Hodgepodge of Baked Goods, Barbies, and Breathtakers

Hey, Christmas comes around about as fast as the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Let's head to the North Pole for some questions. On second thought, let's get the questions from my friend Joyce who lives north of here, but not THAT far north! After your mouse-drawn sleigh has stopped at my blog, why not giddy-up on over and read others' answers? Better yet, jump on board and write your own:) It's fun. Almost as fun as eating Christmas cookies.

1. Do you put Christmas decorations in every room of your house? If not every room, what rooms do you decorate?

No, I don't. I decorate the foyer and public rooms-- kitchen, family room, dining room, living room , half bathroom--and sometimes I put a snowman gourd in the basement. I don't decorate the upstairs at all. The less I put out, the less I have to put away. I also decorate the front porch with winter paraphernalia. Maybe I'll post pictures later? If you're inclined to see a tour of my home at Christmas as it was two years ago, click here.

2. If you could visit one of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) which one would you choose and why?

I'll admit it. Scandinavia has never "called my name" because 1) it's cold, 2) I have no ancestry there that I'm aware of, 3) one time I wore a pair of slides (backless heels) to my Christian school in 9th grade, and a female teacher told me -- in front of the entire French class-- that I shouldn't wear them because "ze bad girls in Denmahque wear those kinds of shooss." So now whenever I hear the word "Denmark," I think of that teacher who essentially was telling me I was dressed like a hooker. Talk about cold!

I guess if I COULD visit one of those Nordic nations, and none others were on the itinerary as options, I'd choose Sweden because of its brightly colored, fanciful art. But I would take my friend Laurie with me who could really help me appreciate the country.

3. What does the word "faith" mean to you?

The definition of faith that I hold to comes from Hebrews 11:1 which says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." Faith is a gift from God, not something we can drum up. Faith is believing that what you can't imagine is possible with God. It is also an active and living thing that is evidenced by one's deeds. If you believe that God will answer your prayers for rain when it's been 192 days without rain, you will carry an umbrella.

4. You can go back to your childhood for one day...what day and age would you choose?

I would be nine again, in third grade, listening to Mrs. Grose (my teacher) reading Old Yeller to the class, and then I'd go home and it would magically be a summer day in a small Kansas town with my friends Barb and Brenda. We would ride bikes, eat cherries off the tree, jump off Mrs. Fair's porch into spirea bushes, ride Shetland ponies without permission, play tennis, ride another horse (who wasn't 'broke' but without one of us getting our finger broken--ahem), swim in the tin horse tank, make mudpies, play with Barbies, put on Avon lipstick samples, and love on three new Sheltie puppies, and two of those puppies would not have died within 6 months.

We never did all that in one day, but if I could recreate such a day, I would.

5. When did you last have 'punch'? If it's not too much trouble share your favorite punch recipe.

Monday evening I had an orange-lemon punch at my daughter's graduation reception. It was quite yummy and pretty with sliced oranges floating on top. I'm not sure I have a favorite punch, but I do love any kind that includes sherbet. Here's a Lemon Sherbet punch I made for a baby shower, and there wasn't a drop left when we were cleaning up.

6. Do you fill stockings at your house? Are stockings opened before or after the bigger gifts?

We do fill stocking and open them before the bigger gifts. But we have no fireplace, so we hang them on the banister. As much as I'd love to have a fireplace, it's not all bad. The good thing about being without a chimney is that at least Santa never catches the "flue" from us.

(Sorry, I thought of that pun this morning while driving, wondering where I could work it in. Thanks, Joyce, for the perfect set-up!)

7. What takes your breath away?

Um, literally? Falling off a horse during riding lessons. I remember approaching a jump on the back of an Arabian mare when I was 12. She cantered up to it, her gait as smooth as a rocking chair. I envisioned sailing over that white horizontal pole as if it were invisible. Unfortunately the horse had a different vision.She halted abruptly in front of the jump, sending me "head over heels." I landed flat on my back. That knocked the wind out of me. When I recovered, I got up and proceeded to beat the horse with my crop, per the instructor's orders.

