Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Yes, it's 2 in the morning on Christmas, and I'm up watching Super Nanny, listening to clothes dry and Braeya purr. I had a pretty lazy Christmas Eve - until the end of it! I went to our church's candlelight service and then watched Elf with one of my friends. And now - it's Christmas!

This is a longer than normal post for me, but I wanted to give you a little (big) tour of Christmas at my house...enjoy!

This is part of a beautiful long poinsettia and greenery piece that I got for a steal a few years ago at a Homemaker's Idea party. I bought a Christmas package of random stuff, and this was one of my treasures. Since I don't have a mantle, it sits on the top of the entertainment center.

And if you sent me a Christmas card this year...it went right in this little holder. I love looking through them...and counting them to see if I'm winning against Dad.

The stockings can't be hung by the chimney with care, since there is no chimney, but Kaegan and Braeya do have stuffed stockings - despite their lack of mouse-catching.

This is the main tree. I bought it last year - very skinny, I know, but my living room is small, so it fits it nicely. It has 600 lights and all the Victorian looking ornaments on it. This year's addition were the little cranberry and gold colored berry sprays at the top by the angel.

Went to a friend's house earlier this month and made two of these ornaments - and now I want to make dozens more. The other one I made is more of a rose color. Gorgeous.

Another Homemaker's Idea purchase - these little gold flowers that snap over a light. I keep some up year round in a couple of rooms.

I have several little gold instrument ornaments on the main tree. Breaks up the monotony of all the round ornaments.

Love these rose ornaments. I figure if I ever get married, I'll have to exchange the pretty flower tree for a sports tree, so I enjoy it while I can. :)

A few years ago, my sister gave me a set of these old fashioned looking ornaments - and they fit right in with the theme.

They're not quite brown paper packages tied up with strings, but here is the paper that goes with my "Favorite Things" Christmas theme for this year.

My stocking. Yep, it's empty. This is my original stocking - made for me when I was a baby. Even though there's no one to fill it up, I like having it out for the memories.

I had to do some tree swapping this year. In years past, this tree has been decorated in an Americana theme, but this year it became the home to my S'more ornament collection. Several years ago, I found my first S'more and decided I loved it. One of my friends surprised me that Christmas by bringing me a tiny tree with the start of my collection. Over the years, other friends/family/yours truly have added to it until it is too much for the original tiny tree. So this year the S'more collection moved into the dining room on this slightly bigger tree.

I got this S'more from my friend Amber - and she lives in Hong Kong now. :( I miss her but think of her every time I see it!

And this one (appropriately) from my best friend - who now lives in Virginia Beach. I love it that almost every S'more has a story with it - such great memories attached!

The original S'more tree found new life in the office as the tree for the hodge-podge ornaments. This collection includes ornaments that survived my childhood and a few random additions from more recent years.

Two ceramic Santas - I painted the one on top, and Mom painted the one below. (As if you couldn't tell.) For several years, when I was in elementary school, Mom painted ceramics and would sometimes take me with her. I made several gifts in those years! In fact, this Santa that I painted was a gift for my grandparents. After their deaths, it was given back to me, and now I can enjoy remembering them when I see it!

Throughout high school and college, I babysat for a living. This ornament was a gift from one of the families I sat for regularly.

And of course - baby's first Christmas!

This had been the tree for the hodge-podge ornaments, and that's why it had the colored lights. (They remind me of the trees of my childhood.) This year it took on new life in the kitchen with some fake retro ornaments. This tree needs some work. Hopefully I can hit some after-Christmas sales to spice it right up.

See? Fake retro ornament. I got a whole box of them on an after-Christmas sale a couple of years ago and hadn't had a place to use them until now.

This is a new tree this year and it's pathetically Charlie Brownish. I need to add to it. This is the bathroom tree. I wanted it to be white and silver, because most of the decor in the bathroom is in the blue/purple/cool colors feel.

Also in the bathroom - this super cute candle ring I found for next to nothing at the Hobby Lobby earlier this year.

Love this snowman my friend Kari gave me for Christmas last year. He is in the bathroom too and just completes the look.

This is up in my bedroom and is one of my favorites. The nativity is another of Mom's ceramic creations, and the Bible was my grandparents' Bible.

I always keep it open to Luke 2 during the Christmas season.

The bedroom tree - which I have LOVED waking up to each morning. My bedroom, as you can see, is purple, so this has a blue/purple/gold theme. This year i added the purple sparklies at the top and they look so beautiful with the light reflecting...

Did I mention the purple sparklies???

Love the big gold ornaments. I found those for a super good price at a tent sale down at the Gaither store a few years back.

