Holidays at the Harris Home

One Last Look at Winter

2011-03-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Last week, we had a couple of days of heavy rain, and one of those days also brought heavy winds in our area. Unfortunately, this meant that one of our Leyland Cypress trees in our backyard blew over, uprooted from the saturated ground at the roots. It is a sad loss for us, because the tree was one in a row of trees that we planted 8 years ago as a natural screen to provide some privacy in our back yard. Now we have a gap in that tree screen, and it will now look uneven and irregular even if we replace it with a large specimen.

So as we cut up the fallen tree to get it out of the yard and adjoining driveway, I took the opportunity to use the natural greens in an indoor impromptu arrangement in our foyer. There was no art involved, I just cut up a bunch of branches and put them in an urn. Matched up with a wintry pinecone wreath and some birch-bark candles, it makes a simple vignette on our foyer table.

I know spring is on its way, and I'm really looking forward to it! But this is a simple and easy way to give winter one last hurrah in our home.

The Kitchen Lamp

2011-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

Earlier this weekend I was having fun browsing around "The Inspired Room" blog, just soaking in all the inspiration that can be found there. I happened upon a post called "Q&A About Open Shelves", and saw a cool new idea for accessorizing a kitchen counter. At least, it was new to me.

The photo showed a lamp on the kitchen counter near the sink and kitchen window. I noted that the layout of this kitchen is similar to mine, and I thought that the lamp idea might just work for us, too. I shopped the house to find a lamp that might work, plugged it in, and TA DA! A whole new look to our kitchen. Many thanks to "The Inspired Room" for inspiring my room.

The lamp on the counter gives a warm glow that really makes the kitchen feel very welcoming. We've had this arrangement now for about one full day, including washing dishes and preparing meals, and so far it does not interrupt the flow of life in the kitchen. And might just inspire us to keep the counters clean! All in all, it is a successful little experiment!

Linking today to Metamorphosis Monday.

Just Checking In...

2011-02-27T12:21:00.000-08:00

Wow, time flies when you're completely swamped!

Having very much enjoyed the new hobby of blogging during November and December last year, I did intend to keep it up and use this vehicle as a way to share, learn and have fun. But as soon as January began in full-force, my work life became totally overwhelming. I was surprised to be asked to step into a new position with brand-new responsibilities and an incredible amount of learning to be done. I feel like I've not had any time to think, much less be creative on this blog, because of my brain cycles being all used up by my new job.

In my evening and weekend spare time, I have kept up with reading all the blogs to which I'm subscribed, and I continue to be inspired by all of you and your writings and your photos. There is so much beauty out there! So thanks to all who have shared their talents with all of us, it has really kept me interested and engaged in this "other" side of me.

This weekend, I found myself short on obligations and long on "down time" - hallelujah! - and so I am putting together a new post which I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow night.

Thank you if you have kept me in your "follow" list during this long, dry spell. Hopefully it won't be so long in between posts, but I guess I can't promise anything. I'm still here in spirit!

See you all soon,
Jenny

Happy Tuesday Week #2 - Feeling Good About Myself

2011-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

For this week's Happy Tuesday post, I want to share a triumph that I had this week. For basically all my adult life (or, at least my motherhood life) I have been overweight and out of shape. And like so many of us, my self-image is really poor when it comes to my physical self. This issue has negative ramifications on nearly every aspect of my life, and again, like so many of us, I have really struggled with this.

My triumph this week was that I completed three straight weeks of working out with my husband five mornings a week. We're using the Biggest Loser game for the Wii. I love it - if you can love sweating and hurting and being out of breath and heart racing. ;-)

My triumph wasn't so much that I completed the three weeks of working out (though that's noteworthy in and of itself), but that on day 22 of the three weeks, I not only felt great after the workout (which still kicks my butt), but I elected to continue and try more routines. I did an extra hour of yoga exercises on the Wii.

And I tried poses that I never thought I'd be able to do. Like this one: reach behind you, grab your foot, and pull it up behind you toward the ceiling as you lean forward and reach ahead of you with your other arm. Do all of this while balancing yourself on one foot. And hold it. For, like, an hour (or maybe just for 30 seconds). This pose looked incredibly daunting. I had a fleeting moment of "no way!". But then I tried it. And I failed. Then I tried it again. And I failed again. But then I tried it a third time. And I did it. I DID IT!

And this was the same story with a dozen other poses. I tried, and on some, I failed, but kept trying. And eventually I did them. All of them!

I have not ever, in my entire life, felt like an athlete. I have never felt confident that my body would perform what I perceived to be "difficult" things. But on this day, I felt proud of myself and I felt awesome. It took three hard weeks before I got to this point. A small, short investment in the grand scheme of life. And the feeling I felt after those three weeks, well, it was worth every moment of pain, fatigue and sweat.

And that, my friends, is my very Happy Tuesday story this week. :-)

How about you? Please link up with us to day, and share something that makes YOU happy.

Happy Tuesday Week #2 Link Party

Celebrating Freedom for All

2011-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

In honor of today's national celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King and his contributions to American freedom, I took a few moments today to listen to his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. As a white woman born in 1968, I have a difficult time putting myself into the shoes of all those gathered in Washington DC that day in August 1963. My life experience does not include blatant or subtle discrimination, hatred or violence against me. I have not suffered injustice. I have been blessed with opportunity and equality. I can't imagine an America as described in the history books. All I can do is remain grateful for my blessings, and treat all others with kindness and respect, and teach my children to do the same.

In honor of the day, for those of you who might like to be inspired, here's a link to a video of Dr. King's speech. We may not be a perfect country, but we are getting better every day. God Bless America!

New Kitchen Accessories

2011-01-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my post the other day about accessorizing the blank spots that remain after un-decorating for Christmas, I went shopping at Home Goods and Hobby Lobby to find some new and interesting stuff for the house. As things usually go, I didn't find much stuff for the places I was thinking of, but I did find some stuff for an area that I wasn't really shopping for. Isn't that usually the way?

In this empty spot in the kitchen where our peppermint kitchen Christmas tree used to be...

I found this pretty baker's rack for the corner.

I like it because it's black, which nicely blends with the accent colors around the rest of the kitchen, and yet it's also swirly and curly and pretty, which make it not feel quite so heavy. The shelves are made out of wood, with grooves in them running on the diagonal. The shelves themselves are curved, so they're basically a quarter-round.

Now, to decorate the shelves, I was looking for some pretty dishes and maybe some other tschotskies. I chose some birdhouses (which will become more prominent as spring approaches), and some clearance pottery. I also found three pretty little primroses at the grocery store floral department, and while I'm not totally thrilled with their yellow plastic pots, they'll do for now. I played around a little bit with the placement, trying to decide which shelves to put things on.

For now, this is the arrangement I've settled on. I'm sure I'll be messing with it today and over time.

I'm looking forward to having this display space available to me to change things and add a little "pretty" to the kitchen. I also am looking forward to attempting to clean off my kitchen counters and the kitchen desk area and decorate those areas too -- but I think that's going to wait for another day.

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Linking today to Metamorphosis Monday.

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Hey everybody! I'll be hosting another Happy Tuesday this week, and I'd love for you to join me. I'll have my post up Monday night by 9pm, ready for you to link in. Won't you join me in spreading good cheer on Tuesday?

Post-Holidays Blank Slate

2011-01-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Like many other folks out in blog land, we're doing a lot of cleaning and freshening up around our house since we took down the Christmas decorations. I kind of like the sparse look, especially when it's all nice and clean like we made it today. It gives a fresh perspective, a chance to breathe.

Here in the family room, I've cleared out everything off of the mantle, tables, and put the chair back in place where the Christmas tree used to be. The sun was bright outside today, making this room bright all day too. Our walls are actually a nice warm beige, but the photos here make them look antique white.

This wall hanging is an art quilt made for me by a friend. It is meant to represent the state park woodlands that are near our home. Maybe sometime soon I'll do a feature post on this quilt. My friend quilted it by machine, but not using a presser foot, so she was able to sew free-form shapes into the quilt. There are little frogs, butterflies, salamanders, snakes, mice, and dragonflies sewn into the quilt stitching as little surprises and secrets.

The photo frames on the mantel hold snapshots from our many trips to Walt Disney World (my favorite spot!). They and the candles and topiary are really just here as placeholders until I figure out what I want to do with the mantel until springtime.

The area above the TV is very bare at the moment. I typically have a houseplant above the TV to hide the Wii, but am looking for something more inspired. Inside the glass doors is a jumble of Xbox equipment, photo albums, various photos and assorted fitness gear. It's really just a mess, and really needs some decorative flair.

In the foyer, the table holds just a few things, again waiting for some inspiration to strike for a nice winter time vignette.

Here in the living room, I've been pondering possible changes to the color scheme. The green walls are my favorite color in the house - it is the same green as the dining room which is behind you as you look at the living room this way. But the green walls really clash with the blue couch. The couch is in really good condition, and there's nothing at all wrong with it, other than that it doesn't match this green paint. I have been trying to decide what to do - slip cover? Reupholster? New couch? I Would love to hear your ideas if you've got them!

The coffee table (and end tables that you can't see) in this room belonged to my mother in law. She purchased them in the 1970's - Early American style. They lived through a house flood, were refinished, and were the first furniture that my husband and I used when we were first married. They're incredibly solid and in great condition, but they're just not a style I want any more. But they're also not even close to the top of the list of things to worry about, so they're still here, 25 years after we were married. Actually, that whole "not the top of the list" thing is also why this room still has a blue couch. Somehow updating this room never makes it to the "to do" list.

The bookshelves are empty since we put the Christmas village away. Last year, I never did fill the bookshelves after Christmas - they sat empty all year waiting for the village to be put back up! I hope to be more successful this year at putting something attractive and useful into these shelves.

So with all this "empty canvas", I went shopping today at Home Goods and Hobby Lobby. I was on the hunt for some new decorative accessories to put some warmth and personality into these rooms. While I did have a successful shopping trip, I didn't find anything for any of these spaces - go figure! In an upcoming post I'll show you what I did end up getting, though.

I guess I'll shop the house tomorrow to find some things for these empty areas. I am happy to have a three day weekend with no obligations, so I get to play!

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Linking today to Seasonal Sundays.

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Oops! That didn't take long!

2011-01-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

Well, last week I wrote about joining in on MCP Project 52, where you contribute one photo per week for a year to a weekly themed collection. I jumped in once, and then promptly forgot to do it this week! Oops!

I'm not giving up - I'll still try to keep up with those weeks that I remember, have time, etc. Just like anything else - don't let one little bump in the road stop me from the journey, right?

The theme for next week is "Shades of Gray". Here's to second chances!

Want to join in the fun? Visit MCP Project 52 here.

Enjoying this view

2011-01-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a nice, easy, light snowfall, just enough to put a lovely blanket of white on the landscape. I had just a moment to step out onto the deck in the morning before work and snap a few photos of the yard.

Such a great thing to enjoy a quiet moment on a busy morning...

If we can't have spring, we can at least have a little snow.

I'm grateful today for the beauty of a winter morning, and am hoping to have a few more just like this!

Happy Tuesday Week #1 - Things That Made Me Happy Today

2011-01-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday, everybody! Thanks for dropping by - we're having a party today to celebrate all things Happy! I hope you'll link up and share something that catches your eye, makes you giggle, puts a smile on your face, or lightens your heart.

