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.

annual Christmas open house

December 7, 2010 – 3:50 pm

Well, gang, it’s done for another year. The open house was held last Sunday, and it was another great success. We had a wonderful time. Many guests told me the open house opens their own Christmas season each year. I’m always happy to hear how much everyone enjoys it. Here are a few of our […]

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menu plan monday ~ december 6, 2010

December 7, 2010 – 2:48 pm

I took Monday totally off as I was so very tired after all the open house prep, then the party. DD was very happy to hear we were not having school on Monday. She had helped a lot with the party prep during the past few weeks. She said, “You mean we don’t have to […]

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picture ornaments

December 1, 2010 – 11:01 pm

Today I made a few more picture ornaments for the tree in the upstairs hall. It has pictures of our kids from Christmases past. Today I printed some from last Christmas so I could add our granddaughters to the tree. To make the ornaments, I print photos using Print Shop. After trimming the photos, I […]

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menu plan monday ~ november 29, 2010

November 29, 2010 – 9:44 pm

This is a very busy week for us. Next Sunday is our annual Christmas Open House. We expect 180-200 guests, and, of course, I want everything to be perfect! :-} With apologies to my husband who has taken the week off to help…but he knows how I am, don’t you, Honey? We started decorating the […]

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menu plan monday ~ november 22, 2010

November 22, 2010 – 11:38 am

This past weekend, my sister and her daughter-in-law came to help put up more Christmas trees. And, can you believe it??, I didn’t take a single picture! Sarah did a great job and was happy to do anything we asked of her. She even made chili for lunch and then made homemade pizza dough for […]

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menu plan monday ~ november 15, 2010

November 15, 2010 – 8:19 am

We’ve been busy around here, with Christmas decorating and cookie baking. DD spent a few days at her older sister’s house, so I had Thursday/Friday with no homeschooling. That meant I had time to catch up on cookie baking. I made Sour Cream Sugar Cookies, Sugar Cookie Crisps, Elfin Bites, Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread Cookies, Chocolate […]

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menu plan monday ~ november 8, 2010…better late than never…

November 10, 2010 – 11:50 am

We’ve enjoyed days of glorious fall weather. From the classroom, we’ve watched the Southern Oak in the backyard turn from green to gold. This pictured doesn’t do it justice, but does give a hint of its beauty. Buttercup continues to join us each school day. She slept in this box of scratch paper all day […]

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nutmeg logs

November 2, 2010 – 10:14 am

Yesterday, I baked Nutmeg Logs for the Christmas Open House. I’m a little behind on baking, but still have four weeks, right?? I like to cut the cookies with the crimped pastry cutter. It gives the cookies a decorative edge. I make these rather thin because that creates a crisp cookie. The cookie platter needs […]

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menu plan monday ~ november 1, 2010

November 1, 2010 – 12:13 pm

Last weekend Genny and I worked on decorating the living room for Christmas. If you are new to this blog, yes, it’s early for most people, but someone has to be the exception, right? Each year, we host an open house the first Sunday of December, so we have to be ready early. We have […]

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menu plan monday ~ october 25, 2010

October 25, 2010 – 11:45 am

My sister Genny came again this weekend, even though I was still recuping (and crouping) from the bad cold I had last week. She and DH did a lot of work with the ongoing Christmas decorating. I did a lot of supervising. We worked on the library tree, which displays my collection of nativity ornaments. […]

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