This is a candle holder that I fill with tiny ornaments

My other bathroom is very tiny - so this tree doesn't even have lights. It needs work too. Until this year it had red bows on it, but I wanted to go with a snow theme. I need more snow.

The guest room tree. Mom made this too - it used to be my great grandma's tree in her nursing home room. I like it because it works for a night light - and the decorations in the guest room are mostly things I inherited.

Some angels I've acquired over the years...

Another thing I inherited from Grandma - some little skating figurines...

An ornament I still have from fifth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Bryan, had an ornament for every student, and until Christmas break, they dangled from the ceiling tiles. On the last day of school, she took them down and gave them to us and I still display mine every year.

The quilt rack int he guest room - the "earthy" look. :)

Hope you have a merry Christmas!

Not a Creature was Stirring...

...except that STUPID mouse.

Yes, it is true. I have a mouse.

I live in the city. I have two cats. I should not have a mouse. And yet, it appears that I do. I've been hearing little scritchy-scratchy sounds in the living room ceiling for a little while now. Actually when I first heard it, it sounded like a ladybug circling the lampshade. Know that sound? But I thought it was awfully late in the season for a ladybug. So finally I conceded that a critter had found its way into my house. But I always heard it in the same spot - never anywhere else - so I rather hoped it would eventually freeze or starve and I'd be on my merry way.

Monday night I brought home a new bag of cat food for the two inhabitants who are now in BIG trouble. I keep the cat food under the sink, and whenever I bring home a new bag, I put it behind the current bag until I'm ready for it. So when I pulled the current bag out of the cabinet to shove the new bag behind it...

...behold...gifts. Not of gold, frankincense and myrrh...but of poop and shredded cat food bag.

DADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

He said to me, "Sometimes you have to grow up and take responsibility." I said, "I did. I called you."

So in all his fatherly love, he came over yesterday and set a trap under the kitchen sink. I saw it this morning when I refilled the cats' food bowl. I shuddered at the very thought that one day I might open it and a mouse could be in it.

(At which point, I'll scream DADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!)

So that's it. My very own Night Before Christmas come to life. Lucky LUCKY me.

Bits for Sunday, December 20, 2009

Five days until Christmas! Hope you’re ready…or close to it, at the very least.

My celebrations have already begun, and I have loved each one. (And not just because they’re an excuse for a new scrapbook page, although that’s fun too.) I’m looking forward to the parties ahead and to the time off work (which basically equals more sleep).

This year my Christmas theme was “My Favorite Things.” So as my official Christmas Bits, I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite things about Christmas.

• A tree in every room. People make fun of me for “over-Christmasing” my house, but I love seeing the lights of a tree no matter where I happen to be. It’s completely worth the time it takes to wrap each branch.

• Griswold houses. My friend Faith and I have a tradition of going to see “well lit houses” each year after we go through the walkway of lights. We love the tastefully lit houses, but nothing beats a good Griswold house. When we went yesterday, her four year old daughter declared one of them needed to take some lights down. She had that right!

• Sappy movies. Admittedly, I’ve not watched as much Fa La La La Lifetime this year as I usually do, but I love good cheesy Christmas movies.

• Treats. I think it goes without saying that the sugar high of the season is one of the best parts. I just finished a fabulous cookie – to back up Mom’s chocolates I had at lunch – as a follow up to the buffet of desserts at the office carry-in earlier this week. You get the idea.

• Christmas programs. I was in the program at our church this morning, so I spent most of my time trying to suck in and sit up straight since there was a recording happening in our midst. Since I was behind most of the action, I don’t know if anything funny happened, but my mind goes back to the year that Mary and Joseph (of the kid variety) got into a hay throwing fight during the Sunday morning program.

• Matching presents. As I mentioned, I have a theme every Christmas, and the wrapping paper gets in on that theme. I love looking under my tree and seeing all the matching gifts.

• Sleeping under the tree. For the last few years, I’ve had the tradition of sleeping in the living room on Christmas Eve. (Stole the idea from someone else, but still love it.) However…this year I have that fabulous new feathertop mattress…and since I have a tree in the bedroom too….I’m not sure if I can bring myself to leave the comfort for the living room floor. We’ll find out.

• Catnipped Christmas mornings. Of course the cats get their own stockings, and they’re filled with treats and toys each year. I always make sure to get them some catnip, because that’s the only way I can get them to remain in one location long enough to get pictures. Oh don’t judge me. It doesn’t kill them.

• Cards. I think these must have been this year’s budget-cut item, because I’ve heard many people mention the lack of cards, but even if there aren’t as many, I love getting them. Obviously fun mail beats bill mail any day of the week, but in addition to that, I just love seeing what people have been up to since last year!

