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My Favorite Photos of The Week

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The explanation of each picture will go across each row, left to right.
  1.  Last weekend my girls and I got together to collaborate on our Christmas baking. We got quite a bit knocked out and had a lot of laughs and fun in the process! Here they’re adding the touches to the sugar cookies. Yum! Sprinkles and colored sugar to top it off!
  2.  This year for our Christmas gift, my husband thought of the idea of getting season passes to the Biltmore House. We’ve visited a few times, but haven’t gotten to see every season there. So, Monday on his day off, we went to see the Christmas decorations. It’s breathtaking and we had such a great day. I love the grounds as much as the house itself. This covered walkway takes you down to the conservatory.
  3. This framed picture of the Biltmore Mansion is just up from the conservatory. The day turned from stormy to beautiful! We were so thankful to walk outside and enjoy the lovely weather!
  4. Each room in the conservatory has different types of plants. I Ooo-ed and Ahhh-ed all the way through it!
  5. For my Sunday dinner table I did a new napkin fold – the Candle. It was a pretty addition to the tablescape. My dad and I had worked on some new folds while I was visiting with him and my mom after Thanksgiving. He’s the King of Napkin folding! He has gone into linen departments in stores and folded napkins and left them on display!  =)
  6. Here’s my handsome date at the Biltmore!  What a blessing to have a husband who plans times for us to spend together. I am excited about our future dates riding bikes on the paths at Biltmore, visiting the tulip and rose gardens, and just lollygagging through the grounds! If you plan to go, wear comfy shoes. Take a light purse (a cross-body bag is perfect). Have a bottle of water in the car for after your tour, as well as a light snack – you’ll get a good workout!
  7. The picture of me and my girls was after our church’s Christmas cantata. Whitney came for the weekend. She was Alli’s page turner, or so they said. I think they sat over at the piano and entertained one another! It’s a sister thing!
  8. This is another shot of the outside of Biltmore.
  9. I think these were my favorite treats we made on our baking afternoon. These marshmallows were dipped in melted chocolate, then rolled in finely crushed peppermint. You drop them into hot chocolate for a yummy addition to your cocoa! Can’t wait to try it!

I’m so blessed!  What a special week this has been, and it’s not even Christmas yet!

What was your favorite event of the past week?

Lovingly,

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A Christmas Confession

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baking dishes

First of all, this is not Denise posting. This is her husband, writing to the men today.

I have a confession to make—-I hate putting up the Christmas tree!!  Just keepin’ it real, folks!! 🙂  Seriously, over the years,  the rigors of getting the tree ready for this festive season has been an adventure to say the least.

In the first place, I think an artificial tree is sacrilegious.  As a boy, we always had a real tree, and when our girls were home, we honored the purist tradition of having a live tree.  In spite of my purist leanings, going after a tree, cutting it to fit in the tree stand and then getting it to stay upright always presented its own set of bah humbugs.

There was the time I forgot to keep it wrapped after purchasing it from the tree farm.  Getting it through the door was a winner!  Or the time it kept leaning toward the south, so along with the bailin’ twine I had nailed to the window, I decided the best thing to do was to make a taught string and anchor by nailing a sixteen penny nail through the carpet to the floor! That tree was not going anywhere!

How about the year that our lives were so busy we didn’t get a tree until a couple of days before Christmas.  I went to K-Mart at night and bought a beautiful, live blue spruce that stood elegantly in our living room.  After the season was completed, it found itself in the backyard brush pile to be burnt up come spring.  When that day came, it had not died–it was still a beautiful blue spruce . . . because it had been spray painted.  For all I know that tree was just a generic pine tree sprayed to be a blue spruce!

After purchasing and getting the tree upright, comes the fun part of adorning it with light, beads, and ornaments.  Those lights we bought last year?  Only half of them work.  The beads have to be swooped a certain way around the tree, and all the ornaments must be placed on the branches, as many of them tell a story!

I share these thoughts with you, especially men, to remind you that although we may not really be fond of the process of preparing for Christmas, it means much to our families.  Because of all the effort our wives go to, we need to set aside our feelings and pitch in at Christmastime.

Decorating the house is my wife’s expertise, but there are other things I can do to help relieve her so that the Christmas season is a blessing to all.  I’m writing to encourage you guys to help out.  How?  Here are a few suggestions:

  • Get the tree
  • Put it up
  • Help with decorating the tree by making it a family time
  • Get the boxes down from the attic
  • Go to the store and purchase some of the gifts (your wife can instruct you) or pick up things she may need for her baking
  • Help wash dishes as she bakes the cookies (you like to eat them, don’t you?)
  • Help address and write cards, as well as thank you cards.

There are some confessions you probably could make about your dislike for parts of Christmas preparation, but just as Christ came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45; Philippians 2:6-8), let’s serve our family and our wife by laying aside our grumps and “bah humbugs,” and make Christmas what it really is—a time of great joy to all people!!

Merry Christmas!

Pastor C.

 

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Fifteen Hostess Gift Ideas

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Hostess gift

During the month of December you’ll probably find yourself at someone else’s home for a gathering, a party, or a celebration of Christmas.  You know how much work goes into having others over, so be sure to be a gracious and appreciative guest and take a Hostess Gift for the one who has extended the invitation.  Not sure what to take?  Here are Fifteen ideas!

Hostess Gifts

  1. Hand soaps
  2. Kitchen Linens – Cloth napkins, dish towels, pot holders – Roll them up and tie with a beautiful ribbon
  3. Holiday paper napkins – Wrap a ribbon or raffia bow around the package
  4. Home-baked Goods in pretty container
  5. Fresh flowers, already arranged – You can buy them at the grocery store, just put them in a container before you take them to your hostess
  6. Scented candle
  7. Guest book
  8. Boxed chocolates
  9. Cookbook
  10. Kitchen papers – Menu list, organizer book, magnetic memo pad, recipe cards – Try bundling several of these items together and tying them with ribbon or packaging them in a gift bag.
  11. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate mix
  12. Cutting board and cheese knife
  13. Unique salt and pepper shakers
  14. Bread from a bakery
  15. Olive oil – It doesn’t have to be a big, expensive bottle, but even a small, nice oil for cooking would be perfect!

I gave some suggestions about the presentation, but use your imagination.  Make it pretty.  If you put it in a gift bag, add a couple poofs of tissue on the top.  Use pretty boxes found at the Dollar store to pop your gift into and make a simple thank you even more special.  It’s not about something that will “wow” your hostess, but a thoughtful gesture that expresses your thanks.

Be on the lookout for some of the items above that you can keep on hand so you’ll be prepared.  Grab these items on sale and stash them away for the next time you are invited over to someone’s home!  Your hostess will feel loved and appreciated!

Stay refreshed and refresh others,

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Thanksgiving · Uncategorized

Views of Thanksgiving

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Today’s post is a pictorial view of my Thanksgiving.  It was a wonderful weekend – see for yourself!

Dad and Denise
Dads and the guys

Let me just comment about the last two pictures.  Remember my cornucopias?  I finished them by dipping them in melted chocolate then crushed walnuts.  As is our norm, we had dinner at 1:00, so around 8 we had turkey sandwiches and for dessert….we took those cones and filled them with Turkey Hill Pumpkin Pie ice cream. Oh.My.Goodness.  They were scrumptious!  By the smiles on those men’s faces, I think I may have started a new family tradition!

How was your Thanksgiving?  Start any new traditions in your family or did you carry on any old ones?

With love and a thankful heart,

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Thanksgiving · Uncategorized

My Favorite Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving, friends!  Today I’m re-posting from 2009 because I  think of this particular Thanksgiving every single year.  

I’ve been pondering past Thanksgivings. All holidays were special when I was growing up. There were certain foods and traditions that were a part of each special holiday, and I have many wonderful memories of the years when I was growing up. But when I think about my favorite Thanksgiving I think back to the year before I got married. I was in love; I think that had to be what set this Thanksgiving off from all others!

This was a first for me; I was hosting the dinner in my home – a 14′ x 70′ trailer, for my boyfriend (soon to be fiance’), and both sets of parents! The kitchen was so small that if I hoped to open the fridge during dinner or slip over to the sink during the meal, there was no way we could eat dinner in the kitchen. So I moved the kitchen table into the living room and turned it into my dining room.

Food network photo

 

I don’t remember the entire menu, but I know we had the essentials – turkey and mashed potatoes (thank goodness my mom came early to help me roast the turkey)! We also had green beans and a jello salad. I remember making my first ever yeast rolls. I was so proud that they rose to their clover shape! I’m not sure how they tasted, but they were pretty! I made gingerbread place cards for each place setting. They weren’t nearly as fancy as these, but they were cute and edible!

Everything was very simple. There were no fancy dishes – just the ones I’d picked up each week at the grocery store. My cloth napkins were ones I’d made myself with a couple yards of fabric. I served a simple sherbet punch and iced tea to accompany our meal.

There we all were, gathered in my little living room. I was giving thanks for God’s provisions for this insignificant first grade school teacher. Everything I had was so obviously a grace gift from my loving God. I was seated next to my husband-to-be, and with my godly parents who were the best parents a girl could have, and also with my future in-laws that had been so gracious to me.

That was twenty-nine years ago, and though I’ve had many special Thanksgivings since then, that one is the most memorable. It was the beginning of sharing my thanks to God beside the man with whom I would share my life. God’s been so faithful to us all these years.

This year as we bow our heads together, hands clasped, we will again number the grace gifts He’s given. One of those is each other. Thank you, Lord.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?

With thanks to my great God,

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