Month: December 2010

Categories
Everything Else

Christmas Quiz

I read this over at Dropped Stitches & thought it was fun but a little long! Feel free to join in if you like!

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Really neither. I’m much prefer Hot Apple Cider.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa placed them on unwrapped on separate couches growing up. Within the last couple of years, Santa has decided to wrap them and we open Santa gifts along with gifts from the rest of the family.

Colored lights on tree/house or white? Growing up we did colored lights on the tree, but as I mentioned in my tree post, we do white lights now. White lights on house for sure.

Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. I think my Charlotte grandparents would have some hanging in their house, but I never have.

When do you put your decorations up? The week/weekend following Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite holiday dish? broccoli casserole or Christmas cookies. Oh and pumpkin pancakes on Christmas morning!

Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Running around with my mom, aunts & grandmother in Charlotte before Christmas. Church on Christmas Eve with my family. Spread the Christmas day gifts out so it lasts all day!

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don’t remember when exactly… wait he’s not real?! 😛

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We usually do after we get home from church. Usually Christmas pjs if anyone’s getting/giving those.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights first, then ornaments, topper then tree skirt. Jason & I do it together now.

Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it because we get it so infrequently here in NC.

Can you ice skate? I’d say yes….kind of… but it’s been years since I did.

Do you remember your favorite gift? My American girl doll which was probably in elementary age. My mom has actually kept both of mine in the attic at their house. {The Nikon I’m getting this year might top this list too! Yay for being a good girl this year. 🙂 }

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being together with family & friends. Celebrating Jesus’ birth.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? cookies! I love these white chocolate cranberry cookies. I’m going to make them tomorrow.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Waking up & doing stocking Christmas morning, then breakfast, opening some gifts, eating dinner with the family & popping Christmas crackers, more gifts then maybe a movie or a little football. Since I can remember, Mom, Nana & I have shopped the day-after-Christmas sales!

What tops your tree? At my parent’s house, an angel. At our house, a star.

Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I think you become “grown up” when you get more exciting about giving than receiving! I look so forward to seeing my family & friends open the gifts I’d gotten for them!

What is your favorite Christmas Song? Hard to choose just one! I love Silent Night {it makes me cry when we sing it my candle light on Christmas eve at church}. I love Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. It reminds we of Home Alone and watching that movie on car trips growing up over the holidays.

Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? I like them. I don’t think I’ve had any this year though. I like the fruity ones more than minty.

Favorite Christmas Show? If you mean movie, then hands down Christmas Vacation!!

Saddest Christmas Song? Not sure. Lots of them might make me tear up if I’m in the right mood.

Categories
Food

Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Cookies

*Written 12/20*
Knowing that I will be returning to Charlotte in the near future, I’ve spent this past weekend trying to make sure everything was done here at home. I really haven’t felt super cheery/social, so we stayed at home most of the time. I vacuumed and raced around the house Friday night. I didn’t have any Saturday plans so I was able to run to Old Navy to return a shirt & exchange a Christmas gift for Jason {me & everyone else in Raleigh!}. While I was there I found skinny jeans ($25) for me that are perfect for my brown boots & a super cute flannel shirt dress ($12). Between Saturday and Sunday, I did 7+ loads of laundry (lights, darks, red/pinks, delicate wash for sweaters, sheets & towels). I also talked & texted with my parents and stayed within arms reach of my phone at all times. **Update on Ma: she’s holding her own & been able to drink some thickened apple juice over the past few days and thus is not as critical! We plan to go to Richmond for Christmas then Charlotte next week.**

I’d planned to bake these cookies for my coworkers Thursday night, but since I’d been out of town that didn’t get done. I already had all the ingredients so I decided to make them Sunday so I could bring them to my coworkers and some for Jason’s work friends also. I doubled the original recipe so it ended up making around 75 cookies {posted how I did it}. I found this recipe from sparkpeople in an email. We both really like the cookies, but my favorite part is that they’re approximately 64 calories each & 1 g fat!


Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
1 can Libby pumpkin
2 c light brown sugar
4 eggs
3 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
6 c oatmeal
2 c dried cranberries {craisins}
1 c sliced {then I crunched} almonds

Directions
Heat oven to 350.
Beat together pumpkin & sugar in mixer.
Add eggs & vanilla, continue to beat well.
Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt; mix.
Lower mixture to stir and add oatmeal, craisins & almonds.
Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. I used my silicone mats on basic sheets & nothing on my non-stick sheet & they didn’t stick. Also the cookies do not spread out much, so ok to place them pretty close together.
Bake 10-12 minutes then let cool for one minute before transferring to cooling rack.
Enjoy!

Categories
Everything Else

Love Walked In…I tried…

I tried. I really did. I’ve had the photo of this book as my “What I’m Reading Now” for at least two months. I’d pick it up, read a couple pages, then put it back down. Repeat for two months. This weekend I really tried to get into it. I read to page 90, so I “got” the characters, but I found that I didn’t give a crap about them. I didn’t {and still don’t} care what happens to them. So even though I really rarely do this, I gave up. I’m going to put it on the shelf and maybe come back to it later. Maybe at a different time & a different frame of mind, I’ll like Clare & Cornelia.

