been a while...

close up of Christmas tree (and yes, those are mardi gras beads)

Bar at Christmas time...

Life gets busy... especially at this time of year. There's Christmas lights to put up, trees to decorate, gifts to buy, cards to mail, and goodies to bake... not to mention Christmas parties to attend as well as grandkids pageants and performances!

We have one of the latter this week when the Saint Joseph's kindergarten class will be singing Christmas carols. Grand daughter will take part in that so we will be sure to be there. And last night our pottery group had their Christmas get-together and cookie exchange. Great food, good conversation, and came home with loads of goodies!

So... I've been lax on blogging. Actually I've read most the blogs I follow, but may not have commented and certainly haven't posted anything lately.  Yesterday I baked almond tea cakes and cheese biscuits for the pottery get-together. Today I will continue with whiskey balls, chocolate graham cracker crunch, and home-made granola to mail... and eventually rum cakes and more cookies for neighbors and friends. 

That's pretty much where we're at... probably the same for all of you.

Julie  'helping' with Christmas decorating...

Moose doing the same...

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a safe Happy New Year 2019! (Wow! that's the first time I've written that...)

Thanksgiving 2018 - food, family, and friends

Thanksgiving 2018 Food!

Thanksgiving 2018 Table

I don't decorate too much for Halloween or Thanksgiving... mostly put out a few pumpkins, but I do start sneaking in our Christmas decor here and there (if you can see there are a few stockings hanging by the fireplace... and if you could see further up, there's Christmas candles, etc.) It works.

Besides, the traditional holiday food is the main attraction. Each family is different, but mine want Turkey, Ham, stuffing (used to be oyster, now it's Jalapeno Pecan), bourbon sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, cranberry sauce, broccoli/cauliflower casserole, and rolls. I occasionally try something different (last year I added stuffed artichokes - my 5 year old grand daughter loved them!) And our desserts differ some. Most want a family traditional favorite - a chocolate pudding with a pecan cookie crust... but DH makes a fantastic cheesecake that everyone likes too. This year my DIL even brought a delicious apple crumble to add to the mix. 

In general, I make all the food and they all come here... but last year we went to my daughter's in the hill country and one year we went to my son's (before they moved to Hawaii). I love doing it here, but it's getting to be difficult getting it all done on my own. It may be time to 'pass the baton' or find a good restaurant. It won't be the same, but time passes and things change. As long as we're all together, it should be fine.

Here are a few pics we took - mostly of the grands:

4 grandkids - outside by the house
(hard to corral that youngest for a pic)

grandkids by well

grand daughter on top

in tree

with her friend

daughter on left with her best friend

Our daughter lives in the Hill Country around San Antonio, Texas and her best friend now lives in Colorado Springs - but they get to see each other either at Thanksgiving or Christmas when each comes here to Texas to visit family.

I guess that's about it. Everyone left for home yesterday. It's been fun, but a bit hectic. Giving myself some 'downtime' this week... 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

the day is done... (Thanksgiving that is)

rose from our garden

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  This photo was taken of a rose that DH brought in from the garden a few days ago.  He brought it in as a bud, but when it opened, it was huge and really beautiful... a deep pink with red highlights. Don't know the name. We used to have lots of rose bushes (and knew all the names), but as time went by, we've not had as many or paid as much attention.  But this one caught our eye!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I cooked for 3 days.  DH smokes the turkey, I made Bourbon Sweet Potatoes with Pecan and Marshmallow topping, my mom's Oyster Stuffing,  a new Green Bean Casserole (all fresh - no canned - but similar to the traditional recipe), a Hatch Chili stuffing (for the Vegetarians at the table), cranberry sauce, and cheese biscuits... also a traditional pudding recipe that has a cookie base (boys HAVE to have this) and an apple pie.

We ate, we laughed, we discussed the new baby who was sitting at the table with her mom and has not yet decided to grace us with her presence (she is due to make her appearance anytime). Then we all adjoined to the den so those who were inclined could continue watching the football games while others of us could either knit or sleep... until it was time for more coffee and dessert!  My daughter and her family (who live in the hill country and weren't with us for dinner this year) kept texting us and her brothers as to what was going on at her house.  The boys kept sending her pictures of mom's food.

All in all, it was a nice day. The cats enjoyed it too.  They laid around in baskets and on the sofa with the family... except for Molly who decided to sit on the bench next to DIL during dinner.  Mostly the cats are not allowed near the table while we're eating and they're pretty good about it. But Molly is 19, so when she joined us, no one was offended.  She just sat there and listened to the conversation. The weather was beautiful. This morning it's a bit cooler - 59 or 60 I believe.  




quilt we saw at shop in Celeste, TX

 Took this picture of a quilt my friend and I saw at this little shop in Celeste last week. I fell in love with it. My friend is the quilter, not me. I have one that I did start and it is almost finished except for the last bit... but as it turns out, when I have time on my hands, I'd rather work on the wheel or knit (and so it has sat unfinished in my closet for about a year). Truth is, I LOVE quilts! Just not making them myself. So we bought the material and she is going to make it for me.  She is one of those people that has quilts started and finished everywhere in her house. But, as I told her, there is no hurry on my part. I'm just excited to have found one that I really like. There are so many designs and materials out there that it makes my head spin. Some are gorgeous... just not my house style. This one is perfect.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!