Sunday Songs

Tomorrow is the first day of December. I thought it would be appropriate to pick Christmas songs for my Sunday Songs this week. I picked a few of my favorites. Hope you enjoy.

Some cool ideas to share....

I was looking for ideas on my favorite site...Pinterest and found some things I thought I would share with you.I showed this twig tree before. Well a similar one. I tried the one I saw before and it didn't work out. I am going to try this one. 

How cute is this little tree made from cup cake wrappers. 

What an adorable pillow. 

I wonder if I could do my door like this. I really like it. 

This is too cute for words. A need way to count off the 25 days of Christmas. The round pieces are magnetic sheets cut in circles. 

Very simple and very elegant at the same time. 

This would make a great Christmas gift for Hubby. I really think I will do this. He is retiring in November and just working part time, so we will be able to spend more time together. I can't wait.

Looking ahead...

As we go from Thanksgiving into Christmas, I need to change my blog template. I think this is the one I am going to use. I will probably do it tonight or in the morning. Today is Black Friday and I am heading out soon to do some shopping.

While I am out, I will be stopping at some Christmas tree lots to check out what is available. I love a real tree.

I hope Walmart has wreaths and small poinsettias on sale again this year. I used to pay $20 for my real wreath at Christmas. Picking one up for $4.48 makes me a lot happier. I need to get me 3 or 4 of these little poinsettias so I hope they have the .88 cent ones like they normally have. 

We are considering the possibility of an electric fireplace this year. Our house is a little drafty and we currently just use a space heater in the living room, but I would much prefer to have one of these beauties. I am going to compare prices and then we will decide.

One thing I know we are getting is a new TV for the living room. One with a DVD player. We found one we liked at Sam's. Another one of those "we will decide later" items. 

Well, I will be heading out today for some major shopping and lunch with my daughter-in-law. Tomorrow will be more shopping with my daughter. I save up for this weekend and try to get as much done as possible. Whether you are a shopaholic or just prefer to veg out all day, I hope you have an awesome weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wrote this earlier in the week so it would post today. I'm not blogging today because I am going to enjoy some much needed family time.

The day before...

I don't know how much prep work you all do the day before Thanksgiving, but I usually bake all my chocolate goodies today and fix the eggs, noodles and potatoes for our potato salad and macaroni salad. I envision a lot of happy Pyrex time later today.

Hubby likes to use this bowl to mix his potato and macaroni salads in. It promises to be a Town & Country Pyrex holiday.

I still have some more last minute cleaning to do, but it shouldn't take that long. I can't wait for time with my family tomorrow and the enjoyment of my favorite meal of the year. 

I'm all about the desserts...

We have a wide variety of desserts for Thanksgiving. There is plenty to choose from, plenty to send home with the kids, and plenty of leftovers for the weekend. Hubby makes the pies and I make the rest. (These pics are from last year). I always make a Duncan Hines Swiss chocolate cake with my Mamaw Eden's homemade chocolate icing recipe. It's a big hit. 

And I wouldn't dare have a holiday without making the chocolate oatmeal no-bake cookies that have been in my family for generations. My son usually gets a bunch of these to take hunting with him the next day. 

I make brownies but make them as cookies so they are easy for a grab and go snack.

That is all completed on Wednesday evening after I get home from work or first thing Thursday before hubby puts the turkey on. But every Thanksgiving, right after I run out and get the paper, I make the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast with a cup of ice cold milk. It is my favorite way to start the day. I am funny, I won't touch the dessert before the family arrives.

I sample a little bit of everything on my dessert plate after dinner. But then when the day is done, I have a snack with a piece of graham cracker pie as I look over the Black Friday ads one last time. 

Then Friday morning, I get up at 4:00 and have me a few of the cookies with a cup of cold milk before I start my day. Don't judge me too harshly ... they do contain oats and I am drinking milk so I just consider it my bowl of oatmeal before starting my busy day. 

Well, that has all made me hungry. Have a great day.

Weekend wrap up....

It was an awesome weekend. Saturday morning started off with picking up Alexis and Colby to spend the weekend with me. When we were getting ready to leave, my son came home with a big 9 point buck he had just gotten. They love deer meat and all I can say is to each their own. Of course, I only ate deer meat one time and nobody told me what I was eating. I must admit it was good.

I took the grandkids and headed out to the shop. First stop was Toys-R-Us. Colby had to check out the four-wheeler. 

They got to meet Geoffrey at Toys-R-Us and thought that was pretty cool, even if he didn't have much personality. He was a little bland. Alexis walked away and said "He needs to learn to be a little big more animated." Guess her trip to Disney this summer set the precedence.

Afterwards, we went to the mall for lunch at Chik-Fil-A. They wanted to stop in the play area so we did that for a little while.

And I can't pass up the little rides without letting the kids enjoy them. Colby told me he was Tennessee Vol and he was driving this Gator back to the Florida stadium. If you live in Vol country or our a Vol fan, you would find the humor in that.

Next we headed to Walmart to get a ham for Thanksgiving. Hubby took care of getting the turkey. 

