Karen, the picture turned out really cute. It looks great on the shelf. I like the wrapping hack you did. Neat trick. Robin is always so helpful. Nice way of being. Cheers
Christmas hodgepodge, my favorite! My kids are in their 50s. Before the y were married I spent about $100 each. I told them when you get married, you divide with your spouse. As you have children the pie pieces just keeps getting smaller. We now go to a sale where hooded sweatshirts with random logos are $3 each. Everyone gets a sweatshirt and $.
That wrapping trick for round gifts is awesome. I like all Christmas carols but I especially like Hark,the Herald Angels Sing. I like having gifts wrapped and enjoy making the gifts look pretty, but I usually save shoe boxes and other small boxes so I have a nice square packages to make wrapping a bit easier. I hope Ivon feels better soon.
This year I've been halving the butternut (or pie pumpkin) in half length wise, scooping the seeds out (I'm a seed saver and this year I was out of butternut so I'm saving every one) (otherwise, the seeds are a natural wormer for livestock, so they go to them), and putting them cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake, and when soft (they don't get brown) and cooler, scoop out the "meat". Put in the food processor, and store in freezer pint containers. I love having them ready for using, for cookies or pie or soup. yum. This is my easy way for 2024. I used to peel the butternut with a good peeler (I have a preference, haha, love my kitchen tools...) and cut it in half and scoop and cut and boil in a small amount of water/chicken broth for soup. My favorite is a recipe with ginger, thai basil, garlic, etc. So creamy and delicious.
We usually have prime rib dinner on Christmas eve either at my house or my sisters and for the last few years for Christmas dinner we order Chinese food. We love having a very relaxing Christmas day. An easy Christmas day idea for a crowd would be to do a brunch. Costco sells really good spiral ham (you just need to heat it up) Also get their croissants, ready made quiche and some fruit and pastries. The great thing about this is later use the ham for sandwiches and even add it to a soup. I really feel that no matter what you decide to do as long as you can completely take the time to enjoy your time with your family that is all that matters. Eating popcorn and Christmas cookies and watching holiday movies in our pjs is what my hubby and boys look forward to doing on Christmas night.
Hooray, I’m done with shopping but it’s not much really. Favorite Christmas song: Little Drummer Boy. I have also framed pictures from calendars. I rarely wrap gifts anymore. We re-use gift bags & tissue paper year after year.
You are looking so beautiful! Holidays are extremely simple at my stage of life, but it is such fun to watch you. It is so enjoyable to do a little every day and not stress out .
Hellooo Karen, gosh that’s a great tip about wrapping round gifts! I’ll use that😊 Now my hubby has retired we have a budget of around £100 each for our grown up two kids and around the same for the two grandchildren, it’s not set in stone of course and I don’t fret over one having £10 more than the other, I find Christmas gift buying enjoyable when I have ideas what to get, I can’t cope with just trailing around stores looking for ideas. I do have a colour theme, blue and gold this year in our living room, white and pale pink in the conservatory. My favourite trees over the years though have been the ‘thrown together’ looking trees😂😂 I tend to not get too hung up about it because what’s not to like about Christmas lights and happy faces. ☺️ As alway,much love and ‘Christmas ‘ light to you.☺️🥰🥰🥰🥰
A favorite is Oh Holy Night :) But, this carol gave me that familiar little pleasurable shiver that I get when my soul is touched by hope and anticipation so it is a winner in my book. I remember when I was a teen and learned the harmony part. That was sort of a big deal in my little Connecticut church. Now I am a member of a church in a college town and the singing is always amazing without my pitiful harmonies (haha. just kidding.)
Thank you for the wrapping trick! I don’t have a favorite Christmas song, there are too many good ones! But maybe O Holy Night or What Child is This if I had to choose one (or two) at this moment.
ooooh--that wrapping technique is so cool! Silent Night is my favorite Christmas carol. Sorry that Ivon is still having such a rough go--prayers for relief for her and for that back of yours. The framed bag turned out really well.
We ordered the baskets for our Christmas baked goods and savory food gifts today so they will be here on the 20th of November. We cleaned the tables and chairs that we use along with two other dining spaces at Thanksgiving and we have all the frozen veges and dessert items that I will bake for Thanksgiving. We will get the prime rib roast this weekend because our family all have turkey dinners at lunch so we don't serve that for dinner. We bought a turkey breast fir 29 cents per pound that I will cook while decorating for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving for the four of us because our grandson and girlfriend will join us on there college break. We still have to get the salad items last minute for freshness. I may make yeast rolls if sold out in the freezer section? We don't decorate for Christmas until the weekend after Thanksgiving is over. We have three Christmas gifts to place the order on but have put them in our cart. I will order these the weekend after Thanksgiving and will be done. We give our grandkids cash for Christmas because this is what they really want. Keeps it simple for us and all I wrap are the gift baskets which is fun for me~ We pay our bills a month ahead and use our December income for Christmas and put remaining into savings for January to start a month ahead again completing the month ahead by the end of early summer. Getting older requires some tweaking to have energy for our passions of baking and cooking and I don't want to worry about having enough funds to get the groceries and gifts completed by November 30th! thanks and God bless.
