The Incredible Expanding White Jello, and other tales of Christmas

It seems like no matter how much I plan, some things don't get done until the last minute.

There were still a few Christmas presents to buy even after the 4th Sunday of Advent: one for my neice and one of my stepsons, a couple of stocking stuffers. I even had one last-minute gift for Dear Husband I had to run out and buy on Monday evening while he was gone. There were a few Household Items that we still needed to buy at the Big Store with the Red Circles on Monday. And of course there were culinary items to purchase for the Big Christmas Day Dinner.

I was not responsible for all parts of the Big Christmas Day Dinner. This was a team effort. My mom and mother-in-law would be bringing turkey, stuffing, ham, treats, treats, treats. My offerings? The traditional Lutheran green bean casserole, corn (for those who won't eat the traditional Lutheran green bean casserole), two store-bought pies, and White Jello, my sister-in-law's esteemed recipe. Which I couldn't find. I called her on Tuesday after searching the house. She emailed it to me Tuesday evening.

My husband offered to go to the store so that I could get other things done on Tuesday evening. I made a list.

I left one thing off.

So very early on Christmas eve morning, I was at the store, buying more cream cheese for the white jello. (White jello ingredients: Cream Cheese, Knox Gelatin, sugar, milk, Cool Whip, vanilla).

I still wasn't done with the Christmas eve sermon, not quite. So instead of making the White Jello, the favorite of my husband's boys, I finished the sermons. My plan was to make the jello between the early and the late services on Christmas eve.

But I didn't. I forgot the recipe at church. (Why did I take the recipe to church?)

So, after our incredible late Christmas eve service, I brought out the electric mixer and all of the ingredients and set out to make the estimable white jello. I wanted a lot, because everyone likes it.

So I doubled the recipe.

I forgot that the recipe my sister-in-law sent me was already doubled. I had halved it for mother's day.

Needless to say, at 12:30 a.m., I was overflowing with white jello, all the way to the top of the mixing bowl. It was hard to get all of it adequately beaten, and also hard to find enough jello molds for it. I was also worried that the consistency didn't seem quite right.

I am happy to say that the white jello tasted just fine. However, we still have a lot left.

We also have lefse, cheesecake, two kinds of pie, and lots of cookies. Really. I'm still not sure where ALL of the cookies came from.

Want some?

I would be happy to share the white jello recipe. Just remember to cut it in half.