Sights of Christmas

This has been a very nice Christmas.

We've had lots of visits with friends and family.

Way too much food!

Some fun games and just a lot of warm moments.

See you in the new year!

Christmas Blessings

For the past 12 days, I have been taking part in an awesome art swap with some

of my very good friends, the Canadian Chickies.

Today, I would like to show you the beautiful gifties everyone created for the swap.

Day 1 ~ Arlene Travnik ~ Hand-Stitched Leather Bracelet

Day 2 ~ Brittni Carey ~ Mini Booklet with Turtle Dove Decoration

Day 3 ~ Mar Gray ~ Tree Magnet with Mini Painting and Easel

Day 4 ~ Kathryn Ssedogo ~ Altered Matchbox

Day 5 ~ Martha Brown ~ Fabric Joy Banner

Day 6 ~ Sabina Parsons ~ Fairy Angel in a Jar

Day 7 ~ Dawn Supina ~ Vintage Hang Up

Day 8 ~ Heather Robinson ~ Altered Composition Book

Day 9 ~ Kim de Broin Mailhot ~ Soft Sculptured Heart

Day 10 ~ Nicolette Anderson ~ Retro Beaded Decoration

Day 11 ~ Jennifer Conway ~ Bottlecap Pin and Scrabble Tile Necklace

Day 12 ~ Cindy Hogg ~ Jar Snowman

Thank you Canadian Chickies, for making the days leading up to Christmas so enjoyable.

To all the readers of my blog ...

May you have a safe holiday season filled with the warmth and love of family and friends.

Christmas Blessings to all!

We're ready

So, we've done the concerts

(David was in this one ~ can you find him?)

And we've done the craft sales ...

Now we can just sit back, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the season.
(I love just sitting in a cozy chair admiring my tree with its twinkling lights)

Only 3 more sleeps until Christmas!

Forget political correctness ~ Merry Christmas!

If you're like me, you are getting a little annoyed with the whole political correctness that's going on with advertisements for "Holiday Trees" (Christmas Trees), "Festive Cake" (Christmas Fruitcake) and "Holiday Cards" (Christmas Cards) etc., etc. In their earnestness to erase the Capital C entirely out of Christmas, they become rather tedious and ridiculous. And if you wish me a "Happy Holiday" I will reply with "Merry Christmas". I heard this song on the radio today, and thought I would like to share this with you.

P.S. If you want to read a rather amusing story about one of Canada's MPs Christmas card that's caused some fur to fly because of his political in-correctness, look here. Oh and by the way,

Merry Christmas!

Last minute holiday details

With less than a week to go until the big day, all the Christmas cards have been mailed, most of the gifts have been wrapped and I think I'm pretty much ready to just sit back now and enjoy the season once I tie up a few more last minute details (and ribbons and bows).

I'm drinking lots of lemon tea with honey to stave off a pesky cold that really, really wants to invade my body.

I completed making this wreath late last night. The form itself was 18 inches across, but the bulb clustered around it makes it almost 2 feet. It's big and it's beautiful, and I think the person who commissioned it will like it.

Today is "my day" in the Christmas Exchange with the Canadian Chickies. I hope everyone will like what I created for them.

It's snowing ... again. A very good day to stay inside. Maybe even a good day to take a long winter's nap, and rest up for all the activities ahead in the next week.

So friends, stay warm, take your Vitamin C and just enjoy some of the sights and sounds the surround the Christmas season.

Best Christmas Carol

In my opinion, the 1951 movie entitled Scrooge starring Alastair Sim, was the best rendition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We watch it every year. If you never have watched it, you should. You can view it in black and white or in the colourized version. God bless us, every one.

It's a (real) major award!

Considering he has been sick with a cold for the past three days ...
Considering Edmonton was hit with a blizzard yesterday ...
Considering there were limited free passes to the movie, Tron ...
Considering he had to get a ride from a friend (who, until the last minute didn't know if he was going to drive in the dismal weather) ...
Zach was indeed fortunate to win a door prize, and not just the usual t-shirt or a poster at the movie last night!

And take a look at this photo ~ two prizes that my sons have won at movie screenings. Can you guess which one Zach just won!!!

Yep, he won the new Nokia N8 smart phone ~ pretty amazing, wouldn't you say?

