Tag: CHRISTMAS

BLOGMAS 2024 ~ day 5 ~ DECORATING ~ BLOG 366.338B

Another year has passed and the holidays are upon us again! A late Thanksgiving has put me a bit behind, but I vow to catch up this week šŸ˜€

I have to admit Iā€™m one of those people who canā€™t wait to decorate and leave it up for longer than most. We do have a couple neighbors who fortunately feel the same way we do and the Friday after Thanksgiving had them out taking down the turkey blow-ups and decorating for Christmas. We too wait until the day after Thanksgiving to begin outside decorating.

Ā 

We were at our favorite local Christmas tree farm when they opened the day after Thanksgiving to pick out 2 wreaths for the front porch. If you saw my Happy Homemaker Monday post you know that we were fortunate to get wreaths because they had a fire the next morning and lost their wreath and flocking building so will only have trees the rest of this season. Hubby is going to trade out the green light for another red later this week.

  • Are you a traditional or trendy decorator? Iā€™m a traditional, sentimental decorator. I still have ornaments from when I was a kid and some of my grandparentā€™s things. We tend to have the same decorations year in and year out, but they may be in different places each year because I add a piece here or there and some even get donated or die by attrition. My ex-sister-in-law recently contacted me about returning some ornaments that my grandmother made that my brother didn’t want back which I thought was so sweet of her! I’m looking forward to having the ornaments back in the family.
  • Are you white lights or multi-colored? This category depends for me. Definitely multi-colored on the tree, but I have white on my sleigh. This year I’m adding some jingle bell garland to those white lights around the sleigh.
  • When do you decorate inside? PLEASE donā€™t laugh, but since COVID my tree has gone up at Halloween 😀 and stays up through AT LEAST Kingā€™s Day.
  • Outside? We wait until after Thanksgiving 😀
  • To Blow or NOT Blow? Weā€™re yes on this category MOST of the time. Years with early snows or stormier than normal windy days we stray away from them. This year I just don’t want to “listen” to the constant hum so we’re building a different set-up with nativities.

Here are a couple of future ideas I’d like to try for outside:


In reality how I decorate each year changes based on my mood, weather, where we are living, etcā€¦ so it will never be the same twice! But, it will at least be the same components usually.

This is my Snowman Family arranged from 2 different years. They were so much fun to make out of second hand store finds. They were also a lot of work. I ended up only making two snowmen families, shipping one to a friend who lives in Florida and never sees snow 😀
We made candle yule logs for Advent craft night at church one year and they were a HUGE success and soooooooo easy to do.Ā  The decorations below are a few of my all time favorites, several of which Iā€™ve made over the years.
The ornaments below are some of our homemade bulbs.Ā  Several years ago I made quite a few and then did them with my girl scout troop also.Ā  Hubby liked them so well that we have now donated all our store bought bulbs and made enough of these for the entire tree.

My cousin that passed away in 2014 made the ornament below for me.Ā  It will always be hung by my shooting stars in her honor even though Iā€™m still mad at her for leaving the mess called A HOUSE FROM HELL for me to deal with.
And our favorite handmade ornament by Design Chick Creations.

BLOGMAS 2024 ~ DAY 3 ~ CHRISTMAS CARDS & WRAPPING IDEAS ~ BLOG 366.336B

Do you still send ā€œsnail mailā€ Christmas cards? 😀 We received our first card last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

I do! I know a lot of people have stopped or send virtual cards, but Iā€™m a die hard on this one. I just love sending and getting Christmas cards in the mail. But, I fear they are becoming a thing of the past. Unfortunately I receive fewer and fewer each year it seems. Virtual cards just arenā€™t the same to me. AND I canā€™t reuse virtual cards to make the next year as gift tags.

I even painted a set of old shutters in Christmas colors to display them.

I DO try to make my own Christmas cards when I can, and I PLANNED to do homemade again this year, but years like this last year full of issues sometimes finds me sending out box cards.

A local store carries boxed cards that are really nice quality, pretty cute and super affordable. Iā€™m bound and determined that I WILL do homemade again soon 😀

I did try an annual letter a few times, but ended up in just doing a few paragraphs eventually hitting the highlights from throughout the year since.

Here are some cute wrapping ideas. I have been wrapping presents as I go again this year and able to spend a little more time decorating by doing it that way.

 

BLOGMAS 2024 day 1 ~ HOLIDAY SCHEDULE ~ BLOG 366.334B

Welcome to BLOGMAS 2024. I’m so happy you could join me. Like always, I want to make this fun and no fuss, so join in when you can and I hope you enjoy the insight into my little corner of the holidays.

I’m a list maker and pretty organized so even my BLOGMAS schedule is pretty much in order of occurrence šŸ™‚

This year with Thanksgiving arriving so late I feel like I’m getting a really late start to the Christmas holiday.

Today will start with a trip to the Christmas Tree farm with a girlfriend and her mother to get their trees and I’ll get my front door wreaths followed by a yummy lunch at a favorite local haunt. Hubby and I will be going back for our tree on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday will be spent decorating the tree. Tomorrow and Sunday will be spent dealing with outside decorations. I have some spray painting to get done while the sun is actually shining.

