The Reason For The Wonder

The Christmas season is one of the most wonderful times of the year. However, it is not the gifts, the trees, the decorations, or the food that make this a season full of wonder.

It is when we remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that the Christmas season becomes truly special.

As we strive to remember our Savior, our desire to live like Him will grow. It is no coincidence that Christmas is the time of the year when people are the most loving, the most giving, the most kind, and the most grateful.

As we try to follow Christ’s example this season and do our best to live as He did, let us find ways to lift up those around us. Let us celebrate our Savior’s birth by being followers of Christ in word and deed.

We testify that as we do so, the desire to follow Him that grows within us at Christmas will continue to develop throughout the upcoming year.

President Thomas S. Monson
President Henry B. Eyring
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The Spirit of Christmas

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for good friends. I got out with Palm Trees and 8 yesterday and we had a great time shopping, eating and venting. I needed it more than I even realized. I've been unloading a lot lately to my friends, and they are always gracious and full of loving advice. I'm going to try to stop though, and be more positive. Debbie Downers can be, well, Debbie Downers, right? Plus, intense bulging forehead veins are so last year.

I am thankful for lovely surprises. A week or so ago, we received a beautiful live wreath in the mail from Scott's Aunt Jean. We very rarely get to see her, and were touched she remembered us during this busy season!!! Isn't it beautiful?!

I am thankful for my new dress form!!! I can't wait to start making clothes that will be ugly at first, but then get better with some practice... you know, once I get my sewing area cleaned up.

I think I'm going to make skirts first, and then some blouses, cap sleeved no doubt, and later dresses. I'm so excited!!!!!!

Easy Christmas Project

Years ago, when my much smaller family had just moved to Germany, we lived in an apartment building on post. It was nice, except my husband deployed to Bosnia a few months later and my nearest family member was a 10 hour plane ride away!

Luckily, I had wonderful neighbors, Debbie and Cathy, who took me under their wing and taught me all kinds of useful things. They taught me how to sew and cook and decorate, all on a tight budget.

One of the coolest things my friends showed me, was how to make simple live garland and wreaths. They always turn out beautifully and take no time at all! If you go to the dollar store or any other discount store, you can find wire garland for next to nothing. Take a few home and lay them out on your table. Then go out to the yard and cut pieces of evergreen and berries and twist the greenery all through the artificial garland. Eventually you'll have a beautiful "live" garland you can swag without having to fool with craft wire and glue!

It really is simple!

ps. I LOVE this picture of Martha's foyer in her old house, Turkey Hill. It totally looks like our foyer in our old Kentucky house, and I loved that house so much... even though it didn't have a garage. Martha sold her house shortly after we sold ours a couple of years ago. We're so separated at birth!!!

The Love of God

Today in church, one of our Young Women gave an awesome talk about repentance. She shared a wonderful story she heard in another talk that illustrated her topic perfectly. So here it is, in a nutshell... and please forgive my memory!

One afternoon, a little boy named "Johnny" was playing in the woods behind his grandparent's house with his new sling shot, trying to get the hang of it. Eventually growing tired, he decided to come back inside, but noticed a duck a little way off. Without thought, he took aim and fired. To his astonishment, he hit the duck and killed it instantly.

His little stomach sunk with the enormity of what he had done, and was terrified anyone would find out. So he quickly decided to hide the evidence by burying the dead duck at the bottom of the wood pile. When he finished however, he was horrified to discover his little sister "Mary" had seen the whole thing. Before he could respond, Grandma called them in for dinner.

After a long and quiet dinner, when Grandma asked Mary to help washing, she replied, "Oh, but Johnny told me HE really wanted to help with the dishes!" She then whispered to Johnny, "Remember the duck".

The next day, the family wanted to go to the movies, but Grandma needed help there at home with various chores. Mary was asked to stay, but said, "Oh, but Johnny REALLY wanted to stay and help Grandma." and again whispered "Remember the duck". So Johnny stayed instead while the rest of the family went to the movie.

Soon, Johnny grew tired of his sister's manipulation and found the courage to confess to his grandmother. He tearfully told her the whole story.

Grandma listened patiently and then lovingly replied, " I know, I saw the whole thing from the kitchen window and I've already forgiven you. I was just waiting for you to tell the truth."

Our sweet YW then reminded us that like Grandma, when we make mistakes, our Heavenly Father sees everything and is just waiting for us to repent. We can lift the burden of sin in our lives, by ignoring the manipulations of the Adversary and humbly going through the repentance process. I know that because of the Atonement of Christ, we can gain forgiveness and move on, doing good things, and trying a little harder!!!! What a wonderful gift, not only at Christmas, but every day of the year!

GO ARMY BEAT NAVY!!!!!

It's the good guys vs. the good guys at 1:00pm, today!

Ugh, the good guys lost.

Brrrr

It's 12:00 in the afternoon and only 28 degrees..... whaaat?!!!!!!

UPDATE:

It's now 5:50 in the morning and 19 degrees in Tennessee. No no no no no no! Must be all that Global Warming.