Today I thought I'd just make a simple list of things that make me happy today. Some other weeks I will share some photos, some music, maybe some other websites -- everything is fair game.

Things That Made Me Happy Today:

Someone brought chocolate chip cookies in to work just for fun.
My daughter remembered that she needs to find an accompanist for her trombone solo festival, and started to make calls on her own.
My son drove me and my husband to dinner tonight, and we had a really casual, every-day, family dinner conversation.
I got up to exercise before work again today, which is a big deal for this so-not-a-morning person.
My husband made me a yummy and healthy breakfast after said workout.
Things at work today were manageable, not crazy.
I heard my favorite song on the radio when I was driving to work.
I saw a pretty bird on the tree outside the window this morning.
My quartet is coming over for rehearsal tonight, and I'll get to sing and have fun for three hours with them.
I had a crisp, sweet apple for a snack that hit the spot, and I successfully avoided eating another chocolate chip cookie at work.
My son sent me a link to this really cute YouTube video.

Um ... yeah. That's it. I mean, I'm happy that I'm alive and healthy, and that I know and love my Creator, that I have a job, and a family, and friends, and all that. Not taking that for granted, by any means. Just figured those things are a little deeper than I can eloquently describe on short notice. And besides, I wanted to leave the door wide open for others to link up with their much more interesting posts. ;-)

How about you? What makes you happy today?

Happy Tuesday Week #1 Link Party

Belated Blooper Before and After - Half Mustachioed Santa

2011-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago, there was a blog party at Between Naps on the Back Porch where posters would show their blog bloopers from 2010. At the time, I didn't think I had anything to offer, since I've only been blogging for a couple of months. But then as I was putting away the Christmas decorations last week, I found that one of my Santa figures had a little boo-boo that I hadn't noticed before.

This particular Santa had made a prominent appearance in two of my most popular blog posts - the one about my German Smoker Santas and the one about my Christmas Eve Table. In both posts, this poor Santa showed off his little boo-boo for all to see.

I'm so sorry, Santa guy, for making you spend the whole holiday season so mis-shapen and lop-sided. You're still cute, even with the strange mustache. Really. I'm not just saying that!

So, before I packed this poor little guy away for the year, I gave him a little tender loving care. I looked in the box that he usually gets stored in, and sure enough, I found the missing piece of his mustache hiding there. With a little dab of wood glue, he was good as new again! Here are some Before and After shots of our little guy, all messed up and then all fixed up.

And now he's safely packed away for the year. Hopefully he'll be safe and sound and will be good as new next year.

Linking to Between Naps on the Back Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.

On Tuesday I'll be hosting my first-ever Happy Tuesday link party. The idea came to me last week as I was pondering the future of this blog. I thought, why not set aside a special day to spread happiness and cheer, once a week, all year long? Won't you come back and share something that makes you happy? I'd love to have you join us!

Some favorite things today

2011-01-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today, a quiet Saturday in mid-January, I'm enjoying the nice slow pace of life, and finding comfort in some warm and cozy mid-winter things...

Home-made potato and ham soup for dinner

Banana chocolate-chip muffins for a sweet treat

Cozy turtleneck sweaters

Warm fire on the hearth

I'm also loving the serenade we're getting as our daughter rehearses Holst's "The Planets" and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 on trombone.

And I'm loving that my son, the chemical engineering / biochemistry undergrad, is devouring his new coffee-table glossy image book of the periodic table of the elements as if it were a video game guide.

And I'm loving this quiet, relaxing evening on the couch with my husband, watching a movie as the house settles down into the dark, quiet evening.

There's a lot to be said for the empty calendar and obligation-free time immediately after the holiday rush.

Linking to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays.

MCP Project 52 - Week 1 - Something In Your House

2011-01-07T19:55:00.000-08:00

Here's my first entry into the MCP Project 52. This week's theme was "Something In Your House". You've seen this photo before, but I thought it would make a nice entry this week, and since I did take the photo within the past 7 days, it counts toward this week's assignment. Just barely! :-)

Putting Christmas Away

Love this photo because it reminds me of the fun I had decorating our kitchen for Christmas with a Peppermint Theme. And because it is bright and shiny and festive. And because I like the visual abundance of images.

I'm looking forward to completing next week's assignment, which will be posted tomorrow.

MCP Project 52

2011-01-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

I've been tossing around the idea of joining the cool kids and attempting do the "Photo A Day", or Photo 365, or whatever you want to call it. The idea being that you capture snippets and snapshots of your life every day for a year. You can of course purchase special albums or scrapbooks to store these photos in - and I've been sorely tempted to do that too. After all, shopping for scrapbook supplies has been one of the most habit-forming addictions of my life. I think I'm over it now. Or, I should say, I'm a recovering shop-aholic. Anyway, I've been tempted to set the 365 goal for myself, but then I realize that I'd be setting myself up for disappointment after a while. (I'm not being cynical - trust me, I cannot do a photo every day for a year.) Then I saw this idea today on Pioneer Woman's photography blog. How 'bout just 52 photos per year? Using the MCP Project 52. Yes! that's more my style.

I signed up on a spur of the moment whim just now. It looks like it's going to be just right for me. For one thing, the invitation is to join anytime during the year. They're not picky. Next, they are open and welcoming to all types of photographers and all ranges of equipment - from your cell phone all the way up to professional grade camera gear. Also, they provide a weekly theme or prompt, to guide you in being more creative in your photography activities. But the weekly theme is pretty broad and allows a lot of flexibility in your approach. And finally, they have a Flickr group that folks will be posting their weekly photos to, and I'll be able to go there and be inspired by all types of images and all skill levels of participants.

So, I guess I'll jump in and attempt this year-long project. Who knows where it will lead? I'll post about it here, though, so I hope where ever it takes me, you'll come along for the ride!

True spirit of giving?

2011-01-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I was reading hundreds of blog posts from all over blog land, all with so many great ideas for making the holidays merry and bright. I don't remember where I saw this tip, but I loved it and wanted to try it. The original post was about how to inject some creativity into the packages that we mail to someone, and showed an example of using fresh cut pine boughs and scented pinecones instead of packing peanuts. I loved this idea, and was excited to try it on a package that I was sending to a family member.

I followed the original post's design concept, and individually wrapped my little packages in plain white tissue, using red and green ribbons to finish them very simply and elegantly. Then I clipped fresh limbs off of pine trees in my back yard, and tossed in some cinnamon scented pinecones. The box smelled great, and looked great too. I was pretty darn proud of how clever this was!

I mailed it off, and eagerly awaited the news that the recipient had received it. I guess I expected some sort of comment on the unusual filler. Maybe some acknowledgement that they enjoyed receiving the fresh scents. But alas, it was not to be. The recipient did say that they received the package, and they thanked me kindly for the gifts. But no mention at all about the wrapping or the pine-fresh scents. No comments about the uniqueness of the idea.

Oh well.

Giving is not about receiving any sort of compliments on your creativity, or about showing off your newest idea. It is, of course, about generosity. Clearly the fact that I was disappointed in the reaction shows that I didn't have the true spirit of giving going on here. I'm chagrined to admit that.

But maybe I'll save the cute ideas for a different recipient next time. ;-)

Happy Tuesday

2011-01-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering the question lately: What becomes of a blog that's entitled "Holidays at the Harris Home" when the holidays are over? I know that I don't want to be done blogging, but the thing is, I'm not really into any holidays other than Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. And I'm not even all that much excited about New Year's, but I include it here because it's kind of a package deal, you know? But I just can't get myself excited over blogging a lot for the other holidays that come up in the year. Don't get me wrong - I love me a good day off of work! and I do get all Federal holidays off (helloooooo MLK Day! You scrumptious day off just two weeks after New Year's, you!) But our family life doesn't really revolve around any of the other holidays, we don't really decorate, we don't have parties, we don't do countdowns. With the exception of birthdays and Christmas, I guess we're kind of the non-celebratory types as it turns out. (Is that bad?)

After thinking it over the last few days, I've not really come to any conclusions other than that I want to keep the blog alive. And I want to put positive stuff out there. No complaining, no bashing, no whining. Maybe offer a bright spot in the day of my readers, maybe offer something worthwhile. Spread some good cheer, perhaps? Maybe share a joy, maybe something new and fun, maybe something inspiring.

So while this doesn't totally answer my original question as to the fate and purpose of my blog, today I am beginning a series of weekly posts called "Happy Tuesday." Happy Tuesday will from now on be a day of the week that I devote to writing and posting about something that makes me happy. Maybe we can consider this a holiday unto itself each week? I will celebrate Happy Tuesday every week. Will you join in? (Maybe in the near future I'll figure out how to do a link party... would you participate if I hosted a Happy Tuesday blog party? Let me know...)

Today's Happy Tuesday Celebration: www.HelpOthers.org

In honor of my first official Happy Tuesday, I want to share a neat website with you. It's called www.HelpOthers.org, and it is dedicated to recounting Random Acts of Kindness committed by folks out there in the world. You can submit your own Random Act story, and you can read about others' Random Acts. It's a great way to pass a little bit of time and cheer yourself up if you are feeling blue. I really recommend spending some time over there.

They also have these cool things called "Smile Cards". These are little tokens, the size of a business card, that you can hand out to folks you meet, or you can leave behind as a secret signature on a Random Acts of Kindness that you commit. You can download pre-made Smile Cards, or you can create your own. You can even request that HelpOthers.org send you some Smile Cards for free!

I'll admit that I have not yet used the Smile Cards. I don't know why - but maybe this is the time for me to change that. I think I'll commit to committing one Random Act of Kindness this week, and I'll leave a Smile Card behind. Next Tuesday I'll report back on what I did and how it went. Unless of course it turns out that committing a Random Act of Kindness is not something that makes me happy. Then it would not be good for a Happy Tuesday post. But somehow I can't see that happening. ;-)

How about you? What makes you happy today? How will you celebrate Happy Tuesday? I'd love to hear about your happy moments - won't you please leave a comment and share your happiness?

Happy Tuesday!

Linking to All Things Inspired today.

Closet Clean-up Before and After

2011-01-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'm working on getting a little more organized around here these days, like a lot of you. Putting the Christmas stuff away is a big job these days, and takes quite a few days in a row to get it all done. But here was a quick and satisfying organization project that only took an hour or so.

Before:

In the top shelf of our coat closet is where I store most of my candles. I have fall candles, Christmas candles, spring candles, and summery candles. I've got a big bin full of my mom's home-made, hand-crafted molded scented candles. I've got tapers, and pillars, and enough votives and tea lights to line our entire street with luminaries if I wanted to (I've actually done that before!). There are brand-new candles, and mostly-burned candles. And everything is a jumbled mess. The only bright side is that the closet, smells really good, and all the coats that are stored in there smell good too!

After:

I shopped at Michael's (where else) with a big savings coupon (what else) and picked up a variety of these decorative storage boxes. I got quite a few different sizes, and a few different patterns that all sort of blend together. I sorted through all the candles, threw away a few, and then stored them all in these decorative boxes. After about an hour of easy sorting, the top of the closet now looks great and still smells great!

Linking up to Between Naps on the Back Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

Linking to Dittle Dattle's Amaze Me Monday.

