One of my Christmas gifts from DS and DDIL was a bag of wonderful smelling coffee beans titled “Holiday Magic.” I was eager to try them. A quick trip to Amazon and I had myself a grinder. Love it!
I used my favorite Christmas mug to sample the freshly ground and brewed cup. Wonderful!
Freshly ground really is the way to go. Now I just need one of those little single cup coffee pots. 🙂 ~~Rhonda
We have hosted an annual Christmas Open House for about 20 years. I’m not sure when the first one was, though I do know we held it for missionaries our church supported. The open house became an annual tradition. I told DH we’d have a hard time canceling it at this point because people would show up even if we didn’t send out invites. Many of our guests have told us it is the opening of their holiday season.
One of our blog readers asked for pictures of our past invitations. I began sending official invites in 2000. Prior to that, we just asked people to come as we saw them, included a hand-written note in our Christmas cards, and put an announcement in the Sunday bulletin for our church family.
2001 ~ This invitation has an embossed ornament with the pine and bow stamped over. The invitation was printed on speckled paper and matted on red card stock. Pretty simple!
2002 ~ The grey-shaded paper is actually silver. The stamping is embossed in silver. The invite is printed on paper, then matted on dark blue paper with torn edges.
2003 ~ The invitation is printed on red paper, embossed in gold, and has a little tag affixed. I printed the “Please Come!” on red paper and then, after stamping, cut it into a small rectangle and used a corner rounder on it.
2004 ~ I especially liked this one. I used gold, red, and green glitter glue on the gold embossed lantern. The invite is printed on ivory card stock. All three pieces of card stock are embossed in gold on all edges.
2005 ~ I was in a hurry this particular year and used a postcard picture. I imported it into Print Shop, added the invite and printed the whole thing on ivory paper, cutting the picture with a bit of ivory border. I added silver glitter embossed highlights on some of the snow, then matted it on dark green. I embossed the edge of the green with silver.
2006 ~ It is printed on white cardstock and embossed with silver. I embossed snowflakes on the left edge of the dark blue, embossed the edges of both pieces of paper and tied it together. Very easy!
2007 ~ This year’s invitation was easy to make. The stamping and edges are embossed with gold. I used one large stamp with Christmas greetings on it about 3/4 of the card. I covered the edge of that stamping with a gold ribbon, then stamped the smaller holly piece in the lower part of the right side. The invitation itself was glued over the ribbon. When the assembly was done, I finished them with spray glitter which this picture doesn’t show. Pretty!
2008 ~ It took a while for me to figure out what I wanted to do for 2008. Finally I settled on this large stamped “tree.” I used green embossing powder for the stamp, then used glitter glue for the red words and the gold star. It’s double matted with red and green card stock.
I try to keep the invites small enough to slip into our Christmas cards, which I try to mail the day before Thanksgiving. That gets the invites out a week before the party, which is always the first Sunday in December. It’s never too early to start thinking about what to do for the next open house. The best years are when I have them done early!
~~Rhonda 🙂
Today is DD’s eleventh birthday. We began by making cupcakes this morning before she left for school.
She wants ice cream cone cupcakes for the sleepover with her friends this evening. I made cake batter using the directions on a white cake box mix, divided the batter into three parts, and colored the batter green, pink, and blue. We filled the cones about 2/3 full. Setting the cones in a mini muffin tin helped hold them upright.
After baking, the cones were top heavy and some of them fell over as I pulled them from the oven. The frosting will cover any flaws. If I make these again, I will try wedging the cones into the muffin tins with aluminum foil.
I used buttercream frosting to ice the cupcakes.
I think she’ll like them. 🙂
~~Rhonda
DD just finished basketball and is now happily playing volleyball. Last night she served for ten points in one game.
She’s our most athletically inclined child. Three of our four older children participated in soccer and volleyball, but DD can’t get enough. She would like to be on every team available. 🙂
~~Rhonda
Buttercup’s favorite winter napping spot is on the heating vent in the kitchen. She was totally asleep when I took the picture.
~~Rhonda
The branches we are forcing are beginning to blossom. They are like a breath of fresh air, especially after a week of snow, sleet, ice, and cold weather.
Forsythia
Lilac
The lilacs probably won’t do anything more than make pretty green buds. But the forsythia should be a burst of yellow in a day or two.
~~Rhonda
Supper last night was salmon, accordion potatoes, corn and coleslaw. I added peanuts and apples to the coleslaw, which was tasty. The salmon was baked with honey and dijon mustard brushed on it. Very good! I had planned to make corn pudding, but decided against it, as I was already using the oven to bake the salmon and the potatoes. The accordion potatoes recipe came from the What’s for Dinner? blog.
I used five medium Yukon Gold potatoes, and, after slicing them, covered them with a paper towel and baked them in the microwave for six minutes.
I didn’t have fresh thyme, so put fresh rosemary on them, along with the olive oil, salt and pepper. I then baked them in the oven with the salmon. They took a few more minutes than the salmon, so were probably in the oven about 20 minutes at 400*. If supper hadn’t been so late (didn’t eat until 7:30) I would have put the potatoes under the broiler until they crisped on top. As it was, everyone was hungry, so supper was on the table as quickly as possible.
They turned out well and DD thought they were “cool.” 🙂 ~~Rhonda
I’ve been hankering for some homemade Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for some time. Today I made a batch using this recipe. I halved the recipe and added 2 T. of honey. Here’s the recipe, as I tweaked it.
Cream together:
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup butter [I used one stick of unsalted butter and one stick of Parkey margarine.]
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 Tablespoons honey
Add the dry ingredients and mix well:
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 2 cups flour
* 2 1/2 cups rolled oats (regular)
* 1 1/2 cups raisins
* 1 1/2 cups nuts [I omitted these.]
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. I used a small scoop to put the dough on the cookie sheet. Easy and quick.
Bake at 375* for 9 minutes. Check you own oven after 8 minutes. Temperatures will vary from oven to oven and the time should be adjusted accordingly. Don’t let the cookies over brown or they will be hard.
Let the cookies cool for a minute or two before removing them from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack. They will hold their round shape better, if allowed to cool slightly before moving.
This recipe made 7 dozen cookies.
DD thought the house smelled pretty good when she walked in after school. 🙂 ~~Rhonda
Last Saturday, DH cut some branches from the yard for forcing. The forsythia will take 10-14 days to bud out. It’s beginning to show signs of life. See that green peeking out?
The purple lilac buds are plump and dark…
…while the white lilac are bright green and slender.
We like to force branches every January/February. They are a sweet reminder that spring is coming. In about a week, we should have forsythia blossoms brightening the kitchen table. Perhaps DH will brave the snow in the west yard and cut some quince in the next day or two. They bud beautifully, too.
You can try just about any shrub or tree. Some work better than others. Forsythia and quince flower well. Lilacs may make a small green bud of a flower, but won’t make a large blossom. Their bright green leaves are beautiful, though. The star magnolia makes a blossom, but it doesn’t have any scent, which is surprising considering how very heavy the scent is when the shrub blooms in the yard. You can try red bud trees, fruit trees, dogwood, honeysuckle, etc., anything that blooms in the spring.
Smash the ends of the branches, if you like, to make them take up water more easily, though it isn’t necessary. We never bother doing that. Keep the branches in a vase of fresh water and watch them bud. Even if you get only leaves, they will be a welcome splash of spring green, all the more lovely when it’s cold, snowy and dark outside!
~~Rhonda ::waiting for spring::