After Christmas cleanup

For the last couple of days I have been slowly cleaning up around the house...putting away decorations, slowly taking down the tree(s), etc. Which brings me to this...you know those great pre-lit, artificial trees....they are so easy! We got one 3 years ago (I think) and last year I noticed one strand of lights had gone out.
By the time this Christmas season came to a close...another strand went out. Now...up to this point I just added more lights...right over and around the ones that were out. That worked well enough...but
today I decided to just remove the lights on the very top portion. This was even though I remembered a conversation with a friend about how he spent six! hours removing all the lights from his tree. It probably took me 1/2 hr to get the lights off just the top portion...and as I unwound them I realized the companies really DON"T want us to take them off...they hope we will get so aggravated we'll just pitch the tree and buy a new one. So I just kept unwrapping...and thinking about how you have to be a little O.C. to keep at it...but what the heck...once I started I wasn't going to give up.
One half hour or so later I had a big pile of lights and finally some empty "branches" that will be ready for new lights next year!

Ginger Cookie Fun

Yesterday at Storytime we had some ginger(bread) fun. I got inspired and decided to make some cookies for the kids to decorate. I made some Light Ginger Cookie dough and rolled it out and then just made some basic house shapes. I told the kids it was their job to Fix Up these houses!
But first we read a few books...including my favorite new holiday book this year. I love this story and I decided to buy a copy. Initially I bought it intending to donate it to the library...and still might...but I'm kind of liking it.....not sure I want to part with it. I had more boys than girls yesterday...and I don't mean to make generalizations...but it was perfect for a bunch of little boys, (Moms all liked it too). I just love the illustrations and "Captain Cookie" and his crew are great. Check this one out!
"The Gingerbread Pirates" by Kristin Kladstrop illustrated by Matt Tavares.
Also read "Santa Mouse and the Ratdeer" by Thatcher Hurd. It's a cute story about Santa having a bad night...nothing is going well and the reindeer are grouchy too. When the sleigh malfunctions the wind up at Rosie's house...she gives them all cookies and hot chocolate and pretty soon everyone is feeling much better. Very cute...everyone liked this one.
And the illustrations in Nancy Tafuri's "Counting to Christmas" are just beautiful as usual.
And the little girl mixing up her gingerbread went perfectly with the "craft" for the day...decorating the ginger cookie houses.
I gathered up some "building/decorating" supplies.
Here's what our ginger cookie houses looked like...mine was a little crispy...just how I like them!
add a little frosting "paint" then go to town...haha
Pretzel doors, Chex Mix windows and Cheerios and M&M's all around.Don't forget to add the little gingerbread people to go with the house. We all had fun!
**OOps, I almost forgot to include the recipe....
Preheat oven to 400
Mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 cup softened butter(or margarine), and 1 TBSP vinegar
together in mixing bowl.
Stir in 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 - 2 tsp ground ginger, 3/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt. Mix well....if dough is too dry add milk or cream 1 tsp at a time. Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured cloth. (I actually dust wax paper with powdered sugar when I roll out cookie dough ). Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, bake until light brown approx 6-8 minutes. Cool slightly, carefully remove from cookie sheet.
Decorate with frosting.

Christmas in Virginia

Wednesday morning bright and early (of course), John and I were at the Orlando Airport heading out for our trip to VA. The airport was surprisingly quiet...we managed to get there after all the backed-up passengers were finally cleared out I guess...at any rate...it was great to go right through security and out to our gate in no time at all. We got a cup of coffee, enjoyed the tree and waited to go
When we arrived at Elizabeth's...Ryan had written this greeting for us in the kitchen... on the board next to one of the MANY Christmas decorations Liz had all around the house
Brenna and Megan drove down from DC and arrived about 1/2 hour after we did. Here's Brenna out in front of the house.
View in the back of the house
Can you see the water...it was nice back there...lots of birds!

Even the shed was decorated
back of the house

Elizabeth had little decorations all over...like this tree on the table

her nativity set in the Dining room...(underneath a painting our brother David painted) I noticed her set also has Mary holding baby Jesus




The area at the bottom of the stairs...near the front door
Flowers, candles,and more holiday decor
The gang in the kitchen

Here's the group sitting around on Christmas morning...opening some of the gifts
All the decorations were lovely...they were in every room of the house...and Elizabeth certainly made us feel right at home! We ate, played games, drove around town a bit, and enjoyed a Christmas Eve service together...followed by a nice dinner in Virginia Beach.
More photos of the group tomorrow.................

Dec 23-24-25-26

Here's my ornament for the day. I got this one from my godson David. I LOVE the movie (Disney Wonderworks) of Anne of Green Gables. ( Kind of like the fact that she's Anne with an e like me!) David's mother , Karen, knows how much I like the movie...and how I hope to someday get up to Prince Edward Island..so when they took a trip to PEI...they got this ornament as well as a nice mug and coaster for me. I keep her out all year with my dolls and special toys. and I think of David (and his mom) whenever I sip tea from my mug. We are heading up to my sister Elizabeth's house tomorrow morning...early...so This is it for a few days. I am looking forward to seeing Elizabeth's house...new since we last ventured up to Virginia Beach. She has all sorts of things planned...including a get together tomorrow evening. Brenna and Megan should be there sometime tomorrow afternoon too.
So the fun begins tomorrow night. Can't wait! As it turns out...my nephew Shane and my Brother-in-law Rob are coming to Florida tomorrow as we head up to Virginia! They will visit with Rob's father in Orlando..then come see the gang in Indialantic. We'll have a belated birthday celebration for Shane on Sunday night...when Mark has us all over for dinner.
Couldn't do the whole Christmas thing without a picture of my nativity set. I got this from my parents my mom when we got married. It is just like the set she had. It's very simple...but the details are nice. I love the shepherd boy and his little sister standing together looking into the manger. The reason my mother liked this particular set is because as she put it "Mary is holding Jesus, and a new mother would be holding her newborn baby" I had never thought about it that way until she said it...but I agree. I haven't seen many nativity sets with Mary holding Jesus....but I always look. I enjoy this set, knowing my mother liked it too.

Christmas reminds me of all the special things we did every year. My mother always had the Advent wreath set up...we said the prayer and lit the candles every night leading up to Christmas. The Christmas tree always had the aluminum star that my parents got when they first got married on top. We always had a string of little candy canes around...so we could share one with anyone who came over to see the tree.
when we were little (in Pittsburgh) my mother would make the big turkey dinner with all the trimmings, set the table with her good china, crystal and sterling silver for Christmas Eve dinner...figuring by the time dinner rolled around the next day we would all be worn out! We were allowed to get up early to get our stockings...but we were supposed to wait until my parents got up before opening any presents.
The week before Christmas my Dad , who really wasn't much of a shopper most of the time, would take the kids who were old enough downtown, to Pittsburgh, to go window shopping. We rode the trolley downtown, about 45 minutes/1 hour, I think, and got to see all the great decorations in the department stores downtown. Some of the stores really had fabulous displays! I remember riding home munching on Turkish taffy
and bouncing around in the back of the trolley...we all had a great time. My mom got to enjoy the afternoon without all of us....and we had a blast with my Dad.
Christams day we all went to mass and then enjoyed the day. When I hear "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" I think of my Dad...he told me once it was his favorite Christmas carol. I don't know that my Mom had a favorite one...I think she liked them all. Christmas was a fun time for our family....but we also knew what the holiday was all about...celebrating the birth of Christ. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas...
and for those that practice other faiths...enjoy the Hoilday season!