Christmas time is here...

I saw this video on Facebook (damn I need to get off of there, sucking up my days like no tomorrow), and fell in love with this girl and her dog..

Daniela Andrade just beautiful, don't you think?

This past weekend was a blast! Eric, Jess and the kids came in from Virginia and Jenn and Dan from Waterville and it made for a VERY festive weekend. Friday night we went to the movies and saw Star Wars...LOVED IT!

Here we're practicing with the selfie stick. Never did get a picture of all of us with Emmy, Logan and Jessie.

Saturday we decorated the cookies I had baked the day before...

We then went to Sue's house for our annual lasagna meal and then we play a white elephant game afterwards.

Barb, Paul, Sue & Bobby

Grands...grand kids, grand parents and great grand parents

Paul's sister Barb had asked me if I wanted her to take a family picture of us and I said no, that's okay. What was I thinking? Oh well. Next time we're all together we will.
It was a lot of fun. We planned on opening presents and having our family gift exchange after we got home, but first we had to drive Paul's mom home and then his aunt. Whew what a hectic time it was. It's okay though. I think next year we might open presents differently as a lot of us missed what others were opening.

Scratching off lottery tickets

Notice not one picture? I was playing Santa and having a hard time with Emmy and Logan wanting to play too. Anyway, after opening presents we headed downstairs to shoot some pool. I can't believe both Friday and Saturday Paul and I didn't get to bed before 2 am!! Sunday we were zombies but it was worth it!

Eric taking a shot

I took this pic after the laughter had died down, but still it's good to laugh til your stomach hurts!!

THE FOLLOWING IS RATED "R"! IF YOU DON'T LIKE BAD LANGUAGE, DON'T READ IT! 
So after many years, Jenn found the text messages between the two of us that at one time had us in tears with laughter. We both suffer from feet and leg cramps in the middle of the night.
I'm the one texting on the left...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,

Everywhere you go. And our house included. Now last year I decorated really early because I was so depressed that the grands weren't here, so we got started in late October. But this year, I heard from a couple of my kids who were complaining that the stores were getting Christmas stuff too early and that anytime before Thanksgiving was too early. So, I went along with them and we didn't get started until after Thanksgiving. Hmmm. I'm not too keen on this idea. 1. because I have over a 150 ornaments that we've collected for the last 40 years. 2. I have a lot of decorating I like to do. 3. I don't like to feel rushed and this year I really felt rushed. 4. I am making my kids something for Christmas and I get a little panicky when I have to stop what I'm doing and decorate, knowing these have to be done by the 19th.  I know, whaaaaaaaa! You just want to call the whaaaaambulance, don't ya?
So anyway, here's a few pics of our decked out house. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Many years ago, Paul's aunt Gert gave me a bunch of sprigs of greenery she used to use above her kitchen cabinets. I decided to copy an idea I found on Pinterest and put them on the stairs. 

Our tree in the study. Complete with Toby in his favorite spot on the treeskirt. 

I love this little teal and silver tree by the stairs. 

I've searched all season for a tree skirt to fit this tree. I need one no larger than 40". Well, I could not find one anywhere so I decided to buy some felt and some fur trim and make one myself...

First I cut out a circle. This one is 37" because that's how wide the material came. I then cut the slit and the hole at the top to fit around the tree and hot clued some Velcro. Did I mention I LOVE my little hot glue gun? 

I then added the fur trim with my hot glue gun..

And, voila!!

Don't look at the little specks. I got some sparkles on my phone lens...ugh! 

Not bad eh?

All summer long I had this really cool pitcher I found at At Home that I put on my island. I had it filled with sunflowers. I absolutely adore this thing! So, I searched on (you guessed it) Pinterest and found this really cute idea to be able to keep it around during the holidays.

I really had fun with this. I put a bow on either side since it's in the middle of the island..why not, right? 

