Signs of Christmas

A few years ago my Aunt and Uncle sent a Christmas card from the Cayman Islands.  I loved the stamp, so I framed it.

Yesterday my husband came home with a large bag of tangerines. I thought he purchased them until I actually looked into the bag and saw the stems and leaves.  The owners of his office building gave these to him, picked fresh from the tree in their backyard.

Tom handed me the bag and I started mumbling something like - will they look best in a blue bowl or one of the red ones?  I think the red one is too small to hold all of them.  Then I asked him - Do orange and blue go well together?  and he said that it's the Florida Gator's colors.

Well, I don't actually root for the Gators, but the tangerines did look better in the blue bowl.

Study of a tangerine with a leaf.

Look at it's simplicity.

It's beauty.

Awww heck, let's look at some photos of my sisters and Scarlett.  Hillary took these photos tonight at the Christmas Eve dinner at my Mother's house.

Hillary, Alison and Scarlett

Hillary and Scarlett

Alison and Scarlett. Scarlett is Alison's littlest one...about 9 weeks old.  Goodness, I need to go home :)

Oh, this just in - here are the other girls!  Stella with her tongue out.  I think that's her new look. The photo I'm posting tomorrow Stella has her tongue out lol   My mom is in the middle and Zora in green. 

I wish you all a blessed Christmas.
Love,
Kristin

POTD - Starlight

Starlight - by Kristin Corlett

It's a cut tin Christmas tree with a star on top.  This was taken on one of my store trips to Target.

Enjoy!
Kristin

My Nativity set

My nativity set. 

I've had them forever.

I have absolutely no idea where this set came from, but I call it my little mexican nativity set. 

I often wonder if I got it when I lived in Albuquerque.

Who am I kidding.  I'm clueless.

Only one of the people has their eyes open and it's this guy.  

Well, the bunny has her eyes open, but she isn't an original piece to this set.

I bet you couldn't tell, though.  Bunny fits right in :)

Every year I have re-remember that those are not pot holders on this poor girl's hands. 

Can you say baby lambs or is that redundant?  How about baby sheep?  also known as lambs. 

Anyway, she's carrying little white animals...sheepish type animals.


I'm just assuming they are babies because she's one of the smaller girls in the set and if they were sheep, I don't think they'd look like pot holders!

Oh Goodness!  I just realized something.  I have one of the little girls holding a sheep standing next to Joseph.  I have Mary standing bhind potholder girl. 

Good thing I'm not getting graded on this.

Merry Christmas.
Kristin

POTD - Tinsel garland

Tinsel garland - by Kristin Corlett

Another found decoration.  This garland is for sale at Anthropology and it is gorgeous!  It was 25% off, but I still couldn't bring myself to buy it.  It looked antique and came on those spools.  I thought it would make a great decoration as is, but I would have needed to have more than one spool - so I just took a few photos instead.  Ahhh, already a much thriftier alternative!

Enjoy!
Kristin

I'm passing out snow!

This is one of the photos I used on my Christmas Cards.  I had about 100 of them printed up when I realized that I wanted a few more designs, so I wasn't going to use all that I had printed.  I'm finally finished with all of my cards and as I suspected, I've got some of these leftover.  They are 3.5 x 5 glossy photos and I hate to have them just languish on my coffeetable (because if you know me, things can languish for years on my coffeetable!)

So I put the photos in my hot little hands and took them with me when I went to the post office.  I was just sure that there would be a nice long line of people that I could pass out some Michigan snow to, but alas, I was it.  Can you believe it?!!  I was the only person in the place.  I gave my first photo to the postal employee and I did meet a few people in the parking lot. Surprisingly, almost everyone was quite excited.

I thought it was just going to be a funny little thing for me - accosting people and making them take a photo of my mother's snow covered fence - but instead...

One person said that they had never seen snow in person. 

One woman said that this was her favorite kind of snow - on film!

I walked around my car to give a photo to the man who had pulled into the spot next to me and he actually got back into his car and sat in the drivers seat looking at the photo, smiling. 

