Author Archives: ~~Rhonda

Living in a small town, I share my life with my husband Russell (married in 1977), five children (one still at home), and six cats (one indoors, the others outside).

I teach an online class called “The Christmas Notebook” which is about all things holiday prep. The many facets of celebrating Christmas comprises one of my favorite hobbies. Other favorite things include gardening, reading, cooking, and scrapbooking.

menu plan monday ~ january 21, 2013

I had a good time this past weekend at my Dad’s house, for a Sisters’ Weekend gathering. I, my four sisters and two sisters-in-law try to get together for a weekend once a year. For Christmas, everyone pitched in to give my Dad a Civil War wallpaper border for his collection room, with the promise […]

menu plan monday ~ january 14, 2013

We hosted our last holiday party this past weekend. I made the Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake that has been a hit in the past. Now it’s time to think about putting Christmas away. It’s a big job, but one that we need to do. I just hate to see it come down. Here’s the menu for […]

this week in pictures / january 6~11

Sunday / 6:30 p.m. / day of rest Monday / 5:00 p.m. / lovely amaryllis Monday / 7:30 p.m. / fresh oysters! Wednesday / 11:45 a.m. / glittery triangle house Wednesday / 11:45 a.m. / the alphabet song Thursday / 1:50 p.m. / drizzly Thursday / 5:00 p.m. / Foggy / It’s unusual to have […]

dinner and a house tour

The local library hosts an annual dinner and auction to raise money for the library. We like to donate dinner for eight with a Christmas house tour to the auction. Seven guests were able to attend this year. The menu included Marinated Pork Tenderloin Baby Baked Potatoes Pear-Pecan Salad Steamed Green Beans Creamy Mushroom Bake […]

menu plan monday ~ january 7, 2013

Last week, we celebrated DH’s birthday. I baked peach pie, his favorite, and the twins helped him blow out his candle. We also hosted a dinner for eight and a Christmas house tour last week. That will be another post. This week we have one more party, then will draw this Christmas season to a […]

snow ice cream treat

Last weekend, we had the beautiful fluffy snowfall. The girls had a great time playing in the yard. And had fun eating lots of snow, too… There was enough snow on the ground to allow us to make snow ice cream. While the girls warmed up with some hot chocolate, I mixed the ice cream. […]

Christmas eve and Christmas day

Like many families, we have a tradition of opening a gift of Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. We also open one more gift. Not sure how that tradition got started, but it’s one we have. There always seems to be a kitty available for playing with bows and ribbons. Then it was time to watch […]

menu plan monday ~ december 31, 2012

I’m late getting the menu up this week, but it’s been one thing or another, seems like. We had a great time with my family here on Saturday for our annual Christmas party, with 42 attending. We missed those who couldn’t attend. The evening before and morning of the party, we had a beautiful snowfall. […]

menu plan monday ~ december 24, 2012

Only one more sleep till Christmas! It makes me excited and sad at the same time. I hate for this time of year to come to an end. We do have three more parties to host, though, so we’ll be celebrating for a while longer. My family is coming Saturday for our Christmas, we’re hosting […]

house concert 2012

At the house concert last week, Nathan George, Ross Sermons and Robert Bowlin treated us to an evening of wonderful music. Many guests shared with us how much this annual concert enriches their Christmas season each year. We missed Mark Stoffel who has been a big part of the concert in previous years. Mark and […]