I’m actually keeping the schedule pretty flexible this year. So far the only definite dates are the local county Christmas fair on the 6th, a girls get together on the 11th and dinner and a play with those same girlfriends on the 19th, Wreaths Across America is on the 14th, The Eagle’s Christmas party is on the 15th and the Christmas parade is on the 21st.

CORN FLAKE HOLLY WREATHS

Christmas is right around the corner so I thought I’d share one of my favorite holiday recipes. My great aunt who I only got to see a couple times a year used to make these every year special for me and I would wait out on the front steps for her arrive just to see them and know they were there. She always made them soooooooooo pretty and perfect!Ā  They are delicious and they are a quick, easy, no bake treat and they’re so pretty to add to the cookie & candy tray selections.

CORN FLAKE HOLLY WREATHS
(these are better when they are made a few days ahead)

30 large marshmallows (or 3 cups mini marshmallows or 1 jar marshmallow cream)
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon green food color
3 1/2-4 cups cornflakes
Red Hots or sprinkles for decorating
  • Combine marshmallows, butter, vanilla and food color in top of double boiler.
  • Heat and stir frequently until well blended.
  • Gradually stir in cornflakes until well blended.
  • Drop onto wax paper and arrange into wreath shapes. I plop them onto the wax paper and then push out from the center to form the wreaths.
  • Decorate with red hots.
  • Let cool.
  • If your house is warm – chill in refrigerator until set.

Save

Save

Save

 

BLOGMAS 2018 – DAY 12 – WINTER TAG QUESTIONS

✨Top 2 Winter Beauty Essentials?

  • A NICE HOT SHOWER to relax and clean out the pores.
  • A super moisturizer to keep away dry skin!

✨Top 2 Winter Fashion Essentials?

  • I wait ALL year for it to be cold enough to bring out the boots! I
  • Scarves and gloves.Ā  I have color combos to match anything.

✨ Favorite Winter Accessory?

  • HATS & SCARVES of course!!!!

✨ Favorite Winter Nail Polish?

  • Red for Christmas, but normally a pinky mauve. I just have too much red in my complexion.

✨ Hot Cocoa or Apple Cider?

  • Homemade hot cocoa and MUST have marshmallows!

✨ Favorite Winter Candle?

  • Apple and Cinnamon

✨ Does it snow where you live?

✨Have you ever made a snowman?

  • Absolutely! And a snow woman and snow kids!

✨What is Your Favorite Holiday Movie?

  • ITā€™S A WONDERFUL LIFE tops the list! Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street and they never get old either.Ā Ā 

✨Whatā€™s your favorite holiday drink?Ā 

  • Coffee
  • Hot Cocoa
  • Hot toddies

✨Candy cane or Gingerbread men?

  • I like the chalk style peppermint, but Iā€™m not real keen on actual candy canes and I like soft gingerbread men.

✨Whatā€™s your favorite holiday/Christmas song?

  • Thatā€™s a tough call ā€“ depends on my moodā€¦ White Christmas, Silent Night and Iā€™ll Be Home for Christmas

✨What is most important to you about the holidays?Ā 

  • That it is genuine and homemade for the most part.Ā  It is not a commercial holiday for me.Ā  I believe in trying to remember the real reason for the season and keep the Christmas spirit in my heart and life ALL year long.

 

BLOGMAS 2018 -DAY 9 – WINTER WONDERLAND PICTURES

This was 2014 and one of my favorite picture years.Ā  Plus a few NEW pictures.

The Festival of Lights is now 25 years old and a great way to kick off the holiday season. Itā€™s ALL Volunteer and NON-Profit.Ā  It began as a fundraiser sponsored by the Rotary Club to help get the city out of debt and then took on a life of its own and now helps with scholarships and special projects. The festival runs every night from Thanksgiving to New Years.Ā  So if you have company in town for Thanksgiving it’s a great jump start to your holidays.Ā  You can drive your own car or take a horse drawn carriage ride through the displays.Ā  They have also coordinated a local radio station to listen to as you view the displays.Ā  The night we went through the fog was moving in early so a few of the pictures look a bit ā€œsmokyā€.

As of this year they have the worldā€™s tallest (41 feet, 16,000 pounds withĀ  working jaw) nutcracker built by a local company, 500,00 lights, 90 animated displays, 3D displays, horse drawn carriage rides through the displays and a Holiday Village with Santa, hot cider with a bake sale and a synchronized light show in the courtyard.Ā  The displays depict fairy tales, the military, patriotism, the local logging industry, local vineyards, local fishing and the traditional Christmas songs and scenes.Ā  People come from all over to see it. Unfortunately for locals, it doesnā€™t change much, but is still fun every few years.