I had so much fun with those few folks, that I decided to head to my favorite spot - Publix grocery store.  It was crowded!  BINGO!

I passed out about 30 photos there.  I heard about one gal's first time driving in the snow, which was last week in NC.  She's originally from Jamaica.  Another woman said her family is coming in today from Detroit and the Store Manager told me that he was 17 when he first saw snow.  A little boy was so excited when I handed him the photo that he asked his dad if he could put it on the tree! 

What fun.  I had no idea.

I still have some photos left, I may have to go out again tomorrow.

Kristin

POTD - Giant Lights

Giant Lights - by Kristin Corlett

My favorite type of lights are these large bulbs.  Well, not this large generally, but large.  I love multi colored with a few blinking lights tossed in for a little bit of drama or tacky :) When I saw these decorations I was literally jumping up and down and so very thankful that I had my camera on me.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Finger food

My blogging friend, Ruth Ann at My Remodeled Nest took this photo today. These delightful little cookies were "remodeled" by her son, Alex who turned three this week.

This is what she had to say about the photo...

2 dozen cookies ruined this morning! Alex knew not to touch them, but waited until I was upstairs getting dressed and he took his finger and smooshed the chocolate in each one! He ate most of the chocolate! When I came downstairs I couldn't find him...he was hiding under the kitchen table and was saying "I sorry!"

I asked her if I could post this because it's just so sad and so funny all at the same time.  I just can't imagine what Ruth Ann's face looked like when she got back to the kitchen and saw the destruction.  Oh goodness. 

I also decided to blog about this because she hasn't blogged in a month and this is a story that needed to be told...

and I didn't have anything to talk about today :)

Thanks Ruth Ann!
Kristin

POTD - Baubles

Baubles - by Kristin Corlett

These ornaments were on an outdoor tree in an area of Jacksonville called Neptune Beach.  Thursday was the final Art Walk Thursday before Christmas and I finally got a chance to attend.  I'm so glad I did, as this giant pine tree was decorated from top to bottom with hundreds of ornaments and gorgeous colored lights - my personal favorite.

Enjoy!
Kristin

The little S's

My brother in law snapped this photo of Scarlett last night at their Christmas Party.  She's now 2 months old and I can't imagine her not being a part of the family.  I hear that her eyes are blue, but I can't see that in this photo.

My mom is now watching Stella one day a week.  The other day she (my mom) mentioned that Stella had taken the ornaments off the tree a few dozen times.  I doubt it was all of the ornaments, but I'm sure it felt like it.  This is just one of a series of photos my mom took of Stella playing on the stairs and admiring all of the Santa ornaments hanging from it.

Zora must be hiding in her room or something because I haven't seen a new photo of her in ages.  So all we are going to get today are the little S's - Scarlett and Stella. 


Enjoy!
Kristin

Sheet Music Tree

Isn't this an interesting picture?

Know what it is?

Wanna know what it is?

Leigh from Tales from Bloggeritaville blogged about this tree today.  Well, actually I sent her an email with some photos and I tried to describe the tree a bit.

I did not make this tree.  A guy named Todd Mack made the tree for an event called Festival of Trees in Lansing, MI.  Companies and organizations around town would decorate trees for this event, then the trees would be auctioned off.  Some businesses would get a tree and fill it full of ornaments and a few wrapped gifts underneath or piled high with toys.  Hardly anyone actually made the tree from scratch like Todd did.  His tree was exceptional.   Todd was a friend of ours (my sister Alison worked in his frame and gift shop for awhile) and we all fell in love with this tree.  Thankfully the trees had a Buy It Now price as well as a silent auction feature.  If someone used the BIN option, the auction feature was void.  My Mom used the BIN option and just got the tree.  Whew!  It saved a lot of heartache trying to get the tree for less.

So anyway, that's part of the story of the tree.  The rest of the story is over at Leigh's place.  Go on, take a look :)  There are a lot more photos over there, too.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Edited to mention -- Festival of Trees is no longer an event in Lansing - bummer because I loved it - and Todd Mack moved from Lansing, MI to the Chicago area.  Here is a link to his company blog - Foursided.  His stores are called Twosided and Foursided.

POTD - Essentials

Essentials - by Kristin Corlett

Pretty much the essential ingredients in holiday baking.  Butter, flour, salt and eggs. 
What are you baking up this year?

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! I love to have you smile when you come over to visit. I hope I've done so! Please visit Mrs. 4444's Fragmented post so you can find even more severely fragmented posters like me.

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I was talking about Albuquerque, NM with this man the other day.  He said that he had visited there for a few weeks and I told him I lived there for a few years.  I told him that it was the only time in my life that I new N, S, E and W.   The Sandia Mountains were East.  If I couldn't see them, I knew I was facing West.

Yep, I'm seriously that directionally challenged.

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Have you been noting the plethora of banners (or bunting, garland, streamers) in the blogosphere?  Well I have and I want one!  Thankfully, scissor variation has a downloadable bunting - it's just delightful!  I think you could even use your own photo or two and it'd be just as delightful.

Here's another one -- Cafe Cortolina featured this incredible garland.  I love the post cards.  It looks like they have been printed on velum.

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photo from the Washington Post

I read this article the other day about a photo experiment that was done with cats.  (Here in the Washington Post) The study was to find out what cats did when there was no one home.  They had the cats fitted with this special collar that had a camera on it.  The camera took a photo every 15 minutes or so and the data analyzed.  Our kitties are not sleeping most of the time, but rather, just about 6% of the time when we are away.  But the part that got me laughing was this part "Coming in at 5 percent was playing with toys; eating or looking at food finished at 4 percent."  Looking at food finished hahahaha!!  My cat gets a tiny bit of wet catfood each day.  We call it her treat.  We have to leave the dish on the floor until we replace it with the new dish each day because she just carries on that we have forgotten to feed her.  I'm just positive that she goes to that dish many many times a day hoping that the food will magically appear...and now I'm positive of it!

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I have been trying to find Christmas in Jacksonville.  In Michigan it's easy to find Christmas.  I actually mean decorations or a Christmasy scene or something that makes me think of Christmas.  In Michigan there is snow on the ground, people are wearing scarves, they look cold, they are rushing to their cars sporting the bright pink cheeks of cold weather.  In Jacksonville we don't have any snow and the outdoor decorations just aren't as spectacular without the coating of snow to help bounce the light around and glow!   However,  I finally found an outdoor Christmas tree that was just delightful!  It was so lit up that it just didn't need the snow, thankfully :) I was afraid I was just going to have to resort to only taking photos of my tree (above) but now I have this (below) ---  Ahhh.  I found Christmas in this city with no snow :)

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Are you in need of some printable gift tags for Christmas?  Click here for some really lovely ones oh and some more here.  Oh goodness there are some really great ones!

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One last link - 50 ways to add Joy to your days.



Have a Joyful, Delightful, Magical and Lovely Weekend!
Kristin

Christmas Cards

I made my Christmas cards this year.  I took the photos, got prints made, attached them to the blank cards, found a verse from a vintage Christmas card that I thought was fun and wrote them all out.  Then I printed out my address list and addressed the envelopes.  Then I had piles of cards and piles of envelopes and the two needed to get married.

My husband usually doesn't get his name in the cards, unless it's to his family or one of his good friends.  My mom used to say that if my dad wanted to sign his name he could, but that she didn't do it for him.  I kind of took on that philosophy.  I used to hand Tom a little stack of cards to have him write in, but the sighing that came from his side of the living room was almost more than I could bear.  Now I send so many cards to people who only know me, that I'm just in the habit of having the cards be from just me.


I really like sending cards, but I have a confession.  The last 20% gets the short end of the stick.   A few months ago I found a stack of 10 or 20 envelopes that were addressed, but never got a card and were therefore never sent.  Oh goodness, I felt like a heel.  I made sure those folks were done first this time!  Anyway, the last 20% get sent out very late, possibly don't even arrive before Christmas and aren't necessarily the end of the alphabet.  This time I didn't have enough cards made, so that was the hold up this time.  So if you haven't gotten your card yet and you always get one from me, consider it a Happy New Year card!