The De-Santa-fication Process Has Begun

2011-01-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

"The de-Santa-fication process has begun. " (Name that movie.)

New Year's Day around here most often is filled with un-decorating and football. And maybe a little Rose Parade thrown in for good measure. And of course the pork and sauerkraut that brings good luck all year long.

We've made it through about 95% of the dismantling, and about 50% of the packing away. With breaks for cleaning, eating, and watching football, I anticipate that it will take both today and tomorrow, off and on, to complete. I hope to be done by dinner time tomorrow night. Until then, these are some of the views we have around our house.

Luckily for us, our daughter took a little break to day to make these...

Linking to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday.

Christmas Kitty

2010-12-31T16:24:00.000-08:00

Whiskers loves the Christmas season, because it gives her some very lovely surroundings in which to take her morning, afternoon, and evening naps.

She relaxes in the morning sun that streams through the windows, and at the same time she snuggles into the velvety tree skirt and enjoys the scents of the live tree. At 16 years old, she's not interested in climbing the tree anymore. If she gets thirsty, she's got a really large water bowl right there that is pine-flavored. Yum!

Hopefully Whiskers won't be too sad when we take the tree down. She pretty much has the run of the house, so she ought to be able to find a new spot pretty easily.

Happy New Year, Whiskers!

Eating for Good Luck

2010-12-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

Eating for good luck. Now that's a superstition I can sign up for! Actually, when I think about it, I think I only have one "good luck" tradition that involves food, and it's on New Year's Day.

My mother and her mother and her mother and probably her mother too all lived by the tradition that eating pork roast and sauerkraut on New Year's Day would bring good luck all year long. Our family came over from Germany in the early 1800's and settled into western PA, and a lot of our food habits came from that lineage. And so that is the tradition I brought into my married life.

My husband, being born and raised in Oklahoma by a farmer's daughter, grew up with the familiar black eyed peas and ham bone tradition. My mother in law is a fantastic cook, and she makes this dish incredibly well. I would dare say that she makes it better than anyone I've ever known. Including me. Not that I would put up any kind of competition. I tried once to make black eyed peas and ham starting with a bag of dried beans and a bone off of a holiday ham. It was not a hit. I think I was not born with the country cooking gene.

So over the 24 years we've been married, we've pretty consistently had pork roast and sauerkraut for New Years Day. Always served with mashed potatoes. Because it's just not right to eat sauerkraut without mashed potatoes. You have to pile the kraut on top of the potatoes, and add some sour juice from the bowl of kraut, and then every bite has a little sour and a little smooth potato. Really, it's heavenly.

I usually buy my sauerkraut in a can from Libby's or Del Monte, though sometimes I get it in a plastic bag from the meat counter, right next to the pork. I dump it into a baking dish. Back in the day I would add a LOT of brown sugar, and plop the pork roast on top of the bed of kraut and put it all in the oven for a couple hours. 'Cause that's just the kind of gourmet chef that I am. That was back when I thought sauerkraut was supposed to taste more like "sweet-and-sour" kraut. I was not really a fan of vinegar.

But then in the late '90's I had the opportunity to travel to Germany quite often for my work. I would find myself being served sauerkraut with nearly every meal. Sometimes with mashed potatoes, sometimes with boiled potatoes. Sometimes with potato salad. But never with brown sugar. Boy, did my tastes tingle. You know that feeling your tongue and your throat get when those sour taste bud receptors have been lit up? Makes your whole mouth twitch! But, I found that with a nicely cooked piece of pork, and with a good German beer, it tasted really good! Ah, those meals were yummy! Since then, I've loved the true "sour" part of the sauerkraut, and even our kids have gotten to where they kind of like it. Or will tolerate it. Now and then. Sometimes.

Incidentally, I asked my German friends about the tradition of eating pork roast and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. It turns out they don't do that. I guess that makes sense - they probably have that meal about 3 times per week. Maybe they have a Big Mac on New Year's Day?

So, tomorrow we'll be pulling out the canned sauerkraut and plopping a big pork roast on top and baking it for hours. But we'll be leaving out the brown sugar. And the black eyed peas? We'll leave those to those cooks who know what they're doing. Our luck has been pretty good over the years, I think we'll stick with what we know.

Update: The Pioneer Woman posted a recipe today for black eyed peas dip, so we'll be making that tonight for New Year's Eve. That way we can get some good luck from my husband's side of things too!

How about you? What's your New Year's Day "good luck" food?

Resolutions? or Intentions?

2010-12-30T04:24:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking some about whether or not to make any New Year's resolutions. It's not been a habit of mine. For one, it seems artificial to me to just make a lot of promises to myself just because the earth happened to drift to the same place along its orbit as the last time we made a big list of promises. There are other times during the year that seem more appropriate to make changes or improvements in my life - back to school time, birthdays, etc. And also, I'm not all that great about keeping up with promises to change the way I do things. Turns out my habits have been formed and it's hard to change that.

But maybe there's something to be said for being more intentional, concentrating on a few key ideas that will get some extra attention this year. I like that. Being more on purpose about what I do, how I choose to spend my time and energy, and making sure that I actually follow through on those intentions. That's kind of the same thing as making a resolution... sort of. I could pick out a few things about which I'd like to be more intentional in the coming year. Hmm. I like that.

Ok, so what will my intentions be for 2011? What parts of my life need a little nudge of encouragement, a little zap of energy? Not wholesale changes, but a little tender loving care and attention?

First, my relationships with my loved ones. My husband, my children, my parents, my siblings. I'd like to put a little bit of extra strength into the bonds with my family members this year, to make sure that all these people know how much I love them and make sure they know I'm here for them. Some of these are really strong already, but some of these can use a little bit of extra TLC.

And second, my care for myself. I'm pretty good at making sure that I learn, get mental challenges, and get creative outlets and "fun" in my life. But I'm not so good at taking care of my physical self, and sometimes I leave my spiritual self a little bit out in the cold. I want to be more intentional this year about caring for not only my mind, but also my body and spirit, to be well-rounded and fully nurtured.

I think that's all I'm going to focus on for now. I think if I can do these two things this year, then I'll be pretty well set for a healthy and happy life, don't you?

What about you? Are you making resolutions? Do you have intentions for change in the new year? What's your approach?

Linking to Southern In My Heart's Inspiration Friday party.

A Look Back on 2010

2010-12-29T09:52:00.000-08:00

Taking a moment to look back on this year, I'm remembering the highs and lows, the joys and challenges. Taking all the good with the bad, it turns out that I'm blessed beyond my wildest imagination! What a joyous feeling!

I was so fortunate to have spent another wonderful year with my husband and my two kids. I am so proud of all of them! We had a lot of fun times this year, and I'm sort of wishing that time would slow down, you know? All too soon, the kids will be out on their own. But I'm savoring every memory that we're making together!

As for my own accomplishments this year, I'm especially proud of my participation in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day 60 Mile Walk for the Cure. I blogged about it all summer long, and I'd love for you to read all about it http://the-big-walk.blogspot.com. In fact, come to think of it, it's not too late to donate and receive a tax deduction for 2010. If you feel so inclined, I would love it if you'd consider making a contribution to the breast cancer cause here.

Also of importance to me this year was the progress and changes that were made to my quartet, Lustre. You can read our website at www.lustrequartet.com. After five years and lots of memories, we said goodbye to founding member and took on a new member. All is well with our quartet; we were very busy singing throughout the Christmas season, and now we have our sights set on competition in April.

My chorus, the Harbor City Music Company, had a banner year, winning the Sweet Adelines International Harmony Classic competition for mid-size choruses. You can find out more about HCMC at www.harborcitymusiccompany.org .

Finally, I want to mention how fun it has been to start this blog, and to participate in the blogging community with all of you. I'm humbled by the kind comments that folks have made here, and am looking forward to continuing this new and exciting hobby in the new year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's a photo tour of my year...

January - Took a weekend getaway vacation to Cape May, NJ as a Christmas gift to my husband.

January - celebrated our daughter's 16th birthday

February - endured the largest snow storm ever in Maryland - "Snowmageddon"

March - Lustre quartet performed at the Baltimore Women's Fair

March - Signed up for the Susan G. Komen 3-day 60-mile Walk for the Cure, and blogged about it all summer

April - Went to Cape Cod to visit family

April - began training for the 3-Day

April - Lustre prepared for then went to Sweet Adelines regional competition

May - Continued training for the 3-day

May - Our daughter won an award from her school for her switch from bass clarinet to trombone

May - enjoyed beauty in the garden

May - found baby sparrows in the garden birdhouse

June - took a family trip one Saturday to visit Winterthur Estates in Delaware

June - Kim received her Girl Scout Silver Award

July - after five years together, Lustre welcomed new member Kate singing tenor

July - enjoyed more beauty in the garden

June - more training for the 3-day

July - visited family in Oklahoma

July - visited more family in Oklahoma

July - visited family in San Diego

July - visited Disneyland

July - held a fundraiser yard sale for the 3-day

July - Lustre performed for the first time with new member, got kicked out of the restaurant for singing!

July - more training for the 3-day

August - first day of school for our daughter

September - took a trip to Hawaii for work

September - Singing for the Cure

September - U-MD versus Navy at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore

September - our son in the Mighty Sound of Maryland

September - Our daughter in her high school band

September - Grandparents visit and go to a U-MD game to see our son in the band

September - Kim got her driver's license!

October - our high school homecoming parade

October - I completed the Susan G. Komen 3 Day 60 Mile Walk for the Cure with my friends

October - Lustre competed as members of the Harbor City Music Company Show Chorus, and won the Harmony Classic competition for Mid-size choruses

November - I started this blog!

November - my husband won an award for his work

December - enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season with good friends and family - and you!

Eat What You Want Night

2010-12-28T06:52:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, our family has a somewhat odd tradition for our dinner. Rather than have an extravagant holiday meal, or hosting or attending a party, our tradition is to have an "Eat What You Want" night.

This started back when our kids were 4 and 6 years old. Back then we paid a lot of attention to what our kids ate, and tried really hard to ensure that they had proper vegetables, fruits, healthy grains and dairy, etc. We were pretty strict about sugary snacks, and at meal times, we required them to try at least one bite of everything on their plates. Looking back, our parenting around mealtime was probably a bit overdone, but now our kids are really smart, healthy eaters so maybe it wasn't all bad.

Anyway, when they were little, it was a big deal - I mean, a BIG DEAL - for them to be able to choose what they had for meals. So on New Year's Eve of 1998 our first "Eat What You Want" night was born.

We filled the kitchen table with a wide variety of foods, including hot and cold finger foods and snacks, healthy options and sweet treats. We set out plates and napkins, and told the kids they could choose anything they wanted, all night long. The kids were thrilled to have such autonomy, and I was thrilled to see that they mostly chose smart healthy foods with only a few snacks and treats thrown in for good measure.

Over the years, we have repeated this tradition each year. The kids are 17 and 19 now, so this is not at all a big deal for them of course to choose their own foods. This year our son will be spending the night at a friend's house, and our daughter will be having a group of friends over at our house for a sleepover. We'll still have our buffet of various items on our kitchen table, it will just be different kids partaking this year.