that's the first thing I thought too. Mine is ancient but I like the heaviness and the multiple back up rolls I have in my desk. I actually usually keep it in my kitchen because of labeling things for the freezer but at this exact moment it's on the desk. The grands are coming tomorrow and I'll bet we have some pleasant "play with office supplies" time. I have a great pencil sharpener that is easy enough for kids to get a good sharp point on colored pencil (sort of weapons....). I'm always trying to make my office needs work really well so that I have less excuses to get things done.
We’re mostly not huge fans of turkey here. The white meat is often dry or mealy, and the dark is quite gamey to me. I feel a little bad about not socking a couple away in the freezer, but it’s honestly not worth the time and trouble. A few years ago I had extra money so I ‘treated’ us to a Kroger provided Christmas dinner. Never again! It’s maybe enough for 4 people and I didn’t care for the taste of any of it 😕
oh, yes, good one. Our pastor has a lovely voice and he sometimes treats us to a solo sometime during the Christmas season. Did she really understand what was happening?
I don't follow trends because I feel like it is a waste of money to keep buying new things. I keep using very sentimental ornaments and nativity that I had as a child, and then my children and grandchildren grew up with the same ones. I spend $20 on each grandchild and $30 on each adult child. I think that's enough to buy something nice.
Karen, the picture turned out really cute. It looks great on the shelf.
I like the wrapping hack you did. Neat trick.
Robin is always so helpful. Nice way of being.
Cheers
Christmas hodgepodge, my favorite! My kids are in their 50s. Before the y were married I spent about $100 each. I told them when you get married, you divide with your spouse. As you have children the pie pieces just keeps getting smaller. We now go to a sale where hooded sweatshirts with random logos are $3 each. Everyone gets a sweatshirt and $.
I love the red and green. Always have.
That wrapping trick for round gifts is awesome. I like all Christmas carols but I especially like Hark,the Herald Angels Sing. I like having gifts wrapped and enjoy making the gifts look pretty, but I usually save shoe boxes and other small boxes so I have a nice square packages to make wrapping a bit easier. I hope Ivon feels better soon.
This year I've been halving the butternut (or pie pumpkin) in half length wise, scooping the seeds out (I'm a seed saver and this year I was out of butternut so I'm saving every one) (otherwise, the seeds are a natural wormer for livestock, so they go to them), and putting them cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake, and when soft (they don't get brown) and cooler, scoop out the "meat". Put in the food processor, and store in freezer pint containers. I love having them ready for using, for cookies or pie or soup. yum. This is my easy way for 2024.
I used to peel the butternut with a good peeler (I have a preference, haha, love my kitchen tools...) and cut it in half and scoop and cut and boil in a small amount of water/chicken broth for soup. My favorite is a recipe with ginger, thai basil, garlic, etc. So creamy and delicious.
Love your daily Christmas Sweater Joy! O Holy Night is my favorite song!
😘
I love “O Holy Night”
That’s a beautiful one! 😃
We usually have prime rib dinner on Christmas eve either at my house or my sisters and for the last few years for Christmas dinner we order Chinese food. We love having a very relaxing Christmas day. An easy Christmas day idea for a crowd would be to do a brunch. Costco sells really good spiral ham (you just need to heat it up) Also get their croissants, ready made quiche and some fruit and pastries. The great thing about this is later use the ham for sandwiches and even add it to a soup. I really feel that no matter what you decide to do as long as you can completely take the time to enjoy your time with your family that is all that matters. Eating popcorn and Christmas cookies and watching holiday movies in our pjs is what my hubby and boys look forward to doing on Christmas night.
Karen just loving your Christmas prep countdown oh so helpful with it all & love your miracle round wrapping!!💞🤶
Hooray, I’m done with shopping but it’s not much really. Favorite Christmas song: Little Drummer Boy. I have also framed pictures from calendars. I rarely wrap gifts anymore. We re-use gift bags & tissue paper year after year.
You are looking so beautiful! Holidays are extremely simple at my stage of life, but it is such fun to watch you. It is so enjoyable to do a little every day and not stress out .
Thank you my sweet friend! 😍
Yay!! So glad your video uploaded!! I definitely need motivation!!