Naw, I'll get them finished this weekend. 


Merry Christmas!
Kristin

POTD - Flake

Flake - by Kristin Corlett

This lovely beaded and jeweled snowflake was on a tree in my local Pottery Barn retail store.  I was literally standing in their window display to get this shot.  It was worth it!

Enjoy!
Kristin

BBQ Meatloaf

This is a meatloaf recipe that I got for free from Leanne of Saving Dinner.  It's called BBQ Confetti Meatloaf, but I've changed it a little bit and shortened the name to just BBQ Meatloaf.

Here are the cast of characters I have used for this particular meatloaf.  Meatloaf mix with 1/3 pork, onions, mushrooms, corn, eggs, bread, Sonny's BBQ sauce, chili powder and a little bit of salt and pepper. Because I took the time to set up the scene above, I brought out the sheet pan and covered it with my aluminum foil before I got my hands all messy.  Usually I'm just ready to put the meatloaf mixture somewhere and realize that I still have to prepare the pan.

I drop the hamburger and pork by small amounts at a time into a large bowl.  Just to make mixing easier in the end.  Then I roughly chop an onion. This onion was really big, so I only used half of it.  Roughly chopped to me is about nickel sized pieces.  Drain the corn.  Drain the mushrooms and squeeze out as much water as you can.  Then chop the 'shrooms in half or so.

Add in the chili powder, salt and pepper.  Here's where I have to admit...I didn't add a single bit of pepper.  Not even the "fool myself" white pepper. The last few times I've made meatloaf I added in too much white pepper and had a hard time enjoying the meatloaf.

Add in the bread cubes, the slightly beaten eggs and the BBQ sauce.  I usually use a parchment covered sheet pan, but I used up all of my parchment the day before, so I used some of my non stick aluminum foil instead.  It worked real well, too.

This isn't the most lovely looking photo but it's the truth :)  After mixing all the ingredients together, I scoop up large handfuls of meatloaf and place them in the center of the baking sheet. Usually four mounds is what I get, then I pat them all together to make a more uniform loaf shape.  Then I put it in the 350º oven for about 40 minutes. 

At 40 minutes I take out the meatloaf and brush on a thin coat of BBQ sauce on the top and check the temperature.  I cook mine to 165º but usually haul it out of the oven at 160º if I catch it in time.  I like this "slab" method of cooking meatloaf because it's much easier to cut and serve and the fats just go off to the side and I haven't had a dry meatloaf yet. 

The original recipe calls for red peppers, I've substituted pimentos, but didn't have any in the cupboard - so it's not as colorful as it should be.  However, it was and is absolutely delicious.

The way I like meatloaf best is on my salad.  I took a photo of my meatloaf salad but it was awful looking!  None of it was in focus.  But I can tell you what I did.

I usually have a salad in the fridge that I pull out for this.  My salad is butter lettuce and romaine lettuce, green onions, celery, garlic and onion spices.  I then shred a little cheddar cheese on top of the salad and put the meatloaf on top of that.  The meatloaf melts the cheese a little and wilts the lettuce just a little.  It's one of my favorite meals. 



BBQ Meatloaf
adapted from Leanne's Saving Dinner recipe.

1# lean ground beef
1t chili powder
S/P to taste
4 oz corn kernels drained
4 oz canned mushrooms drained and chopped
1 med onion chopped
1/4 cup red pepper chopped (or small jar of pimentos)
2 - 3 slices soft bread cubed
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/3 cup BBQ sauce

Preheat oven to 350º
Combine all ingredients.  I mix it by hand until everything is just barely combined.    You can bake this meatloaf in a muffin pan for individual freezer friendly sizes, in a loaf pan or in a log on a sheet pan. 
10 - 20 minutes before cooking time is up, take meatloaf out of the oven, brush with BBQ sauce and check temperature.  Bake for about one hour or until desired temperature is reached. Muffin sized portions will cook much faster.

