Catching up.......

WOW! Sorry to be gone so long! Lot's going on here on the farm! :)

Seems I am in a whirl again, "undoing" Christmas and "doing" Tea!

In less than two weeks I am having a "Winter White Tea"

in my home, I am so happy to be doing this one in my

home, it is so much easier for decorating and such.

But more on that later......let me catch up......

We had a wonderful Christmas with all our children here

Christmas Eve. We had lot's of snacks and a nice dinner together,

then we opened gifts and spent time together. Such a blessing.
My husband has been out of work and this Christmas we had no

money. It was such a blessing to see God provide....just like above

in the picture, we were able to have fruit and peanuts among

our snacks to ad a touch of "goodness" to that menu... :)

Dinner was lovely as well and God made it possible for us

to have a very nice feast, from what we had

in our pantry and even my children pitched

in buying things.....

Christmas Eve Dinner Menu

Shrimp Cocktail

Yummy Cabbage Pea Salad

Bean Sprout Almond Salad

Oven Roasted Salmon

Oven Roasted Root Veggies

(yams, carrots, turnips, rutabaga, etc)

Rice & Bread Stuffing in an Acorn Squash

(you slice this and it is really pretty)

Pumpkin Pie

and of course Plum Punch again! :)

My son is the only one not living here, so he slept on the couch

as a special Christmas morning breakfast was to come!

Christmas Morning Breakfast Menu

Shrimp/Salmon Quiche

(made an extra crust when doing pies)

Butterscotch Rolls

Morning Star Sausage Links

(we have a vegetarian and we all like these)

Fresh Pineapple

Have you ever made these Butterscotch rolls or "Monkey Bread"

some call it???? It is awesome for holidays as you do all the

work the night before and in the morning all you do is

stick it in the oven! Wonderful!

Monkey Bread Recipe
1 pkg frozen dinner rolls (24)

1 box Butterscotch Pudding Mix

Cinnamon & Sugar

Nuts

1/4 to 1/2 Cup melted butter

You let the rolls unthaw enough to cut them in half

or quarters (I have used a pkg of 36 and that works, or use 24 of

them and have the rest for dinner :) Then you layer the rolls

with the other ingredients (but not the butter) in a bundt pan.

I usually only do the pudding mix and skip the cinn/sug and

nuts....and that works too. When layered you pour the

melted butter over the whole thing, cover with wax paper and

let sit on the counter overnight. In the morning you pop it

in the oven and you have a huge bread ring. It rises up

and over the pan during the night.

After breakfast we all packed up and went to my husbands

Aunt and Uncle's for Christmas dinner. My whole family

went along....it was soooo nice. I have not had a feeling

at Christmas like that since my parents were still

here. We always had Christmas dinner at Grandma's or

them with us and we just hung out all day, each doing

different things and all enjoying the company of the

other. This time most were enjoying basketball and my

daughter and I who do not enjoy that so much, just sat off

to the side, by the fire :), and did handwork. I had some

stitches to take out on my sons quilt and then I

helped her with her quilt. Very, LOVELY day.

God is so good in our very "leanest" of times to fill

our days with such JOY and PEACE.

So, my son is a Portland Trailblazers fan (understatement).

I have always wanted to make him a Blazer quilt and this

year I did it!! It is just a small lap size, but he

probably will not use it anyway, he is just using it

to look at!! lol. Above is their symbol and their colors

are red, white and black. So, I was able to buy just a few

"fat quarters" on sale for 99 cents to make it all work.

He loves it!!!
For my husband I found some fabric that I had bought
awhile back for something else and made him
some much needed and wanted pj pants.
I also had in my pantry everything I needed for his
all time favorite...."Rocky Road Candy"......well,
we did have to buy marshmallows, and I did have
to tell a little lie.......when he asked what they
were for......"ummmm, I think those
go in a salad........" :{ He was surprised :).
My oldest daughter had spotted some animal print
fabric once in my stash and loved it, so I made
her a lap quilt out of that.....pics later, I still have
to do the binding on that one.
My other daughter who sews up a storm and does
wonderful work......I cheated, I bought her fabric
to sew herself! lol. Actually, she had pointed out
some fabric on sale one day that she wanted
for a skirt, so when she wasn't looking I ran and
bought it, since it was on sale for $1 / yd. !!!

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and are
having a good start on the New Year.