It is not PURPLE, it is AUBERGINE!

Today being Christmas Day saw us up and busy as bees early in the morn.  Holidays of any sort are always big "food" days for us.  Invariably, a large meal needs to be prepared even if (as today) only a couple of us are here.  A massive turkey was baked and all the trimmings were cooked.  Three of us ate.  This seemed to be a bit of overkill in the food prep area but still, traditions are traditions and are not to be broken.  I do not mind in the least since now we can feast on leftovers for at least a few days.

The day also saw us unwrapping mountains of gifts that we got for each other.  It is sort of a set rule in the Little Bayou House that most gifts have to be something useful.  An occasional "just for fun" gift may be slipped in but I have a low tolerance for things that just sit being "unuseful".  My house is full of more than enough unuseful items already.  I do not need more!  So this year, Mark bought me the most wonderful array of crafting tools I have ever seen!  These made my heart skip a beat or two!  I must admit that the man knows what I like!  While most women yearn for jewelry or clothes, I dream of saws and drills! I can hardly wait to clear the house of Christmas decorations so I can start work on a dozen or so ideas that have been floating around in the brain for the past few weeks.

Then came a few more boxes. I had mentioned to Mark that I definitely needed a new set of cookware.  Years ago, he bought me a set of those "non-stick" things and to be honest, I have not liked them at all!  To my way of thinking, they are just too "light".  I have a tendency to like a good, heavy cast iron pot over some flimsy thing.  Well today, I got my cookware!  He purchased a really nice set of heavy stainless steel pots.  These are sturdy!  I was elated.  He handed me another box.  Whoa! This thing weighed a ton!  I unwrapped a great Paula Deen dutch oven!  It is enameled cast iron and is the brightest red.  Beautiful!  I can use this on the old woodburning stove.  Yet another box was handed to me.  This, too, was heavy!  Out came a smaller version of a dutch oven which was..umm...purple.  Purple?  Where in the world did he find a purple pot?  Yep, he had somewhere found a purple dutch oven.  I admit that at first I cringed a bit.  Purple!  I am not a purple person...red, yes!  Purple, no.  Not that I have anything against purple.  I like it in craft projects, in clothes and definitely flowering garden plants but cookware?  The thought of me cooking chicken in a purple pot tickled me and I suddenly started giggling.  Mark looked at me.  I guess he thought I had gone a bit loco.  I had some explaining to do.  I did, indeed, like the pot!  It was just PURPLE!  With that, he was in disbelief that he bought a purple pot and offered to exchange it.  NO!  In those few short minutes I had learned to love my purple pot and no one was taking it anywhere! If Mark cared to search stores high and low for some good sturdy pots I was fully going to appreciate his efforts!  And in all fairness, the pot did not look purple through that tiny cutout window in the box.  It looked more grey!  It had to be removed from all the cardboard before its full purpleness shone out like a beacon! And in all fairness, it is more aubergine than true purple.    Yep, I love this pot!  We need to hurry and eat all those leftovers so I can make a nice stew in my new purple pot!