A Happy Christmas

Then Pa and Ma and Mr. Edwards sat by the fire and talked about Christmas times back in Tennessee and up north in the Big Woods. But Mary and Laura looked at their beautiful cakes and played with their pennies and drank water out of their new cups. And little by little they licked and sucked their sticks of candy, till each stick was sharp-pointed on one end.
That was a happy Christmas.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

~*~

 

Those sweet stories never get old. I hope you all will have a happy Christmas too!

Take care,
~Melanie

Enjoying the Beautiful Christmas Season...

One of my favorite things....sitting in the dark looking at the lights on the tree.♥

Katie wound some lights around the handrails and the tree out front. :-)

Always enjoy the Christmas cards from friends and family...

A close-up of our nativity scene, the one we've had since we were first married.

I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful Christmas season too.  :-)

Take care,
~Melanie

Christmas and a New Year

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a nice Christmas. We've been on Christmas break since December 14th, and we'll go back to school this Wednesday. The time just seemed to fly by! Katie had a couple of her friends sleep over during the Christmas break...lots of fun!

We had a very nice time visiting with our families. My parents were sick the week before Christmas, so we had to change our travel plans a bit, but it all worked out. My brother and his family came to Mom and Dad's to visit with us the day before we left. One of my nephews had told my mom that he had a New Testament, but he wanted a 'whole Bible'. My parents got him a 'whole Bible' for Christmas, and he was so proud of it. He carried it around and was looking all through it...said it was his favorite gift.  Mom was explaining things to him about how to look things up...made my heart very happy. :-) 

My husband took this picture from Mom and Dad's front porch the day after Christmas. Isn't it pretty? We got enough snow to make things pretty, but not so much that it caused trouble on the road. We were very blessed that all of our travel days were snow free!

 Well, I thought I'd share some pictures of a few of my favorite gifts this year.♥

This is a little box given to me by a friend at church. I thought it was so pretty!

My mom and dad gave me this throw. It's so nice and warm.
I really like the pattern. ♥

Lee and Katie gave me this tart warmer. I've really been enjoying it!

~♥~
 

We watched a few Christmas movies. Sweet Lilly loves to be with us.

I like to turn off all the lights and just enjoy the glow from the tree and candles.♥

In thinking about the new year, I wanted to share a bit of Scripture my husband used in his sermon yesterday. 

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
~II Corinthians 5:17

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

~ Ephesians 4:22-24

I pray you all will have a wonderful 2013!

Take care,

~Melanie

Christmastime at our House

Hello, sweet friends! I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful Christmas season.

I just thought I'd show you a little bit of what's been going on around here this Christmas! :)

We got our tree about a week ago. There's a tree farm not too far from us, so after school we went out and found this sweet little tree.

As you can tell from this picture, we were close to running out of daylight!

Here's the tree all prettied up!♥

Our little manger scene...the reason we celebrate!!

The hutch...I didn't leave the candles burning. I just lit them for the picture. The flame is a little too close to her arm. :)

The weather was so nice earlier this week, so we strung some lights outside. I like the tree in the window. :)

Katie went to her teacher's house with a friend on Wednesday, and they made gingerbread houses. I thought Katie did a great job on hers.  I wonder how many calories are in there........smile...... 

I think everything is edible except for the snowman's arms, which are made from toothpicks.

Another angle...

 

Yes, this is a busy time of year, but I love it! I am very blessed... blessed to have loved ones to give gifts to,  blessed to have a home I can decorate, and blessed to have the health to enjoy it! There are many who aren't so fortunate. Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings.♥

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Take care,

~Melanie

Thanksgiving Break and a Recipe

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. We spent most of the week at Mom and Dad's, and Mom always spoils us with her good cooking! She sent us home with the leftover gingerbread she made, so I'm going to make some sauce for it and we'll just finish it up! :)

My brother had very good success deer hunting this year, so one night we had some deer meat for supper. We all thoroughly enjoyed it! This is the recipe Mom used to make it.

2-3 lbs. boneless deer meat, about 1 inch thick

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons olive/vegetable oil

1/4 cup beef broth

For topping: 

2 tablespoons minced onion

1 tsp. brown sugar (optional)

1 tsp. ketchup

dried basil

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut meat into pieces and pound to about 1/2 inch thick.

Mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Dip meat in flour mixture. Coat both sides. Place butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meat, and brown on both sides. Arrange in a 9x13 baking dish. Top the meat with brown sugar, ketchup, onion, and basil. Pour the beef broth into the skillet and cook on medium about a minute. Add to baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake about 45 minutes, then remove foil. If the meat looks dry, add a bit of water, and continue to bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

~♥~

So, did any of you go shopping on Friday? Katie wanted to go 'Black Friday' shopping, so Mom and I took her out about 9 o'clock that morning.  I'm not much of a shopper, but we did find some good deals.