• Christmas card contest. My Dad and I have an annual Christmas card contest. Dad, right now I have 34. I counted the one you and Mom sent me, which I realize is not entirely ethical, but I am afraid I’m losing, so my desire to win trumps my desire to play fair. Sorry.

• Christmas pictures. See, it kind of is all about the scrapbook. In our family, there are always a couple of pictures that we try to get each year. I won’t go into detail, at the risk of Mom sending back the gifts she got for me. But oh what a fun challenge!

• Finding new homes for everything. One of my favorite things about Christmas is the after Christmas festivities. I don’t love packing away all the decorations, but I love moving things into new homes and starting the new year with fresh organization. It’s so wonderful.

I’m sure there are more things…but that’s a sampling. I hope each of you has a merry Christmas!

Chocolate Pretzel Rings

Well, I might not have the candy-making talent my mother has, but I do love candy and always include it in my Christmas baking every year. This recipe is one I'd sampled at a bake sale once and loved. The sweet and salty combo is a winner, I think. I found the recipe in a magazine and decided to make it.

This is the second year now that I've made this for Christmas, but it's easily switched out for any holiday or occasion (or non-occasion!) just by switching the colors of the M&Ms. In fact, when I made this last year, I just bought a king size bag of M&Ms at the grocery store, rather than buying a big bag. I didn't pay attention and ended up buying the breast cancer bag - so all my Christmas treats had various shades of pink M&Ms. Woops!

The Recipe

50 pretzel rings
1 package (8 ounces) Hershey kisses
50 M&Ms

Place the pretzels on a greased baking sheet, and place a Hershey kiss in the center of each ring. Bake at 275 for 3 minutes or until chocolate is softened. Remove from the oven and place an M&M on each, pressing down slightly so chocolate spreads to fill the ring. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or until chocolate is firm.

I am either blind or impatient...I am never able to find the pretzel rings. So I just use the mini pretzel shaped pretzels. (Know what I mean?) Since this was for Christmas, I did manage to get red and green M&Ms this time.

I use my big Texas sheet cake sized pan, and I just count the pretzels as I cram them on the sheet - trying not to leave much space. Then I count the kisses and M&Ms to match.

The most time-consuming part of the whole thing is unwrapping the kisses! This would be a great project for a kid - but I don't have one. And I find it best to not allow the cats to participate.

Last year I used both hugs and kisses, but the hugs melt much faster, and they weren't as neat in the end. So this year I stuck to kisses. I also saw at a bake sale that someone had used the red and white striped peppermint flavored kisses. I'm not a big peppermint fan, but they did look pretty.

You can see by looking below that when they come out of the oven, the kisses retain their shape, but they're much shinier because they've begun to melt. If you have very many on the pan, you'll want to make sure they're good and soft because by the time you get around to the last one, they'll have started to harden again.

Just place the M&M on the point of the kiss and press down. The kiss will smash out and "grab" onto the pretzel.

And there you have it! Finished project! Pretty quick to make and a great little snack food.

A Little Piece of Joy

Because I'm a little OCD, all my Christmases have a theme. Cards coordinate with wrapping paper and tags...I know. Ridiculous. But I love it.

This year, my theme was "My Favorite Things." And in the spirit of the theme, I wanted to show you one of my very favorite things about Christmas:


My mom's homemade Christmas candy. She's done this for year. They take so much time and energy, but they are truly the best candies I've ever eaten. Most other candies are spoiled for me because of how good she is.

Her creations don't last long. My box lasted two days. And please do remember I'm a party of one. My office's box lasted until noon. And I'm surprised it lasted that long.

Unfortunately I did not inherit her talent for candy.I've tried. I truly have. I'm not good. And since I can't make my own whenever I want...I'm forced to wait for Christmas time. And thank GOODNESS it's here.

A Big, Big Fire!

I took today off work to get some chores done. I had a very busy evening planned, so I needed the day to be able to do things like laundry and working out.

Oh and grocery shopping.

That's where I was when Dad called. He and Mom were eating in town and the old Thompson plant across the street from where they were was on fire. He told me to come over and see. (Yes, this is the sort of entertainment we have here.)

I walked out the front door of Wal Mart and saw that he wasn't kidding! (This is probably a mile or so away from the fire.)

I took this one while I was waiting to exit the Wal Mart complex.

MOM, however, got these pictures with her camera - which she NEVER has with her, but she did today, and I was so proud of her!!!

She called 911, although some others had already called. Her first 911 call of her life!

As you can see - quite the big fire. This building burned a few years ago, although that fire happened at night. My friend and semi-neighbor, Amber, came and got me and we went driving around looking at the fire. I told you this is what we do in this town!