Last year I got a picture frame from Paul's brother and his fiance for Christmas. Well, I love the frame and I knew I had the perfect picture for it. It's a picture of the kids and their cousins from about 29-30 years ago all on Santa's lap. There was a bit of a problem...

I literally could not stand the blue background. I thought it stood out like a sore thumb and took away from the picture and frame. So, I google how to turn the background of a picture to a different color and...

TaDa!!! Now it just blends in since the boot is red too. I love it! And now, I gotta get those Christmas presents I'm making done.



As always...

Random stuff and our visit with the grands...

Feels good to post so soon after posting!
Thanksgiving was great! The turkey turned out delicious although the rub was a bit spicy. I have a different rub I'll use next year since 90% of our guests are over the age of 80.

Looks a bit spicy huh? But it was so yummy!!

My cranberry salad turned out amazing!

I wanted to get a picture of everyone at the table but it was too difficult since I didn't have everything set up and old people are impatient big time!

Paul and I went to visit the grands two weekends ago. Just a visit. I took them their Minion hats I made. They LOVED them!

Playing a game of Life. Notice the concentration and the fact that it takes 3 guys to make a move!

One of the greatest pleasures I've experienced lately is Emmy wanted to learn how to knit! Jessie asked if I'd like to go see a knitting store they have just down the street. That was really nice of her to think of me knowing how much I love to knit. So, Jessie, Emmy and I went. Emmy fell in love with some yarn and really wanted to learn how to knit. She was so enthusiastic and such a quick learner!!

Notice the hat?

Ta-Da!! Emmy knitted this all by herself! I'm so proud of her!

We all went to a park and found a couple of geocaches. It was a lot of fun. Winston and Lucy were with us and Winston was surprisingly sprite. Didn't have to carry him at all. He did really good.

Emmy taught me how to play Mancala. Very interesting.

We had a great time. So sad to leave except this time we know we'll be seeing them for Sue's party in December! Yay!

As always...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted since before Halloween!! My life gets in the way and sometimes I have my priorities screwed up. But we have been busy. Went to visit the kiddo's in VA and had a wonderful time. I WILL post about our trip this weekend for sure.

So yesterday was a fun filled day. I went to Jenn's and we went bridal dress shopping. We had Dan's mom Linda, his sister Lauren, Jenn's maid of honor Jess White (we have always called her that with her last name included), and one of her bridesmaids Amanda. It was great! And best of all, Jenn found her dress!

Jess White, Amanda, Linda, Lauren and me!

But today is all about the turkey, family and being so ever thankful for all the people I have in my life and how my life has turned out. I truly am blessed! So when I got home yesterday afternoon, Paul and I got to work on pre-Thanksgiving baking. First we got Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake done. Years ago I was watching Rachael Ray, and Paula Deen was on there making this. Ever since, that's what we have instead of pumpkin pie...

Put a dollop of Cool Whip on your piece and it's a little bit of Heaven!

Next we made the Pecan Pie, which Ree Drummond calls "The Pie That Will Make You Cry". I finally found the perfect pecan pie recipe. Since it's always been Jenn's favorite, she gets 2 of these on her birthday in February.

I'm a little bummed I didn't use the Pet Ritz pie crust and I opted for the Pillsbury Ready Crusts, but I noted it on my recipe for next year...no worries.

And finally I made the Cranberry Jello salad. It's also filled with goodies like whole cranberries, crushed pineapple, cream cheese and powdered sugar!

This morning after Paul's run and my workout, we got the 20lb turkey in the oven. Another recipe I found is a spice rub we put under and over the skin...WOW! You wouldn't believe how amazing this tastes!!

Wait til you see the turkey done!! I could have sworn I took pics last year but do you think I could find them? I looked under the date and then under Holidays and Celebrations and still couldn't find any. So, I will post pics later tonight or tomorrow of the turkey and some of the desserts. Yummm.

I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and if you feel half as blessed as I do, you're gonna have a wonderful day!!

As always...