Be Thankful for The Good Things

My computer is back up and running and my husband bought me a new camera for Christmas. Now I can blog again. This is good!

On Friday, Dec. 18 I had invited several old friends to dinner. By old I mean we have known them for over 40 years and yes they are aging very nicely. A lovely vintage sled and ice skates were ready to welcome them to the front porch.

Baby Jesus in the manger gave the reason for the season.

The table was ready to seat all the guests.

The other rooms all sported their best Christmas dress.

The Christmas tree sparkled and set the tone for the season.

The candles all glowed to say glad you could come and sparkle their welcome Everything appeared to well under control.

Then all once in my yard arose such a clatter I ran to the window to see what was the matter. And there I did spy, three fire trucks, 2 police cars, and my garden shed all afire.

So today this is what I have left of my gardening equipment.

The shed still has it's doors and side wall. You can see the back of the shed is completely gone and the firemen tore the roof off to contain the fire.

The good thing is it wasn't my home. No one was injured fighting the fire and the shed just contained things. I still had good friends for company and a nice dinner waiting.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all my cherished bloggy friends. I am without a computer except for an old laptop. I hope to be up and running after my son comes for Christmas. I miss talking to all of you and thanks to those of you who continue to drop by. HAVE A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY. BLESS EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU.

On The Second Day Of Christmas

I decked out the kitchen so it was ready for the holidays.

My husband made an island for me that moves but most of the time I keep it against a wall under a black wrought iron pot rack.

On the island I have a small Christmas tree with red lights. The wine bottle dressed in his festive sweater is a birthday gift from one of my dear friends who often shares a glass of red wine with me.

I don't hang pots and pans on my pot rack anymore because after we installed it we found my husband is so tall he was always hitting his head on the pots. So now it usually hold coffee cups and we use the island mostly to serve beverages. Today it holds my Christmas mugs from Hallmark with some holly, red berries, and red birds tucked in to make it bright.

My kitchen table is always ready for Christmas as it is a vintage red chrome set.

I made a quick center piece by using a green glass bowl, nestling together a soft garland of holly and a few velvet poinsettia.

I almost never put a tablecloth on this table as this is where we eat daily and my husband is afraid he will get the tablecloth dirty. So I just add some colorful napkins with Santa riding his reindeer.

On a small rack above the stairway is a small wrought iron rack that usually holds vintage kitchen tools but now is host to my fishing Santa's.

A cubby above my refrigator is full of my more country looking Santa collections.

Kitchen is looking festive time to get out the Sugar Cookie recipe.

December 7, 1941

Here is an update to this blog that I posted earlier. Ok, I was a baby and cried wolf to soon. I figured out a way to go around my problem and did upload a couple of pictures. So here they are.

My two daughter, four of my granddaughters and myself.

Most of the friends who came for brunch. A few just stopped in. This is such a busy time of year to work birthday parties into the schedule.

There may be a few of you who will read this today who will remember what happened on this day in 1941. You no longer see it on the front page of the paper and many won't remember this was the day theJapanese bombed Pearl Harbor. But in a little town in Montana something else took place on this day. I was born to Elma Ester Anderson and Alvin Russel Euell.

My daughters gave me a surprise birthday brunch yesterday. I was totally and completely overwhelmed when 17 of my friends and family took the time to come to brunch and shower me with gifts. I had some lovely pictures I wanted to share with you this morning. But, alas, I can't.

The reason I can't post pictures is a sore point with me this morning and I am trying not to let it intrude on my day. To hopefully make a long story short. I gave my husband a new laptop for his Christmas present (mostly so he would have one of his own). Two computers means you need a router or so everyone tells me. Well since we have had the router installed we have had a technician here twice, I have been with out Internet for two days and this morning I can't download my pictures.

So have a happy Monday everyone and I hope I can share my pictures with you soon.

On The First Day of Christmas

I decorated the dining room.

My snowmen get to play on top of my china cabinet

all winter long until it is time to decorate for Valentine's Day.

They sit on top of the cabinet that holds

my pink depression glass.

This is part of my collection of pink depression glass.

I have more packed away because it was bowing the shelves in my cabinet.

Most of my glass is Mayfair Open Rose pattern.

This happy fellow twinkles and shines

so is assigned to night duty.

A pair of rolly polly guys take a sleigh ride to admire

the winter scenery.

The top of the buffet is a snowman's playground.

