I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas and Bunnies

Well, just thinking.....but if this is any indication, I'm thinking we are going to have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!

 

 

OH, and look.....our spirea bush grew a bunny.

Cat Taking Over Magpie Territory

We have a new (stray) mamma cat staying at our home and I don’t think the magpies are liking her too much.  She is now getting the food they thought was theirs. 
She also has 4 babies (two half-siamese, a black & white, and a white and grey stripe) but they are pretty wild.  I can’t even touch the door handle and they are gone.  It has taken me a month to tame the mamma enough to get her to come in and eat.  She even let me pet her this week.
Unlike the magpies, this mamma is a mouser.  She is constantly bringing in mice from the field to give to her babies.

One of the babies was sitting at the edge of the driveway last week and I had to really zoom in to get a picture.  I think this one is so darling and I really want to tame it.

Singing Christmas Bears

I went with a friend to the Arco, Festival of the Trees the first week of December.  In the past, we both have really enjoyed attending this event but this year it didn’t have nearly as many booths as in the past and the attendance seemed way low.

After leaving the festival, we met up with another friend and went out to lunch.  When I went up to pay the bill, there was the cutest, horseshoe tree on the counter.  You could actually use this tree for many holidays, just replacing the Christmas bulbs with items matching the holiday.

But, I must admit………….the most exciting and fun part of the day was when we reverted back to our childhood/teenage years in the Family Dollar store.  As we walked past the toy section, they had some singing, Christmas bears sitting on the shelf.  The picture only shows three, but there was actually four bears that sang.  We both were in charge of two bears and on the count of three, we pushed the little buttons on the bear palms and they all started bobbing their heads and singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, all at the same time……..we had a little bear chorus going on.  The way we were chuckling, you would have thought we were a couple of little kids and for a few moments, we were!

I wrote this blog quite awhile ago but I didn't post it because once again, Windows Live Writer (the tool I use to write in before posting to blogs) is on the fritz and won't let anyone post anything.  I decided it had been long enough so I just copied everything from WLW and pasted it all here.  Blogger is very limited as to how you can post things but for now, I guess it will have to do.

In the meantime, my friend knew of someone that could make the horseshoe trees and ordered each of us one.  I love it........a unique item.  For this year, I made a bow from some old ribbon I had on hand and put some ornaments on it that I also had.  For next year, I would like to get a Christmas bow for the top and different ornaments.



 



Bedroom Window Views

We ended up getting 5.5” of snow yesterday.  Last night, or I should say early morning…..3 a.m. to be exact, I was looking out my bedroom window and the sky was burning with stars.  I say burning because the stars were shining bright, really bright.  It was so beautiful I just laid in my bed and watched them for quite some time.
THEN…………..look what I woke up to this morning.  This is the view I had looking out my bedroom window.  Breathtaking…that’s what it is!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It……………..

I had a lot of errand to run in town today and it wasn’t a day I would have liked to be outside.  I needed to be at M&C Lube by 10am to get and oil change, posted some flyers at the post office for our ward Christmas party this Friday, got parts to fix our utility sick at the Mackay Lumber store and it was our assigned time to clean the church.  My husband was at work and since I was in town and being the R.S. President, I had keys to the church so I just decided to go and get it done while I was out and about.  I got home a little after 1:30pm……a long day to be out when the weather was bad. 
I measured the snow when I got home and it was 5” deep.  I do like taking snow pictures right after it snows and before the snow has the chance to take on the dingy look.  Let it snow, let it snow, let it……..

 

Ward Christmas Party Poster

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas………………… From Halloween to Thanksgiving and then Christmas, I get excited.  I just love the Holidays at this time of the year, especially the feeling of warmth that comes along with Thanksgiving and Christmas. 
This year, our church ward is having their Christmas party earlier than past years and I’m thinking it is just the start needed to get everyone’s Christmas spirit flowing into action. 
My second counselor in the Relief Society was asked to be in charge of the Ward Christmas Party this year so I told her I would be in charge of making an information poster that we could send by e-mail.  She also printed off a big one for display and smaller ones to give as handouts.
A few years ago, a good friend of mine used one of my photos and turned it into a nativity scene with the Three Wise Men.  As I was thinking of what to use as a background for the poster, I remembered what she had done with my photo.  I took her idea, using my photo as a background, and embellished it with Mary and Joseph, kneeling by Baby Jesus.  I put them in the bottom left-hand corner of the poster then added the wording.  As I played around with it, I decided it needed more, so I added trees.  And then, of course, what would a nativity scene be without a stable, so in it went.  Oh, and wait…….Wise Men, there needed to be Wise Men!
This is my final creation:

Come, Let Us Adore Him + Drop Sugar Cookie Recipe

Sunday, I gave a lesson in Relief Society titled “Come, Let Us Adore Him, by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy, that was in the December 2011 Ensign.  The message was beautiful and I also incorporated 4 church video into the lesson…………………

Shepherds Learn of the Birth of Christ:
https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/shepherds-learn-of-the-birth-of-christ?lang=eng 

The Christ Child Is Presented at the Temple:
https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-christ-child-is-presented-at-the-temple?lang=eng

The Wise Men Seek Jesus:
https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-wise-men-seek-jesus?lang=eng

Glad Tidings of Great Joy: The Birth of Jesus Christ:
https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/glad-tidings-of-great-joy-the-birth-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng

These video are and give a beautiful message.  Not only for this special time and season, but anytime!

I made a treat/handout to give to the ladies, forgetting that it was Fast Sunday, so I hid them in the closet until the very end of the lesson.  When I opened the closet door to get the cookies out….mmmmm, the smell in the closet was pretty strong….COOKIES!
I had seen on Pinterest where ladies had taken CD envelopes and put cookies in them to give away as gifts.  I made a circular handout (using a graphic from Google Images) of a Nativity, to tape on the front of the CD envelope.

There is a lady in our ward that is allergic to chocolate so I wanted to find a cookie recipe that was plain, but good, that I could slip inside the envelopes.  I took an old, drop sugar cookie recipe, given to me by Aunt Bunny, many years ago and made them large.
I used my large, plus my small cookie scoops and combined the amounts of dough each one held to make the amount of dough needed per each cookie.

After scooping out the dough and rolling both scoops into a large ball, I put them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  The balls of dough were quite large so I was only able to fit 8 cookies on each cookie sheet.

After placing my dough mounds on the cookie sheet, I took a small bowl, dipped the bottom of it in flour, then press each ball into a medium-sized flat circle.

After baking the cookies, I wrapped each one in plastic wrap and stuffed them in the CD envelopes.

This is a very easy drop sugar cookie recipe that I have made many times.  I can’t remember how many regular sized cookies this doubled recipe makes, but from this recipe I got 45 jumbo cookies.  As suggested by a friend, after the fact, you could also dip your bowl in sugar or a cinnamon/sugar mixture before flattening your dough balls.  Now why didn’t I think of that?………….  Your cooking times may vary from the recipe given so watch the first batch closely.