I’d like to give special thanks tonight to my neighbors, who put up their Christmas tree the day after Halloween. This has been cause for being repeatedly peppered with the “When are we going to put our tree up?” screech question every time we come home in the dark.

Uncle! Uncle! I’m crying uncle! OK! Let’s put the tree up already!

This is the earliest I’ve EVER put up a Christmas tree. I know a lot of people put them up the day after Thanksgiving, I’ve just never been one of those people. I’m afraid I’ll turn into the Incredible Hulk and start ripping down lights and tinsel around December 23rd if I put decorations up too early.

But as luck would have it, we’ll most likely be moving into our new house the day after Christmas – which means our Christmas decorations will be coming down Christmas evening instead of New Years Day. Yes, you read that right. The day after Christmas, as in – December 26th. Merry Moving Day to us!

So, in short, we spent the afternoon getting the house decorated and pretending to be kitties knocking ornaments off the tree.

I mistakenly told them a story about the cats and that when they were kittens, they would bat at ornaments on the tree and chase them all over the house like maniac cats. Now I’ve got maniac kids pretending to be maniac cats who play baseball with our ornaments. Me and my big mouth.

Once I got the cats kids in their cages out of my hair, I got dinner started. It all began with a big ol’ spaghetti squash and a post from Zesty Cook that got me thinking about different ways to use Sun Dried Tomatoes.

Cut in half length wise and de-seeded.

Baked face down at 375 for about 40 minutes.

While my squash was baking, I got started on a sun-dried tomato sauce.

Sun Dried Tomato Marinara Sauce

3/4 c sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil – separated
1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts – separated
1/3 cup pistachios

Place about a 1/2 cup of the sundried tomatoes into the food processor and puree until fairly smooth.

Add half the can of artichoke hearts and pulse until chunky.

Chop the remaining artichokes by hand.

Combine processed tomatoes and artichokes with chopped artichokes in a separate bowl and set aside.

Remove pistachios from their shells until you have about 1/3 of a cup.

Add to food processor and pulse until you have your desired consistency. I left mine fairly chunky. Add chopped pistachios to tomato and artichoke mix and stir until well combined. Add remaining 1/4 cup of whole sundried tomatoes and set aside.

When your squash is ready, scrape out with a large spoon to get your “spaghetti”.

The sauce will be at room temperature but will warm up quickly as you add and stir in hot spaghetti squash.

Time to eat!

Dinner for two – Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Spaghetti Squash with a side spinach salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.

I have to admit, I’m totally in the holiday groove after decorating today. Although I think I’ve been feeling at least slightly Christmas-y since my encounter with the wall of holiday teas back in October. Maybe my neighbor saw that tea wall back in October too and it hit them a little harder than it hit me? Must be.