But if you mean, what's a lovely breathtaking scene for me, I would say it's the sight of a beautiful bride coming down the aisle. I can hardly wait to see my son's face when he beholds his bride on March 10th. Someone reminded me that the wedding is now less than 100 days away. That thought takes my breath away (and some major money, too).

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm planning to make loaves of bread and deliver them with mini jellies and butter as gifts to neighbors this year. I have better success with bread than cookies, and I haven't met anyone (except gluten-free people) who don't love a loaf of warm, fresh bread any time. Besides, I don't have to babysit a bread machine. I can get other things done in the three hours a loaf is baking, and clean-up is a cinch. What's more, the ingredients for bread are less expensive than all those chocolates, nuts, condensed milks, icings, and other special things that jack up the cost of Christmas cookies.








The picture to the left is me last December with flour on my clothes-- after baking a bunch of cookies alongside my girl. Does my expression say what was in my mind: "I'm so glad this is over!" ?

This 'n That

Happy belated anniversary to my baby sister. She's been married for 8 years.
She was my flowergirl when she was 7, and dreamed of her own Christmas wedding ever after. So she went with the last day of November when the church was decked out much like mine, but chose not to do the stress of the week of Christmas like I did. She is smarter than I am, by a long shot.


Today is the Parents' Luncheon for graduates at our daughter's university. I am taking another mom who doesn't know her way around too well, and meeting up with Sarah and her friend, Kelly. We are stopping by my hubby's office near the school so that he can drive the five of us. He is the guy you want at the wheel when you need to get from here to there, with a path that includes one-way streets, four-way stops, metered parking, parking garages, high heels, cold temperatures, and a big campus.



He left the house wearing a suit and Sarah asked, "Why a suit, Dad?" He answered dryly, "Somebody's gotta look good." Well, he does. I just love a sharp-dressed man. My daddy always made a suit look good, so I guess I'm partial to the "professional uniform" that includes a starched shirt and silk tie. And cufflinks for the finest occasions!

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Speaking of my daddy, I had one of those flashbacks today of a Christmas past. I was remembering when I was about 10 or 11, and had not a dime to my name, but wanted so badly to be able to buy presents for my parents. Daddy gave each of us girls $10 to shop with, and we bought him what he always asked for and raved about with "gush overkill" such as I've never been able to duplicate. What was the gift? Socks. Boot socks to wear with his cowboy boots. He wore cowboy boots with his suit because they supported him better than regular shoes. What I think of, looking back, is how his gesture of giving money to us so that we could have the joy of giving back, was such a picture of how our Heavenly Father operates. We have nothing without Him, not even one breath. But He gives to us, and it's His joy to receive back from us our piddly offerings of love, and I do believe he "gushes" over our mortal attempts to bless Him.

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My husband came home from work on Friday, changed his clothes, and then--without announcing it and without even so much as eating first, he began moving all the furniture out of the family room and then steam-cleaned the carpets. I don't know where he gets his drive. "Friday night" and "carpet cleaning" don't belong in the same sentence. At least not in my book. But he writes a different book, which is why he is so successful, I guess ."Work before play" is his motto, and I usually get it reversed. You know, to balance him? He decided while he was at it, to run the machine through the living and dining rooms also, so his sidekick rearranged her schedule and chairs to accomodate his ambition. I like the results. The dog doesn't. The Man declared, "No more tennis balls in the house! Look at this dirty water!" :(

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My sister Andrea had to put her dog to sleep a couple weeks ago. Wyatt was part yellow lab, part German Shepherd, and part greyhound.Three days before her birthday they let him go. He'd had bone cancer that was making his right front leg useless and extremely painful. They took him to the vet to see about amputating it, but the vet looked at the x-rays and saw that the cancer had spread to Wyatt's lungs and liver. They sedated him for the x-rays, and while he was calm and peaceful, Andrea and her hubby made the gut-wrenching decision to go ahead and put him down. Making him take another trip home would be agonizing for him. Making that awful ride back to the vet when it "was time" would be agonizing for them. So sad. Wyatt was the dog that her hubby got as a puppy when he returned from his deployment. He was very much a part of the healing process, and he was a heck of a watchdog, which is what every law enforcement officer wants as a sidekick.