UPDATE:

8:00am, and 15 degrees.

More Hefty Than Hefty

My oldest son Oliver did a science experiment last week, and I thought you all might be interested in the results.

He decided to figure out which of these 5 kitchen trash bags is indeed the strongest: Hefty, Good Sense (recycled), Costco's Kirkland brand, Walmart's Great Value brand, and Glad.

He then found cans and weights and went to work. He held each bag up 10 seconds after adding more weight, standing on our kitchen chairs to avoid smashing his toes. Smart!

Aaaah, sweet relief when the bags finally busted!

And the WINNER is..... Good Sense Recycled bags holding over 50 pounds!!!!

Good job Oliver!

The Big Parade and Clara

This weekend was a crazy one. In all the hustle and bustle, we missed a few fun activities, but in December, you have to pick and choose, right?!

One of the things we were able to do is get Grace to the couple of "Nutcracker" activities she participated in. She was so excited to get her "Clara" a.k.a. "Marie" costume out again this year, and on Saturday night, she was in character for our city's Christmas parade.

Well, because of our crazy schedule, I wasn't as prepared as I should or could have been, taking into account the freezing temperatures she'd be exposed to. So we layered and layered, used those "Hot Hands" and "Hot Feet", and in one hour, I was able to make some matching winter wear to cover her ears, neck and hands! Hot Glue is my new best friend.... sorry Velcro.

Shiny Happy People

A survey called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals which states are happiest. Study researcher, Jason Rentfrow of the University of Cambridge in England and his colleagues came to their conclusions by analyzing data collected from more than 350,000 individuals who were interviewed between Jan. 2 and Dec. 30, 2008 as part of the Gallup Organization's Well-Being Index. The index includes six types of well-being: overall evaluation of their lives, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors (such as whether a person smokes or exercises), and job satisfaction.

Here are, according to this study, the top 20 "happiest" states:

1. Utah: 69.2

2. Hawaii: 68.2

3. Wyoming: 68

4. Colorado: 67.3

5. Minnesota: 67.3

6. Maryland: 67.1

7. Washington: 67.1

8. Massachusetts: 67

9. California: 67

10. Arizona: 66.8
11. Idaho: 66.8

12. Montana: 66.7

13. New Hampshire: 66.7

14. Vermont: 66.6

15. Virginia: 66.5

16. Nebraska: 66.4

17. New Mexico: 66.3

18. Oregon: 66.3

19. Connecticut: 66.3

20. Alaska : 66.2

If I ever moved away from Tennessee, the state that appeals to me most is Virginia, aka number 15. It's so beautiful with it's rolling hills and beaches, but is also close to a lot of fun stuff... and by close I mean within 10 hours of driving. I love Tennessee though, even if it didn't make the top 20.

Goodbye Thanksgiving, Hello Christmas

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday up in Chicago last week and have the heartburn to prove it. I ate my weight in turkey and fixings, but am ready to get back to the grind. We were able to get most of our Christmas shopping done too, and fit in a most excellent trip to IKEA.

By the way, my sister-in-law, Kelly made the best sweet potato casserole with a sweet crushed praline topping. WOW. I'll post the recipe soon, since some of you do a similar meal for Christmas as well.

Thank you to our family up north who were such wonderful hosts and made this Thanksgiving one to remember! Lots of one on one time, right?

We miss you guys already.

Barbacology School

Hey all you Utah Mormons, is this for real? I hope so because it is so funny! "Your hairdo is only limited by your imagination... and how far along we are in the semester" ha ha ha ha ha

Pies Pies Pies

This is what I wish my Thanksgiving dessert table looked like. Oh so delightful, and sweet! There are too many varieties to choose my most favorite, but I think the one above might be it. I've never tasted a "cranberry creme brulee" pie before, and it looks questionable, but I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy a slice. Creme brulee is scrumptious and cranberries are scrumptious so, there you go.

TIP: Here's one from the lovely Janine T. aka the blogger from "Janine's Crazy World" for a perfectly delicious pie crust. I've remembered it all these years because it works every time. -When using a double pie crust, before baking, brush the top with milk/cream and then sprinkle (heavily) with sugar. Sometimes I use cinnamon sugar, if it goes with the flavor of pie.... Also, when I make an apple pie or apple pie variation, I always put pats of butter between the apples. It makes a richer filling and it helps to thicken the juices into a wonderful syrup! Happy Baking!!!

Do you have any good pie making tips, or a perfect recipe you'd like to share? If you don't want to share your recipe with everyone, it's OK, just email me directly and I won't tell a soul.

You Say it's Your Birthday....

I had the BEST birthday yesterday!

Scott took the day off and for the first time in years, went Christmas shopping with me! It was wonderful. I asked him what he thought about every little purchase and he was a super trooper, very enthusiastic. We got about 1/4 of our shopping done, so my plans for a slow paced, laid back Christmas are still a go!

We also got my van detailed, so the funk of 8 years is completely shampooed away! Woo Hoo!!! Could it get better than this?

