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 fog that late in the day.
Friday / 11 a.m. / prepping to make gingerbread trifles
Friday / 6:45 p.m. / The countdown is on.
Friday / 9:45 p.m. / Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake
Wondering what next week will hold…
~~Rhonda
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
The White Almond Cake is a dessert I have made once before.
To make the snowflakes, I googled “snowflake clip art” and printed ones I liked onto a sheet of paper, using Print Shop. I melted almond bark (candy coating) and piped it onto waxed paper that was placed over the printed sheets.
The snowflakes are fragile, breaking easily, so I made six cookie sheets full of snowflakes in different sizes and used four of those sheets to decorate the cake.
The cake was layered with plum jam that I made last summer. While our guests enjoyed their desserts in the dining room, we enjoyed ours in the kitchen.
It was a fun evening and one we enjoyed hosting. Many thanks to our wonderful guests for their generous donation to the library fund. We look forward to hosting another library dinner next Christmas!
~~Rhonda
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 close. Here’s the menu for the week.
Monday
Fried Fresh Gulf Oysters…who needs anything else?
Tuesday
Fresh Fried Catfish
Baby Baked Potatoes
Steamed Green Beans
Wednesday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Veggies / Ranch Dip
Grapes
Thursday
Simply Great Chicken
Rice
Cornbread
Steamed Veggies
Green Salad
Friday ~ invited friends over for appetizers and desserts
Spicy Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce
Bacon Cheese Spread with Bagel Chips
Caprese Salad Skewers
Creamy Mushroom Bake
Stuffed Baguette
Marinated Shrimp
Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake
Ginger Cake Trifles with Caramelized Apples, Cranberries & Whipped Cream
Saturday
Fridge Food
Sunday
Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta
Garlic Bread
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Garden Salad
You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
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.
Snow Ice Cream
Taste testing…
Thumbs up from the twins.
That was a busy Saturday, but not too busy to make some snow ice cream. The stuff memories are made of.
~~Rhonda
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 A Muppet Christmas Carol. Another family tradition for Christmas Eve.
After the movie, I made a spinach and cheese strata for Christmas morning. Fresh spinach and Gruyère cheese! Sooo good!
Christmas Day was long but fun. DH was, of course, the first one up. He got a lot done before anyone else stirred. After a breakfast of warm strata, we spent the morning getting ready for our older son and his family to come for Christmas.
Fuzzy blanket, cup of coffee and toffee bar crunch biscotti…almost ready for opening presents! BTW, how do you like our spray painted folding chairs? Red ones and green ones. 🙂
After everyone settled in, DH read the account of the first Christmas from Luke 2:1-20.
Ready to open stockings!
The twins’ favorite gifts were their bicycles.
Other faves…
Pa’s new light-weight ladder…
We took a break from the gifting and had our dinner…finger foods and appetizers. Yummy and easy!
This day is one of celebration. Of family and of love, of giving and receiving, but most of all, of Christ.
May your New Year be full of Christ’s great gift of love.
~~Rhonda
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. Made the yard look like the land of Narnia before Aslan defeated the White Witch.
The littles were excited about their gift exchange.
Getting ready for that party just about wore me out. I’m grateful for the help DH and my daughters gave to make it work! But I was pretty tired afterward. One reason I was slow in getting the menu up this week. But we’re all recovering! And here’s the menu…
Monday
Fridge Food ~ there were plenty of leftovers from the party to hold us over.
Tuesday
Turkey and Noodle Soup
Toast
Wednesday ~ celebrating DH’s birthday a little late
Crunchy Baked Pork Chops
Green Salad
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Rolls
Creamy Mushroom Bake
Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
Steamed Green Beans
Peach Pie
Vanilla Ice Cream
Thursday
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Soup
Toasted Homemade Bread
Friday
Tacoritos
Homemade Tortilla Chips
Avocado Sour Cream
Shredded Lettuce and Diced Tomatoes
Saturday ~ Library Dinner for Eight
Pear-Walnut Salad
Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Baby Baked Potatoes
Green Beans
Creamy Mushroom Bake
Cranberry Salad
Homemade Rolls
White Almond Sour Cream 2-layer cake with snowflake garnish
Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake with Christmas Mice garnish
Sunday
Spaghetti
Homemade Sauce
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Garden Salad
Rosemary Bread
You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
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 a library dinner and Christmas house tour January 5, and we are planning to have friends over for an evening in there somewhere. Maybe January 2. We’ll see how that works out.
