Leaping Backwards A Bit. Part Two

Still February 29!

Leaping backwards to December and 

my White Christmas Tag Swap 2

The first White Christmas Tag Swap, in December 2010, was so much fun that I just had to do it again for 2011! Wonderful swappers and so many gorgeous Christmas tags!

Chris - Perfectly Printed

 Dawn B

 Dawn T

Jackye

Jessica

Jonnelle

Kathy

Kimberly

Lisa

Susan

Wanda

Wendy - with a crocheted ornament too!

And my tag too!

Hosting this swap was every bit as much fun as the first one in December 2010.  I want to do it one more time, but it'll be better if we can get the tags made before Thanksgiving. It's such a busy time of year. If you'd like to join the 2012 White Christmas Tag Swap, just let me know - and put it on your calendar. Nothing like planning ahead - especially when I'm just now posting the photos!

Leaping Backwards A Bit. Part One

Is it OK to Make a Backwards Leap on Februay 29 - Leap Day?!

How about all the way back to Christmastime? I can hardly believe that I didn't get my Christmas swaps posted back in December, or at least in January! And now, it's just barely still February! Worst of all, it must be in the 80s today, although it was down in the 40s just a day or two ago. 

Despite the weather, I'm thinking snow while looking (again) at these beautiful Christmas swaps ........

Cindy's House Ornament Swap

Cindy, of Rickrack and Gingham, always has such creative ideas for her swaps! Wouldn't want to miss one of them, and I really, really loved this one.  So much fun to make the little houses - and then to see  what kind the others made! Of course, hanging them up to decorate was the best part!

Sweet Bee of  Sweet Bee's Cottage made a wonderful beehive! 

A sweet cottage from Becky of Sweet Cottage Dreams

Renee's cute house and tag - My Vintage Mending

Paula's Palace of AltAred Art - Paula's house on wheels

 Cindy, our swap hostess, sewed these cute houses 

of gingham, with rickrack trim, of course!

Cozy Blanket (Debby)'s cozy cottage

And here's mine! I didn't want to make a log cabin, 

so made a candy cottage instead.

The backs of all of these are just as cute as the fronts, I believe.  It was so much fun, both to make the houses and to receive all these darling house ornaments from these lovely swappers.  Thank you so much, Cindy, for hosting this wonderful swap!

Christmas Baking

Christmas Cookies

Baking cookies has been a part of our Christmas celebration for as long as I can remember.  My mother always baked up a storm, so it wouldn't seem like Christmas without some of our special family cookies. Have cut back quite a bit, but still baked several batches.

Lizzies - getting started

First the raisins are soaked for an hour in bourbon! Lizzies are kind of like little baby fruitcakes - not so popular these days as they once were, but still delicious.

The recipe makes a LOT of cookies!

And here they are! Yum - anyone for a cup of tea and a Lizzie?

"Peeps on a Stick" and friends! The big pink peppermint marshmallows are so cute - they make me think of 'sugar plums'!

Mr. and Mrs. Santa - we've had these for many, many years, a gift from sweet mother-in-law

back when our kids were little.

Also baked Gingerbread Men, Swedish Crescents, Molasses Crinkles, Chocolate Drops with Peppermint Kisses on top, a chocolate cake, Mincemeat Pie with apples & pecans, Cranberry-Apple Pie, and dipped lots of pretzels in chocolate. 

January's usually cool or even cold here, so might bake some more. The only problem with that is that I eat too many of them!

Happy Eleventh Day of Christmas!

Still Enjoying Christmas and New Year's

Happy New Year in Chocolate!

 After lunch with some friends the other day, I found a  mysterious box on my doorstep. Wasn't expecting anything!

Fragile? Berries? Hmmm......

So well-packed! Styrofoam inside the box, foam padding, freezer pack -  no danger of damage in transit. What fun!

Oh, yum! A box of really large chocolate dipped strawberries!

What a sweet gift! How yummy! Almost hate to eat them!

Maybe we should have a Christmas tea party?

I love my little Christmas tea set! Spode's Christmas Tree pattern - spent years collecting enough for our family dinners - and I remember how excited I was when I got the little miniature tea set! No granddaughters, but all of our grandsons have  enjoyed using it for little Christmas tea parties over the years.  

