up the tree. You may need to reheat the chocolate.

Drizzle remaining chocolate over the tree and add edible silver and white glitter. Chill up to two hours before serving.

Next, we have a pine cone Christmas cake. This one is really cool, and delicious. I have made it, and if you’d  like a very special dessert that just makes your table, this one is it! Practice on those pinecone petals! There’s a technique to learn.

This one is by Rose Levy Berenbaum. There are some videos out there, I didn’t have time to go through them. The only one I watched didn’t have the recipe on it, it was part of an old news clip. You may find one though.

Ingredients:

18 oz unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

10 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup unbleached flour

1/4 cup brandy

Frosting: use your favorite dark chocolate frosting here. I’m too lazy to type the steps on this one, but the recipe has chopped nuts soaked in orange liqueur or cognac folded in, if you’d like to add that.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler. Separate the eggs into large bowls. Beat yolks lightly, gradually add sugar. Beat until fluffy, then stir into chocolate mixture, mixing well, and a beat in brandy and flour.

Clean beaters and mix egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in about 1/4 of them to the cake mix. Then gradually add the rest, gently folding in. Do not over stir it and deflate the egg whites.

Grease two 9×13 cake pans, line with parchment, and grease and flour parchment. Pour batter evenly into pans and smooth with spatula. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cake puffs up and springs back when gently pressed. Let cake cool a few minutes on racks before unmolding, peeling off paper, and cooling on racks.

Use butcher’s paper to make two identical pinecone oval shapes, and cut out the cakes. Crumble the cake scraps and add them and nuts if desired to the frosting. Spread a generous third of the frosting on one cake layer, top with the second, then frost the sides and top with remaining frosting.

To make pinecone petals:

Tape a sheet of parchment paper to counter. Set out a small metal spatula or table knife. Chop 8 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate coarsely and melt in double boiler to temp of 120 on candy thermometer. Stir vigorously to cool the chocolate slightly and keep over hot water as you work. I did the melting in two batches to keep it from setting.

Dab the spatula into chocolate and press down slightly on parchment, pressing down and drawing the spatula toward you into a petal shape, thinner on one end, about 1” x 3/4”. They won’t all be exactly the same size and shape, and that’s okay. Keep making petals until you’ve used all the chocolate. You need lots, and it takes awhile to make them all.

To place the petals, start at the base, using tweezers to keep from melting the chocolate. Stagger the rows like shingles on a house. If you like, place pine nuts under some of the petals.

The only problem with this cake is that it will break your heart when you have to cut it!

On the Thanksgiving recipe post last year I had numerous requests for a favorite cookie recipe in our family. As I said, I got this from my Aunt Gay, but it was not her original recipe. They are called chocolate buttersweets, and I used to find the recipe, which we modified, on Pillsbury’s site, but they’ve removed the link. Here’s the original recipe.

We always use pecans, and I do not add the coconut. I’ve had dozens of people, and that’s not an exaggeration, tell me over the years that they don’t like cream cheese, or pecans, or whatever. No one has ever been able to stop eating these, even when they say they don’t like those ingredients.

And here’s a tip for the time and cooking challenged. These are still really good if you use Pillsbury sugar cookies, make the filling, and top with chocolate almond bark. I put a lot more filling on the cookie than shown. I add unsweetened chocolate into the almond bark. The darker, the better on the chocolate topping. And I don’t just drizzle on chocolate, I cover the cookie. Not pretty, but wow, so good.

The recipe says to fill the cookies while warm, but actually I chill the filling and use a cookie scoop to top cold cookies. Often I make the cookies days ahead, then when I am ready, I put them out on a double layer of waxed paper, fill, and then top.

I usually make hundreds of these a year, so it gets to be an assembly line for me, and usually I wrangle family help. Make twice, nope, three or four times what you think you want. And like I said at Thanksgiving, don’t trust family to deliver someone else’s cookie box. Not ever gonna happen, not with these cookies.

Also, I promised Aunt Gay’s Chex Mix. She called it nuts and bolts. This is a buttery mix, so if you like your mix drier, reduce the butter and spices proportionately. The big challenge for me on this is getting the spice to stay mixed with the butter. I’ve tried everything. Any tips?

Mix together 4 sticks melted butter (I changed from margarine), 1 tablespoon each onion salt, celery salt, and garlic salt, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. Pour the above mixture over:

1/2 box Wheat Chex, 1/2 box Corn Chex, 1/2 box Rice Chex, 1/3 box Cheerios, 1/2 bag of pretzel sticks, 3-4 cups of nuts. I use pecan halves and cashews. You have to keep stirring the butter mixture as you are pouring. I use a big throwaway roasting pan for this. It’s a great gift!

Bake 2 hours at 250*, stirring every 15 minutes. Nowadays I smoke mine at 250.

This is my own wassail recipe. It makes a small crockpot full, and the non wassail fans inhaled it, and fought over the last drops! I plan to double it for Christmas. Which means I’ll double the spices too.

Clear American Pineapple Orange Sparkling Juice, 17 Fl Oz Bottle
Single serving bottle of apple juice
Quart of cranberry juice (unsweetened)
Agave nectar to taste
Cranberries (whole, added about a cup)
Two cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon allspice berries
3 star anise

Combine in crockpot and heat on low 3-4 hours. I also plan to add pineapple or orange slices at Christmas. You can use the sweetener of your choice, of course. This was festive and delicious. I also like to add cognac.

I hope you find joy in your preparations and celebrations. Pause and remember the real reasons we have such a joy filled season of anticipation.