Yesterday when we were coming back home, we got a bolt stuck in one of our tires. Thankfully, we were near a Wal-Mart, so we pulled in and they were able to plug it. They had put on our new tires recently, and we'd also purchased the road hazard protection on the tires, so it didn't cost us anything to have it plugged! :-) We were so thankful that it happened as conveniently as it did. It could have been much worse! There was a field beside the auto center, so Katie took Lilly out for a good walk. The car was loaded down, and we were so glad that the tire didn't go flat. It wouldn't have been much fun trying to unload the car to get the spare out, especially since it was cold and windy.

So, we're back home now and have started a little bit of decorating for Christmas. Katie cut out some pretty snowflakes last night, and I even helped her in between loads of laundry. Home Alone was on TV , so we watched that while we cut out the snowflakes. We taped them to the front of our curio cabinet, and I thought they turned out very sweet. :) 

Today has been a pretty restful day, but it has turned cold. After church we had chicken in the crock pot with cream of celery soup. I made some rice and broccoli to go with it. Crock pot meals are what we usually have on Sundays. When church is over, we come right home and eat. After lunch, Katie went to see a movie with a friend, so I made some hot chocolate and spent a little time on the computer before Lee and I went to the grocery store to get the 'after vacation necessities'. We had oatmeal this morning because we forgot to go to the grocery store and get milk yesterday after we got home!

I enjoyed my break, but tomorrow it will be back to work. I know it may seem hard to believe, but the kids at school are a bit more rowdy in these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hmmm...I wonder why. ;)

Before I go, I want to mention that I have been having issues with my Yahoo mail account lately. I try to make sure I respond to everyone who leaves a comment. Some of my replies haven't been sending properly, so please forgive me if you don't receive a reply. If your blog is set up 'no reply', I try to respond in the comment section.

I hope you all have a great week, and I hope to stop by and 'visit' with you soon! :)

Take care,

~Melanie

Christmas Salad

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Years. We had a very enjoyable Christmas with our families, and spent New Years at home.

It's hard to believe school starts again tomorrow! Vacation went by so fast! Anyway...

While we were visiting my parents at Christmas, Mom made this Christmas Salad, and I thought you might like the recipe. This is delicious, and pretty when made in a clear glass dish.

~Christmas Salad~

First layer:

In an 8x8 inch glass dish, dissolve a package of raspberry jello in 1 cup of boiling water, then add a can of whole cranberry sauce. Mix well. You may add a 1/2 cup of nuts if you'd like. I believe my mom used walnuts. Refrigerate until set, at least a couple of hours.

Second layer:

This will need to be mixed in a separate bowl.

Dissolve a package of lime jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Add a can of drained crushed pineapple and 1 cup of cottage cheese. Mix well and spoon on top of the cranberry layer. Refrigerate until set.

Third layer:

This will need to be mixed in a separate bowl as well.

You will need an 8-oz. pkg. of cream cheese. Beat this well, then fold in a small tub of whipped topping. Add to the lime layer.

Enjoy!! :)

Merry Christmas!

I'll be taking a blog break until after Christmas, so I would like to go ahead and wish you and your families a Merry Christmas just a bit early. I have so enjoyed your sweet friendships throughout the year, and I pray God will greatly bless you in the coming year.

When I come back from break, I'll have a few giveaway wins to show you! :)

This is a picture of our nativity.

My husband bought the stable years ago,

then we added everything else.

It's been with us for a long time. :)

Blessings to you all, my friends.

Take care,

~Melanie

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
~Luke 2:7 KJV~

~Charlotte~

Image-Little House in the Big Woods

In each stocking there was a pair of bright red mittens, and there was a long, flat stick of red-and-white striped peppermint candy, all beautifully notched along each side.

They were all so happy they could hardly speak at first. They just looked with shining eyes at those lovely Christmas presents. But Laura was happiest of all. Laura had a rag doll.

She was a beautiful doll. She had a face of white cloth with black button eyes. A black pencil had made her eyebrows, and her cheeks and her mouth were red with the ink made from poke berries. Her hair was black yarn that had been knit and raveled, so that it was curly.

She had little red flannel stockings and little black cloth gaiters for shoes, and her dress was pretty pink and blue calico.

She was so beautiful that Laura could not say a word. She just held her tight and forgot everything else. She did not know that everyone was looking at her, till Aunt Eliza said, "Did you ever see such big eyes!"

