Photo A Day Challenge

I'm late on getting started with this challenge.  This is my catch-up day.  I'll try to keep up the rest of the month.  We'll see .... 

View today - our back deck and yard

I have these words hanging over my piano in my living room.

Need some serious work on my hands and nails!

I didn't leave my home today so couldn't take a picture of a stranger,  this came from a magazine!
Ellen Degeneres - what a great smile.

Update

My dad is doing so much better.  It has been a long road but he is on the mend.  Currently he is in rehab working on fine motor skills, walking, and resting.  It's a long road after being sedated with a ventilator.  We're just so glad and blessed that he is off the vent and getting better every day.

Blogging

I'm sorry I have not been able to blog recently.  I was already behind in blogging and then my father was admitted to the hospital.  He has COPD, asthma, emphysema, and afib ongoingly and now has bronchitis.  He has been on a ventilator since last Wednesday and sedated to keep him from being uncomfortable on the vent.  He is very sick and I'm home for the first time since Wednesday.  The doctor and staff tried to remove him from the ventilator today and he did not do well.  I've heard sometimes it takes awhile for this to happen.  Please pray for my family as this has been hard on everyone, especially  my mother.  I'll be back blogging as soon as I can.

Afghans from Nana

 I crocheted two afghans for my granddaughters for Christmas.  Cora loves pink and Olive loves yellow.  They ended up taking longer than I expected so I was crocheting non-stop right before the holidays!

They really liked them and hopefully they are enjoying their warmth this cold winter (although pretty nice temperatures right now).

These afghans are just their size - big for them but not adult size.

I'm ready to start another project for the month of January ... what will it be?  I need to do some sewing - I have so much material. I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Christmas Goodies

I tried a few new recipes this year for Christmas.  They were well received at the Christmas parties we attended.  My daughter's MIL gave us this recipe:

2 bags "natural" popcorn - popped - remove kernels

3 C Rice Krispies

1 16 oz. jar dry roasted peanuts

1 package vanilla almond bark

3 T peanut butter

Combine dry ingredients

Melt almond bark in microwave

Stir in peanut butter

Pour over dry ingredients - coat

Spread on wax paper to dry

The other recipe I found on Southern Hospitality -  Crockpot Chocolate Candy.  This was easy and made quite a large batch.  

Both recipes tasted great.  The other goodies I made over the holidays was Magic Bars, Applie Pie, and chocolate covered pretzels.

Christmas Decorations

Christmas Tree

 I have cut down on my decorations this year.  Usually I decorate two Christmas trees but decided to just put one up in the living room this year.

The Christmas music on the piano is some old books and sheet music that I used as a child as I learned how to play the piano.  I still love to play, "Santa Clause is Coming to Town".  Displaying it lets me reminisce.

The Wonderful Counselor picture frame is new this year. I found this on someone's blog but cannot remember where .  Sorry - I wish I could provide a link.

Christmas Music

Our church choir sang today a musical called "Tapestry of Light: A Celtic Christmas" by Joseph Martin and Joseph Martin came to our church and accompanied us.  That was very special.

Our families gather for Christmas this year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We will be very busy those two days with extended family and our immediate family festivities.

I have quite a bit to accomplish before those two days.  Seems like there never is enough time!

Foyer Display

Kitchen table display

Shrimp Boil

Olive

Cora

My granddaughters visited over Thanksgiving and we had a good time beading necklaces.  We also played barbies, playdough and read books.  We squeeze in a lot in a short time!

New sunroom

Christina, Cindy and Jo enjoying the shrimp boil

On Sunday, after Thanksgiving, we had a shrimp boil with my husband's family at our house.  We spread out to our new sunroom to make plenty of room for all.

We also had salad, apple salad, and corn bread to go along with the boil and pheasant as an appetizer.  We went a little overboard on the food so sent home food with everyone at the end of the day.


Everyone really enjoyed the boil and it was fun to do something different than turkey.