POTD - Holy Light

Holy Light - by Kristin Corlett

I didn't realize that Joseph was holding a lantern until after I took a look at it on the big screen.  I'm curious to know if it lights up.  I may have to take a run through the neighborhood at night just to see.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Fiddle dee dee

photo found on Google Images

I am totally caught up with watching Gone with the Wind.  It's on TMC and there are no commercial interruptions.  I haven't seen it in a very long time and I'm just engrossed! I've got a million things that I want to share, post, talk about, link to and blab on - but I'm totally head over heels in love with this movie.

So I'm not even going to pretend to write a blog post on something else :)

...but I have to say - can you imagine wearing all of those giant petticoats and hoops.  Goodness!

I hope you have a delightful day.
Kristin

POTD - Pineberry

Pineberry by Kristin Corlett

Just a little fake Christmas.  Well, not necessary a fake Christmas but a fake piece of Christmas trim.  I captured this moment at Hobby Lobby :)

Enjoy!
Kristin

How to make a paint chip card

I'm not moving - but one time when we did move, these were the announcements that I sent out.  I mentioned last night on the Paper. Lots of Paper post that I spent a lot of time looking for these cards and couldn't find them.  Well, sleeping on it certainly helped.  I had a dream about scanning photos and I sat straight up in bed and thought -- "they're in the scan folder!"  and that they were.

When my husband and I were getting ready to move to Florida we had a huge auction to sell off a lot of our worldly possessions, but some things I just wanted to use.  The Martha Stewart brand paint chip collection was one of those items that I really wanted to use.

I had blank cards with envelopes, so I tried to come up with a way to use the paint chips without having to do too much cutting.  I wasn't going to cut out intricate shapes or anything - I wanted to pretty much just glue everything on.

I found two little floor plans online that were just about the right size for the front of the card.  I photocopied them and put double stick tape on the back.  (so far this is really easy!)  Then I wrote our new address on the paint chip and taped it over the top of the floorplan.   I trimmed the edge of the chip if it hung over the edge.  The top photo I had to trim, the one below I didn't.

I really liked this address.  The place I was living at the time was just an awful street name.  It was hard to say, hard to spell and ugh - I hated it.  (Van Blarcom Beach Rd.)  The new address was quick and easy - I even really liked the phone number.  Such a nice number.  We don't live there anymore, so please don't send anything to that address.  Well I guess you can, but I won't get it.

I had several people call me up and ask if this was the floorplan for our new house.  It wasn't :)  but it had enough interesting  detail around the edges of the paint chip, so that's why I used it.

On the inside of the card I used two of the solid color paint chips, one on each side.  Once again, I just used double stick tape to attach them to the card.

I wrote the same thing on each chip.  Some of the colors were far too dark to use - I coudn't see any of the wording and there were quite a few that were far too light - I wanted color.   I used up all the chips that were interesting. 

I used things that I already had in the house, so for the most part this project only cost me the stamps and the time.  The cards & tape were purchased at some point, but I didn't pay for them at this moment to create this project. That makes it free, right??!

There are so many fun projects to make with paint chip samples.  Look for some more examples in the future.  I'll even give it it's own label :)

Enjoy!
Kristin

POTD - Ornament

Ornament - by Kristin Corlett

This is an ornament that my Mother gave me on year for Christmas.  One of my favorite holiday decorating tricks is to puddle one or two of the rope garlands on a table and snuggle ornaments into it.    Lots of shimmer and shine and the ornaments just sparkle!

Enjoy!
Kristin

Paper. Lots of paper.

This is the stuff that dreams are made of.  I actually don't make very many things with colored paper, but I love it nonetheless.  I once thought I might buy one of each color and put them up on my wall - sort of the like a really big paint swatch stack.  Of course once I realized that it would cost me a hundred dollars or more to buy one of every color and that it might take up more than one wall, I sort of lost my enthusiasm.

My friend Bob and I went into a K-mart once and took one of each paint swatch from the Martha Stewart paint line.  It was a brand new line of paint in those days and the colors were A-ma-zing.  I kept the colors in a photobox and I would flip through them fairly often.   I finally used up as many as I could and I tossed the rest.  I get a little catch in my throat when I think about it.  I threw them away.

I've been searching for the past few hours trying to find the photos of the project that I made with those paint chips.  Now I feel bad talking about them, when I don't have a photo, but I'm not giving up on this post because I've been slaving away for hours with this topic!  I'll have to make up another one some day soon so I can show it off.

(Edited to add - I found the pictures.  Here's the blog post I wrote about them -- How to make a paint chip card)

Speaking of paper -- Have you purchased a calendar for 2010 yet?  Do you usually receive one for Christmas?    I'm still trying to figure out which printable calendar I want.  I've purchased one already, but I want a little one, too.

Yes, I'm in love with paper. (and blogging, too!)

Have a fabulous week!!
Kristin

Aus-tra-lia

My husband sent this to me yesterday morning - I laughed so hard I could hardly stand it. I have no idea if any of this is indeed true, but it sure was funny.


(According to the email) These were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have a great sense of humor.

__________________________________________________

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK)
A : We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

__________________________________________________


Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A : Depends how much you've been drinking.

__________________________________________________


Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A : Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

________________________________________________


Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia ? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane , Cairns , Townsville and Hervey Bay ? (UK)
A : What did your last slave die of?

__________________________________________________


Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia ? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe .
Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not
..... oh, forget it Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.

__________________________________________________


Q: Which direction is North in Australia ? (USA)
A : Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

_________________________________________________


Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia ? (UK)
A : Why? Just use your fingers like we do...

__________________________________________________


Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A : Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is oh, forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

__________________________________________________


Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia ? (UK)
A : You are a British politician, right?

_________________________________________________


Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A : No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.

_________________________________________________


Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can Dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A : Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

__________________________________________________


Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA)
A : It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

__________________________________________________


Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia ? (USA)
A : Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

__________________________________________________


Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A : Yes, gay night clubs.

__________________________________________________


Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia ? (France)
A : Only at Christmas.

__________________________________________________


Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A : Yes, but you'll have to learn it first.



I hope you enjoyed!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! I love to have you smile when you come over to visit. I hope I've done so! Please visit Mrs. 4444's Fragmented post so you can find even more severely fragmented posters like me.

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Photo from FailBlog.org

A facebook friend wrote ----our girls are looking for the Traverse City area houses with the best Christmas lights & decorating (not necessarily most elaborate.) We'll deliver a plate of homemade Christmas cookies to our faves.

Isn't that a cool idea?! I'd deliver a plate of cookies to the folks who decorated the above house (the ditto house!)

My family and I used to pile in the car on Christmas Eve and spend hours driving around looking at the lights in Lansing, MI.    It was a real fun tradition.   This was before giant blow up santas or net lighting or icicle lights.

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Photo from NewMexicoPhotos.com

When I moved to Albuquerque, NM in 1984 I learned all about luminarias. The idea of filling a paper sack with sand and a candle hadn't spread far and wide as it has now.  I was in love with the glowing bags that lined the thick stucco walls and the flat roofs.  I wish that I was more of a photographer then because I would have had thousands of photos.  We would buy a stack of paper bags and carefully fold down the tops two or three folds and then fill the bags with sand or  cheap kitty litter and then plop a votive candle in the middle.  I swear I still dream of the New Mexico luminarias.  It was magical.

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Some advertising slogans are better than others - I was standing in line at the post office watching this woman  looking at the Parcel Post boxes and all of the different sizes of bubble mailers and they were clearly NOT what she was wanting.  Finally I hollered out to her and  motioned for her to come to me.  She looked confused, but came anyway.  I said, "If you're looking for the 'if it fits, it ships' boxes, they are over here on the other side."   She knew exactly what I was talking about and found the box she wanted.