We had a delicious Greek lunch and birthday cake after dinner.... and I didn't have to pick it out. HE picked it out, and it was delicious, chocolate with whipped frosting.

So, get this, my kids pooled their money and got me "The Best of Hall and Oats" CD!!!

While I'm tickled and flattered that my little ones would pay for it themselves, I am absolutely floored that my husband agreed to not only buy it, but bring it into the house! That is true love. He did say he made sure the cashier knew it was not for him, but for his wife, and in the end, the pubescent cashier didn't even know who they were anyway.

The best part of my birthday every year is opening the homemade gifts the kids put together, and this year they outdid themselves. Grace and Sophie made beautiful cards, and gave me some string bracelets. They also gave me the last of their hand lotion and Grace decided to let me have one of her birthday Target cards. How sweet is that?!!! I gave it back, of course, but will take her out this week to spend every last penny, probably to replace the hand lotion and bracelets.

PS. Happy Birthday to my niece Betty, nephew Christopher, my dad Ronald, and my sister-in-law Kelly! GO Scorpio's, right?!!!

Flashback Friday

I had totally forgotten about this song until last weekend when Scott and I rented "The Proposal", starring Sandra Bullock and the very cute Ryan Reynolds.

Anyway, it reminds of my teenage years, living in Bischofshiem, Germany. IT WAS STRAIGHT UP GHETTO full of fights over everything from dice rolling to "that ain't my baby daddy", grillz everywhere. I only came out of my apartment when I absolutely had to... BUT, on the bright side, it's also where I learned my mad rapping skills.

"I wanna rock right now, I'm Rob Base and I'm here to get down...."

You know you know the words!

Hmmmm

When I'm really stressed out, I like to do mindless things. Lately I've been visualizing and dreaming about someday retiring in a cute little farmhouse in the country (maybe Virginia) with some chickens and a well. I've even been collecting photos and trying to decide exactly what feel would be comfortable long term/ the rest of my life.

That garden belongs to the gal from "The Bumblebee Blog", and is EXACTLY what I would want. So organized and pretty. She has pictures of this garden all year round and it's amazing how much it changes! JUST AMAZING.

I'm so stressed out.

Thankful Thursday, on Wednesday

Happy Veteran's Day everyone!

I'm so grateful for our veterans and active duty military! My grandfather was a Marine, my late great uncle Dave was a Navy man who served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Another one of my uncles served in the Navy and another served in the Air Force. My dad is a retired Army soldier who served 3 tours in Vietnam and also in the Gulf War, and my husband is a West Pointer who served in Bosnia and Kosovo. I'm so grateful for a rich military heritage and for learning, from as far back as I can remember, to love my country!

While I have very strong feelings about our current foreign policies (20+ years) and wish, our government could go back to actually upholding our constitution, I've always supported the individual troops who serve and understand the sacrifices they and their families make on a daily basis. There aren't a lot of things that are harder to do than to say goodbye to your loved ones, not knowing if you'll see them again. On top of that, getting through the long separations, and then the difficult adjustment period when they redeploy... phew, it's all very stressful!

That's why, for me personally, every Veteran's Day, along with a deep feeling of gratitude toward our veterans and active duty soldiers, I'm extremely thankful that my family and I don't have to deal with deployments anymore and that my husband works a lot closer to home. It's truly a blessing!!!

A Table of Plenty

(American) Thanksgiving seems to be the most overlooked holiday with stressed out retailers trying to get a jump start on Christmas. It's really unfortunate because it's such a lovely holiday! I hate walking into a store the day after Halloween and seeing nothing but Christmas stuff because I don't like being rushed. It's stressful.

So, for those of you who are enjoying this tremendous fall weather and looking forward to celebrating and/or hosting Thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks, here are a few delightful ideas to inspire and perhaps help make your table a little more festive!You can find the templates and instructions for these fun crafts and even more by clicking on Martha's face in the upper right hand side of my blog. She also has a lot of holiday recipes posted. Martha likes Thanksgiving... it's a good thing.

Mini Lemon Cheesecakes

With the holidays quickly approaching, some of us will be lucky enough to have the time to either throw a party or be invited to one. The best thing about parties, is the food, but what to make, what to bring?!!!

Well, how about some lovely mini lemon cheesecakes? You won't seem pretentious, but people will definitely be impressed. These are delicious (not too sweet or rich), and they're super easy to make.

MINI LEMON CHEESECAKES:

12 vanilla wafers
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2/3 cup white sugar
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling/ whatever you want to top it with

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Line mini muffin tins with paper baking cups or spray the tin with PAM. Place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each one.
In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs, lemon juice, and sugar. Beat until smooth and thoroughly combined, scraping the bowl a few times.
Fill each baking cup full with cream cheese mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 17 to 20 minutes. Cool on a rack. Top with fruit pie filling. Pipe whipped cream or sweetened cream cheese into a rosette on top of each cheesecake just prior to serving, if desired.

Enjoy!!!