This fire was brought under control much more quickly than the last one, although it sure didn't look like it would be at this time!

I had a hard time getting to the area because everyone ELSE had the same idea I did.

But here was the most exciting part for Mom. I sent the pictures to a news station, and they ran them on the evening news. She was so excited to hear her name on the news - it was so cute! I wanted to get a picture of her name on the screen but I didn't have my camera out. But my friend Amy came to the rescue, found it on her DVR and took a picture for me. Thanks, Amy!!!

Oh and I never did have time to exercise. I was too busy chasing fires. Sadly I don't think that's on the wellness chart.

Praying on the Run - Card 5

I did not run tonight...it was an at-home-DVD-workout night. I had good intentions of going to the gym, but the night (as so many of my nights do) took an unexpected turn and I had to go for plan B. Kind of appropriate, perhaps, that the quote on card five is...

Can you set your husband free from your control? Can you learn to be content in these circumstances? Do you believe that My grace is sufficient for your life? Can you take delight in doing My will instead of your own? - Cynthia Heald

And my subsequent prayer is that I'll learn to relinquish control of his leadership to God.

My plan, as I've said before, was to be married no later than 22. In many ways, I'm so grateful that didn't happen. I am not the same person I was almost 10 years ago and while I realize there's the great possibility that my husband and I could have grown and progressed together...there's also the great possibility that we would have grown apart and perhaps things would not have gone as well as I would have dreamed.

It's been so good to be alone these years, too, because I've learned that I'm much stronger than I knew - and I'm capable of more than I realized. The worrisome part of being alone is that I have had been forced to be in control of so many things - and that control has to go at some point. I'll have to learn to trust God to lead my husband's heart. I'll have to trust him to be a good leader.

Even before I prayed on the run, I prayed often that whoever he is out there...would have a soft heart and allow God to teach him to be a good leader. That I wouldn't need to feel to control because I'd be so comfortable with the way he leads.

More than once, I've sat on the edge of a conversation with my jaw literally dropped open, listening to wives boss and control every little action and decision their husbands made. I don't want to cause someone else to do the same someday. And so...I am praying to have a spirit that trusts God to lead him in a much better way than I ever could.

Bits for Sunday, December 13, 2009

Last night I went to hear the IWU Chorale sing The Messiah. They did a fantastic job, but the whole time I was there, I couldn’t help remembering my last trip to hear this musical presentation. It was back in my college years, and I will not associate a number with that because I can’t handle thinking about how old I’ve become.

I wrote about that adventure, and I know my mother has long wished that this story would reach the masses, so I’m just going to take this opportunity to share it with you…virtually unedited from when I wrote it in days of yore. Enjoy!

I’ve always considered my relationship with my parents educational – both for them and for me. Don’t get me wrong…I love my parents very much, but our wide generation gap sometimes provides much entertainment. This was the case last December when I invited them to a cultural experience…

The University Chorale was going to sing The Messiah about a week before Christmas break. Two of my roommates were singing in it, and I planned to watch them. I thought it would be a nice gesture to invite my parents to this cultural event, so I got three tickets.

Well, the week before the concert, I came down with one of the nastiest colds I’d had in a long time. I informed Mom and Dad that if I was still in the severe coughing stage on the night of the performance, I wasn’t going. I told them it would be rude of me to go and ruin it for everyone else while I hacked in their ears. But by the night of the concert I was doing fairly well, so I went.
We arrived a few minutes early in order to get a good seat. The doors weren’t open yet, so we waited around outside. After a few minutes of waiting, Dad said he was going to the men’s room. He left….with the tickets. No sooner had he disappeared than the doors opened, and the people all around us filed inside to take our seats. Dad finally returned, and we went inside. Now for me, finding a seat is no big deal. You find something in the back – on the aisle. This is not the philosophy of my parents.

“Now,” my mother said, “do you want the back of the front section, the front of the back/middle section, or the front of the back/side section?”

“I just want an aisle,” was my reply.

After much debate, we chose the middle of the back/middle on the aisle. We had hardly settled in when Mom and I decided we needed to check our hair. We left Dad with our coats and went to do our hair check. We came back and sat down – I was on the aisle with Dad beside me and Mom on the other side of him. Every two seconds or so, I leaned across Dad to point someone out to Mom. Apparently this was unamusing to Dad, because he stood up to trade places with Mom.

We had just gotten comfortable when Dad decided to take one more field trip. Mom and I stood to let him out, which of course meant we had to stand up to let him back in. Fantastic. I felt like I was sitting with a bunch of two year olds!

