BLOGMAS DAY 20 -- MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!  I will see you all tomorrow.

Kathy

BLOGMAS DAYS 17, 18 & 19 -- COOKIES, CANDLELIGHT, CAROLS AND CHRISTMAS EVE

Hello, friends!  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  Both Joe and I are feeling so much better and ready to get on with our holiday.  So let me catch you up with a couple of days and then we will take it from there.

On Sunday it was my day to bring something to Fellowship Time before church.  I wasn't even sure I could make it through the service because I was still sick, but I gave it a shot and stuck it out.  I have been so lax in making my cookies.  In fact, these are the only ones I have made.  But they turned out so good.  I got a mix that had red and green jimmies in it.  It was early in the morning when I headed to the kitchen to mix them up.  I lit a candle to make it cozy.  It is still dark here at 7:00 a.m.

I bought this small ice cream scoop in Lancaster County this past summer and it is perfect for making cookies.

They baked perfectly and were so delicious!  They were called Christmas funfetti cookies and that was just what they were.

Joe was still not feeling well, so he did not go to the morning service.  I picked up Debbie and Rusty and we headed for church.  The traffic was crazy that day.  And I do mean crazy with people just turning in front of you and all things like that.  Everyone was impatient and honking.  

Part of the way there the low tire pressure light went on.  I told the pastor and after church half the congregation was at my car saying, "This is the tire."  "No, this one." "It's the sensor, there's nothing wrong."  Finally, I left to take Debbie and Rusty home along with a can of Fix-a-Flat from Pastor with me.  Along the way we stopped at 7-11 and Rusty put air in the tire that we were told it was.  It didn't seem to make any difference, though.

This was the fourth Sunday of Advent and Rick and Carole lit the candles and read the scripture.

Sunday night was our candlelight Christmas service.  Only a few people showed up and that was a shame because it was the most beautiful and meaningful service I have attended in a long time.  And the church looked so nice!

Joe had felt better and come with me to the service but now Debbie wasn't well and Rusty had come by himself.  Joe and I drove Rusty home and the light was still on indicating the tire was low.

Knowing I had a couple of long trips in front of me this week, I took the car into the garage first thing on Monday morning.  It turns out there was a nail in the passenger rear tire.  Everyone was telling me it was the front tire and that's what Rusty put the air in.  I had to wait for 2 hours while they fixed it, but it was inexpensive and now safe to drive.  While I was waiting I kept looking at their one and only decoration, a big snowman in the corner.  Well... it was about three feet high.  I just had to take a picture of him.  It was so cute.

Fortunately I got out of there in time to get Joe and Rick and the three of us went to the nursing home for our weekly service.  There weren't a lot of people who showed up, but did they ever enjoy singing "Silent Night."  They weren't even looking at the song sheet -- just loudly singing and smiling.  I have to find some non-Christmas songs that they know just as well.  These people like to sing!

That's days 17 and 18 down.  Now on to today for day 19 -- Christmas Eve.  The day dawned beautiful.  I just wish it dawned earlier!  It doesn't get light until after 7:00 a.m.  But here is a picture of the sun rising over the Commodore Barry Bridge.

It has been a very busy day.  You might even say hectic.  There is so much to do and not nearly enough time.

Here is a picture of the blanket I made for Joe's sister, Mary.  I think it turned out so pretty.  It's hard to believe this is all made of left over yarn.

I gave it to her tonight and she loved it!  She said no one had ever made anything for her before.

We did a lot of running around this afternoon.  We had to go to Shoprite and then headed for Rite Aid.  And if we've forgotten something, well... it's too late now.

We didn't even have time to eat.  We haven't been eating well for over a week now.  Just a quick breakfast, a snack or nothing for lunch, and a grab whatever for dinner.  Hopefully that will stop now.  Tonight we headed over to Joe's nephew's house.  Each year he throws a party for the family on Christmas Eve.  Usually we don't go, but this year we did.

Here is Joe with his nephew, Jerry, who is the son of his older sister.

Christmas Eve is the birthday of the lady of the house, Colleen, Joe's nephew Stephen's wife.  Stephen had bought a cake for her and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

 Then Stephen cut the cake.

