Scenes From Our Independence Day Parade

You have to love small town America! We're still patriotic here, we still pray at public gatherings, and community is important to us. We still have trains that run through downtown on a daily basis.  But twice a year...once for our County Fair, and once for the Fourth of July..the trains are shut down so we can gather to watch a parade.  Hope your 4th was blessed!





All ages from young....



To more mature!



Christmas Cookies and Reindeer Days

Like most families, we have certain cookies and other delectables that I have to make each year for Christmas.  One of the cookies that I've baked every year, (I was a December college graduate, and I remember going home from my graduation and baking these) are these fabulous chocolate chip cookies.
When you read the recipe...you'll see what I mean.

Tomorrow at school is the 11th reindeer day...we are doing one special reindeer day each day of December for our staff...so all staff members will get two homemade cookies in their boxes with a note from "Comet" tomorrow. Also, in conjunction with our behavior system, some students have won a "cookie break" with me, and I'll bring these for our break.

In the mixer:
2 C (a whole pound!) of butter (not margarine)
2 C white sugar
2 C brown sugar
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla

In a separate large bowl mix:
4 C flour
5 C oatmeal
1 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda

Mix all ingredients together and add:
2 bags of chocolate chips
6 Hershey bars crunched up
3 C chopped nuts

Place golf ball sized balls on cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.  Cool a minute or two on the cookie sheet before removing them individually to the cookie rack.  The recipe will make close to 8 dozen.

My granddaughter "helped" me make these.  She's getting in on the family traditions at the young age of two.  The house smells heavenly. What fun!

Christmas Tablescape

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I love the holidays so much, and I love all of the beautiful tablescapes I've seen posted.  I have had these Christmas dishes for many, many years and love seeing them on the table.

I bought the tea set and the tidbit tray at Target many years ago.  The salad plates came from a dollar store about 20 years ago.  The dishes are from Old Time Pottery and the chargers are from Garden Ridge Pottery. 

Notice the place card star. These are just stars that slide together that I found at Family Dollar. The napkins and napkin rings came from Dollar Tree.

Have a warm and wonderful holiday!

My "Village" Decked for Christmas

In this post "My Village", I shared my little town with you.  Well, we do go all out for Christmas here. This picture is the same courthouse decked with Christmas lights.  My friend, Stephanie Ferguson, gave me permission to use her photograph.  Isn't she good...and have you ever seen anything prettier at Christmas than my courthouse??

Christmas Decorating Details

Here are a few more Christmas decorating details....

This is a new testament with the Christmas story highlighted..it's been on my tree for years.

From my grandmother's tree.  She was born in 1900!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread House Baking

I have a gingerbread house mold and have made many gingerbread houses with nieces or grandchildren over the years.  Well, this year I cheated and bought a kit at Sam's.  It was very inexpensive and I have to say, worth the time it saved me.  Of course, my house didn't smell like gingerbread, so I burned candles...almost as good!

I wish I was comfortable uploading pictures of my precious granddaughters and niece.  They looked adorable in their aprons...anyway, here is the final product of our work!  Messy, but fun!

Deck the Halls!

Every year my goal is to have all of my Christmas bought and wrapped before Thanksgiving.  I never quite make it, but I get pretty close.  Then, I set a goal to have my house decorated, inside and out, by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend. Again, I don't always make it, but it's possible that I did this year!  We had  Thanksgiving here, and it was a wonderful day.  My daughter came the day after, and I was well on the way to finishing when she arrived.  I drive myself this way so that I can really enjoy the holidays.  Since I work so many hours, I don't really want to spend my evenings decorating after work..and so I move!

Here are some of the presents that I haven't put under the tree yet..they've been upstairs on this bench for awhile.

Greenery over the kitchen island...

I have a lot of gingerbread men and houses that I like to put in the kitchen.  Here are some of them on my baking center...

What do you do with piles of Christmas potholders?  It seems that most of my decorations are all old, family collected items.  Some of these potholders were made by my friend, Junella.  They are treasures.

Here is the fireplace mantel in my dining room.  I made these stockings years ago from panels they used to sell at fabric shops.

The buffet in my dining room..

The reason for the season...

Here is the mantel in my living room.  I used to dance and teach dance, and for many years collected nutcrackers and ballerina ornaments.  I always put the nutcrackers on my mantle.  My granddchildren call me Honey, and when my oldest granddaughter was about 3, she got confused about what they were called and called them Honeycrackers...that name has stuck!

These are some stockings that I made many years ago from an old quilt.  The book that you see in this picture is Mrs. Sharp's Traditions by Sarah Ban Breathnach.  It is the original book that is out of print.  A new one has been printed, I have it, but I really like the original better. I need to do a post on that wonderful book...all of my blogging friends need a copy!

More pictures of my entryway..

My son made this lampshade with the help of an artist friend of his about five years ago.  It is beautiful!

Here is a sign I like to keep under the tree...and I mean it!

Finally the tree..with and without flash!

May the Lord bless you and all of your family during this wonderful season!!