A sample menu from the early days:

fruit platter
vegetables and dip
cheese and crackers
cocktail meatballs
chicken bites
honey BBQ wings
mini pizza rounds
yogurt cups
potato chips
pretzels
hummus and toasted pita
baked eggrolls
ham and cream cheese pinwheels
various dessert options (brownie bites, cookies, chocolate pretzels, etc.)

In later years, we would add in more sophisticated items such as broiled garlic shrimp or shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, or bacon-wrapped scallops. One year we splurged and had a fondue night as the central food theme, doing a cheese fondue with bread and veggies early in the evening, and chocolate fondue with fruit and angel food cake later in the evening.

We always start around 6pm, and leave everything out for as long as someone is still snacking. We usually spend our evenings together watching football, playing board games, or when the kids were little, playing with their new Christmas toys. I spent many New Years Eves playing with Polly Pockets with my daughter while my husband and son watched football. Ahhhh! memories!

What is your New Year's Eve food tradition?

Linking up today to All Things Heart and Home's All Things Inspired party.

Top Ten Reasons To Love the Week After Christmas

2010-12-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Here we are, two days after Christmas, and I'm guessing many folks are battling the "post-holiday let-down" that can hit us right about now. But surprisingly, I've not been affected this year. I'm still loving this holiday season!

So here are my "Top Ten" reasons why I'm enjoying this week after Christmas:

Our house still looks beautiful, after a little bit of clean-up on Sunday morning to put away the evidence of scattered stocking stuffers and opened packages
Our Christmas tree is still fresh and is not losing it's needles - amazing!
There are lots of yummy left over holiday sweet treats
If I want to go shopping, there are sales everywhere!
All the items on my Christmas "to do" list are done or it's too late to worry about!
The radio might not be playing Christmas music anymore, but my iTunes is filled with over 600 Christmas songs that I can choose at a moment's notice
I can relax and enjoy the evenings with no holiday obligations
At work, almost everyone else is on vacation, leaving the office very quiet and perfect for getting caught up
I have time to ponder the year gone by, and plan for the year to come
The kids are home and the family is together

I've been focusing this year on enjoying the best of the Christmas season - which for me is the tangible spirit of joy and giving - rather than focus on the hustle and bustle. Taking that approach has saved me from getting stressed out, and has allowed me to carry these happy feelings into Christmas Day and beyond.

I hope you, too, enjoy these special days in the afterglow of Christmas. Do you have any secrets for keeping the Christmas spirit alive?

Oh, hey, before you leave, would you please help me design my blog, by voting in my poll on the top of the right sidebar? I'm trying to decide how best to organize my blog's home page, and in this post I describe the options I'm considering. Thanks for taking a moment to help me out!

Linking up today to All Things Heart and Home's All Things Inspired party.

Christmas Eve Table

2010-12-26T04:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our home for Christmas Eve dinner. I know, it's the day after Christmas, but heck, things were too busy to post this on Christmas Eve!

Rather than cook a big meal on Christmas Day, we always make our big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve. That way the cooks (usually me and my husband) can spend Christmas Day with the rest of the family, relaxing and enjoying our new "toys" and each other's company. This year, we celebrated Christmas at home with just my husband, our son, our daughter, and me, we had no other family visiting with us this year. So it was a quiet Christmas Eve dinner in our dining room.

We don't usually go very "formal" with our dinner, at least not in what we wear. But I do like to have Christmas Eve dinner in the dining room using our pretty things on the table.

Our place setting is fairly simple, and if you saw our Thanksgiving table, you'll remember seeing some of these same pieces.

The plates and bowls are from a set that I bought about 10 or 12 years ago from Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are not special, except that I think they're pretty and I bought them with some Christmas gift money that my parents gave me. They came in service for 8, with a meat platter and vegetable bowl. There is also a creamer and a sugar bowl.

The napkins have a pretty beaded edge on one side. I like to show off the beaded edge by doing a simple roll-up, and letting the beads show on the bottom edge. These are my favorite napkins ever. I think I found them at Kohl's about a hundred years ago. The placemats are also from Kohl's, maybe a few years after I found the napkins.

The silverware is Oneida, but I don't recall the pattern name. Someone out there will probably recognize it. We received service for 8 as a wedding gift long ago, and since then we've added another service for 8, and then an extra set of 8 teaspoons, and yet I still can only find 6 or 8 teaspoons in the kitchen at any given time. I have no idea what happens to them - somewhere they are hanging out with all the stray socks that disappear during laundry time.

The wine glasses came from Pier 1 about 3 or 4 years ago. They have a soft golden color. A year later, I found the water glasses at Target. I like the gold ball on the stem, and I like that they sort of match the wine glasses but sort of don't.

For the centerpiece, I modified the centerpiece that I originally created to showcase our Santa smoker collection. Basically I just made it shorter to fit the table without the leaves in it, and I elevated some of the Santas and turned them different directions so that all four place settings can see the front of at least one Santa.

I love these Santas - can't get enough of them!

We had a wonderful, quiet, simple dinner for four on our Christmas Eve. I hope you enjoyed visiting with us here in our dining room!

Before you leave, would you please help me design my blog, by voting in my poll on the top of the right sidebar? I'm trying to decide how best to organize my blog's home page, and in this post I describe the options I'm considering. Thanks for taking a moment to help me out!

Merry Christmas!

Linking to the Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays.

Linking to Between Naps on the Back Porch's Tablescape Thursday.

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-25T18:11:00.000-08:00

We had a very happy Christmas morning, with plentiful blessings - which always leads to a messy house. Just keeping it real, folks. All things considered, this is a beautiful sight this morning...

I hope everyone enjoyed a Merry Christmas today!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

On this Christmas Eve, I wish you peace and love and happiness...

Whether enjoying a family-filled celebration or a quiet dinner at home...

Whether you're heading out to church, or to visit friends or family, or staying home by the fireside...

I wish you comfort and joy, and I hope that you are surrounded by love...

I hope the Spirit fills you...

And that Love fills your heart tonight and for all your days to come. Merry Christmas!

Poll: Thoughts on the "Read More" feature

2010-12-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

As I've been wandering around blogland, I've been gathering ideas for how to design a good blog. I'm noticing features that I like, and am noticing some features that kind of bother me. I've only been blogging for a little over a month so far, so I'm still not sure what is going to work best for me, and more importantly, for you, the readers.

I've made a design choice for my blog that I'm noticing is not very often used by others. When you go to the home page of my blog, each blog post is shown only for the first paragraph and maybe the first photograph, then there's a link that says "Read More >>". If you want to read the rest of the article, you have to click on that link. I chose this style because my blog posts tend to be long with lots of photographs. I feel that if I let the entire post show on the blog home page, then readers who are looking for additional content beyond that first article might have to scroll a really long way.

But I'm wondering if readers might not want to click to see more in the article. Maybe you want to have the articles scroll down the page, and you can just read them all together. This would be the more typical approach.

I wonder, what is your reading preference?

Over on the side bar, I've put a poll. I'd love to have your input. Would you mind taking the poll to let me know what you think?

And just for grins, I've put this whole post on my blog front page - no need to click the "Read More" link for this one. ;-)

Our Family Christmas Tree

2010-12-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

Though we have four Christmas trees in our home, there is really only one that we consider our "Family Christmas tree", and that's the one in the family room next to the fireplace. This is the only real tree in the house. This is the one that holds all of our precious family ornaments that have been collected as mementoes over the years. This is the one that is surrounded by gifts, and the one that Santa visits on Christmas Eve.

We typically get a tree that is 10 or 12 feet tall, then we put it in a tree stand that is attached to a plywood base. The base elevates the tree by another foot, giving room for gifts under the tree, and making the tree just that much taller. With the two-store ceiling in the room, it takes a lot of tree to fit the scale! The first year we lived in this house the tree was about 14 feet tall, plus the base. This year it's only a 10 footer, hand-cut from a local tree farm.

We have hundreds of ornaments on this tree, and there is a special memory associated with each one. Some ornaments are for our children to commemorate the most important aspect of the previous year of their lives. Other ornaments are souvenirs from our travels. Others were gifts to us. Others adorned our tree when we were first married in 1986. In addition to all these special ornaments, we also usually put about 5 dozen or so plain glass balls in red, gold, green, and sometimes other colors. We use about 15002000 lights on any given year, depending on the size of the tree. Sometimes we wind ribbon around the tree, other years we use simple ribbon bows. We wrap the bottom of the tree with yardage of green fabric purchased just for this purpose. While the tree doesn't look "designer" by any means, it is my favorite tree in the house by far.

Here is a peek at just a few of the ornaments on our family tree.

We like to collect ornaments as we travel to different places, like these:

From our vacation to Disneyland in July 2010:

From one of our many trips to Walt Disney World over the years:

From one of our many trips to Hershey Park in Hershey, PA:

From our trip NYC in Nov 2008:

From my trip to Jerusalem long ago, we have a whole set of these teak wood silhouettes of the Holy City:

From a trip to Germany:

From a trip to Denmark:

These ornaments have been on our tree since our earliest days of our marriage, before we had kids:

This angel used to be our tree topper on our very first Christmas tree:

Nestling bells have a beautiful tinkling sound when someone brushes up against them:

These were some of balls on our very first tree - the others have not survived:

We have five of these painted wooden hearts:

Lovebirds nestled in their nest:

Gifts from my parents:

I made and collected these ornaments to signify the first year of our son attending the University of Maryland:

This one is hand painted, and is meant to resemble the Maryland state flag:

This one was hand painted, in the school colors of red, gold, black and white:

Another U-MD ornament:

With all those U-MD ornaments, we can't ignore our own alma mater, the University of Oklahoma:

Some of my kids' ornaments:

I gave this one to our daughter the year that I became her Girl Scout leader, and we went camping for the first time:

From our son's first Christmas:

Here are some that signify my quartet, Lustre, and our favorite Christmas song, "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas":

To commemorate my participation in the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure in Oct 2010:

To signify donations we've made to world hunger relief efforts:

A saxophone I've had since high school:

Our tree is the centerpiece of our holiday celebrations. It stands proudly in the center of our home, and it symbolizes all of the special family memories and traditions that we hold dear. I could stare at it for hours. It, above all other things, says "Merry Christmas" to me.

Linking to My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Simple and Fun Vignettes

2010-12-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

I'm having a party at our home tonight, and so I've been spending the day mostly cleaning up, but also putting little touches of Christmas cheer here and there. Thought I'd share some of the little vignettes I put together today... Hope you enjoy!

On an end table, I grouped some of my favorite Santas, and some holiday toys.

The red and white Santa puzzle and the Christmas tree peg puzzle came from Old Navy, of all places, a few years ago.

The Santa puzzle is an old postcard that'd been glued to a block of wood, then cut into a jigsaw puzzle.

I tucked them into a small box, and nestled them into some greenery with a floral pick. Festive and easy!

Underneath this end table, Twinkle Bear found a place to rest for the evening. We've got a stash of Santa hats there too, in case anyone is feeling particularly festive.

At the fireplace, I cut some fresh greens from the yard and stuck them into the log holder. I added a faux berry sprig for some easy color. I first did this arrangement a couple of weeks ago, but today I added some more greens to make it fuller and freshen it up. It smells so nice!

On another end table, I have a lantern with a floral pick, and a painted Santa figure. They are sitting beside a hand-made bent wood box with a hand-carved top. My dad made this box for me.