Our first blizzard

Today we've been hit with the first real blizzard of the season. It will be a White Christmas for sure!

What a perfect day to stay inside, enjoy a homemade Egg Nog Tea Latte. You've heard of the London Fog Latte, perhaps I could call my concoction Edmonton Blizzard, eh?

-12°C

Light Snow

Don't you love it how Environment calls this "light snow" ~ well maybe it's light, but there's a whole lot of the stuff.

Edmonton Blizzard Latte

Pour boiled water over an Eggnog tea bag in glass mug and let steep for 2-3 minutes. While tea is steeping, heat cream in a saucepan, making sure not to scorch it. Froth is not needed for this recipe, but if you have a frother use it ~ it makes it so much more fancy. Add vanilla sugar (1/2 - 1 tsp), if desired and stir. Then pour steamed cream on top. Sit back and enjoy with a book and listen to some classical music!

Sort of a Where's Waldo moment

This is the oldest nativity set we have. We bought it when our son David was a baby.

I love nativity sets because they always have different, interesting features. My husband was admiring this one when he happened to notice that I had snuck in a 3 extra characters ~ can you find them?

Full house on a cold December night

My son wanted to invite a few of his friends from university over for a Christmas get together, so last night a "few" showed up. One of the invited guests decided to bring another 3 extra unexpected guests along with him as well, so you could say it was a tad bit snug in our little home.

There was plenty of good conversation, popcorn, Eggnogg'n Tea (the blend that become this year's favourite choice), chocolates! and a little pizza to be enjoyed by all. Also there were games including chess, 4 player chess and Things.
No one went home empty handed as everyone was given either a small handmade or 2nd hand gift.

TV Christmas Classics!

I have a lot of favourite Christmas movies. Some of these classics, including A Christmas Story, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and A Charlie Brown Christmas, originated as made-for-TV movies. Do you have some favourite TV Christmas movies too?

OOPS! After I had written this post, my son informed me that A Christmas Story was not made for TV. Sorry to misinform you!

One-of-a-Kind Ornaments for Christmas

These are three (of many) ornaments that I made to use as gifts this Christmas. They start out as clear glass bulbs, and then I added fine glitter inside the bulbs and then on the outside, I used Alcohol Inks. Each decoration is unique. In fact, when my friend and I were making these, we couldn't replicate two bulbs to be the same because the ink has a mind of its own.

These particular ornaments are winging their way to BC for my sister-in-law and her two daughters. I hope they'll like them!

It's a major award!

Took a little trip down the road to visit our friends the other day. They have been madly renovating their kitchen (and it is looking awesome, by the way). But with renos comes chaos. So Zach and I decided to present them with a couple Christmas gifts a little bit early to help them forget all the mess and confusion that has been their lives lately. (I should have taken a photo of their "fridge" in their backyard and their camp stove in their kitchen). These guys have been really been roughing it for quite a while now. One of the gifties we presented them with was an amazing action figure. And if you're a fan of A Christmas Story, you'll remember The Old Man and his "major award". Well that's what we gave them. They loved it, and they thanked us profusely for bringing Christmas to them. Now they're starting to talk about getting a Christmas tree put up ~ once their 400 lb. gas stove isn't sitting in the living room anymore!

Comfort and Joy!

Christmas Cookies!

Monday night a few of my friends and family met to have a Christmas Cookie Exchange.

I made sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles.

Other folks made Gingerbread cookies, Chocolate Covered Shortbread, Mudpies, Peanut Butter Filled Cookies, Biscotti, Chocolate Chip and Chocolava Cookies.

So much sweetness!

A little too much in fact, so we also cleared our palettes with tea of many varieties

(including tea such as Eggnogg'n Tea)

And cheeses and crackers.

So much cheese! Mmm!!

We play a game of Things. Everyone's favourite question was the very last one of the evening. It came from Irina who asked us to take one character from one book and put it into another. Some of the more intriguing ideas were Piglet in Lord of the Flies, Sauron in Winnie the Pooh, Frodo in 1984, and Jonah in Moby Dick.

We enjoyed some very good laughs ... and did I mention cheese?

By the end of the evening, everyone went home with a a beautiful variety

of yummy, yummy cookies to share

with their families over the Christmas holidays!