Yay!! 😃😃
Hellooo Karen, gosh that’s a great tip about wrapping round gifts! I’ll use that😊
Now my hubby has retired we have a budget of around £100 each for our grown up two kids and around the same for the two grandchildren, it’s not set in stone of course and I don’t fret over one having £10 more than the other, I find Christmas gift buying enjoyable when I have ideas what to get, I can’t cope with just trailing around stores looking for ideas.
I do have a colour theme, blue and gold this year in our living room, white and pale pink in the conservatory. My favourite trees over the years though have been the ‘thrown together’ looking trees😂😂 I tend to not get too hung up about it because what’s not to like about Christmas lights and happy faces. ☺️
As alway,much love and ‘Christmas ‘ light to you.☺️🥰🥰🥰🥰
I love it! You’ve found your groove and you don’t seemed stressed! ❤️
A favorite is Oh Holy Night :) But, this carol gave me that familiar little pleasurable shiver that I get when my soul is touched by hope and anticipation so it is a winner in my book. I remember when I was a teen and learned the harmony part. That was sort of a big deal in my little Connecticut church. Now I am a member of a church in a college town and the singing is always amazing without my pitiful harmonies (haha. just kidding.)
So excited to see your video pop up 😀
Me too! It wouldn’t load!! 😄
😂 hang on I gotta go to the floor. 😂omg I love it
There’s some reality tv for ya! 😂
Thank you for the wrapping trick! I don’t have a favorite Christmas song, there are too many good ones! But maybe O Holy Night or What Child is This if I had to choose one (or two) at this moment.
ooooh--that wrapping technique is so cool! Silent Night is my favorite Christmas carol. Sorry that Ivon is still having such a rough go--prayers for relief for her and for that back of yours. The framed bag turned out really well.
Thank you and thank you! 😃😃
We put snacks in our stocking to eat Christmas morning while we open gifts. Turkey in TX where I live, is $1.04 a pound.
We ordered the baskets for our Christmas baked goods and savory food gifts today so they will be here on the 20th of November. We cleaned the tables and chairs that we use along with two other dining spaces at Thanksgiving and we have all the frozen veges and dessert items that I will bake for Thanksgiving. We will get the prime rib roast this weekend because our family all have turkey dinners at lunch so we don't serve that for dinner. We bought a turkey breast fir 29 cents per pound that I will cook while decorating for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving for the four of us because our grandson and girlfriend will join us on there college break. We still have to get the salad items last minute for freshness. I may make yeast rolls if sold out in the freezer section? We don't decorate for Christmas until the weekend after Thanksgiving is over. We have three Christmas gifts to place the order on but have put them in our cart. I will order these the weekend after Thanksgiving and will be done. We give our grandkids cash for Christmas because this is what they really want. Keeps it simple for us and all I wrap are the gift baskets which is fun for me~ We pay our bills a month ahead and use our December income for Christmas and put remaining into savings for January to start a month ahead again completing the month ahead by the end of early summer. Getting older requires some tweaking to have energy for our passions of baking and cooking and I don't want to worry about having enough funds to get the groceries and gifts completed by November 30th! thanks and God bless.
Great price! You are so right about changing things as we get older. I’m trying to make that transition!
Do you have a office tape dispenser? It helps me thats a cool idea for round stuff
that's the first thing I thought too. Mine is ancient but I like the heaviness and the multiple back up rolls I have in my desk. I actually usually keep it in my kitchen because of labeling things for the freezer but at this exact moment it's on the desk. The grands are coming tomorrow and I'll bet we have some pleasant "play with office supplies" time. I have a great pencil sharpener that is easy enough for kids to get a good sharp point on colored pencil (sort of weapons....). I'm always trying to make my office needs work really well so that I have less excuses to get things done.
We’re mostly not huge fans of turkey here. The white meat is often dry or mealy, and the dark is quite gamey to me. I feel a little bad about not socking a couple away in the freezer, but it’s honestly not worth the time and trouble.
A few years ago I had extra money so I ‘treated’ us to a Kroger provided Christmas dinner. Never again! It’s maybe enough for 4 people and I didn’t care for the taste of any of it 😕
I love Mary, did you know?
oh, yes, good one. Our pastor has a lovely voice and he sometimes treats us to a solo sometime during the Christmas season. Did she really understand what was happening?
I don't follow trends because I feel like it is a waste of money to keep buying new things. I keep using very sentimental ornaments and nativity that I had as a child, and then my children and grandchildren grew up with the same ones. I spend $20 on each grandchild and $30 on each adult child. I think that's enough to buy something nice.
Does anybody else think that the frame is upside down? If it is hung loose, the metal part would slide down. Mary, did you know.
Mary did you know
😃