December 15, 2008
Twelve Days of Christmas
When my sister and I were little we used to do a little song performance for our dad. The song was called “Father Abraham” and he (my dad) would laugh so hard he would cry.
Today I came across this videoon youtube (while searching for a clip of my friend Heather on the Ellen show) and while it’s no Father Abraham, it did make me smile. Enjoy…
December 13, 2008
Deciphere the Canticles of the Yuletide Season (Guess the Songs of Christmas)
I found this game over at Robin’s Christmas Cookie Exchange page. Each of the following represents the title of a popular Christmas Song. Have fun and you can check your answers here. Thanks to Debby Griffith for submitting this game to Robin’s page.
It was my intention to play this at the Cookie Exchange today, but everyone was having such a good time socializing that we really didn’t need it. The Cookie Exchange was a huge success. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and said what a great idea it was. I hope that they continue to have cookie exchanges at whatever post they are at next year and following years. It’s such a great way to get together and bring a little bit of holiday spirit to those who may be in need (namely – ME).
1. Exclamation, Member of the Round Table with missing areas.
2. Boulder of the Tinkling Metal Spheres.
3. Vehicular Homicide was Committed on Dad’s Mom by a Precipitous Darling.
4. Wanted in December: Top Forward Incisors.
5. The Apartment of Two Psychiatrists.
6. The Lad is a Diminutive Percussionist.
7. Sir Lancelot with Laryngitis.
8. Cup-shaped Instruments Fashioned of a Whitish Metallic Element.
9. Exclamation, Small Israeli Urban Center.
10. Far Off in a Hay Bin.
11. Kong, Lear, and Cole — That’s Us !
12. Duodecimal Enumeration of the Passage of the Yuletide Season.
13. Leave the Broadcast from an Elevation.
14. Our Fervent hope is that you thoroughly Enjoy your Yuletide Season
15. Listen, the Winged Heavenly Messengers are Proclaiming Tunefully.
16. Jubilation to the Entire Terrestrial Globe.
17. Do You Perceive the Same Vibrations that Stimulate My Auditory Sense Organs?
18. Parent was Observed Osculating a Red Coated Unshaven Teamster.
19. May the Deity Bestow an Absence of Fatigue to Mild Male Humans.
20. An Event that Arrived on a Cloudless Witching Hour.
21. Uncouth Dolf with the Flaming Proboscis is Aware of the Nature of Precipitation.
22. As the Guardians of the Woolly Animals Protected their Charges in the Dark Hours.
23. I beheld a Trio of Nautical Vessels Moving in this Direction.
24. Small, Wingless, Bloodsucking Insect that has a Pater in the Armada.
25. Punch out the Passages
December 11, 2008
It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas!
I’m baking cookies for the exchange this weekend and it sure does smell good in my house today. One of the writing prompts for Holidailies 2008 is:
Describe the top three scents or flavors that always evoke holidays for you. I thought this would be a good one for today.
1. I love the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree so I guess the first scent would be pine. I only like the fresh pine scent though, I don’t enjoy pine candles or those car christmas trees…only fresh cut pine or fresh pine wreaths…I wish I had a fresh pine wreath.
2. The second scent/flavor – APPLE CIDER! There is nothing better that a glass of hot apple cider, or cold apple cider or spiced apple cider…you get my drift. I love the smell of apples in any form pie, cider, candle, etc.
3. The third is hard…off the cuff I’d say peppermint. I don’t really care for peppermint candies on a day to day basis, but there is something about a peppermint mocha, or peppermint mocha cookies, or the smell of a candy cane that just says “holidays” to me.
Ok, all this talk about food and me not having eaten lunch yet is NOT a good thing with all these cookies in the house! : )
December 27, 2007
Angel tree
Today was one of the best “feeling” days I’ve had in a while. I received an email message a few weeks ago about an “Angel Tree” at Scott’s office. I asked him to pick a name for us to be angels for.
Today I (along with two of Scott’s co-workers) went shopping for our person – Nastia. There were no wants and likes on the paper and our Nastia is 14 years old. We had no idea what to buy for a 14 year old Belarussian girl so we opted for practical, boots, winter coat and sweaters (and lip gloss – every 14 year old girl needs lip gloss).
I didn’t think about a picture until the box was wrapped, but I am so happy with the gifts and hope that they bring a smile to her face. The jacket was black, medium length, down filled with a fur trimmed hood and cuffs. The sweaters were cute, one zipper, one turtle neck and one with a hood. The boots were black, square heeled (sorry no stilettos Nastia) and a nice warm fur lining.
The gifts will be delivered early next week as many Belarussians are Orthodox and Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. It is always a good feeling to help someone less fortunate, especially a child. I’d like to add the “Angel Tree” to my list of Christmas traditions.
December 23, 2007
In Keeping with Tradition
Prior to moving from Maryland it was my Christmas Eve tradition to gather with close friends, eat tacos and exchange gifts. When I moved to North Carolina I really missed that tradition. Scott and I met good friends in North Carolina and started a new tradition…egg nog. Christmas Eve, Christmas music, good friends and a few glasses of egg nog.
This year we are in Belarus away from the Maryland tradition, away from the North Carolina tradition and decided not to feel sorry for ourselves. We decided to carry on both traditions and to share them with our friends here in Belarus. We firmly believe that everyone should eat tacos and drink egg nog on Christmas Eve.
Of course I planned before I thought. Where was I going to find taco shells and where was I going to buy egg nog in BELARUS? The taco shells were ordered online from Netgrocer and arrived last week so that was easy. The egg nog on the other hand presented more of a challenge. It was out of stock from all my ordering sources, or needed to be refrigerated and I didn’t trust that it would make it here in a timely fashion. So that left me with one choice. I was going to have to make my egg nog this year. That presented me with even more of a challenge. I needed to find a recipe that called for cooking the eggs….hmm. Surprisingly I found this recipe for Amazingly Good EggNog. I made the first batch to day and I must say it was AMAZINGLY GOOD! I’d even go out on a limb and say it’s better than Larry’s Egg Nog, and that’s saying something (trust me on this Larry).
The egg nog cooking must have inspired something in Scott because he decided out of the blue, that today was the day he was going to make Monkey Bread. He also decided that we needed to make cookies for the party tomorrow night. We spent the day in the kitchen needless to say, but we were very productive. Snickerdoodles, Gingersnaps (sorry, family recipe), Cranberry Hootycreeks, cupcakes, a cake, monkey bread and egg nog. After all that it was time for a well deserved break.
Scott watched the football game and I, well of course I worked on my poncho. Here is a picture of the progress (Row 56 of 72). When this is finished I knit an identical piece and then join them together to make an L and then again at the open ends to close it in and make the poncho.
This picture was requested by my mom. The stockings and Max’s goodies have not been put out yet. We are trying to decide whether to open gifts on Christmas Eve after the party or wait until Christmas morning.
Last but not least, here is a picture of the bad dog Max, sitting on the naughty stool. The little sucker bit me last night. I guess I got too close to his “boney” when trying to retrieve the napkin from his mouth. Ok, this really isn’t the naughty stool (but he really did bite me), but I made you wonder didn’t I? This is Scott practicing the “table” agility command with him.
December 21, 2007
Fever update
Here is a picture of my progress so far on the poncho. I’ve never knit with any of these yarns before so it is a lot of fun. I like the mohair and wigwam the best so far. Zanzibar feels really nice too.
Max is upset that he is missing his picture with Santa this year. Here is his official Christmas 07 photo.
Happy Holidays!