The Santa is painted in a very detailed way. I found him at an arts and crafts fair a long time ago - he was one of my first Santas in my collection.

Here's a detail view of the relief carving of the top of the box.

The inside of the box is lined with dark green velvet. I use it to store coasters.

I love the detail of the overlap on the bent wood box. I love displaying the handiwork of my family!

In my powder room, I added some fresh greens from the yard and a new candle. Above the mirror is a swag of red berries and red apples.

Another Santa and some festive hand towels finish up the powder room decor.

I think that's about it for today's decorating fun. Thanks for dropping by!

Merry Christmas!

Linking up to Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life.

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/12/44th-table-top-tuesday.html

December Makes Me Feel This Way

2010-12-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a quiet moment this evening to be still. The Christmas season is coming to its peak, and the hustle and bustle is in full swing. But tonight I am still. Listening. Being.

The Christmas season is such a special, magical time, it's hard to put into words. More than any time of the year, the season reminds me of God's wonder, of God In Us. There's a little known song by jazz artist Dave Koz that captures the simple magic of the season in a way that few other songs do, at least for me. I hope you enjoy this song and that it reminds you of the Spirit of the season.

Merry Christmas!

December Makes Me Feel This Way, by Dave Koz

Autumn waves goodbye
And the changing of the seasons
Brings a change in me
I see with different eyes
I get a sense of all of nature's possibilities

It's like the world is new
And precious as a baby
Life is sweet a children at play
And love is truly there in every heart
December makes me feel this way

Friends and family
Strangers on the street are smiling at me
Inhibitions disappear
Laughing in the snow
I wish that I could know this feeling
Every moment of the year

The world is new

And precious as a baby

Life is sweet a children at play

And love is truly there in every heart

December makes me feel this way

The Spirit will guide me

Whenever I'm lost

It's gonna find me

And when I am unsure

It will remind me

Of who I am, what I can be

December is inside of me

The world is new

And precious as a baby

Life is sweet a children at play

And love is truly there in every heart

December makes me feel this way

Linking today to "It's A Wonderful Life" Blog party - because it truly is a wonderful life!

Chocolate Christmas Candy

2010-12-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

I had a big day of making chocolate candy this weekend. Each year I make a dozen or so different types of hand-dipped chocolate treats, usually spread out over the course of 6 or 8 weekday evenings in December. But this year, I had a couple of good friends come over to spend the day, and we knocked out a lot of it all at once!

This year, I bought big blocks of French couverture - the culinary term for "candy-making chocolate". I order it from an online source, and got both dark (67% cocoa) and milk (35% cocoa) chocolate. I also ordered some fillings online from a different source. This year I bought vanilla caramel, coconut dough, and fruit and nut nougat fillings. This made for a lot of yummy candy treats!

Here are the "before" pictures:

The chocolate is "Valrhona" brand, and it comes in big blocks. It needs to be chopped before it can be used. So I put everyone in the house to work on that job.

The chopping does not have to be exact - just get the pieces into chunks smaller than grapes, it all works great.

I always melt the chocolate in a double boiler - though I don't own a double boiler, so I just use a stainless steel bowl that sits on top of a pot of simmering water. It works out just fine!

This is what the ganache for the truffles looks like before it's cooled. This is an easy recipe that draws a lot of compliments. Just mix of 16 oz. chocolate (melted) and 1 cup heavy cream (scalded). Stir it all together into a ganache, then let it cool to room temperature. Then whip it in the mixer until it's light and airy and silky. Let it set up a little more at room temperature, then roll into balls. At this point, I usually roll them in tempered chocolate, then drop them into cocoa powder. Done!

This photo shows the hand-rolling method. Putting the tempered chocolate into your hand and rolling the filling around in it makes for a thinner coating of chocolate. The milk chocolate in particular is pretty runny when it's being used as a dipping chocolate, and so if you try to coat your filling too thickly, it just runs off and makes a puddle around the candy. Not pretty! So I use the hand-rolling method, which puts a thin coat, and then I double-dip each piece. It takes longer, and is pretty messy, but is very fun!

Lots of hand soap was used today!

My friends helped me make great progress today, all in one session. In the course of 6 hours, we made:

Dark Chocolate Covered Coconut (Mounds Bars)

Milk Chocolate Covered Coconut and Almonds (Almond Joy Bars)

Dark Chocolate Caramels

Milk Chocolate Caramels

Dark Chocolate Fruit&Nut Nougats

Dark Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Milk Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Dark Chocolate Truffles

Milk Chocolate Truffles

Dark Chocolate Cherry Creams

Milk Chocolate Cherry Creams

Dark Chocolate Cherry Cordials

Milk Chocolate Shortbread & Caramels (Twix bars)

Dark Chocolate Shortbread & Caramels (Dark Twix bars)

Here is the "after" picture:

Merry Christmas!

I'm linking up to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays.

I'm also linking up to Between Naps on the Back Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.

US Capitol In The Snow

2010-12-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Today the Washington DC area received its first snowfall of the year, and lucky me, I had occasion to be down on the National Mall in the early evening. What a pretty sight it was! Thought I'd share some views of the US Capitol in the early evening snow. I'll just let you enjoy the photos, no narration necessary.

Merry Christmas!

Singing About Town

2010-12-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight I had an opportunity to sing with my chorus, the Harbor City Music Company Show Chorus, at the Mormon Temple in Washington DC. The Visitor Center at the Temple is a beautiful facility, with a lovely amphitheater-style auditorium and beautiful Christmas decorations. There are 1/2 million LED lights strung in trees around the grounds. It makes for a magical, beautiful sight. Thought I'd share some snapshots of the evening...

Merry Christmas!

What could be better?

2010-12-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like relaxing on an evening in December, turning the Christmas lights on, pour a glass of wine, light the candles, and put your feet up. Just basking in the glow of the house, soaking in the spirit of the season. Sometimes I listen to Christmas music, sometimes we watch TV.
I love watching the classic holiday movie "Christmas Vacation" - we've seen it so much that we practically have the script memorized. Now this is the way to spend a relaxing evening at Christmas time!

She'll see it later, Clark. Audrey can't feel her eyes.

Easy Pretzel Kisses

2010-12-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a really easy recipe for making a Christmas treat that is yummy and pretty and takes no culinary skills. In my house, these are all good things! I call these "Pretzel Kisses". I don't know what the real name might be, but it really doesn't matter, because they taste yummy no matter what you call them!

It's really simple. Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees. Put some waffle style pretzels on a baking sheet. Unwrap regular milk chocolate Hershey's Kisses, and put one on each pretzel. Bake for about 2 minutes, or until the kisses are just soft Take them out of the oven and press one M&M candy into the center of each kiss. Let cool 3-4 hours or until completely solid again. Don't touch them early, because then you get big fingerprints in them. Not that I would know or anything.

Don't over bake, or the kisses will turn hard and dusty and nasty, and will not allow you to press anything into them. Not that I would know or anything.

I found that the best way to know if they're melty enough is to stand at the oven door, watch to see when they turn glossy, and then test one to see if an M&M can be pressed into it. If not, then close the door and wait 30 seconds and try again. It really doesn't take long at all, and it IS possible to over-do them. Not that I would know or anything.

You could vary this recipe by using Hershey's Hugs instead. That makes them look really different with the white and brown stripes, and they have a slightly different taste. You could also use different colored M&Ms to give a different look - regular colors for a birthday party, Valentine colors for a Valentine treat, pastels for Easter, etc. Mix it up! Of course, if you want to make them for Christmas, then get the red and green Christmas colored M&Ms. Don't accidentally forget and get the regular colors. Not that I would know or anything.

Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Linking today to All Things Merry and Brite Week 6

Twinkle Bear

2010-12-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

One Christmas season, a long time ago when our kids were very small, Twinkle Bear came to live with us. He told me that he was Santa's special helper, and he lived at the North Pole. He was sent to live with us in December, because Santa needed his help to see if our son and daughter were being naughty or nice. Each night in December, Twinkle Bear would magically go home to the North Pole to give Santa a recap of the day's events. Then he would arrive back at our house before morning, always landing in a different spot. There he would sit all the next day, watching the kids play, and then he would go home again that night to give another recap of the day.

Our kids with Twinkle Bear, about 12 years ago

This was back before the Elf began sitting on the Shelf in other people's homes. In fact, Twinkle Bear and The Elf are great friends, and often they share the same travel arrangements to and from the North Pole each evening. But the Elf always visits other homes, and that's just fine with us because Twinkle Bear has been our friend for a very long time.

Here are some of the places that we have found Twinkle Bear after his long journey back to us from the North Pole. We used to find him in bed with our kids a lot, but now he seems to enjoy settling in to more comfortable places, or more mischievous ones!

In a comfy arm chair

Or a different comfy arm chair

Resting above the TV

On the front stairs

Playing on the stair bannister

Chatting with the deer

Waiting for someone to make him some microwave popcorn

Eating all of the candy out of my centerpiece!

Under the tree

Even IN the tree!

He likes to sit here by Santa

Uh oh, he's hanging from the chandelier again!

Twinkle Bear is certainly a valued member of our Christmas time family. Do you have a tradition like this in your family?

Christmas 2010 Tour of Our Home

2010-12-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

I've been posting here and there all month long with photos of our home and our Christmas decorations. In preparation for The Nester's Christmas 2010 Tour Of Homes party, I've put together this launching point so you can see all the various things we've done this year. Hope you enjoy!

Welcome to our home! Here are some views of the outside, as you approach our front door. In a post about last year's outdoor decorating, I noted that I was thinking about moving to larger wreaths. But time got away from me this year, and I had trouble finding the size I was thinking of. So we went with the same wreaths as last year.

To see more, read this post about Christmas Decorating Outside.

Once you enter our front door, here is the panoramic view that greets you. Our front stairs are decked out in lighted garlands with red and gold bows, and there are trees in the dining room and the living room, and you can peek into the rear of our home with our large family room tree and maybe you can even peek at our kitchen tree.

To see more, read this post about the view from the front of our home.

Turning into the living room, we have a 9' tree decked out in a Santa theme. To see more, read this post about our Santa Theme Tree.

Also in our living room, we've got a bookshelf that is decorated with our hand-painted Christmas village. This village is really special to us, because of the history behind it and the love that went into creating it. Read that story and see more about the village in this post.

To the left of the front door, heading into the dining room we have a lovely green-themed tree. To see more, read this post about our Dining Room Tree.

On our dining room table, I have displayed my collection of German Smoker Santas. These are treasures from my travels to Germany. To see more, read this post about my Smoker Santas.

Moving into the back of the house into the kitchen, I've got a couple of posts about our peppermint theme. In one post, I share the garlands, wreaths, and table top tree. In another post I share info about our gingerbread houses, and finally in another post I show how I made my peppermint table runner.

In the family room, we have a wood fireplace and our main, large, live family tree. I've written a post about our mantle this year, and I've also shared the view of our Christmas tree as it was cut, carried, and decorated on Thanksgiving weekend.

I think that just about completes the tour of our home this Christmas season. In the coming days I'll be sharing more small vignettes, peeks into our kitchen candy making traditions, and some of our family traditions. I hope you've enjoyed this tour, and hope you'll visit again soon!

Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Kitchen

2010-12-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we finished decorating the house, including the kitchen, which is in a peppermint theme this year. I posted earlier about our kitchen tree and other decorations, and also about creating an easy and cheap table runner. Today I'm sharing the rest of the kitchen, which is the easy and low-stress centerpiece, and the gingerbread houses.

But first - an overview of our kitchen. You've seen the window sill with the peppermint and gingerbread theme already. And the kitchen tree too.

You've also already seen the kitchen doors with the greenery and apple swags.

Here's how the kitchen connects to the family room. The couch in the family room backs up to the kitchen, with a sofa table behind the couch. We've put the gingerbread on the sofa table this year.

Under the sofa table there is a shelf, and on that shelf I store all of our Christmas tins. This is decorative in a sort of jumbled, chaotic kind of way! But it's also utilitarian, because as I make candies throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas, I store both the supplies and the finished products in these tins. They're decorative and accessible but also out of the way!

These little houses came from a kit from Michael's. There are five little houses all decorated by me and my daughter with peppermint candies and other red and white candies. Three of the little trees are actually clay ornaments picked up from Kohl's earlier in the season. Two of the little trees are real candy cane trees, wiht little candy decorations on them. I got these at the Dollar Tree, and they fit the theme perfectly!

On the center of the table is our kitchen Santa. He matches perfectly this year, with his red and white gingham shirt and the little gingerbread house that he's decorating. If you look closely you can see that the little gingerbread house is decorated with peppermint candy accents!

The other side of the table has a larger scale gingerbread house, also purchased as a kit from Michael's. I've tried baking my own gingerbread houses before, and couldn't figure it out, so I always go the easy way out now. I displayed this house on a white cake stand so that it has a little height and also it's easily portable in case I want to use it as a table centerpiece later in the season.

The two tall trees are decorations that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and Kohl's this season. In fact, the spiral tree is the original inspiration behind our peppermint theme this year.

Finally, on our kitchen table, I've put together the easiest centerpiece ever. It's just a white tray, a hurricane candle with a red and white candle, some candies, and another of my dad's hand-carved Santa figures. This centerpiece stays here most days, but at mealtime sometimes we move it off to the side or over to the kitchen island. It's fun, festive, and easy. The only problem with it is that it's also partially edible - I've had to replace the gumdrops once already. ;-)

And that concludes our kitchen decorations for this year. Merry Christmas!

Sounds of the Season

2010-12-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

Last night we had the pleasure of hearing our daughter and her friends play in a trombone quartet at a local bookstore, as part of a fundraising event for our high school music department. This performance was really special in a number of ways.

First, our daughter has only played the trombone for roughly a year, having played bass clarinet since fourth grade then switching to trombone in her sophomore year of high school. She has really committed herself to becoming a strong trombone performer, and has shown that she can do anything she sets her mind to.

Also, this performance was special because three of the five pieces they played were arranged by our daughter. She has shown an interest in music arranging as well as performance. She has such a natural talent for music, it's wonderful to have her share her talents with her peers and her audience!

I'm loving this Christmas season, and events like last night are just such a special part of our holiday celebrations. I'm so proud of our daughter! Here she is, playing the difficult melody part of her trombone adaptation of Carol of the Bells.

Merry Christmas, hope you enjoy these sounds of the season!

German Smoker Santas

2010-12-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Fifteen years ago, I had the fantastic opportunity to travel for my job quite a bit. I often found myself in Germany, and sometimes at Christmas time. Germany is a beautiful country, with lots of wonderful people, food and customs. In particular, Christmas time in Germany is lovely, with so many traditions that resonate with me and my family.

During my visits there, my German hosts helped me choose some authentic hand-made German incense smokers, or Räuchermänner. They taught me that I need to look for the mark "Erzgebirgische Volkskunst", which indicates that the item was crafted in Germany according to time-honored traditions.

The first smoker was developed around 1850 in Heidelberg close to Seiffen. At first dough served as material. Mostly figures of the everyday life were used as motif. Nowadays Santa Claus figures and other modern motifs are also manufactured. You can find salesmen, bakers, foresters, miners, chimney sweepers, standing smokers, edge stools smokers, large smokers, small smokers and so on. I love the Santa figures, and focused my collection on those.

The smokers are hollow, and are created in two pieces. the body lifts up off of the legs. You can place a small cone of incense inside, and light the incense. The smoke come out the smoker's mouth to scent your home. I tried this with the first smoker I brought home. I didn't care for the scent, I must say, and I was disappointed that the smoke caused discoloration on the Santa's soft white fur beard. So I've not used incense inside the smokers, I just enjoy their looks during the holidays.

This was the first Santa smoker that I bought. I remember that I was sight-seeing in the famous Marienplatz in Munich, and there was a wonderful gift shop that had hundreds and hundreds of Erzgebirgisch collectible items. I had a difficult time choosing, but settled on this one because it was the right size for carrying home with me in my carry-on bag, and it wasn't outrageously expensive, only moderately expensive. ;-)

I picked this one up in Bonn, a pretty little town in northern Germany where Beethoven was born.

A couple of years later, I picked up this one in Cologne. I chose this one because it was all wood toned, and showed the beauty of the wood itself.

My husband traveled to Germany one time, and brought this one back for me. He's a bit larger than the others, and has such a soft beard made of rabbit fur.

This one is different from the others because he is more decoratively painted than typically done. This is a Kathe Wohlfahrt figure. He's so handsome and welcoming!

I've arranged the smokers on the dining room table with some simple greenery and a few candles. It makes for a nice display as you enter our home, and highlights these pieces as the treasures that they are.

Merry Christmas! or should I say, "Fröhliche Weihnachten"!

Linking to Tinsel & Co. Deck the Halls Friday.

My Best Decorating Trick This Year

2010-12-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

This year I found a new trick for putting together our Christmas decorations this year. It all began when I read a post on Tinsel & Co's blog about how to decorate a tree. She recommended using green pipe cleaners to hang ornaments, so that you don't end up with stringy-looking wires all over your tree. After having read that tip, but before I started decorating, I found a cool thing at the Dollar Tree.

These are pipe cleaners, but they look like an artificial Christmas tree limb. The package contains twelve pieces, each about a foot long. I picked up two packages, and have been using them all over the house this year.

For instance, I used them to put together two swag branches to create one swag.

Can you see the pipe cleaner? Nope!

I also used them to hang ornaments on our trees. Can you see them? Barely!

For only $2 I've made all my trees look so much more clean and pretty, hiding messy hanging strings and wires. I highly recommend decorating this way!

Welcome To Our Home

2010-12-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

We have finally finished our Christmas decorating for this year, and everything has been cleaned up and put away. I thought I'd share the view of our home from the front door vantage point.

Entering the front door, looking to the left is our dining room. I wrote about the tree in a previous post.

Straight ahead is the foyer hall and the entrance to our family room...

...and the stairs leading the second floor, with an upstairs hall that overlooks both the foyer and the family room.

At the bottom of the stairs I have arranged two of my Santa figures and a nice big pile of poinsettias.

And looking to the right is the living room, where our Santa theme tree is in the front window.

In the living room, in the book case is the Christmas village that I wrote about in a previous post.

From the living room, looking back toward the foyer and dining room...

And from the foyer looking back at the living room.

This is a panoramic shot. Welcome to our Christmas home!

Linking up today to All Things Merry and Brite Blog Party

Fa la la la la!

2010-12-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

Am just settling into a nice evening at home after a weekend full of singing with my quartet and chorus. Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon were all filled with performances of Christmas music. What a great way to spend the holidays!

Some photos from Saturday's performance... this is my quartet, singing in front of my chorus. My quartet was singing our favorite and most requested Christmas song, "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas." Complete with choreography and a kazoo interlude! That's me, second from the right (or third from the left).

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!

Just bring him through the front door, that's the easy thing to do!

Kazoo interlude

I can see me now on Christmas morning, creeping down the stairs!

No crocodiles, or rhinocerus-es!

Ta-da!!!!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas season filled with lots of love, laughter, and of course, music!

(You can find out more about my quartet at our website: www.lustrequartet.com)

Dining Room Tree

2010-12-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Sharing our new Dining Room tree with you today. You might remember that I previously shared photos of last year's tree, which was a table top tree with a "sugared fruits" theme. I have been imagining a full height but slim tree in this corner of the dining room for quite a few years, and now it's here!

Because I don't have enough sugared fruits elements to decorate this newer, bigger tree, and I couldn't find any more elements to match, I changed up the theme a bit. I'm going for a rich green, brown and cream feel. I picked up a couple boxes of new ornaments at Michael's to tie things together, and some new ribbons.

From start to finish, here is the metamorphosis of the Dining Room tree. First, straight out of the box pre-lit with white lights.

I added two strands of green lights to get the theme started.

Next came the star topper. Just simple and pretty.

I had three different ribbons to choose from.

I put them all on the tree to see how they looked. All three are very pretty, and all would help convey the look I was going for. In the end, I chose two of them, and put them on the tree in alternating spirals around the tree. This took one spool (10 yards) each.

Next I put in some cream and gold glittery florals. These were bushes that I picked up at Michael's and cut the stems apart to spread around.

Now time for ornaments. Some of these are new purchases this year, and some are taken out of my ever-growing stash of ornaments. I did put in the sugared fruits from the past few years, but they turned out to be fairly insignificant in scale and importance. I think they add a small detail, but wouldn't call them a "theme" anymore.

Finally, I added a tree skirt and my family of gold-tone deer. The tree skirt was made by my mom about 20 years ago, when my husband and I were just starting out and we had a more Victorian-themed tree. We still have all of those original ornaments and use them on our family room tree as keepsakes.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Linking up to Between Naps on the Back Porch' Deck the Halls Party.

Linking up to Amaze Me Monday at DittleDattle.

Linking up to Domestically Speaking's Countdown to Christmas Party.
Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party.

The Christmas Tree Farm

2010-12-03T22:30:00.000-08:00

Last weekend before our son went back to college for the rest of the semester, we drove out into the country a little way to a Christmas Tree farm.

We hunted and hunted for just the right tree.

We played "Marco Polo" in the trees.

We looked for just the right tree to bring home to our family room - one with enough branches but not too many.

One with no big gaping holes in its brach structure. Not too tall, not too short, not to fat, not too skinny.

Finally we found one that was Just Right.

Our son and my husband took turns sawing the tree down.

We tied it to the top of the car nice and securely, and we brought it home to spend the rest of the Christmas season with us.

We placed it in the tree stand, and screwed the tree stand to a sturdy plywood base so it wouldn't fall over. Added lots of water to keep it from drying out.

After stringing up 1501 lights, 25 large red bows, and hundreds of ornaments, "I give you the ~~Griswold~~ Harris family Christmas tree."

More details in another post to follow.

Merry Christmas!

Linking to Tinsel & Co's Deck The Halls Friday blog party.

The Not-Quite-Finished Holiday Tablescape

2010-12-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Despite my best intentions, I am not really finished with my Christmas decorating. In fact, I'm not even finished with my fall un-decorating yet. So my beautifully imagined but not yet executed Christmas dining room tablescape is still just a figment of my imagination, and my reality is quite a bit more chaotic and messy.

Thanks for humoring me and my tongue-in-cheek Tablescape Thursday. This is just the truth of my household at this moment. Life happens!

Linking today to Tablescape Thursday

Family Room Mantel

2010-11-30T04:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why, but it took me a really long time to decide how to decorate the mantel this year. I spent probably 2 hours on this, and about 1 hour 45 minutes of that was in fussing with various items! The whole thing really only took about 15 minutes once I decided what to do!

I used a wreath that I had created a couple years ago. It's an inexpensive evergreen wreath, with a string of lights, some gold-highlighted poinsettias, some red berries, some holly, and a few gold-painted pine cones. I added a few lengths of garlands, with some lights in the garland. (Most of the lights in the garland ended up being covered up, but some showed through.

I placed my "vintage" Santa here, and two Santas that were hand-carved by my dad.

I made a simple arrangement of hurricane vases with red pillar candles.

Of course our stocking hangers and stockings on either end, as well as some additional poinsettias and other floral picks. The small Santa and Angel figures are mementoes from my husband's childhood and mine.

I took some extra greenery from the Christmas tree, and stuck them into the iron work on the log holder, then added a faux berry sprig. Easy!

Our finished mantel for 2010.

Living Room "Santa" Tree

2010-11-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

This year our living room tree is themed as a "Santa" tree. I thought this would be a great way to showcase all of our Santa ornaments that we've collected over the years. I also picked up a couple new ornaments this year, just a few that caught my eye for one reason or another, nothing extravagant. And last year in the "after Christmas" sales at Michael's, I had picked up a few Santa ornaments then. So I figured we'd have plenty to do a whole tree.

Unfortunately, when I pulled out the ornaments, it turned out that we didn't have as many as I thought. I started to worry that we wouldn't have enough to fill the tree. So I added stars too, and some ribbon and some berry floral picks. In the end, I think it turned out pretty - sort of understated, but definitely themed.

What do you think?

BEFORE: The tree comes pre-lit, but here it is undecorated. It's a 9' Frasier Fir.

I put in some berry florals, and then started to wrap the green ribbon around the tree. But I wasn't liking the way the ribbon was looking, so I stopped and took it off.

I decided to mix two colors of ribbon - a red and green plaid, and the solid green. Unfortunately, I only had about three yards of the plaid. And I didn't like to "wrap around" look, it wasn't laying right and i couldn't make it work. So I cut both ribbons into short lengths - the plaid was cut into about 18" lengths, and the green into about 30" lengths. I bent the wire edges into wavy or curly shapes, and I cut "V" into each end. Then I laid these ribbons onto the tree branches, sort of alternating which went where. I love the colors, but wish I had more of the plaid. Oh well! I made it work.

Next, I put in some simple ball ornaments in red and gold, using both shiny and satin finishes.

Then I put in three different types of stars: Some red, brass, and clear acrylic.

Finally, I added the Santa ornaments. I had six of the large Santa faces with fuzzy beards. I spread them out evenly across the tree. Then I filled in with the smaller ornaments.

The Ice Skating Santa is a special ornament. When I was a little girl, my mom had an ice skating Santa and Mrs. Claus. My sisters and I always made sure that these ornaments were placed on the tree front and center. When my sisters and I started getting old enough to leave the house, my mom gave each of us one of these Ice Skating Santa ornaments for our own trees. They are not exactly like my mom's but they carry the memory with them.

THese next few Santas were hand-carved by my dad. He is a self-taught wood carver, and I love these. He carves in caricature style.

Here are some of the cute ornaments that caught my eye this year and found their way onto our tree.

This one was made by my daughter when she was in 3rd or 4th grade. I smile every time I see it!

I finished off the tree top by putting a simple Santa hat. I figured that was just right!

I wrapped the bottom of the tree with a gold tablecloth that I bought at WalMart a few years ago. We use it on the table in the fall, then make it into a tree skirt at Christmas time!

Finally, I put one of my Santa figures near the tree, flanked by faux poinsettias.

And with that, we'll call it done!

I'm linking today to Between Naps On The Back Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.

Also linking to Krafty Kat's Holiday Hook-up.

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

2010-11-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

In other parts of my life, I sing in a barbershop quartet. I love a cappella music! Here is a top notch example of some awesome a cappella music, though not in the barbershop style. Straight No Chaser is taking the nation by storm, all because of a YouTube video that appeared on the scene a few years ago.
My husband and I went to a concert of theirs just a few weeks ago, and loved every moment! This rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas should put anyone in the Christmas spirit. Enjoy!

Thank you! "Stylish Blogger" Award

2010-11-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

I'm humbled and surprised to receive a "Stylish Blogger" award from Mandie, of the Whispering Christmas Dreams blog. You're very sweet to think of me. Thank you so much!

As part of accepting this award, I've been asked to share 7 things about myself. So, let's see:

After dabbling in nearly every craft-based hobby known to the world, I'm now trying my hand at blogging. So far it is giving me a unique creative outlet that combines my interest in decorating, writing and photography in a way that also connects me to others with similar interests. So far, so good!
I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, neighbor, volunteer, boss and coworker. Whew!
I love to sing, and my primary hobby is singing Bass in a barbershop chorus (Harbor City Music Company) and a barbershop quartet (Lustre Quartet), both affiliated with Sweet Adelines International. I spend a good amount of my time singing. This time of year, it's a lot of Christmas caroling - Fa la la la la!
I enjoy traveling, and most of the time I have at least one trip planned somewhere fun.
I really love Walt Disney World in Orlando, and have spent a lot of our family vacations there over the years as our kids have grown up.
I enjoy decorating our home for Christmas, and have built up a large collection of decorations over the years. Now I enjoy sharing my decorating efforts on my blog, and I enjoy even more seeing other's great ideas on theirs.
I've run out of things to say about myself!

Now I'm supposed to share this award with 10 other bloggers - so I'll be on the lookout.

Thank you Mandie for thinking of me!

The Kitchen in Peppermint

2010-11-27T04:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I finished decorating the kitchen for Christmas. In years past, I've used themes of red apples, cinnamon and gingerbread for the kitchen. Last year I expanded that to include more of a "candy" theme, by simply adding a garland of fake sugared candies on the small tree, and a few candy-themed ornaments. This year walking through the crafts store, I saw cute little floral picks made of peppermint candies (fake of course), and saw cute peppermint stripe ribbon, and this year's theme idea was born!

On the kitchen stairs railing I have always had a green garland with red apples and pinecones and twigs. This year I simply added a length of peppermint stripe ribbon.

On the inside of the back door, I added new swags that I picked up on sale at Michael's yesterday (they were 40% off, plus I had an extra 30% off my entire order, so they were CHEAP!). I fashioned some fluffly bows from the same peppermint stripe ribbon, and used suction cups to adhere them to the windows.

On the inside of the window next to the garage door entry, I used a grapevine wreath with red apples as I've done for many years. This time I just hung it with peppermint ribbon instead of red velvet ribbon. I added a very simple peppermint ribbon bow.

At the kitchen sink, I put two small grapevine wreaths with red apples on the inside of the windows as always, but this year I added a garland on the window sill for the first time.

The wreaths got the same treatment as the larger on on the garage entry window.

The window sill received short curls of two different striped ribbons, some red apples, and some gingerbread-scented ornaments.

The scented ornaments are surprisingly fragrant, even after having them for a couple of years. We got them at Hallmark a couple years ago, and used them on the kitchen tree last year.

Finally, we put up a table top tree on a small table. I used a collection of peppermint-themed ornaments for this tree. (This is the tree that we had in the dining room last year - but we moved it into the kitchen because we're getting a new tree for the dining room this year.) Some of these we had on our kitchen tree last year - primarily those that are gingerbread with peppermint accents. I picked up a lot of these last week on sale (of course) at Kohl's. I got the spiral ribbon icicle style ornaments from the Dollar Tree, and then I used a few of the candy picks from the craft store.

Instead of winding ribbon around the tree, I experimented with cutting 1' lengths, and placing it in the tree here and there. I tried just doing wavy lengths, but found that the curly ribbon looked better. I think it looks more playful that way. You can see one of them here in this photo.

I made a topper out of a big bow, and a big blown glass ornament, and one of the candy picks.

When hanging the ornaments, I followed the advice from this post in the Tinsel & Company blog, who taught me that I should wrap the hanging string tightly around the branch so that the ornament hangs close up to the branch, rather than hanging down a few inches below the branch. I LOVE this tip, and I think it makes the tree look so much better! Thanks Tinsel & Co.!

Here are some of the ornaments - I love them all!

We still have plans to build a gingerbread house village, decorating it with - what else? - peppermints and candy canes! We hope to get that taken care of in the next week or two. Until then, the kitchen is done!

Holiday Traditions - courtesy of TodaysMama and GameStop

2010-11-26T05:33:00.000-08:00

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?

For my local family and my extended family across the country, I wish the blessings of good health, love and prosperity. These times can be tough on folks, and I wish everyone an easier road ahead in 2011.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?

Our kids wake us up early, we all wait for each other to be ready before we go downstairs together to see what Santa has left for us. We open Santa's stockings first, then the gifts he's left for us. Then we break for a quick bite, and then we enjoy opening gifts from each other. We stay in pajamas as long as we want, and we eat leftovers all day - no cooking on Christmas Day! On the best years, we have extended family visiting us and we enjoy each other's company all day long.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?

How about a full day of beauty - including a professional makeover, shopping spree, and massage therapy? Ahhh! :-)

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

We play Christmas music all season long, we decorate with cherished items from years past, we attend everyone's school concerts and music performances, we spend a lot of time together at the dinner table. We enjoy time together at home!

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?

My three sisters and I played a lot of Monopoly and Life back in the day, and we played with our Barbies and dolls quite a bit. When we visited our grandparents, we would always end up sitting together in the living room playing "I Spy". This was a trick, I'm sure, to get us kids to settle down for the evening, but it turned out to be one of the most often-recalled memories that my sisters and I share.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

I think the most over-arching tradition that I've tried to bring from my childhood is that of enjoying the season together as a family, in whatever ways that turns out to be for our newest generation. My childhood Christmases were magical, and I want my kids to feel the same way when they are grown.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?

We have made it a tradition to not travel on Christmas, so that we can wake up in our own home on Christmas morning. But if we were to travel at Christmas, it would be to our families' homes across the country. We are so spread apart, it makes it hard for everyone to enjoy Christmases together. Now if we could arrange for a family reunion at a vacation destination, it would have to be Walt Disney World!

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

Our son is asking for "Star Wars The Force Unleashed" for XBOX360, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" for XBOX360, and I'd love to have the "Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2011" for Wii.

I hope you'll share your holiday traditions too (whether you enter the giveaway or not). I love reading about other families and their holiday traditions - so much fun!

Christmas Village Display How-To

2010-11-25T20:43:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd show how I set up the foundation for the Christmas village display. This is something I learned from Martha Stewart about 10-15 years ago when she still had her TV show.

The houses are raised up on styrofoam sheets that have been hot-glued together to the height I wanted, then carved with a bread knife to create gradual hills. For some of the hills, I traced the foundation of the building onto the styrofoam and then carved it out, to make an indentation. This keeps it steady, and helps me remember which building goes where, since they're all different. I don't have this done for all the hills, though, because I used to put this display in a different bookshelf, and so my styrofoam had to be re-done. I got lazier the second time around!

