Christmas Eve 2008

This was our first Christmas without my brother-in-law. I have to admit that I was a little worried about how everyone would handle it. Turns out, I had no need to worry. Everyone did great and while we did miss Mike, we were able to celebrate and miss him in a healthy way. Mike was a very unique person. He had a huge heart and loved people. He knew everybody and I never heard anyone say a bad word about him. He was very charismatic and took everything in stride. He could eat more than anyone I know and never gain an ounce. He loved to play cards or board games. Probably something that everyone knew about him was that he loved the Vols.

We thought about him a lot this Christmas Eve. We celebrated much the same way that we did when he was with us. Here are some of my favorite photos from Christmas Eve:

Caroline and my niece Hannah. They took this one themselves.

Caroline, just before she started to hand out gifts.

My nephew Caleb and his girlfriend Chrystal

Logan trying her best to avoid the camera

Bobo, Mike's dog (my in-laws inherited this dog after Mike's death)

Playing Partini

 

Tree Time 2008

Well, we finally got our tree up and decorated last night. We weren't able to get the tree right after Thanksgiving like we normally do because of the stomach bug I had. The girls were finally relieved when I was well enough to go out with them and pick it out. My niece, Hannah, and my in-laws came over to help the girls last night and they did a pretty good job. I didn't even reposition any of their work! In fact, I sat on the couch and drank hot chocolate while they did all the work. My MIL was doing a great job telling them what they needed to fix so I let her do the dirty work!

The tree never seems to look as pretty with the lights on but they did a great job. We tried to do mostly orange and white ornaments this year but Logan couldn't resist putting her favorite ornament in the front so everyone would be sure to see it. Can you guess which one it is? Look for the blue ornament in the front....it's a TN Titans ornament. Her favorite!

The girls had a great time together and enjoyed spending time with their favorite cousin.

After my niece and in-laws left and my girls were in bed, I couldn't help but take a picture of the tree all lit up. It looked so pretty.

In the coming days, I hope to try and share some of our special ornaments. Do you have special ornaments? I'd love to see them! From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Holiday Beverages

A few years ago, we went to Lancaster, PA on vacation. We had always wanted to travel to Amish country and I had read enough Beverly Lewis novels that I felt like I was already familiar with Lancaster and the surrounding area. We spent about four days up there and surprisingly enough, the Amish culture was not what we expected. We had allotted most of our time to learning more about the Amish and only saved one day for the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. After returning home, we talked about how we wished we had reversed our plans and spent more time at the Renaissance Faire than in the Amish towns.

The Renaissance Faire was a blast. More people than not were dressed in period clothing (performers and customers). There were things going on all over the fairgrounds and by the end of the day, we still hadn't seen everything. The girls were able to hold baby dragons. We watched a few jousting matches and several plays. The coolest thing, by far, was the human chess match. Queen Elizabeth and her court walked around the fairgrounds and were in character the entire time. There wasn't a moment that anyone was out of character. It was very neat.

At the end of the evening, we watched the closing ceremony and then were ushered to a winery on the grounds. There we were treated to a free wine tasting. This winery put out so many yummy wines that you really did need to take part in the tasting in order to figure out what you wanted to buy to take home. If they had a wine of the month club, we would have joined for certain! In the end, we ended up bringing home six yummy bottles of wine. I think my favorite was a blueberry wine but there was also one called Quilter's Delight that was quite nice. All of the bottles we brought home were holiday flavors. We enjoyed them at Thanksgiving and at Christmas with our family and friends.

So this year, as I prepare for Thanksgiving, I'm wishing I had some wonderful tasting wines. I'd like to have a special one for Thanksgiving and another special one for Christmas this year. As usual, I am seeking your suggestions. What do you serve, as a special drink, with your holiday meals?

TN Tax Holiday

I'm not sure how many readers here are from TN but if you are, remember this weekend is the TN tax holiday. It started yesterday and goes through tomorrow. This is a great opportunity to stock up on school supplies, clothes, and computers without paying any tax. We took advantage of it yesterday and purchased some things we really needed. If you aren't sure what things are covered under this holiday, visit the state of TN web site and you will find a list of the items it covers. I was surprised that you could buy clothes for anyone, not just students. This is very nice. I was also able to purchase some envelopes and things that we needed and they were covered. I really need some postage tape but I'm not sure if those types of things are covered. Wouldn't it be nice though? And food.....wouldn't it be nice if food were covered? It isn't and that's a shame. Students have to eat too you know! LOL! I am not going to complain too much. I'm happy that we have three full days to take advantage of this and I hope the Tennesseans among you will get out and take advantage of it too!