Old Lady Christmas Shopping

She gathers up her meager Christmas gifts

And stows them safely in her shopping bag,

She mumbles to herself and nods her head,

Pulls off a little tell-tale bargain tag,

Counts off the items on a pencilled slip,

Enjoying to the full her shopping trip.

For one she buys a tiny beaded purse

And someone gets a hankie frail and sheer,

A little favourite nephew gets a book

Where knights in armour and a cavalier

Ride out to battle clad in bright array,

In all the trappings of a by-gone day.

She looks at crystal with a longing eye,

Gloats over china of a loved design,

Holds up a figurine with cautious hands,

Buys Christmas wrappings and a spool of twine,

Gets a stuffed dog with little scarlet paws

A tiny reindeer and a Santa Claus.

For one short season of the age-long year

She lets her generous heart hold happy sway,

Buying her little gifts with careful hands,

To match the joyful spirit of the day,

Denying her own need that she might share

The love that is like music in the air.

~ Edna Jaques

December 3rd ~ Hot Apple Punch

The following recipe is one I submitted to Country Woman Magazine years ago; it was featured in their Christmas Annual Book in 1998.

Photo by: Taste of Home

With its soothing cinnamon seasoning, this fresh and flavorful apple punch is a must for Christmas time.

• 8 Servings
• Prep: 5 min. Cook: 35 min.

Ingredients

• 2 cinnamon sticks (about 3 inches each), broken
• 10 whole cloves
• 6 whole allspice or 2 whole nutmeg
• 2 quarts apple juice
• Additional cinnamon sticks, optional

Directions

• Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves and allspice on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up the corners and tie with string to form a bag. Place in a large saucepan with apple juice (or place loose spices in pan and strain before serving). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove spice bag. Serve punch hot in mugs. Garnish with cinnamon sticks if desired.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 119 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 7 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein.

This punch is very delicious on a cold winter's night it creates a wonderful aroma in the house. Enjoy!

December 2nd ~ Amazing Grace ~ Beautiful Christmas Song

December 1st ~ Craft Show prep

This weekend, I am going to be doing a Craft Sale with my sister, so today, I gathered all the goodies that I plan to take with me and assembled them on my kitchen table to get a sense of how I should set up and how I should arrange everything

Most of what I have created has been made with reused, or recycled materials. Whenever possible, I try to create something "green".

The photos aren't as good as I hoped, but you get the idea.

So this is Christmas

Something beautiful to start off the Christmas season.
I hope you enjoy this!

Okay, so writing a 50,000 word novel is one of the many things that has been occupying my time in November. Before November 1st, I didn't write an outline, didn't develop characters or anything. It was just me writing by the seat of my pants.

The novel is entitled The Bag Lady Stories. It is LOOSELY based on a newspaper article that I read some months back about a woman who had a fall from grace. She was once one of the British upper crust and she ended up in a Texas jail.

In my story, we find her living on the street; a bag lady, in the year 2020. A young reporter meets her and over the course of a year or so, she tells him her story. There's a twist ending of course, but to tell the truth, even though I hit 50,000 words, because of what was developing at the end, I probably could have come up with another 10K words.

However, this book was written only as a personal challenge of reaching 50K so I won't add any more.

And now I will concentrate on getting ready for a Christmas Craft Sale next weekend and decorating our home for Christmas. I shall post some fun Christmas-y stuff in the coming days!

Peanut Brittle anyone?

The Christmas season is fast approaching, and I am trying to do some pre-seasonal baking.

For the past several Christmas seasons, I have made homemade peanut brittle. It is yummy and always disappears very quickly. Today I made peanut brittle and I had a confectionery disaster ~ almost.

I decided to make a quick and simple microwave version of the peanut brittle that I make. Everything was going splendidly until a breaker switch turned off all the power items in my kitchen before the time was up for the peanut brittle to be taken out of the microwave.

The thing about making good peanut brittle is that you have to work fast, especially when you add baking soda at the end. What is supposed to happen, is that the mixture gets all foamy and you pour it immediately onto a cookie sheet. Well I tried to work quickly, but I because of the breaker went off at precisely at the wrong time; my brittle didn't get foamy, and ultimately ~ well let's just say the brittle wasn't so brittle. It wasn't hard, it was gooey. Drat!

So, in the end, I formed little balls and created a new recipe which I call Peanut Brittle Balls.