The sit and gossip as they wait for it to snow.

These happy guys wave to passersby hoping they will stay and play.

The desk in the corner that usually holds only those dreaded bills

is now hosting a snowman conventions.

Even the crystal chandy is dressed for the occasion.

And on the 2nd Day of Christmas??????

What Do You Do With 27 People?

Some of us cooked and served. Our son-in-law has a meat company and is very into cooking so he made us a Turducken for dinner. We got mixed review they either loved or hated it. But I think they decided it is a do again dish.

The foods finally ready and the girls have to eat last. But they don't look too unhappy about do they?

From left to right: My youngest daughter, my sister-in-law, my oldest daughter, my daughter-in-law and my niece.

While we were getting dinner set up the girls had to wrestle with their uncle who is my oldest son.

The girls are all my granddaughters expect for the one in his lap who is my great-niece.

The boys in this family are so out numbered by the girls they chose to sit at their own table. The young man in the white shirt is my oldest grandson who is 19.

The one seated at the table is my great-nephew.

The guys just sit around telling tall tales while the women get the dinner on the table.

From left to right: my youngest daughter's husband, my niece's husband and my oldest son

From left to right: my oldest son, my youngest son and my brother-in-law.

Papa has to tease all the girls by getting in the girls picture.

So for those of you who ask this is what we do with 27 people in the house. It was great fun and Christmas is coming. Here at our house we do Christmas Breakfast.

It Was A Wonderful Thanksgiving

Well it was a good Thanksgiving. All my guests have finally departed. I love them you know but a week sometimes gets a little long. I had hoped the basement would be really complete but it didn't happen. But if you will check out my post from November 11, Almost There, you can see we did make some progress. It was complete enough to hold 27 people for Thanksgiving Dinner. I was so thankful for all the extra room.

The sconces are hung. But ----

They can't be turned on because the post where the switch is going to be is not completed yet.

However all the Pergo is laid and the floors are beautiful. So nice to have something to walk on besides cold cement floors.

Papa Bear's chair was in place for all the football games.

The curtains are up, there is a rug on the floor and the fireplace was burning brightly.

Most importantly the big screen was in place so the men could root for their favorite team.

I added some extra seating to the room with this black bench. Later I think I will make a cushion for it so it is a little more comfy.

A few fall decorations on the mantel an this room was ready for the party. Now all we have to complete is the trim work and oak treads for the stairs.

I hope all of you had a festive Thanksgiving and have your Christmas plans well under way.

Thanksgiving Tablescape

Company will be here Tuesday so I have been trying to get my house in shape. You know dust the guest room and guest bath. I have even taken time to set the table for dinner the night they arrive. I'll just throw a table cloth over it for the time being so no dusty dishes.

The center piece is wax fruit and as you can see some of our fore fathers have come to share the bounty.

The bottom plate is one I bought at Garden Ridge many years ago. The plates are larger than usual so the men in the family like them for family dinners.

On top of the Poppy plate I place a plate from Artuino called Tuscan Rooster.

I found these cute maple leaf dishes at CVS on sale. Won't they make cute

salad bowl?

I stumbled on to these silver candle sticks at an antique mall. I just loved all the intricate work on them. They have a makers mark on the bottom but I need stronger reading glasses or a magnifying glass to read it.

I have placed an antique mirror in the corner of the dining room so it reflects back the table. I hope if you double click you can enlarge the picture so you can see it better.

I did take pictures of the silverware that I am using but they didn't turn out well. I had so much shine from the flash you couldn't really see the silverware. If any of you could give me some hints for taking pictures of silverware I would be grateful.

I have much to be thankful for but I am already thankful this week that the house is ready for my guests. Have a wonderful weekend.

First Snow

When I arose this morning at 5:30 a.m. and looked out the window I had a wonderful gift. We had our first snow of the season. It was suppose to stay far north of us but what does the weather man know anyway.

As I have gotten older I try to make a point of enjoying the small things life sends my way. This morning the view from my living room window was truly breathtaking as fluffy white snow flakes drifted down to cover a rose bush completely covered in red roses. The picture does not do the scene justice but I wanted to share with you anyway.

I know my Blue Heron was thinking he should have given up his lifeguard duties at least a month ago and gone south for the winter.

So let's ring in a new season with joy and thanksgiving for the small moments . I hope your week is filled with delightful small moments.