Christmas 2007

I haven't taken time to write about our Christmas holiday because we have had a lot going on. Just like I've heard many of you say, the past two months have gone by so quickly that I barely remembered to breathe. We have had such a wonderful time and I'm a little sad that the holidays have passed. I love being around my extended family because they are just loads of fun.

We enjoyed a wonderful worship service with our church family bout 6:00p.m. Afterwards, as per tradition, we spent Christmas Eve night with Jeff's family. His mom always cooks a huge meal and this year was no exception. We enjoyed spiral sliced ham, cubed steak in gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, biscuits, her world famous mac 'n' cheese, and a bunch of other goodies that made me gain five pounds! We enjoyed eating, looking at her pretty decorations, opening gifts together, and playing Scattergories. We were having so much fun that when we looked at the clock, it was 2:30a.m!

The girls had fun posing for pictures

They were even able to get a quick shot of me and Jeff

Christmas morning we all slept in. Once everyone was awake, we enjoyed opening gifts together. Caroline was thrilled to get a Liberty doll from Vision Forum and Logan was equally thrilled to receive several books, including Jane Austen's complete works and the Love Comes Softly series. Hubby got an awesome orange UT dress shirt that the girls picked out. He surprised me with a set of videos from Franklin Springs Family Media. If you have never heard of Franklin Springs, please check them out. They are a small company making wonderful, meaningful videos.

In the evening, as per tradition, we drove a little more than an hour to spend time with my family. We arrived around 5:00 to find aunts, uncles, cousins, my mom, and grandmother all waiting for us. We enjoyed another big supper and then spent lots of time chatting. We opened gifts and then spent an hour or so singing Christmas songs. Jeff was kind enough to play guitar for us and we were amazed at how many songs we forgot the lyrics to! It was great fun and I think it'll remain part of our yearly tradition. My grandmother seemed to really enjoy herself and I am so thankful that we were able to spend another Christmas with her.

Me & My Grandmother

My mom, oldest daughter (I'm not sure why she has such a look on her face), and grandmother

This Christmas was such a wonderful time. We made so many special memories and I'm already looking forward to next year! I have decided that I want to exchange homemade gifts with everyone next year so I've got to get to work.

 

I ~Heart~The Holidays

One box of Jiffy baking mix: $1.68

One roll of mild sausage: $1.50

One bag of shredded cheddar cheese: $1.98

Making a batch of sausage balls to cook on New Year's Eve but forgetting to actually do so, which results in your eating them for breakfast and lunches for the next three or four days: PRICELESS! (And incredibly yummy)

And did I mention that DJ gave me a recipe for puppy chow, I made it, and the bag is completely gone? The girls, myself, and my BIL managed to eat a gallon size bag of it over a three day period. Can you say holiday weight gain?

Ahhhhhh, I love the holidays!

 

Peppermint Crunchies

Every year, the ladies in my church gather for a cookie exchange. Each of us bring five dozen cookies to exchange. It's a beautiful sight to behold, to see all of those cookies spread out along the dining table of the host. The exchange is always such a wonderful time of fellowship. All ladies, five years of age and older, are invited to come to the exchange. When we arrive, each of us take our cookies and put them on display. Then we gather to talk, sing Christmas carols and hymns, and eat some of the cookies.The younger girls usually form a circle in the middle of the floor and sing along with us. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to watch our daughters celebrating with us through singing. A few minutes before it's time to go home, the host tells us to gather our cookies. We form a line around the cookie table and start to collect the cookies we'd like to take home. I think last year we each brought home almost 60 cookies.

The exchange is coming up on Monday night so today I'll be making the cookies I will take. Last year I made Peppermint Crunchies and they were the only cookies of this kind. A few of the ladies have asked me if I will be making those same cookies this year and expressed how much they loved them, so I will be taking them again this year! I would love to take credit for the recipe but the way I found it was by looking confused in the baking aisle! Last year, I was in Walmart looking through the baking chips, trying to figure out what kind of cookies I wanted to make. There was a nice lady standing near me doing the same thing. We struck up a conversation and I told her that I had to make five dozen cookies and I was trying to determine what kind of baking chips I wanted to use in my cookies. She immediately picked up some Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips and showed me the recipe on the back. I'd never noticed these chips before and I listened as she told me how she made these cookies to take to a work party. She went on about how her co-workers raved about them.She said she was asked to make them for almost any work party they had. Right away I knew that making these cookies had to be a great idea so I picked up several packs of chips and off I went. I made them last year, took them, and they were wonderful. Alas, here is the recipe:

Peppermint Crunch Chunkies

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup sweetened grated coconut
• 1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 cups Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in egg and vanilla extract. On low speed, add baking soda, salt, and then flour. Mix completely. Stir in oats, coconut, pecans, and baking chips. Measure about 2 Tbs. for large or 1 Tbs. for small cookies. Place round balls on lightly greased cookie sheet two inches apart. Press lightly. Sprinkle some of the remaining chips on top of each cookie. Bake for 20 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 minutes for small cookies. Do not over bake. They get crunchy on the outside but remain soft inside. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

Yield approximately: 30-3" or 60-1 1/2" cookies.

 

Our Tree Decor

I've been meaning to post pictures of our tree for at least a week. It seems that December is a month filled with parties, family outings, and lots of great holiday shows! Those things have been keeping us busy. I wanted to take a minute and share some of our holiday traditions with you. We love getting our tree each year. We usually get it the day after Thanksgiving and spend the weekend getting it decorated. We've had a real tree for as long as I can remember. We love them. They smell wonderful and there is something so special about spending time with your family as you pick out the perfect tree. We usually peruse all the trees on the lot before deciding on one. We used to go to a tree farm about an hour away and get our tree. However, the tree farm hasn't had any trees for the past few years (they've been waiting for new ones to grow) so we found a nice little lot near home that we've been going to for the past few years. Again this year, we found the perfect tree for our living room.

We tried to just do orange and white ornaments this year, in honor of our beloved Tennessee Vols. We found some nice orange ball ornaments but could only find one pack. That pack only had six ornaments and we knew that wouldn't be enough. We did manage to spread them out though and added some of our older ornaments that had orange in them. It worked out fine and I love this tree more than any we've had in awhile. It's very simple this year. We used clear lights, which is a break from our normal colored lights. We usually try and find a couple of special ornaments each year. These ornaments mean something to our family so we look carefully. This year, we chose two special ones that fit us perfectly. The first one is one that JennaG will appreciate:

My daughters and I love Elvis. I learned to love him as a child since my stepfather was a HUGE fan. He listened to Elvis tapes over and over and I heard them so much that I learned almost every Elvis song. I had to be a fan! We picked up this Elvis at Cracker Barrel in Beckley, WV this year. We visited my mom there for Thanksgiving and we happened to see this ornament as we were leaving.

The second ornament is just as special to us. If you read here very often, you know that we love animals and we have our fair share of pets, especially cats. We have a very unique story as to how all the cats came to live here and I've written about it many times. We get strange stray cats with little or no tail. Currently out of five cats, only two have regular tails. The others have no tail, half a tail and 3/4 of a tail. I've always heard that cats are great for stress relief. I can attest to that since these kitties do wonders for me. I love them all and couldn't imagine them not being around. So, in honor of Mr. Tumnus, Lucy, Tabbie, Jasper, and Molly, I give you our favorite ornament for this year:

We found it at Hobby Lobby in Beckley, WV this year.

 

I thought I'd throw in a few from the past couple of years. All of the ornaments pictured here are hanging on our tree this year. They all mesh well with our orange and white theme except for one. I'm sure you'll figure out which one from the pictures below.

A ballerina that is special to our youngest daughter, who used to be a ballerina herself.

A Titans ornament that is special to our oldest daughter,a HUGE Titans fan.

A UT ornament given to us by my BIL a couple of years ago.

Clan Forrester ornament. If you look closely, you'll notice a piece of our hunting tartan draped over the shoulder of the bear.

The orange balls we found in Beckley. Too bad we only found 6!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my tree. This year was all about being simple and I think we accomplished that. We have fewer ornaments on our tree than ever and I'm glad. Each one that hangs on the tree this year has very special meaning to our family and we plan to continue adding to that each year.

Company Christmas Party

When I do laundry, I rarely ever check pockets. I don't like to take time to do it. I know it's a simple task that I need to master but I just hate to take the time to do it. I assume that everyone will check their pockets before throwing things into the dirty clothes. I need to stop assuming that because even I have forgotten and left a piece of paper or money in a pocket on occasion.