I didn't take any cake but everyone was saying it was good.

Joe was so happy his sister, Mary, showed up.  She is his youngest sister and the one I know best.  This is the Mary that I made the blanket for.  I was able to give it to her before we left.

Joe with his nephew, Greg, and his niece Jen's fiancé.

Here's Mary with Joe's niece Jackie.

The best part of the evening was when Jackie brought out gifts for all the kids there and they were allowed to open them.  Oh, the smiles and excitement of these little ones.  Ken, the husband of Joe's niece Chrissie was sitting next to me and he said this was the best seeing the kids.  I agreed!

We stayed only a couple of hours because I still have gifts to wrap.  The cookies are going to wait until tomorrow morning -- if then.  And I still have to pick up the floor and straighten up a bit before we leave for my sister's tomorrow.

And now I must end.  I will probably not be on here tomorrow, but I'll definitely be back after Christmas.  I hope you all have a wonderful time with your families and friends.  I'll end this post with a picture of Stephen and Colleen's house as we were leaving.  Merry Christmas!

Kathy

BLOGMAS DAY 16 -- I'M GETTING BETTER BUT NOT THERE YET

Hello, friends!  Thank you for all of your prayers and good wishes.  That means so much to me.  I am better today but still not really there.  I figured out that of the last 48 hours I have slept about 38 of them.  At least today I am staying awake longer.  Still feel queasy although my cold is very much better.  I will see in the morning if I am up to going to church or not.  I sure hope I am up to making the 2 hour drive to my sister's house on Christmas.  We have said for years that we wish we had a transporter like they have on the TV show "Star Trek" where we could just beam ourselves to each other's house in a matter of seconds.

Now Joe is starting to feel sick.  Oh no!  He went to bed without eating even though I offered to cook.

I didn't get to take a picture of the blanket I made Mary.  I will do my best to take it tomorrow.  

But I pulled out the temperature blanket I am making for this year for myself to work on.  I went online and got all the temperatures for the end of October, all of November, and what we have had in December.  I finished up October (about 5 days) and have gotten up to November 6 finished.  I am going to try to get caught up by Christmas.  We'll see.

I have the church bulletin typed up but haven't printed it out yet.  That's about it for today.  I must get the dishes done though.  And some cookies baked for tomorrow's Fellowship Time.  Feeling rotten and sleeping so much has sure put me behind.

You should hear my cat Jack laying next to me snoring.  Loudly.  I don't know who is louder, Jack or Joe!  It's a wonder I can sleep at all.

I don't have any photos to show you today so I borrowed this one from my granddaughter Tori.  My two little great-grandkids are so adorable.  Hadley is a good big sister to LB.  She shows him how to get into things.  Ha, ha!

And that's where I am going to end for today.  Hopefully I will have something a little more fun to share with you tomorrow.  Thanks for your visit.

Kathy

BLOGMAS DAY 15 -- I'M FEELING TERRIBLE

Hello, friends!  Hope you had a good day.  It was not a good day for me.  I told you yesterday that I wasn't feeling good.  Well, I felt even worse today.  In fact, I slept the entire day.  And I do mean entire.  I woke up at 5:30 p.m.  I must have needed it, but now I've lost a day this close to Christmas.  I never got to mail my package to the great-grands or bake my cookies, or clean the area where I want to put the tree, or do wash or iron the large pile I have, or do dishes...  Well, you get the idea.

I had a bagel and margarine for breakfast this morning which made me feel terrible.  Since I slept through lunch I was hungry for dinner.  Joe called out so I didn't need to cook.  He had a wrap and I asked for an appetizer portion of mini tacos.  They just sounded good to me.  And they did not make me sick.  That was good.  But after I ate them I started to feel bad again and went back to sleep.

It is now after 10:00 p.m. and I just woke up.  I wanted to post to keep Blogmas going.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have something nicer to tell you about.

Please pray that I feel better tomorrow because there is so much to do.  I am not even going to show you a picture of me because it is bad.

Have a good night everyone.

Kathy

BLOGMAS DAY 14 -- IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Hello, friends!  What a day this has been!  I got up early today and finally finished addressing all the Christmas cards.  What a job!