At last we were all settled…just in time for the concert to begin. We were okay for a little while, and then Mom dropped her program on the floor. Dad leaned over to pick it up. She dropped it again. Did I mention I felt like a babysitter? At this point, I had a flashback from my early years. I seemed to remember someone snatching similar papers out of my hands when I couldn’t hold onto them. Wisely, I refrained from doing the same.

Again, we were fine for a while. Then I realized there was a family behind us who had apparently never been taught to stay home from cultural events when they were sick. First the father coughed. Then the mother. Then the kid. It was like an assembly line – right down the row they went. It felt a bit like a doctor’s office and was very distracting. I was fighting the same problem, but I waited until the soloists were done and the choir joined in before I coughed.

By this time, we were to the Hallelujah Chorus, which is not the end of the program, if you were not aware. Dad was ready. Reading ahead, even. I think the first note might have started before he was on his feet, but maybe he even beat the music. While everyone else was still untangling their feet from the cramped quarters, Dad was standing straight and tall. Great. Culture does exist in our family.

I thought surely we were about to the end of this experience. To be honest, I was rapidly
approaching utter exhaustion. To quote Mark Lowry, “But I was not so fortunate.” One of the soloists was sick and decided at the last minute to forego his last solo. My ever-attentive-to-the-program parents picked up on this and began trying to figure it out during the sixty-fold “Amen” at the end. I thought I should, at this point, snap my fingers like they used to do to me when I talked when I wasn’t supposed to. Again, I wisely refrained.

Well, my evening of fun was almost over, but not quite. The music finished, and the wave of a standing ovation began. I appropriately waited until the people in front of me stood, and then I stood and clapped. I had been standing for probably ten seconds when I realized not everyone was standing. All the people in the auditorium were on their feet, except two. They were still sitting beside me, discussing the missed solo. In total exasperation, my parenting skills kicked in and I gave them that stern look (pursed lips and all). I reached down with one hand and gave Mom a firm tap. I wanted to say “What part of STANDING ovation confuses you? You weren’t having any problem during the Hallelujah Chorus!”

I was exhausted after it was over, but I remained proud that my parents had attended a cultural event and had done fairly well. I made mental notes to help them with the standing/sitting/dropping programs/talking thing, but overall they did well. I haven’t had the energy to take them to another cultural event yet, but maybe in a couple of years I’ll be up to it again.

** update note: “a couple of years” has not arrived yet.

Sunrise on a Saturday

Who even knew there was such a thing!?!?

I have company this morning. My roommate from days of yore came down from Michigan to go see a play with me last night, and then she spent the night. So right now, in the butler's kitchen (I just love that), there is a breakfast casserole baking in the oven...and coffee brewing...and my poor kitchen probably has no idea what hit it. It never sees me at this hour on a Saturday.

This week has been absolutely exhausting and it's not done yet.

Wednesday was "develop the Christmas card picture" day. It turned into a bit of a fiasco when the photo lab did not make a note that I wanted my pictures on matte paper and they printed on glossy. But we got through that, and the pictures were stuffed into cards, which were subsequently mailed. Yesterday I received 10 of them back...forgot to put stamps on them. WOOPS. So if you're one of the people who gets some ugly red stamping UNDER the postage stamp - sorry!

Yesterday was baking day. I set out to make 10 recipes but had to cut one out in favor of assembling the soup for Angela's arrival last night - and cleaning the house. And I still didn't make it to bed until 2 in the morning that night!

Here was baking, round one. And yes, a couple of the recipes are forthcoming. This round included chocolate chip cookie cups stuffed with peanut butter cups. And of course, a couple of rounds of the peanut butter fudge.


Round two included pretzels with Hershey kisses and M&Ms stuffed in them, sourdough pretzel nuggets coated in a cinnamon sugar mixture, ranch oyster crackers (that recipe came from Kelly's Korner blog. She said we'd thank her if we tried it. THANK YOU, KELLY!!!), and a cocoa peanut butter fudge.

And the final round included two kinds of chocolate bark - one was white chocolate and one was milk chocolate. Both have M&Ms and pretzel bits in them. I also made peanut butter cookies with kisses inside, and better than caramel corn.

Baking is my gift to my office buddies - as well as to a few others - so here were the little bags all packed and ready to go. Everyone at work LOVED the bags. I got them (I know, tacky to tell, but love a deal, so here you go!) last year after Christmas on sale at WalGreens.

Here were the 4 designs. The snowman bag says "Season's Greetings," the reindeer bag says "Holly Jolly," the tree bag says, "Tis the Season," and the Santa bag says "Happy Holiday." CUTE!

Okay I really really have to go do my hair now if I want to eat breakfast on time!!