Monday, I was to meet hubby so that we could go to his company Christmas party. I was finishing up some last minute things and decided to get my clothes out and iron them. I had spent this morning doing all of our laundry and my new sweater was air drying across a chair in the house. I scooped it up and tossed it into the dryer for a quick fluff. When I got it out, I decided I'd hang it up to let the rest of the wrinkles fall out. I pulled a silver paper out of the dryer and tossed it into the trash. I never paid any attention to what it was....until I noticed something blue stuck to the sleeve of my NEW sweater. I gasped out loud as I figured out it was gum that was stuck to the sweater (did I mention it was new?). I tried to pull it off but it was too gooey. In a panic, I tried to think of an alternate plan for clothing this evening. Then I remembered reading somewhere, that you could put an ice cube on the gum and it would flake off easier. I yelled at our oldest daughter to bring me a cube of ice and I waited patiently as I held it on top of the gum on my sweater. I breathed a sigh of relief when I started picking at the gum and it did come off easier. Whew!

The Christmas party was held at the General Morgan Inn. This place is beautiful. We had a wonderful variety of gourmet food to munch on and there was a huge crowd. After supper, there was some entertainment (a comedian) and then we played Bingo. I have to tell you that my hubby is a winner almost every time he plays. This year was no exception. He won $150! Two years ago at the company Christmas party, he won $300. It was a nice time and I won a pink poinsettia. The kids stayed all night with my MIL so the house was very quiet. I got some much needed rest before picking them up! It was a nice little break since December tends to be a busy month. Have you been to any Christmas parties yet?

Digital Frames Are Cool

Several years ago, we started using a digital camera and storing all the photos on our computer. I love being able to store so many pictures this way but it's hard for me to adjust to not having my film developed and the pictures in my hand. I forget about having certain photos and then I have to search through folders to find the one I want. The other day, I was in a store and happened to see a digital photo frame. They are fabulous! What a wonderful gift this would make.

Since there are many digital frames on the market, I would have to do some research to figure out which one would work best for gift giving. I am thrilled to see that they come in different sizes. The smallest digital picture frame I saw had a seven inch screen while the largest had a fifteen inch screen. That's as big as my laptop screen! I love that most of these frames come with a remote control and they display as a slide show. You could display all sorts of neat photos. During the holidays, you could display various holiday photos. If someone has a birthday, display birthday photos from years past. Very neat! Maybe I need to drop a hint that this would be the perfect gift for our home!

Thanksgiving Funnies

I found this laying around at my mom's house and got a good laugh out of it. I hope you enjoy it and I hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful!

How To Bake A Turkey

Step 1: Go buy a turkey and a bottle of whiskey or scotch

Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey

Step 3: Put the turkey in the oven

Step 4: Take another two drinks of whiskey

Step 5: Set the degree at 375 ovens

Step 6: Take three more whiskeys of drink

Step 7: Turn oven the on

Step 8: Take four whisks of drinky

Step 9: Turk the bastey

Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get

Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer

Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey

Step 13: Bake the whiskey for four hours

Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey

Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey (LOL! Yes, it's supposed to be listed twice)

Step 16: Floor the turkey up off the pick

Step 17: Turk the carvey

Step 18: Get yourself another scottle of botch

Step 19: Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey

Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

Shooting the Thanksgiving Turkey

Last year, I had my chance to do the traditional thing of shooting my own turkey for Thanksgiving.....you should have seen the people scatter in the meat department.

The Unveiling of Santa

As a child, my husband was a firm believer in Santa. Imagine the shock he suffered when, at the early age of 8, he discovered his parents had lied to him. When he found out that there wasn't a hefty old man climbing down the chimney delivering toys, he was crushed. He shared this story with our children and he vowed never to lie to them about things like this. Before he discovered the truth, he had fun writing and receiving Letters From Santa , leaving cookies out, and getting up early on Christmas morning. We don't celebrate Christmas like we used to but we enjoy it all the same. Now, we enjoy each other, good food, our extended family, and all of the wonderful blessings God has bestowed upon us. It's a different way of celebrating but the celebration is so much more sweet; knowing that we have a merciful God providing for our every need and watching over us with every step we take.

Sounds of the Season

We are going out the door and heading to West Virginia to spend the next few days with my mom. She and I will be in the kitchen early in the morning preparing the 22 pound turkey I bought. I can hardly wait! I had to run a few last minute errands before heading out and I found several stations on XM radio that were already playing Christmas music. Bonus! Thank goodness my hubby talked me into XM. It's wonderful!