Then I hurried to get to the doctor's office for my three month check up.  Everything was good except for this cold I have.  But nothing to do about that except let it run its course.

I was there for about 2 1/2 hours.  Why does it always take so long in the doctor's office?  At least in this one.  My doctor is going to be out of the office for 3 weeks beginning January 17 so I guess she was trying to get all of her appointments in.  I thought she was taking a nice long vacation, but she told me she is having surgery.  Oh!  I guess even doctors get sick.

When I finally got out, I went to the post office, bought some stamps, and mailed all the Christmas cards.  I almost didn't go anywhere because it was so cold.  It was down to 20* F (-7*C). I wore my new snowman sweatshirt and it was very warm.  I was so glad.

I got out of the post office and then went next door to Rite Aid to finish my Christmas shopping.  I needed one more gift and some stocking stuffers for my sister and Joe.  I found everything I needed so after spending $100 I am done!  But I took some pictures to show you all the wonderful Christmas things they have.

A big Noel sign, red and red and black plaid tree skirts, snowman welcome mats, and tons of red and gold bows of all sizes.

Wreaths, wreaths and more wreaths!

Shelf-sitting Santas and snowmen, little ceramic snowmen, large stuffed gnomes.  They were about 24 inches tall.  Gnomes seem to be a big deal this year.

And beautiful crystal trees and reindeer.  Just so you know, I bought none of these.  I needed to get gifts.  I try to pay for my gifts as I go along rather than put them on a credit card.  This way Christmas is paid for and not hanging over my head all year.

It was noon by the time I got home.  I just had some crackers for lunch.  I haven't felt well all day long so I took it easy on my stomach.  The doctor seemed to think it was mucus from my cold making me feel sick and I tend to agree with her.

This evening I took some pictures of a few more decorations I have around the house.

This is sort of dark, but I think you can see it.  On my bottom step I have a tinsel tree and I got another gnome.  It was only $3 and I couldn't resist.

The shelf under my mirror has the little light up tree my sister gave me last year and a "Joy" sign I got from Target.  Also from last year.

On the little table by my front window I have some more things from last year -- wooden fir trees and a light up chalet.  The Cherished Teddies in the sleigh are fairly old, but still pretty.

I still haven't gotten any cookies baked and I'm still trying to clean the house.  There is so much to do before Christmas and I know there is no way I can get it all done.

But I did finish the blanket I was making for my sister-in-law.  It is so pretty.  I am going to take a picture of it tomorrow when the sun is shining so I can show it to you.  And have a memory of it for me.  I told Joe I love it so much and it is so warm that I want to keep it for myself.  But I won't.  I do think I will make one for myself though.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?
Tonight I made a recipe I haven't made in so long.  It's called "The Sopranos Chicken and Potatoes."  Do you remember the old TV show "The Sopranos"?  The cast wrote a cookbook and this is one of the recipes from it.  Joe made it the first time we had it and we have both made it since then.  It is baked chicken and cut up potatoes with olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and garlic.  I left the garlic off since my stomach wasn't 100% and it was still good.  I made some green beans and wax beans to go with it.

And with that I am going to go to bed.  It is very late and I have to get up in the morning to put out the trash for pickup.  Time goes on.

Kathy

BLOGMAS DAY 13 -- A MONDAY MAGAZINE ON A TUESDAY (AGAIN!)

Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a good day.  First of all, I want to thank you all for coming along on Blogmas with me -- even though I haven't been posting every day.  Some days are just like that.  And thank you for all the kind comments you have been leaving for me.  I'm so glad that you love this blog.  I so enjoy creative writing and this certainly gives me an outlet for that.  I was even on the staff of my high school newspaper.  I do love to write.

Yesterday I meant to show you another magazine.  I had the post all planned out and then forgot and did something else.  Duh!  So here is the post I meant to give to you yesterday.  The magazine is Country Home from December 2000.

December 2000?  When I saw this I thought, "Why in the world would I have a magazine this old?"  Of course it had articles on beautiful houses like these.

This room is in a house that a couple built by putting two antique log cabins together.  The place was beautiful and so unique with walls and floors from the 1850s.

And this pretty New England farmhouse.  But I've had other magazines with pretty houses and I didn't keep them for 19 years.