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My Mom & Dad and Me :)  around 1968 KISawyer AFB

The last two years of my father's service in the Air Force he was next in line to go to Vietnam.  He was stationed in Marquette, MI and the winters were so cold and so snowy that people were volunteering to go just to get out of Marquette.  My Dad never had to go because he chose to deal with the snow :)

I told my friend, Lori, this story and she sent me a photo of her backyard two days ago.  She doesn't live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan but she gets a lot of lake effect snow.  Here's her yard.

That's a bird bath out there by the trees.  She said she had to shovel a few times after this photo was taken.  I'm not sure I'd volunteer to go fight in Vietnam in order to get away from snow. but I'm certainly glad no matter what the reason, my Dad stayed in Michigan with us. 

*•-:¦:-•:*''''*:•-:¦:-•*

My Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be just me and my husband.  The other people I had invited all had to cancel for one reason or another.  Pre and Post transplant patients are like that - they can be in the hospital, family can all of a sudden decide to come or they just might not feel well - so it was a disappointment, but I totally understood.  This Christmas I decided to volunteer to help with the Christmas Dinner that TRIO (Transplant Recipients International Organization) puts on in our community.  We invite anyone in the community who is associated with a transplant patient both pre and post.  Since my husband was transplanted on Dec 23rd we see Christmas as our transplant season.   It's so nice to spend the day with our new family.  Anyway, I wanted to make sure that I volunteered at least once this season, since my Thanksgiving went kaput, so the TRIO Christmas dinner is a guaranteed done deal.  Tom and I have been to the dinner twice since we've been in Jacksonville, so I'm excited.

*•-:¦:-•:*''''*:•-:¦:-•*

I hope you have a wonderful week.
Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas.

Kristin

Child Chair

Child's Chair - by Kristin Corlett

I found these two chairs inside the fence, where they kept the school busses.  The chairs didn't look damaged and looked in good repair.  I have no idea why they'd been banished to their little outdoor prison.

Kristin

It's another Secret Santa

This is supposed to be an arty picture of the package from my Secret Santa under my tree. Ehhh, not so arty, but very cool to receive!

After receiving the package and placing it under the tree for a brief moment to snap a photo, I carefully ripped the package open.

This is the lovely gift that was waiting inside.  I have to say, before I go on, that this tissue paper is one of my favorites.  I buy it more often than any other.  I was so thrilled and I hadn't even opened up the packages yet!

Look at this adorable gift tag!

It's a cat!

Love the pattern on her, too.

The first package contained this beautiful Vera Bradley pen.  I don't know why I didn't center the pen in the window.  See, I was too excited.  I wasn't thinking.  So far my Secret Santa has totally got my number.  A cat gift tag and a gorgeous writing utensil (that feels wonderful to hold by the way) and a cool box that the pen came in.  I've already got an idea what I want to do with the box. :)

The next package contained this.   I actually made a little squealing sound when I saw this gift.  They are gift tags...with my name on them...spelled correctly!!  It's always so cool to have things with my name on them...spelled correctly :)  Cats and books and great name!  Three things I love and I will use these. 

Could there be more??!!

A little package of note cards tied up with a thin little white ribbon was the next item.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love note cards.  I like to jot little notes to people and send them off with a cool stamp on the envelope, if possible.  

The lovely Christmas Tree card was on the outside and I foolishly assumed that all 8 cards were the same.  I took a picture of the little bundle and then realzied that I needed to see the rest of the cards.  I had to hold them and touch them.  I pulled out the Thank You card next, then the "K" card and the last card I pulled out was the Kristin card!  Oh what fun!  Two of each design and two kinds of smiles per card.  Oh how delightful.

So, that's the wonderful surprise that I found on my doorstep today. 

Secret Santa you did it again!!

Thank you, Thank You, Thank You!!


Thanks again Georgie and Amy for putting this together.  What a blast!

(and this Secret Santa did not reveal herself to me, so I'll have to wait or guess and I have no guesses right now)

Kristin

POTD - Wavy Jax

Wavy Jax - by Kristin

The iconic buildings of Jacksonville, FL are seen through this iron gate along the St. Johns River.    This is one of the views from the ice cream chair, shown in a previous POTD, here.

Enjoy!
Kristin