The twins are ready! And excited!! They are counting down the “sleeps till Christmas.”
Everything is a great adventure for them this time of year. We are looking forward to having their family here for Christmas Day.
Here’s the menu for the week. I’m working on tomorrow’s menu today. Most will be ready or will just need reheated for our Christmas Day snacking and grazing. We gave up the big dinner a few years ago in favor of finger foods and it has made the day much more relaxed and easy-going which we enjoy a great deal.
Monday
Hearty Lentil Soup
Tuesday
Cheese and Spinach Strata for Breakfast
Finger Food for Christmas Day
Little Smokies in Bacon
Three Cheese Spread and Pita Chips
Sausage Cheese Balls
Spicy Meatballs in Cranberry Sauce (I’m trying this recipe for the meatballs and baking them instead of frying.)
Veggies with Ranch Dip
Cheese / Sausages / Crackers
Chex Mix
Peaches and Cream Pie
Christmas Cookies
Wednesday
Fridge Food
Thursday
Homemade Pizza
Friday
Cheesy Potato and Sausage Soup
Saturday
Family Christmas Party / We’re providing the meat and buns. Everyone else is bringing the rest.
Alton Brown’s Pot Roast for sandwiches
Spicy Shredded Pork for sandwiches
Ham
Homemade Buns
Cowboy Beans
Green Salad
Veggies and Dip
Cheese Spread and Crackers
Desserts
Sunday
Fridge Food
You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
May you have a very Merry and Joy-full Christmas!
~~Rhonda
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 his family were in Germany to be with family. Mark, we missed you!
So much lovely music! So much fun!
We asked Nathan to save the date for us for next Christmas. Already looking forward to it!
~~Rhonda
While our younger son and his wife were visiting from Seattle, we exchanged gifts with them. They shipped the wrapped presents ahead so we had them under the tree. We save boxes this time of year, and I used their shipping box to wrap a present for DH. Lo and behold, one of the gifts they sent ahead was missing and we decided it might be in the packing material that was in the box I had used. So DH got to open one of his gifts before Christmas Day! And the twins wanted to help, of course!
Rose Red immediately lost interest once the gift was revealed, but Snow White went outside with Pa to fill the bird feeder and hang it for the birds.
And, yes, the missing CD was in the bottom of the box, wrapped and ready for gifting. 🙂
~~Rhonda
We were happy to have our younger son and his wife home for a few days. They live in Seattle and that’s a long way away! While they were here, we had our family Christmas with them, including a big dinner and opening presents. My Dad and my sister Margaret came down for the afternoon, so Dad could watch the kids open presents. While he was here, we took a few pictures.
My dad and our kids and dear daughters-in-law
Dad and our grands
And they all went next door to visit Great-Ma (DH’s Mom).
This week, DH’s sister and her husband are coming for a few days to visit DH’s mom. We still have a few events to plan and I have a mountain of gifts to wrap. Also some crafting I want to do…just for fun. And we are planning to host a dinner for a group of eight who bought our “dinner and Christmas house tour” at the library auction last year. Due to my Mom’s passing away last December, they graciously allowed us to put it off until this Christmas. I’ve put the menu down on Wednesday, though our date isn’t tied down for sure. So you may see that menu again in another week or so.
Monday
Julie’s Baked Ziti
Homemade Rolls
Green Salad
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Tuesday
Chicken and Dumpling Soup
Wednesday
Pear-Walnut Salad
Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Baby Baked Potatoes
Green Beans with Mushroom Sauce
Cranberry Salad
Homemade Rolls
White Almond Sour Cream 2-layer cake with snowflake garnish
Creamy Chocolate Cheesecake with Christmas Mice garnish
Thursday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Grapes
Veggies and Beau Monde Dip
Saturday
Fridge Food
Sunday
Crock Pot Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Mushroom Sauce
Green Salad
Steamed Broccoli
Corn
You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda