Christmas

It is Tradition at Our House,
that When It is Your Birthday,
You Get Sweet Rolls and Breakfast in Bed;

Hence,

Christmas Morning

Always Starts with Sweet Rolls,

and Singing

"Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Because We had Church at 9AM,

We Got All Fixed Up and Sweet Roll-ed,

Before We could Peek at What the Jolly Ol' Elf Brought!

{SURPRISE!}

After Checking Out the New Goods and Stockings,

I Pulled Out a New Christmas Tie for Each of My Gang

[And Then We Went to Church]

And Upon Our Return Home,

This is How We Christmas-ed:

{Merry Christmas}

*

We Were Glad to Have Grandpa T and Aunt K Join Us

for Christmas Eve, Church, and our Christmas Day Festivities.

We Ended the Day with a Trip Out to the Cemetery,

To Wish Merry Christmas to Ryan's Mom,

Whom We Lost

just 12 Weeks Before Christmas.

We Sure Missed Her

*

Christmas Eve

Traditions:

{Christmas Eve Morning Breakfast & Family Gift Exchange}

{Christmas Eve PJ's}

{The Nativity Story}

{Milk & Cookies for Santa}

{...And His Helpers, Who Stayed Up till 2AM Putting Stuff Together!}

To: Each of YOU

May Your Christmas be Merry & Bright

Photo: jackiestringham.blogspot.com

Homemade Christmasy Things:

{Carmel Apples & Gift Tags}

Important Mail Box Business

Letters to Santa.

Cookies Galore

In Keeping with Grandma T's Cookie Making Tradtion,

Aunt K. had all the Grandkids over for an Afternoon of

Cookie Making Mayhem,

to Allow their Parents to Christmas Shop!

Thanks Aunt K. for Keeping the Tradition Alive and Kicking!

Christmas Card Clothesline

I Love Getting Christmas Cards!

{Rope & Clothespins}

Primitive Christmas Tree Garland

I made this Garland Several Years Ago,

and its One of My Favorite Things to put on My Christmas Tree

I used String and/or a Thin Ribbon to Thread Together

Dried Apples, Oranges, Buttons, and

Dried Cinnamon/Applesauce Cutouts and Beads.

I also added a Tie Fabric Here and There.

I made Several Strands of the Garland

not One Long One,

as it tends to be a Little Heavy.

To Make the Apple-Cinnamon Cutouts:

Combine

1 Cup Applesauce

1 Cup Cinnamon

Until Smooth

Divide into Two Portions and Roll Out.

Cut out Shapes or Form Beads,

{Make Sure to Use a Straw or Toothpick to Make Holes}

Bake at 150 for 3-4 Hours, Until Center Looks Dry.

Remove and Let Cool.

To Make the Apple Cutouts:

I Sliced an Apple, and Used a Small Heart Shape Cookie Cutter,

Let the Apples Dry on a Rack or use a Dehydrator.

For Dry Orange Slices:

Thinly Slice an Orange,

Let Dry on Rack or use Dehydrator

If You Have Leftover Pieces or Don't Want to Do the Garland,

Simply Add an Ornament Hook to Dried Pieces.

Ornamental Oranges

Slice, Dry, Hook, Hang.

Merry Mass Exodus

Of the Christmas Cards

[Good Luck Lil' Fellas]

Tis the Season

We Spent a December-y Friday Evening

Making Cookies,

Watching a Christmas Movie,

and Wrapping Presents.

{I Love Christmas!}

Pretzel Rods

All Through the House

{A Few of My Favorite Things}

12.05.11

Grabbed a Group of Friends,
Bundled Up to Our Eyelashes,
Braved the 19 Degree Temperature,
Jumped on the Public Transportation,

And Went to Marvel at the Downtown Lights

{Sparkly}

Christmas Kick-Off Getaway!

We thought it would be Fun to Start a New Tradition

and take a Weekend,

and Go Stay at a

Nearby Hotel

(4 Miles from Home!)

And Go Do Fun Holiday-y Things.

First Stop:

The Movies.

Then We Filled the Rest of the Evening With

Dinner and Swimming.

The Next Day?

More Swimming,

Christmas Shopping,

And Chocolates

Then We Returned Home,

Filled the House with Friends,

A Service Project,

Hot Chocolate,

and

Laughing Till Our Gills Hurt.

Christmas Tree-ed

Thanksgiving

{Giving Thanks}

Returned to My Ol' Hometown

for the

Big Feast

I Somehow Managed to Talk My Younger Sister and Spouse

into Doing a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5K.

It was my Sister's First Time Running that Far,

and She Worked Hard for Every Mile,

and Didn't Stop!

I was SOoo Proud of Her!

While we were Out

Getting Our Run On,

My Mom Kept the Household Busy

Making

TURKEYS!

Other T-Day Favorites:

Pie

Gingerbread House Crafting

And a

Turkey Bowl

We Spent the Rest of the Weekend

at Black Friday Sales,

Visiting,

and

Watching Chick Flicks.

We Took My Mom to See

For Her Birthday!

And She Spoiled Us with a Breakfast of

Danish Ableskiver

[aka Pancake Balls]

Oh,

and What Family Gathering is Complete

without a

Monogrammed Plastic Cup Line-Up?

Ta-Da!

Q&A

I am REALLY Bad at Answering Questions!
I Don't have Comments Linked to My Email,
So I Only Know if I have a Question or Comment by Checking the Actual Post.
Which I Don't Get Around to Doing Very Often.
Sorry! [Does Anyone Know how to Fix that?]

So Here's a Run Down of Your Questions,
and Me Striving to Answer Them:

DWilmes asked What Kind of Floor I Have: Mannington Golden Nugget with French Bleed

JessCrafts asked about the End Panel of the Cupboards: I Sanded them EXTREMELY well, then Painted them to match the Rest.

JennaLeigh asked How I Did the Beadboard in the Cupboards: Check out My "Kitchen Cupboard MakeOver Part II (There's a Link on My Sidebar)

Msstitch asked for Ideas about putting BeadBoard on a Cupboard with a Raised Center Panel: My Initial Idea is to put beadboard on the raised panel, then put a little trim piece running all the way around the raised panel part, to conceal the beadboard edge. Does that Make Sense? Not Sure if that would work without seeing it, but maybe something to consider?

Rgass asked about how I shot the base Cupboards, if I took them outside: I think You're asking how I took the Picture? The Only part(s) I took outside were the doors and drawers. The other part may look like its outside, because I had light flooring, before I replaced it. Did I Understand the Question Right?

And To EVERYONE who has Been So Kind to Leave a Nice Note: Thank YOU! Your Kind Comments and Friendship just Bring a Smile to My Face!

[Edit] I think I Figured out how to Get Notifications when Someone leaves a Comment/Question. Hopefully This Will Help Me, to Help YOU!

Dance Class

Don't Believe I've Mentioned
that I've Started Going to a Dance Class.

For Old Ladies.

Just Like Myself.

11.11.11

We Went to a

Veteran's Day

Program at the Kids' School.

B Won an Award for his ArtWork!

[That's My Artsy, Smarty Scientist!]

On a Side Note:

Celebrating Veterans

Always Chokes Me Up.

I have so Much Admiration and Gratitude for them!

Later that Evening,

We Surprised Pa T,

with a Little Veterans Program,

We Put Together

to Honor Him Being a Veteran.

[He LOVED It!]

Then We Took Him out to Dinner.

[He Probably LOVED that More!]

Kick Off to Christmas

Had Family Over Tonight,
for a Kick-Off to Christmas Evening.
[Yes. Weeks Before Thanksgiving.]

We had:

Christmas Music,

Christmas Cookies,

Christmas Lights,

and

We Set Up Our Christmas Village.

[Which Has Taken Over My Front Room,]

[and Rendered]

[My Sofa Useless].

Ran My 300th Mile

Today.

Home

Kansas City CHIEFS

{MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!}

Being from the Kansas City Area,

Who Our Favorite NFL Team is!

The Monday Night Football

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Game

Was the Highlight of Our Trip.

Can You Say

EXCITED?
It was on Halloween Night,

But Nobody Complained about Missing out on Trick or Treating!

Here's How our "Halloween Party" Went:

[The Program]

[The Costumes]

[The Party Goers]

[The Party Place]

[The Main Party Attraction]

And

[The Party Pooper]

Cause Every Party has One.

We Could Not Have Asked for a Better Game Experience!

The Crowd Around Us LOVED

Seeing the KIDS,

Talking with Them,

and Hi-Fiving Them after Each Good Play.

The Game was AWESOME!

It was Neck and Neck,

and In the Last Minute,

It Looked Like We were Going Home LOSERS.

BUT,

Then a FUMBLE,

and We went Into

OVERTIME

and the

CHIEFS

Pulled Out a

WIN!

So. Much. FUN.