Absolutely Nothing Day!

Tired Nana...oh my!  We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family and friends, presents and meals, laughter and smiles.  Late Saturday morning our company departed, and I headed to the stores for after Christmas specials.  My daughter and I only managed a few stores.  She is pregnant and I am just old =] Later that day I baked a birthday cake and celebrated a good friend's 50th birthday!

Let's see my week started out with the arrival of my son on Tuesday afternoon accompanied by a friend he brought home to spend the holidays with us.  We had a family birthday dinner for Josh that night, prime rib and all the trimmings.  P.T. and family joined us.   The next day on Christmas Eve we went to church, and watched a lovely Christmas pageant.  After church we went back to our place for a sit down meal for 12, serving lasagna and birthday cake. Before our meal we read Barbara's post The Glory of the Unlikely (see previous post) after dinner we tried to play Mad Gab, but my son in law out did us all  :]  After opening presents starting at 9:00 am on Christmas morning with our family and of coarse Puddin Toes as our star player, we had 10 for Christmas Brunch...Eggs Benedict, cinnamon pull apart biscuits, and fruit salad as the main head liners.  I had a wonderful Christmas present as my son's guest quietly did all the dishes and cleaned up my kitchen.   Nick you were such a blessing to me you will never know how much!!! 

On Friday evening we had another family meal this time at a restaurant followed by a late night watching my son's band Lions & Eagles perform at a local pub till one in the morning...and that takes us right up to Saturday morning.  So you know what we did on Sunday...absolutely nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phew!!!  I am looking forward to a few more days of rest. My darling husband has the week off and we are going to just hang out, go out to dinner, go to shows and just relax....I hope =/

My husband bought me a beautiful new lap top for Christmas and this is my virgin blog using this nifty new machine.  We never did get my old lap top completely fixed after wiping the hard drive it still wouldn't connect to the Internet.  I do hope to get if fixed eventually. 

Just one more bit of news...we did have a very snowy, and beautiful white Christmas...but starting Sat. night our local southwest wind start up, something we call a Chinook (old Indian name) and the snow is almost completely gone...50 degrees today!  That was absolutely wonderful timing

So here for your viewing pleasure are a few of our holiday moments ...

Like I said Puddin Toes was our star!

We have a tradition so now it seems of taking a picture with our silly Christmas gear.

Uncle Josh with two babies and tea :0)

Dresses for "The Girls"

Look closely and you will see Elmo slippers and baby hugging...awh!

Dinner Friday night with the Borders!  We have just discovered Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que mmm

Papa flying Puddin Toes

Piggy back ride from Grampa Dave

Auntie "Enna"  P.T. can't say her J's yet :)

Let us expect to find Him, where we least expect Him to be!

The tree is decorated, the packages wrapped, the food bought and prepared, family on their way back  home.  The holidays are upon us!  

Now we can kick back...well sort of =) and enjoy these next few days with family and friends.  It appears we are in for a very full house this year at our home.  I think I am up to 14 for Christmas Eve dinner alone!

What is on my mind right now, and I hope something I will carry in my heart through out the season and  through this up and coming New Year... "The Glory of the Unlikely"  This post from Barbara has especially touch my heart this season.  Here is an excerpt from her post, please do yourself a favor and read her piece. 

"He is the God of the unlikely, the God who requires stables in which to birth His beloved rather than the pristine palaces we might anticipate. So let us expect to find Him there, in the stables of our lives and worlds, the circumstances, situations and people where we least expect Him to be. Indeed, let us see that the glory of His presence is most often in direct proportion to the appearance of His absence..."

I want to wish all my blog friends and their families a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

Puddin Toes first "Meet and Greet" with Santa...or

or...Who is the big scary guy in red??????????

Papa...don't you dare let go...!

P.T. is now holding on to Papa for dear life =]

Okay I can sit on Papa's lap and look from a distance.

Well maybe I can get a little closer if mama is holding me.

Nope, I do not think so...too big, too red, too scary!

And it is still snowing!!!

It's official...

Yes, it is official, my hard drive has to be reformatted. We found out that there is no fix for this new bug. It is a new problem with Explorer as I had initially suspected. So in the mean time, I get to steal a few late night minutes on hubby's computer.

