Home and The Holidays

I don’t know about you but I think for most people when they think of the holidays they think about home and family. Then maybe the food; dishes and treats that are only made once a year. Traditions are a big part of the holidays too. How does a tradition get started?, I wondered. Once, my daughter was reminiscing about the holidays and mentioned some things that I hadn’t realized I did every year. They were symbols of the holidays for her. I knew then that those things had become our traditions. One of our traditions began when we started putting a live Christmas tree out on our deck at Christmastime. We add white lights and this year I'll put ornaments on it. There's nothing prettier than after it snows. The tree has a sort of muted glow from all the tiny white lights. We always hang bird feeders on it so we can watch the birds up close throughout the winter. After several years of feeding the same birds they have just become part of our menagerie of pets. We look for the cardinals, the finches and the little brown wrens. The juncos and nuthatches as well as the little chickadees and doves all make up our flock. Enjoying our outdoor Christmas tree has become one of my most favorite holiday traditions.

Recipes = Memories

I was going through my recipe box the other day and it was like going back in time. I have one recipe for Crumb Cake that I got in a home economics class back in High School. That was a long time ago. It was delicious and I haven't made it in years! It makes me think of baking with my best girl friend in her mom's kitchen with all those yellow appliances....yes it was the 70's!! There's another one for Beef Stew that I made when my kids were babies and starting to eat "real" food. I would actually put it in the blender so they could eat it. I have several Christmas cookie recipes that was from a visit to my girlfriends house in Hawaii. We were visiting with my 3 month old daughter and had a major cookie baking session. I still use those recipes and am reminded of it every time. Recipes that were given to me by someone and written in their own handwriting are especially meaningful. It conjures up that person in my mind and how much I care for them or special times we spent together baking or whatever. I think it's a wonderful gift and with that thought I plan to do that for my own kids using recipes that I know they remember and enjoyed. Handwritten family recipes will be one of my gifts to them this Christmas.

Hello Gorgeous!!

What a show the trees put on this time of year! The colors are incredible aren’t they? One of my favorite things to do with the leaves that fall is to press them in between the pages of the phone book to use in various fall decorations. If you have a table with a piece of glass on the top of it, place several colorful leaves in an artistic arrangement underneath the glass for a beautiful surprise. Use them as placecards by writing your guests name with a gold or silver paint pen, right on the leaf and place it on top of your guests plate. If you have a particularly beautiful leaf, use a solid color mat board in a picture frame behind it or even a gorgeous piece of fabric to compliment the colors in your leaf. Include an especially beautiful leaf inside the envelope with any correspondence that you send at this time of year. Of course you can tuck them into your fall wreaths or displays all around the house!
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