I love this little teapot from one of the dollar stores too, but use it just for decoration.  It's so cute!

It's already the Ninth Day of Christmas! Only a few more days to enjoy the decorations before packing it all away. Everything's so rushed before Christmas that it's nice to have a little time afterwards just to relax and enjoy it all. Years ago we took everything down on New Year's Day, but now I like to leave it up through Epiphany.

Tomorrow(or today!) it's back to school here - so great to be retired!

The Fourth and Fifth Days of Christmas

Christmas Around Our House


December 29 -30, 2011

 Some of my mother-in-law's angel collection - a little Angel Choir!

She always set them all up for Christmas, so now we do too. 

Have to watch our cats, though, so they don't knock them over!

 Lovely Christmas ornament purchased from Kimberly Laws 

at Art, Joy, Stuff.  She always wraps everything so beautifully, 

and includes little extras too!

 Cute little Christmas trees - a gift from a dear friend.

Look what happens when you switch them on!

 They change colors!

More colors!  Aren't they cute?!

The Second & Third Days of Christmas

Still enjoying Christmastime with family and friends

BUT WAIT!

I said I'd read at least 50 books this year ----

and I still have SEVEN more to go! Have read 3 the past two days, but will really have to hunker down to read 7 more by Saturday night!!!  Better find some really, really quick reads pretty fast! 

Should magazines count? 

Read, Jane, Read!

December 26, 2011

Boxing Day

Sad to miss my niece's annual Boxing Day party, but worn out from Christmas Day celebration (and the preparation) at our house yesterday. Three naps today - so far!

All was calm - during Christmas Dinner, at least!

Our colorful Christmas table

Grandson Adam put the candy cane reindeer together while spending  a day or two with us earlier in the week.  Thought it would be fun to use them in the place settings.

Little wreath light set added some colorful light to the sparkle on the table. Oops, looks like someone pulled out the wiring - it had been tucked in so it didn't show so much!

Our Menu

Assorted Appetizers

 Cheese & Crackers, Fruit, Vegies, Olives, etc.

Wine, Soda, Water, Juice

Roast Beef au jus

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans with Almonds

Broccoli

Ambrosia

Assorted Rolls

Dessert

Mincemeat/Apple Pie

Apple/Cranberry Pie

Assorted Cookies

Coffee 

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

More to come - 

Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas!

Christmas Day 2011

Merry Christmas

from our house to yours!

Thanksgiving Day 2011

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Thank you,  Red Lead, for this Thanksgiving graphic!

Projects Galore!

Our Little Turkey Factory

Turkeys, you say?  They look more like peanuts!

Peanuts with legs - green legs, at that!

At least they have "googly" eyes!

250 paper plate turkeys for one school's kindergarten and first graders to complete as a follow-up to the Thanksgiving stories in the school library/media center! 

VERY rough sample! Partly finished turkey - wattle, but no beak yet - and without the 'googly' eyes.

Note this one has orange legs. With over 700 students coming to the library/media center each week, and no budget, any crafty little projects must be simple, quick, and very low-cost. (Of course it's mostly the kindergarteners and first graders who get to do things like this.) When I went to buy the 250 chenille sticks needed, there was a limited selection in the 'giant, economy size' packages - green, white, or assorted. I knew better than to get 'assorted' because everyone would want a different color than the one they received and they don't have that much time.

Of course, the stories, library skills, and book selection/check-out are the main events of a library/media class.  This was a "just-for-fun" project for K & 1 to work on the last few minutes while taking turns selecting  books to check out.

After all that gluing and realizing Mr. A-J had punched 1000 punches for the legs & hangers, we wondered if perhaps we were the real turkeys! The children all loved their turkeys, though,  and were so happy to have something to take home as a gift for Mom or Grandma.  Seeing how much they enjoyed coloring in the tail feathers made it all worthwhile.  Wish I could've taken photos of some of the children at work!

Might do something similar with gingerbread men during December, but I need to get busy with a few swaps too! Not to mention housecleaning and all that :)