Holiday Field Trip

Today we took our girls and their families to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa and have lunch and do a little shopping .  Drew is moving this weekend, and he could not have cared less about this outing, even though we invited him,  so he couldn't come with us.  They have a terrific seafood restaurant there, so we ate lunch first.  And I accidentally put a page break in my post and could not delete it, so you have to click "read more" to finish reading this post.

Closer To Christmas....

If it is true that having a bird nest in your Christmas tree, will bring you luck in the coming year, then we should be having quite a good 2010!!  This year, I left all of my ornaments and baubles in the box, and decorated with birds, bird nests, and coppery brown poinsettias.  I do have a few strands of lights on the tree as well.   And it is so pretty in the evening, with just a soft glow of light.  I am enjoying getting prepared for Christmas this year, more so than in a very long time.  After losing my dad 6 years ago, right before Christmas, the holiday magic was lost.  But now, we have three bouncing little grandchildren, that have brought the magic back.  Everything is brand new again this season.  And seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child is truly something to enjoy!

 

My Son The Music Man

http://www.myspace.com/drewgrovermusic

My son is a gifted musician.  He taught himself to play guitar, when he was 14, and he plays both accoustic and electric, as well as harmonica and some piano.  He has a beautiful voice, and he writes all of his own music.  He has had a gig playing in a coffee house, and has played at our church during worship, and he has been asked by someone who heard his music on Myspace to play at a music club in Upland in February.  Go to the above link and check out his newest songs and leave him your comments.  Thanks.
Proud Mama 

Chicken Pot Pie....Hungry Girl Style

This recipe for a reduced fat and Weight Watcher friendly Chicken Pot Pie is not good.....It is GREAT!!  It comes from one of the cookbooks I mentioned a couple weeks ago called Hungry Girl.  WONDERFUL stuff in these cookbooks!  This was fast and oh so tasty.  I  doubled it, but am giving it to you from the book.  
8 oz. chicken breast or chicken tenders
3 cups frozen veggies
1 10.75 oz. can of 98% fat free cream of celery soup
3 servings of reduced fat crescent rolls
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and cook in pan sprayed with Pam.  Add veggies and soup.  Season with fresh cracked pepper and salt.  If your pan can go from stove top to oven, just use same pan, and put into 350 degree oven for 30 min.  Meanwhile, take 3 crescent rolls and smoosh (is that a word?) together the dough, and roll out thin into circle to top pot pie.  I used a 9" pan and cooked my meat, then added veggies, and soup, and put whole pan into oven for 30 minutes.  Remove pan from oven, and top with rolled out dough.  Just set on top of pan, no crimping is even necessary.  Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until brown on top.  
1/4 of pie 5 points.  You will NOT even notice that this is low calorie and so much healthier for you than the typical version of pot pie.  You WILL love this!!!

Human Interest Story

You may have already heard this on the news, but if not, it is a heart warming story about a shop owner in New York, who last May was surprised by a would be robber, wielding a baseball bat as he ordered the man to give him money from the register.  Instead of the shop owner handing the money over as he had been told to do, he pulled out a weapon of his own.  A pistol!  The robber dropped to his knees, begging for his life, and tearfully told the shop keeper that he was desperate, out of work, his family was hungry and that he only wanted food to feed his family.  The shop owner then did an extraordinary thing.  He took 40.00 dollars out of the register, and gave it to the man, along with a loaf of bread, and after saying a blessing on him, sent the man on his way.  No one was hurt, and time went along as normal.  Then, 7 months later, the shop owner received a letter in the mail.  It was from this would be robber, and it told of how this incident several months earlier changed, and quite possibly, saved his life.  He said he now had a good paying job, had another child on the way, and he was forever grateful for the act of kindness the shop keeper bestowed upon him.  Inside the envelope was 50.00 dollars cash.  40.00 to repay the original debt, and 10.00 for the interest.  
This Christmas, see if you can make a small difference in someone's life who is less fortunate than you.  It doesn't have to be a big thing.  Pay for the order of the car in line behind you, just because.   Bring a hot cup of coffee to someone cold.  Take out your neighbors trash cans who can no longer get around with ease.  
I loved this story in a day where all around us, in the news, we hear sad things.   The world IS a good place.  And there ARE good people.  Look around...you will see.

More Decking The Halls

Mostly what I like to do now for Christmas is garlands and lights.   The family room and living room are lit up everywhere, and it looks so pretty at night.  During the day, it is hard to tell.

I got these gift boxes that light up at Tai Pan a few weeks ago when I took my Mom to see the store.  

My tree this year is a live potted tree, and we will put it in the yard after Christmas.  I am only doing lights and birds and bird nests in it.   The cloche with blue and silver ornaments is in a dark corner of my family room, and above that is a little snowman light that my friend Maryrose gave me several years ago.  Sometimes he is in the bathroom, and sometimes in other places.  But wherever he is, I love him.  The two mice by the cloche are AnnaLee dolls from my parents.  Some day I will do a post about my nickname that my Dad had for me...which was "mouse" and I will show the newspaper article that our local paper did.  I have every kind of mouse you can imagine.

This pine garland in my foyer on the mirror was purchased last year one day when I was up in Big Bear wiith my Mom.  I love it, and keep it out all winter.  It looks so real!!This is my hutch lit up.  I have lots of special treasures in there.  I made the tree skirt many years ago, and it has flocking on it that I cannot get off!!!  See that stack of gits under the tree? They are sitting on a antique sled that a friend got for me a few years ago.  Lauri B......I have been looking for an old pair of ice skates to display by it since I saw how darling yours were with the simple Christmas flowers placed inside and set out as Christmas decor!THIS..is a VERY SPECIAL treasure indeed!!!  It is my Nana holding my granddaughter Hannah for the very first time. She LOVES babies!!  And Nana is very dear to all of us!  I adored this photo, and a good friend of mine, Ally in New Jersey, took this photo, and had an artist paint this special ornament that is an exact replica of the photograph.  I display it on a martini glass in my hutch, away from little hands that could break it!  The garland with the antique red clothespins is hung in the entryway to the living room.  This is where I hang my Christmas cards by the clothespins.This has nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas, but above is my new living room picture I bought last weekend when I was out shopping with Gennifer.  She and I both saw another picture and both fell in love with it.  They had two left.  We set them up in front where the cashier told us to, and then when we went to pay, they had BOTH been purchased by someone else!!!!!!  But, it was for the best, as I found this one that I wound up liking even better!   And here are my outside mice, Dolly and Louie.  They wear the appropriate attire for every occasion.  And have even been seen in a Laker's jersey and Dodgers and Angels jerseys during playoffs.  They always love to be part of the party!!!  We added two animated and lit reindeer to our outdoor decor this year.  The kiddos love these!!!!

Decking The Halls

I got this Merry Christmas sign at the after Christmas sale at Tai Pan last year.  It was fun to unwrap some of the goodies I had forgotten all about!

This is my kitchen table and dining table.  No formal dining room in my house.  I bought these dishes about 20 years ago at Kmart.  I have them sitting on a white embossed edge charger.  I love taking them out every year to use for the holidays.  These are what we use every day.  I do plan to begin looking for some formal Christmas dishes too.  Maybe I will buy a couple place settings this year after Christmas and add to it every year.  The Santa napkin rings were also a post Christmas Tai Pan purchase.  The little votive candles are sitting in antique jello molds with a little rice in the dish to hold them.

My little Christmas tree in the kitchen has tin cookie cutters on it and a swag of colored bulbs on jute.
This is a little corner of my kitchen.  I change out the lamp for the different seasons.  I had a pumpkin folk art  lamp for the fall.  The cookbooks on the holder  are Christmas books.  The one in front is Paula Deen, and we do several of her dishes for Christmas  breakfast.  Gorilla Bread being a big favorite at our house.This was, I think, my all time favorite Christmas photo card that we ever did.  The antique truck was my Dad's and we had such fun creating this scene.  The truck looks more blue in this photo of a photo...but it was really more green.