On Sunday, we had Thanksgiving dinner for the kids in Children's church and everybody wore Pilgrim or Indian hats. Alexis's feather kept flopping over so she fixed that by bending them under. 

After church, we just went home and vegged out all afternoon. I took them home about 3:30 and then headed straight back to go to choir. It was a great weekend.

Sunday Funnies....

Busy weekend ahead...

Heading out this morning to send these out to Mom for my nieces to get on Thanksgiving Day. Just a little something I made for them to get started on their Christmas decor. I did them as a "grab bag" with no tags. Everything has the same thing only different. They can switch around if they want to once they are opened. I am hoping my sister will get some pictures so I can blog about them all opening the bags and holding up their gift.

After I stop at the post office, I'm picking up two of the grandchildren to spend the weekend. I plan on taking them shopping and to get some Christmas ideas on what they want this year. It's going to be a great day.

The next week....

We are coming into one of my favorite weeks of the entire year. It will be very busy, but loads of fun. It starts tonight when I finish up some craft items I am sending to my Mom's for the nieces and my sister for Christmas gifts. I am using brown bags for Christmas bags. Not sure how I will wrap them, but here is what gave me the idea.

Saturday will be a quick trip to the post office then heading to Walmart and Food City to finish grocery shopping for all the delicious food for Thanksgiving. Hubby takes care of getting the turkey and I get the ham. I am not a turkey fan (gasp!) but I do love ham. I usually try to get a Kentucky Legend ham or a Cumberland Gap ham.

Sunday is the next to the last Christmas Cantata practice for our choir. I need to make sure and go because there is still one song that takes a LOT of breathing power to get through and I need to practice it some more. Whew, it's going to be a tough one.

Monday & Tuesday after work will be spent getting the house clean and ready for the family to come over on Thursday.

Wednesday after work I will start the prep work for Hubby since he will be working. I usually bake any of my goodies like cakes, brownies and cookies. I also cook the potatoes, eggs, and noodles to refrigerate over night so he can make potato salad and macaroni salad the next morning. 

By the time Thursday rolls around, my part in the process is done and Hubby kicks me out of "his" kitchen and takes over for the holiday cooking. Which is fine with me because I do not like to cook and he loves to. He is very good at it. I am usually up around 5:30 or 6:00 and at 6:15 I run out to get the newspaper so I can go through the Black Friday Ads. My Thanksgiving day is spent pouring over the ads and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Around noon, Hubby takes a break from cooking and I get to enter his domain and make the deviled eggs. My only contribution to the meal except for dessert. I usually snatch a few of my no bake cookies and a glass of milk for my lunch since dinner is usually around 4 or 5 o'clock.

Then the fun begins. My family will begin arriving and I get to spend precious time with them. We all pour over the ads then eat ourselves into oblivion. It is so much fun having all under one roof with us. I am very blessed that they all live close enough to come over for the holidays. They are growing up fast. This was three years ago and they have changed so much in such a short time. 

At the end of the day, when the mess is all cleaned up and put away and Hubby crashes in his chair to watch TV, I get on my warm jammies and fix me a piece of graham cracker pie and set at the table and start the serious business of planning my day for Black Friday. I plan out my route, pick out the ads of where I will be going and make a list for each store I plan on visiting. I get good ideas for Christmas when I watch everybody's reactions and listen to their conversations while they have looked at the ads earlier. I finish my list and change purses to whatever one I want to carry. Then I head to bed for a good night sleep (usually around midnight or 12:30) and get back up at 4:00 to be out and about by 5:00 for the Black Friday Madness. I love it.

Friday shopping on the biggest shopping weekend of the year is spend going from store to store and comparing lists through phone calls with my daughter-in-law. We cross shop by seeing if something is at one location or another. We wind up around the same area around lunch and get together for a not lunch while we rest our weary feet and get ready for round two in the afternoon. Last year we ended up at O'Charley's. That was my first time eating there and the food was delicious.

I am usually home by 5:00 and spend the evening sorting my finds and getting them hidden away from prying eyes. I check my list and make sure everything I got is marked off. I rewrite it with whatever was left and get up on Saturday and go shopping again with my daughter. We always go to Turkey Creek in Knoxville. It has so many of our favorite stores.

We always have lunch at Steak and Shake on that Saturday. I get the same thing every time. A burger, fries and a cup of vegetable soup. After a good lunch, we are fortified for another two or three hours. 

Sunday or Monday after that Hubby and I will go pick out our Christmas tree at the same nursery we go to for all our spring flowers. They have gorgeous trees and I love the smell of real trees. The mess and clean up afterwards doesn't bother me as long as I get to have a real tree. I am very old fashioned on my trees. I still use icicles all over them. Mom always did and it was a tradition that I have carried on even though everybody in the family teases me and fusses about them. Hubby and I like them. This was our tree last year. I love big fluffy real trees.

And if you wonder why I love icicles so much, here is a picture of our tree when I was little. This was before my brother Andy was born but you can see Mom loved them too. 

So even though the next week or two is going to be crazy busy, I will be loving every moment of it. From now through the end of the year will be hectic but I don't care. I can sleep in January.