As I was driving around, I was flipping between the three stations playing the music. That's when I was faced with the ultimate dilemma. Bing Crosby was on one station, Tony Bennett on another, and yes, Dean Martin on the third station. I wanted to listen to all three simultaneously. What?!!! I have to choose one. "How is it possible", I thought to myself. I settled on Dean Martin since I knew I'd be playing lots of Bing and Tony over the next month. It was a tough choice though. If that wasn't enough pressure, as I pulled into our driveway, the Carpenters were coming on. Now come on!!! Y'all know that no woman sings Christmas like Karen Carpenter! Of course I did what any sane person would do. I sat in the car in our driveway until the song was over! LOL!

So I have to wonder, who do you listen to when it comes to holiday music? The artists I mentioned are not the only ones we listen to. We have A LOT of holiday music. Of course hubby has to have Mannheim Steamroller, we have Alabama, several bluegrass artists, and one of the kids favorites, The California Raisins! What fun that cd is. Hubby usually has a rule that we can't listen to any holiday music until Thanksgiving Day so I can't wait until tomorrow to pop in the Raisins while we eat!

I hope your Thanksgiving is absolutely wonderful! I also hope you listen to lots and lots of holiday music.

Almost Tree Time

We normally get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We spend the rest of the weekend decorating it and our home. The kids really get into it and love to help me put the Christmas lights on the tree. This usually takes a long time because we have to sort the lights, change the bad bulbs, and then string them on the tree. I get really tired of having to replace bulbs each year. This year, I think we are going to invest in LED Christmas lights.

I was amazed to find out that LED lights use 90% less energy than regular bulbs. Wow! We usually keep our lights up from Thanksgiving to the first week of January. Imagine how much energy I'll be saving in these few months just by switching to these type of lights. Another thing that amazes me is the bulb life. Normal lights have a bulb life of 1500 hours. LED lights last for 50,000 hours! These lights also remain cool which makes them much safer than incandescent lights. LED lights are more expensive but if you compare the price over time it balances out.

I'm very excited and can't wait to drag out all of our Christmas decor. I'm looking forward to putting out all my little snowmen and putting lights all over the outside of the house. If I'm not decorating, you'll find me cooking. How about you? Do you like to decorate your home for the holidays? Do you use LED lights and if so, what do you think of them?

Holiday Cards

It is hard to believe that the holidays are so close. Next week is Thanksgiving and we will be traveling to West Virginia to spend it with my mom. Mom is a decorating nut when it comes to holidays. Another thing she always does super early is send out Holiday Cards . I think I'll suggest that she and I sit down and do our Christmas cards after we've eaten Thanksgiving supper. I know she'll love this idea and it will be awesome to get my cards done early.

I love sending out cards. I try to find unique ones to send out at Christmas. While I was visiting Vista Print today, I found so many wonderful choices. They have folded cards, postcards, foiled cards, and my favorite, caricature cards! You can customize your cards by uploading your personal photos or you can choose one of the many designs already available. You can also customize the text and it is so easy to do! I usually just go to Walmart and get photo cards done but they are so limited in their selection. I'm very excited to have found Vista Print and I can't wait to get started on my cards! Another great thing is that you can order online and receive your order in as little as three days! This will give me just enough time to get my order in and receive it so that I can go to my mom's fully prepared for an evening of fun!

Suddenly Seeking Ideas

As I look ahead to Thanksgiving, I am already planning our meal in my head. I'm not sure yet where we'll spend the day but I do know that there will be lots of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, and anything else I can dream up.

I want to dress my table up with some different things this year. I'm trying to think of natural elements I can use. I'm thinking I can do some sort of centerpiece with fake leaves and acorns from our backyard. I want to get a new tablecloth and some cute salt shakers . Maybe I'll add a berry garland around the turkey plate. I love cranberries and would love to think of some ways to use them on the table.

I would also like to play some games. We have tons of board games so maybe we'll use one of those. For Jeff's family, Thanksgiving has become like any other "regular" day. My BIL always hosted Thanksgiving dinner at his house, until a few years ago, when his wife decided she needed a new man and was tired of raising her children. Since then, it's been hard to replace that festive time. We need a new tradition, a change. I want the day to feel special to everyone.

So I'm asking you to share your ideas with me. What do you do to make Thanksgiving dinner special? Do you have special decorations you use? Special foods you cook? Special games you play?