Here are some shots of my holiday decorating. We don't have the tree up yet. I need to go buy one tomorrow, because guess what....more snow on the way. We may be socked in all weekend. I will have plenty of time to decorate it then. Yes, I am still buying fresh trees, and will not try another fake tree after last year's tree debacle. click here if you want to see that episode ;) I have been obsessed with glitz this year, and some new found discount decorating stores.

As you can see I am obsessed with snowflakes, stars and glitter :) These tree toppers at Craft Warehouse for $4.00 a pop, how can I not be...but that is not all


I have rediscovered Pier One...who knew, not me. They have gone back to their original style, and prices. In the middle is yet another tree topper, mercury glass...I fell in love! I can't wait to go back after Christmas and hit the sales. It is funny how I won't fuss with decorating for months and months, (too busy with the garden I guess) and then I go on these sprees.

My new big favorite discount decor store is Real Deals. This place is nuts. They are only open two days a week. They do not advertise, only by word of mouth, and there prices...unbelievable. Here are a few of my finds. Above in left corner glitzy peace sign for $6.00, and the star,$4.00 at Pier One.

My quirky little $3.95 Charlie Brown tree from Real Deals.

Now some old school. The holly elves were my grandmothers, very few of her things survived. I just treasure them!
Dan's newly claimed study with some color.

The hall way, the greens are new from Real Deals.

Glitzy new raindeers...I know I am ridiculous =/
This hall tree was my moms, and she made the ceramic angels years ago for me.
Glitzy new pine cones from Walmart and Real Deals pot.
My mother in law bought this for me many Christmas's ago. I love using it around the holidays.

Here is a picture of my front courtyard after the first snow dump. I am originally a New England gal, so I just love the snow this time of the year...it is fairly rare around here.

Well I better get to bed, Puddin Toes arrives early in the morning. Mommy is going for a Dr. visit, and we will find out what sex the new baby is !!!! I will keep you posted. I have a feeling I might be buying blue :)

Update...I was wrong, Puddin Toes is going to have a new sister. I am so excited, they will be friends forever, only eighteen months apart. And I get to shop for more pink...I think I can handle that :0) (See first pink day shopping)

Cranberry Bliss

Well it has been the month for bugs. First I got a virus, now my laptop is full of bugs! I am here stealing a few minutes on my hubby's computer, to make at least an appearance in blogland.

I am busy with getting ready for Christmas, decorating, shopping, and all that goes along with the season. I always find myself in quite a dilemma. I hate to start fussing with Christmas preparations before December. Just not my thing to think about Christmas in July, but...then I always find myself in the middle of the month, woe unto me. Wishing I had done all the hoopla before hand, so I could just relax and enjoy the all the Holiday Cheer, and the Reason for the Season, my dear Lord Jesus!

Soooo.... here is one goodie for you all. Can you believe I just tasted for the first time last week a Starbucks "Cranberry Bliss" Oh YUM! So I went hunting on the Internet for some similar recipes, and pulled a few together and here is what I have come up with. These are my new favorite Christmas treat. But I must warn you they are very rich!

Cranberry Bliss

1 cup butter

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. orange extract

1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp.ground ginger

1/2 of an orange zested

1/4 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder

cream butter and sugar and all...then add:

2 cups of flour

3/4 cups of dried cranberries

1/2 a bag of white chocolate chips (l lb bag)

Bake in a 9x13 dish at 350 for 30 minutes or so...don't over bake, these will come out chewy like a brownie.

Frost with :

4 0z. of cream cheese(1/2 pkg)

3 cups of powder sugar

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. orange extract

and a little juice from the orange you zested to thin the cream cheese frosting just enough to spread

Frost after completely cooled in pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of chunks of white chocolate, (I used a white chocolate bar for this ) and about 1/2 cup of roughly chopped dried cranberries.

I cut the pan in half the long way, and then cut into bars. After I removed the bars I cut them into triangles.

What are you baking new this year????

I just peeked out my front door...first snow! Somethings make you feel like a kid again!

This is looking out from my front door, I am resisting the urge to go for a midnight walk in the first snow...it is very cold out brrrrrr!

Blessings to all!