Three of my favorite munchkins from next door were coincidentally there the same night we were so had to snap a few pictures of the discussions with Santa. They have grown SOOOOOOOO much!
Even the lights with errors turned out cute.Ā  It was difficult to get great pictures or continuous pictures of the animated scenes since there were so many cars behind us.
This snowman is on a corner in our neighborhood hugging a light standard.
And these pictures were from 2013 – the year of the “white” one šŸ˜€
Hubby made this for me to wake up to in the back yard before the snow got too bad.
The house across the street usually looks horrible, but NOT when itā€™s under a blanket of snow.
Unfortunately, being in a cul-de-sac, delivery tracks leave MANY tire tracks at this time of year to mar the beautiful snow cover.
Even Rudolph was shivering! But not this year as he was donated to charity last year šŸ˜€
The first day after he storm was absolutely gorgeous though!
The duck pond behind the neighborhood was truly a work of art.
Obviously we hadnā€™t gone anywhere ā€“ no tire tracks!
The fish ladder was like glass with the cold and ice.



BLOGMAS 2018 – DAY 8 – FAVORITE STORIES

This story originally came across my email several years ago and I was reminded that it is a beautiful way to celebrate Christmas Holiday spirit so I thought Iā€™d share. This is such a beautiful story that makes you understand that things truly do happen for a reason. Donā€™t forget to grab the tissue box.

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etcā€¦ and on December 18th they were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19th a terrible tempest ā€“ a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etcā€¦ to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. ā€˜Pastor,ā€™ she asked, ā€˜where did you get that tablecloth?ā€™ The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and she never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a house cleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasnā€™t leaving.

The man asked him where he got the Tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike.

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the womanā€™s apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

This true Story was submitted by Pastor Rob Reid.

There are so many other Christmas stories. Ā What is your favorite? Ā I ALSO love this Helen Steiner Rice poem and try very hard to adopt the Christmas spirit as an everyday way of life.



BLOGMAS 2018 – DAY 7 – MEMORIES

WOW there are so many! One of my favorites was when I was 5 and I got my tea table – my uncle sure looked silly sitting at that table drinking tea with me šŸ˜€ Then whenĀ  I was 9 my aunt came to visit from Texas for Christmas and was sitting on the floor in a leather dress playing Barrel of Monkeys with the younger kids or maybe the year I got my first bike, whoops wait that was the birthday before Christmas.

My grandfather worked for General Electric as an X-ray technician of sorts (he oversaw the installation and calibration of X-ray equipment) and one year he brought home a GE Snow tree and ornaments (I still donā€™t know the correlation between between being an X-ray technician and Christmas trees). Anyway this tree had a HUGE cardboard base and once the tree was up and decorated you filled this base with thousands of tiny Styrofoam balls and when you turned the switch on the tree would make itā€™s own snow.Ā  As a kid I thought it was pretty cool, but as an adult I look back and realize what a MESS it made!! Especially when the wind was blowing and static electricity was high ā€“ those damn balls stuck to EVERYTHING!

But wait, that is not my favorite memory.Ā  It turns out that my favorite memory is of trying to stump my dad each year with his gift ā€“ it became a mission of sorts to be the first to stump him.Ā  I swear the man was Carnac when it came to knowing what was inside a box. We tried EVERY year to stump him and I donā€™t remember ever being able to do it.Ā  We tried adding bricks, taping a silver dollar with duct tape to the bottom so it would flip back and forth to make noise when you shook it, adding a pair of shoesā€¦ but he ALWAYS guessed!Ā  I donā€™t know how he did it.



BLOGMAS 2018 – DAY 6 – CHRISTMAS WISH LIST

Participating in BLOGMAS helps get me in and keep me in the Christmas spirit. There is a new prompt for each day.Ā  It is a lot of fun to read about each otherā€™s traditions and family recipes and pictures.

This year we are forgoing BIG gifts again and doing a research trip for our next home. Ā We are still doing stockings though šŸ˜€


BLOGMAS 2018 – DAY 5 – WINTER MUSTS

What I CANNOT live without in winter is many many things, but these are my top items! The one thing I am absolutely sure of is that if I have a sore throat, dry skin, cold feet or hands, cold food or catch a cold I am NOT happy.

I drink a cup of green tea every night and try to make very balanced comfort food meals to warm up my family from the inside out.Ā  Here are a few of our favorite soups and stews links for you.

Split Pea SoupĀ Ā 

Red Chicken Chili

Black Eyed Pea Chili

Tomato Spinach SoupĀ Ā 

Navy Bean & Ham Soup

Chicken & Sausage GumboĀ Ā 



BLOGMAS 2018 – DAY 4 – CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Todayā€™s category is an easy one for me.Ā  I start taping Christmas movies on Lifetime, Hallmark and INSP as soon as they air so I can watch all year long.Ā  Iā€™m a sucker for a happy ending and letā€™s face it, Christmas movies have happy endings.

So this list could be reallllllllllly long, but I will just keep it to the top 5 MUST watch each and every year movies.

Itā€™s a toss up for me about whether White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye or Itā€™s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart, Lionel Barrymore and Donna Reed is my absolute favorite, but I think Iā€™m leaning towards Itā€™s a Wonderful life!
Which Miracle on 34th street version (the original with Natalie Wood or the remake with Richard Attenborough) is the best?Ā  BOTH versions of course!
The Santa Clause with Tim Allen quickly became a favorite ā€“ who could resist visiting the North Pole every year?
Ā Now Home Alone is just silly, but it never fails to make me laugh!