But for now, I went to the next book in my TBR pile, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Mermaid Chair. I’ll admit I also grabbed it because it was one of the thinnest books in the pile! I’m ready for something good but interesting & easy to read. I’m only on page 9 but so far so good.

The January book club pick is Hotel of the Corner of Bitter & Sweet. Book club is January 5th, and I’m still 36 back on the waiting list. Hopefully, people will read & return it quickly. That way I can get it before going out of town, but I’m not holding my breath. I might just be going to book club to seeing everyone!

What are you reading now? I’d love to get some new book recommendations. And happy reading to you!

Categories
Family/Travel

Ma’s Hands

*So I try to keep things cheery around here. I’m usually a very cheery person, so that’s easy. This isn’t a cheery post & if I’m MIA the next few days/weeks you’ll know why. Written Friday night…*

I think I’ve said I few times in passing over the last year or so that my mom’s mom who lives in Charlotte has slowly gone down hill. That was exacerbated by a fall she suffered in Jan 09. Since then Ma was first at a rehabilitation place then wheelchair bound in a nursing home. We’ve noticed changes over the last months, but she’d been holding her own for a while now. That changed at the beginning of this month. You might remember that I was there visiting both Ma & Papa the weekend before Thanksgiving. My parents & brother were there the first weekend in December. They enjoyed a great visit but noticed a difference Sunday from Friday & Saturday. Since then she’s gotten weaker and weaker & hospice was called in. My parents went back last weekend as well as both my aunts. My mom called me Tuesday night to say she wasn’t swallowing anything anymore so they took her off foods & liquids. Since I’ve been there so much & just love them so much, I couldn’t imagine not being able to say goodbye. I arrived Wednesday around 530p and left this morning at 915a. I spent the vast majority of the time reading aloud (The Upper Room & Bible as well as O & People magazines) and holding my Ma’s hand or even both hands. {photos taken without flash on my cell photo. LT photo from Wed at 7p. RT photo from Fri at 9a.}


Holding hands brought comfort to us both. It made me think of all the times we’ve held hands in the past (probably not enough since I was out of elementary school). I was also thinking about all that her hands have done over the last 85 years…
played with her brothers & sister growing up…
helped her through college at what’s now UNCG…
used for lesson plans & grading papers as a teacher in Charlotte…
holding hands while dating & marrying my Papa 62 years ago…
hugging & carrying for her three daughters…
praying for friends & family…
holding Papa’s hands as those three daughters left the home, graduated from college & got married…
hugging, rubbing, helping to change diapers for her three grands…first me, then 9 months later my cousin, then 2 years
later my brother…
playing bridge with couples & her girl friends…
cooking countless family meals…
decorating her home especially with Santas at Christmas…
baking countless Christmas sugar cookies…
stirring while making Ma’s famous green beans…
shopping with the daughters…
spreading sunscreen at her & us at OIB…
holding our arms as we helped steady her on our last couple of trips to Vegas, Hilton Head, & Williamsburg…
holding my hand while I give mini-manicures at the nursing home…
turning over cards while we played hours of crazy 8s & then helping me play solitare this summer & fall…
squeezing my hand & rubbing my fingers Tuesday night, Wednesday & today…
blowing me a kiss as I walked out of her nursing home room in tears this morning….

Categories
Everything Else

Christmas owl love

By this point, I believe y’all know how much I love owls! I’m just missing them from blog itself which my hubby swears in coming in 2011. I’ve had this little, crazy, bright green, wiry tree since right after college (I believe it was a day-after-Christmas Stein Mart find!). It works awesome for the owl ornaments I’ve found or been given other the years. I usually put up the tree on a stand next to the real tree. But my mom mentioned that our tall pub table would be a cool place. It’s great because it gives the kitchen area a Christmasy feel and I’ve been able to display our Christmas cards around it.


Here’s a few of my newest/most favorite owl ornaments. I bought this quilted owl from Crate & Barrel this year. I bought my mom (another Chi O & owl lover one as well). My good friend Kelly gave me this gorgeous owl for my birthday last weekend. I love it! This Santa owl is a couple years old, but it’s definitely one of my favorite! It’s perfect for this tree!


You might have noticed in earlier this weeks photos that our wrapping paper is owls too! I found it in the Target Christmas section. It was $2.50 for a really tall roll so I bought two! Looks like I might be rocking the owl paper again next year!


Speaking of Christmas cards, ours are owls! I would have loved to do a photo card…I had this idea of doing one of us in front of the tree you know with the hubby hugging the pregnant me…but yeah that didn’t happen. My mom actually gave me two packs of these cards last year in my stocking! She’d found them at Borders and bought all they had for me. I thought they were perfect for us this year. I wrote inside “Wishing you & your family good times, good cheer… Then the inside said AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. Please consider this my Christmas wish to each of the awesome readers seeing this too!