Laura sat down on the edge of the bed and held her doll. She loved her red mittens and she loved the candy, but she loved her doll best of all. She named her Charlotte.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods

I'm sure you know by now that I love the Little House books. :)

I thought it might be nice to post a story about Christmas back when things were a little more simple and less hurried.

Hope you all have a great week. Thanks for stopping by.

Take care,

~Melanie

~Our Christmas Tree~

The first year my husband and I were married (1991), we went to a tree lot in town and bought a real tree. The following year we bought an artificial tree, and have used it ever since. It's been a very good tree, and is still in decent shape.

But, I've been wanting to cut our own tree for several years now. I have fond memories of our family doing that when I was little girl, and I thought Katie would enjoy it too. I found a tree farm a couple years ago and called them, but the prices were very high, so we decided against it. This year we had planned to put up our artificial tree again, but on Saturday morning I thought I'd try again to find another tree farm, so I searched the internet and found another one near us. I called them and was so happy to find their prices were much more reasonable. So, Saturday we went to the tree farm and cut our own Christmas tree. The weather was beautiful, and we had a great time. :)

We chose a Virginia Pine, and we are really enjoying it. It has a wonderful pine scent, and the branches are pretty sturdy, so they hold some of the heavier ornaments we have.

Here are some pictures of our day...

There were lots of pretty trees there, so it was
hard to choose!



Katie in front of the tree we chose



Daddy's hard at work cutting it down.
I love Katie's sweet smile. :)



My husband dragging the tree to the car.



It was no easy task getting the tree on top of
the car!



Lights



Ornaments

So pretty♥

We have our nativity at the bottom,
and the tree skirt my mom made
about 30 years ago.

Thanks for stopping by.

I hope you're all having a great week. :)

Take care,

~Melanie

Christmas

Hi, everyone. I hope you all had a nice Christmas. Ours was very nice, and we had a wonderful time visiting with our families. It's always fun to be together. :)


We had a white Christmas again this year. My parents have these spruce trees all around their house. I think the trees are so pretty when it snows.



Katie had a lot of fun too. Here she is sledding in my parents' back yard. That's the same sled I used when I was a kid. :)
As you can see, Lilly had a lot of fun too. She loves the snow!

We had to delay our trip home because of the snow, so we got to enjoy some extra time with Mom and Dad.
We have a few days left of Christmas break before we're back to school and work on Monday.
Hope you're all doing well. :)

Take care,
~Melanie

What Christmas Is All About!

I never get tired of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. This little clip is my favorite part. :)

~Christmas Present and Christmas Past~

Hi, everyone.

I hope you're all enjoying

the beautiful Christmas season.

Everything here is finished for Christmas,

so I thought I'd share some pictures with you.

Katie always has to make sure

these two are on the tree together.

I think they're so cute. :)

This ornament belonged to my Grandma.

Mom gave it to me after my Grandma passed away.

It's just plastic, but it's very special to me.

I was one of the youngest of many grandchildren,

so I only have a few things that were hers.

I do have wonderful memories of her, though. :)

This snowman is almost as old as me.

Mom made some of these in 1975.

They've yellowed a little through the years,

but I still like to use them.

I found a similar pattern online,

so I'd like to make some more

one of these days.

This is our Christmas tree.

My husband and I bought the tree

and the angel topper for Christmas in 1992.

We've been using them ever since.

They've held up well for us

through all the years and many moves.

Can you see the snowflakes

Katie made and strung

along the wall behind the tree?

Lee and I made a few,

but Katie did most of them.

I think she did a great job. :)

A cardinal came flying around the other day

while it was snowing.

After several tries,

I was finally able to snap his picture. :)

Of course, we've been doing some baking too! :)

These are some of the Christmas cards

we've received so far this year.

We always look forward to hearing from our friends.

We haven't seen some of them in years,

but they're still very dear to us,

and we have fond memories.

~♥~

When I was growing up,

one of my Christmas memories

was of my dad looking through the

Christmas cards to find a picture

to paint on the picture window

in our living room.

Some of the pictures I remember

are of a little drummer boy,

a manger scene,

a snowman,

and deer in the snow-covered woods.

He did that for many years

until they added on to the house.

The new room doesn't have a picture window.

When the new room was being built,

I remember thinking how sad

it would be to not see Dad painting

any more pictures on that big window.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

I hope you're having a great weekend

and staying warm!

Melanie

~Our Nativity~

This is our nativity.
My husband bought the stable at a little country store years ago,
and we added everything else.
It's very special to us, and reminds us of the real reason for Christmas. :)

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given.
-Isaiah 9:6