At the time, I thought the little carved staircase would be a good idea, but it turns out that it doesn't show up under the plastic snow flakes that are added later.

I used white cardstock to create a base for brick roads. These roads come in plastic rolls and seem to be readily available from craft stores or stores that sell collectible village pieces. I decided on the layout I wanted for the village pieces, then I cut out brick road pieces in winding road type of style, with some entering from the back of the shelf and some leaving the front of the shelf.

I used some simple aluminum foil to simulate a crude icy stream, and I purchased a small mirror to use to simulate a small pond. It's not quite a believable set up, but have you seen the paint job I did on the villagers faces? I don't think we need to worry about believability. ;-)

Once I got all the roads and hills placed, I filled in with plain white printer paper to hide the rest of the wooden shelf top. I left the front edges of the bookshelf as they are, since there's no hiding the fact that this is in a bookshelf.

I decided to just use white paper to form a base for the downtown area, because it's so crowded and I didn't know a good way to lay out the street. I put snow all over the ground anyway, so it's not so important.

At this point, I put in all the buildings and houses, and then placed the trees and other small pieces, and finally the people. Then I sprinkled plastic faux snow flakes. They're big and chunky in scale compared to the village, but any smaller it would be very difficult to keep clean. I'm considering going all out and creating a full-width styrofoam layout, and then permanently attaching little snow crystals to the whole thing, but that's a project for another day.

Oh! one thing new this year. To prevent snow pieces from falling off onto the carpet, I first laid down a strip of double-stick tape on the very front of all three shelves at the very front edge of the white paper. Then I pressed snow flakes down onto the tape, and filled in the snow behind it on the rest of the shelf. Hopefully this little trick will keep those little buggers from falling off all season long every time the cat walks by!

I'm seeking ideas for how to light the village without visible cords and without drilling into the bookshelf. Any thoughts?

Christmas Village Display

2010-11-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas village display is a bit different from most. It is not from Dept. 56, or from any other collectible manufacturer. It is a hand-painted village, painted by my husband and I long ago, early in our marriage.

Our first Christmas after graduating from college, we had just recently moved far away from our family to take our first "real" jobs. We were young, had very little, but we had each other, and we had our evenings free. So we looked for something to do together to build our home. We splurged and purchased four plaster kits from the craft store. Each kit cost us $9.99, and contained two buildings, a set of acrylic paints, and a wiring kit for lighting up the village. We spent our evenings in November carefully (but not very skillfully!) painting our kits. In the Christmas of 1989, our Christmas Village was officially incorporated!

In the three years after that, we added more kits, until we had all of the buildings that were offered, and actually, the kits were no longer being sold. I think the second or third year, we added a box full of villagers, so that our village would have little people in it. Every year since then, we have displayed the Christmas village as part of our home's decorations.

Of course, now there are many beautiful collectible villages available, and many of them are quite affordable considering inflation since 1989. There are all sorts of accessories that can be purchased to fill out the scene, and all sorts of styles and architectures. But we've added none of these factory-made village pieces to our scene. As crude and primitive as they are, our village pieces are still our favorites. Maybe one day I'll start a different village collection - I'll never say never - but I don't see it happening any time soon.

We currently display our village in a bookshelf that was hand-crafted for us by my dad. We don't light the buildings any longer, because I have not figured out a way to hide the cords nicely without drilling holes in the bookshelf. In this post, I have shown how I set up the foundation of the display on each shelf, using styrofoam sheets.

On the top shelf, we have a residential neighborhood, with four homes, a small road, and some trees.

I love the little boy making a snow angel! I also love the soft yellow color of the colonial house on the left - I would love to have my home be that color! Further along are two Victorian homes...

and then what I believe is meant to be a Tudor style home.

Love the little boys who crashed on their toboggan!

On the second shelf, I've styled it as a more rural road, with a frozen stream and pond, two homes and the village church. All the homes are Victorian though, which is not necessarily found in a rural setting, but a little creative license is allowed, right?

The man in the red coat is harvesting ice blocks from the frozen pond, while the woman carrying the basket is taking baked goods to her neighbors.

Love the slate roof tiles on this pretty little home - but I remember not loving painting them!

Finally, the bottom shelf is the downtown area. We have so many buildings that we've had to create a somewhat odd layout in order to get them all in. But it works out, it's just imaginary after all!

I love these little buildings. The furthest one on the left is a corner Drug Store, then a Hotel, then the Lawyer/Police, then the Fire Co., then a Cinema/Soda Fountain corner store.

On the right side of the bottom shelf, we have the other side of the Soda Fountain, then the 5&10/Barber Shop, then the Bank, Cafe, and Post Office. There is also a Bandstand in the Central Square.

I hesitate to show many close-ups, because the painting is so crude. But I love these little people, deformed faces and all. :-D This couple is strolling downtown completing their Christmas shopping.

The villagers have gathered in the Central Square for a Tree Trimming Festival, including Christmas caroling!

Back outside of town, a little boy is pulling a large load of gifts to his grandparent's home for a big family celebration.

These neighbors are delighted to see each other as they go about their busy day.

The policeman is helping this little boy find his mother, who has gone and gotten lost while the boy was innocently eyeing the candy at the Drug Store candy counter. The porter is helping carry bags into the Hotel for guests from out of town, here to visit family for a long holiday visit.

I guess it turns out that I've never really grown out of my love of playing make-believe with little dolls. Thanks for indulging me and my silly stories! (Check out my Vintage Santa if you like silly stories. ;-)

This is the very beginning of our Christmas decorating for 2010. I worked on it while our turkey was roasting today. I haven't completed the top of the bookshelf - that's why it's not visible here yet. I'm looking forward to making a lot more progress during the rest of this weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

Linking to Deck The Halls Friday at Tinsel & Company.

A Grateful Heart

2010-11-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

I woke up early this morning, earlier than usual, earlier than the rest of the house. The skies outside are grey and damp, hiding the sun that is trying to rise. I can see that the yard is wet and the trees are dripping from last night's cold rain. The house is quiet but for the quiet hum of the furnace and the soft, insistent meowing of the cat awaiting her breakfast. This is a magical time of the day, one that comes rarely for this so-not-a-morning-person, and I want to capture it, hold on to it, and remember it forever.

Because this is a moment, on this very special holiday, to reflect on my blessings. So many reasons to be thankful. So many joys that I've been given in life. While I've often tried to maintain a grateful heart on a daily basis, it turns out that in practice that is much harder to do than it is to intend to do. Too many busy days with too many full calendars, too many obligations, too many frustrations -- all this gets in the way of gratitude. Somehow life rolls along, and if we're not careful, we miss it.

So when a special moment like this one comes along, I have to stop. Be still. Take it in. Life is good. God is good. I am blessed beyond expression. I love and I am loved. That's what it all comes down to.

So, before the family wakes up, before the kitchen becomes a blur of pots and pans and chopped vegetables and turkey parts, before the football games come on -- before "Thanksgiving Day" starts -- I will celebrate my own thanksgiving. I am filled up and overflowing with gratitude and joy.

Thank You, God, for all that You have given me.

Thanksgiving Tablescape

2010-11-24T03:17:00.000-08:00

I'm new to the concept of "tablescaping" as it's found here in blog-land. However, I do enjoy putting together a pretty table using what I have on hand. I don't have much of a collection of dishes or table ware, as compared to others I've seen, but what I have, I enjoy using.

Here is our Thanksgiving table this year.

The centerpiece is very simple - just a floral centerpiece that I've had for years, and a couple of faux pumpkins from the craft store.

The place settings are a gold jacquard placemat from Kohls a few years ago, a gold charger from Michaels, and my grandmother's dishes. The water glass was from Target a couple years ago, and the wine stems are from Pier 1 a couple years ago. Both of the glasses have a very soft golden color to them, which matches nicely all the decor in our home.

I haven't put out the flatware yet because, first, I only have one set to choose from and we use it every day, and two, it is silver and doesn't really match the rest of the decor. I guess I'm still an amateur at this!

My husband, son, daughter and I will be having a quiet Thanksgiving dinner, with warm thoughts and well wishes winging across the country to the rest of our extended family.

Wishing all of you who celebrate a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Linking today to "Tablescape Thursday" at Between Naps on the Back Porch.

Christmas Mantel Idea - Frames with Seasonal Images

2010-11-23T07:32:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I saw a magazine spread that featured gold frames arranged on a mantel with seasonal photos, and thought we could pull that off in our house. I've looked around my house in all my stashes to see if I can find the original idea photo to share with you as an "inspiration" photo, but no such luck. But I do have photos of our version from a couple of years ago.

My husband and I went to Michael's craft store and picked out a variety of gold frames to use for this project.
We had the inspiration photo with us to use as a guide. We spent quite a few minutes choosing just the right combination of sizes, shapes, widths, etc. Although I don't recall the cost (this was four or five years ago), I'm sure we were using coupons and sales - I rarely purchase anything for full price anywhere! We also purchased two large sheets of matting material in a rich cranberry red color.

For the photos themselves, I first tried to take some "artistic" shots of ornaments that we own. Unfortunately my skills and my equipment did not yield the results I was really looking for. So I went online to stockphoto.com and purchased a selection of images with simple white backgrounds, and then printed them on glossy photo paper. Finally my husband cut the matting into the right sizes, we adhered the photos on top of the matting (much easier than cutting the center of the matting out), and put the photos into the frames.

We arranged the frames on our mantel mostly according to the inspiration photo, but of course we had to mix it up just a little to accommodate the different size frames that we had. We also had items on our mantel that the inspiration photo did not - such as the Santa figures on the outsides, the lighted garland with berries and pinecones, and some very special memento ornaments from our childhoods and other special times. Looks like there's also a big pile of candy canes hiding there beside Santa on the left - you've found my most favorite Christmas treat!

The large green quilt on the wall is an art quilt that a friend made for us to represent the woodlands that surround our neighborhood. I never have the heart to take it down at Christmas time, as it's very special piece, and also I believe the paint around it is now faded and it would leave a big rectangle of a different color of paint if I took it down. So each year I just decorate around / in front of it. I'm not sure it gives the "decorator" touch I could get without it there, but it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.

Finally, the stockings on the mantel were purchased from L.L. Bean long ago, and are always on our mantel, no matter how I decorate it. Another one of those "traditions" in our decorating scheme that is hard to part with just for the sake of style. My approach has always been to incorporate our traditions into our style, that way our home feels like it's our home, not a decorator show home.

Oops - I guess we'll ignore that electrical cord that you can see hanging down off the left side - I could photoshop that out of there, but that's kind of cheating. We'll just go with the fact that this is a lived-in home, and life happens, including random electrical cords that show up where they're not supposed to!

And here is a full view of the family room this particular year (Christmas 2006). We do a large real tree in this room, with smaller artificial trees spread out through the house in other rooms. This tree always holds all of the many ornaments we've collected from our travels and for our kids over the years, as well as hand-made kids craft ornaments, etc. We usually put about 1,800-2,000 lights on the tree - which is a major feat! But it's very much worth the effort! I see the star on top has slipped to the left a little - a common occurrence that we're going to say adds a touch of whimsy. ;-)

Since this photo, we've changed up the draperies in this room, but otherwise it's pretty much the same. I'm looking forward to decorating this year - we're going out to cut down our tree on Friday morning, which will officially begin the Christmas season in our home!