Even this garden with a cupola that is used as decoration wouldn't be enough to make me keep the magazine.

I thought I would pass it on, or even sell it on ebay because it is so old, when I suddenly saw why I kept it.  Here is an article with six different kinds of soup to make along with all the recipes.

Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup.  Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.  Italian Country Soup.  Sounds wonderful.

But then, to make it even better the next article was on cookies from around the world.

Austrian, Polish, German, Norwegian, Spanish, French.  On and on they went.  Enough recipes for me to make a cookie from a different country for an entire year.

So I am keeping this magazine.  But I am moving it from my pile to read in the spare bedroom to the kitchen where I can reference it.  It's so exciting to find all of these new recipes.

As usual with the Country Home magazines I am going to show you the last page.  They always have a gorgeous illustration.  This one is no exception.

Winter Garden Photograph by Ian McWilliam

Framed by evergreen topiaries and the remains of last season's trumpet vines, a glimpse through a garden gate reveals a universal truth:  Snow may conceal the promise of next year's bounty, but winter is just another season in a cycle of endless growth.

And with that I am going back to addressing my Christmas cards so that I can get them into the mail tomorrow.  Then I will put in a load of wash, bake some cookies, load the dishwasher, iron some clothes and make dinner.  I will feel really good if I can get all of that done this afternoon.  Hope you have a productive day too.

Kathy

BLOGMAS DAY 12 -- CARRYING ON

Hello, friends!  The days are just rushing by and I am not having time to do the things I need to do.  So much yet to do!

This Sunday the lighting of the Advent candles was done by Pastor Ralph and his wife Carolyn.  He read the scripture, she read a poem and then he lit the candles.  I do not have a picture of Carolyn reading because it was so bad I would never show it to you.  But here is Pastor lighting the candles.  Three candles already.  How quickly the time is passing!

I stopped at Rite Aid after church yesterday for a couple of things and ended up spending way more money than I expected to.  A few stocking stuffers, a bag of chips for my lunch, etc.  But one thing I did buy was these Christmas lights in the shape of stars or snowflakes.  It could be either one.  I must get a photo to show you later this week.  I thought they were $7.00 but they were in the wrong place and when they rang up they were $12.00.  I was a little upset that they were so expensive, but when I took them out of the box today and put them together I realized they are more than worth the price.  There are four stars, LED lights, and are battery operated using three AA batteries.  There are 7 different settings to make them flash in different ways from a quick on and off to a slow glow in and out to having the lights chase each other across the string.  It can also burn steadily.  When you turn them on, they stay lit for 6 hours and then turn themselves off for 18 hours before going back on.  I am delighted!  As I said, I will show you later this week just how nice they are.

Joe, Rick and I went to the nursing home this afternoon.  We sang "Away in a Manger" and those ladies really sang out.  They love the Christmas carols.  Not all can see to read the words, but all seem to know them by heart.  Joe had a really great message on Joseph and his obedience to God.  Because of this obedience, God was able to use him to be the earthly father of Jesus.

After we dropped Rick off, we headed for Shoprite because we were really hungry.  We went to the hot food bar and got something to eat, then picked up a few things we needed.  They had crackers on sale.  You could get one box for $3.89 or three boxes for $4.98.  Uh...  So we got two boxes of regular crackers and one of garlic butter.  That sounded interesting.  Joe also found some fruitcake.  He has been looking for it for a long time and is so happy to have it.  And he can have it because I don't like it.

We weren't all that hungry for dinner since we ate so late, so I made salmon and broccoli and we left it at that.

I am watching my third Hallmark movie today.  I began with "A Crown for Christmas" this morning, watched "Christmas at the Plaza" this afternoon, and now have on "Christmas in Evergreen:  Tidings of Joy."  Yes, I really do love my Hallmark movies.

Well, that is it for today.  Tomorrow I hope to get a lot more done.  I have cards to do, cookies to bake and gifts to wrap.  I have cleaning to do, laundry and ironing.  I need to finish decorating.  Let's see what happens.

Sorry I don't have many pictures for you today but since I gave you overload the other day, I'm sure you'll forgive me.  Have a great night and I'll see you tomorrow.

Kathy