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I decorated the tree all by my lonesome this year. No one wanted to help.

My parents are not celebrating Christmas for the second year in a row because "it's pagan." But unlike last year, I am not letting it "get to me." I have grown in the area of accepting what is, and respecting that other people don't owe it to me to keep traditions that I value. Am I sad and hurt? Yes. Do I still whine about it? Sure. But I'm not letting it zap my joy like it did last year. That was miserable.

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I have seen everything. My oldest son came home from a weekend in New Jersey where he'd gone clothes shopping at Syms in Philly. Syms is one of our all-time favorite stores. It's going out of business, so he seized the opportunity to buy some pants and shirts for work. And get this: a pink silk tie and pink shirt. People, can I tell you that my men have been anti-pink for as long as they've been alive, but now, NOW that one of them is taking a bride who LOVES pink, and is having him wear PINK in the wedding, well, he was rather sportin' it last night. "Mom, do you think this is too much pink?" And since he already had it on, I kept my mouth shut. No matter what I said, he would stick with his own opinion. He's like me that way. He really just wanted me to say, "No, it's not too much. You look great." And he did. Pink washes him out, but what mother can't see the handsome in any color?

That's it for now. I think my vehicle needs a vacuuming before I chauffeur anyone around in it.
I've had my "play before work" motto fulfilled at this point, so off I go. Have a happy Monday! I plan to.

Storing Tree Lights on Magazine "Roll"

Once in a while I "alight" on an idea that really works. I wanted a cheap, compact way of storing tree lights that made unrolling them the next year easy.

I had no empty paper towel rolls. Toilet paper rolls are too small and rather disgusting, if you ask me.

Wrapping lights onto cardboard squares cut from boxes had always ended in a tangled mess, so I definitely wanted the cylindrical shape.







You might say I had a "lightbulb" moment. Right in front of my eyes, in the midst of the huge undecorating of Christmas, I saw old magazines headed for the recycling. Rolled one up and hey-hey! A cylinder for my lights!










I made sure the plug would be easy to get to, so rolled accordingly,.



Cheap. Easy. Compact. Effective.
What more could you ask for?

Happy, Scrappy, Magic Paper Clip Wreath under $4

I made a fresh wreath this year, determined to be super frugal about the decorations. Besides, the fragrance when opening the front door is wonderful.

To make this wreath, I used only what I had on hand: greens cut off the bottom of the Christmas tree, a cranberry garland, some sassy ribbon, a silk bird, a floral foam disc from the dollar store, and a magic paper clip. Okay, so it's not magic, but with sleight of hand, it disappears behind the greens.

I started with the tree. There were plenty of branches along the bottom of the tree that needed to be cut off to make the tree more shapely. Or, as my nine-year-old son says, "to make room for big presents."






I selected greens both long and short and alternated them, sticking them into the middle of the side of the foam.













The magic paper clip helps the bird stay put. I secured it to his little feet, pushed the sharp ends into the foam, and placed the bow on top to hide the clip. The bird didn't appreciate being a fettered friend. I think I heard him plead, "Don't clip my wings, too!"

































Voila!

Here's the finished wreath, and here's the cost breakdown.

Greens: free, with the purchase of a fresh-cut tree. Or free if you can find them, no purchase necessary.

Ribbon: about $1
Bird: $.79
Foam disc: $.50
Cranberry garland: $1.50 ?
Magic paper clip: $.04

Total: $3.83. Merry Christmas.