I hope many of you are out today hunting down bargains – but I’m not.
I am not a Black Friday shopper.
I don’t do crowds. I don’t like to wait in lines.
My idea of Christmas shopping look a little more like this -
My favorite Christmas music on the CD player…
A mug of creamy rich hot chocolate with whipped cream…
…and my laptop! It’s amazing the deals you can find on-line while sitting at home – fuzzy slippers optional. 
Happy shopping everybody!
For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For Thy Church, that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
May your hearts find much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!
Have a blessed day, dear friends!
It’s hard to believe that my “baby” is 11 years old!
We celebrated this momentous occasion with a very unique birthday cake designed by the birthday boy himself.
I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and I was asked to bake a plain vanilla cake with a Cool Whip frosting.
He would take care of all the decorating.
And of boy – did he ever!
When the cake was baked, cooled and frosted, He brought what looked to me like a pile of Lego pieces into the kitchen.
As he methodically began to place them on the cake, I realized that he had designed a Lego platform for his stuffed pica, Trent, to sit on.
Yes, you read that correctly.
We had a birthday cake with a rodent on top.
(Although Buddy insists that a pica is not a rodent – he is actually a member of the rabbit family. But seriously people – he looks rodent-like to me!)
That wasn’t all – he also designed a catapult to swing M & M’s directly into Trent’s mouth. Now that’s one lucky rodent! (Oops! I mean – pica!)
Thankfully Trent survived his moment of fame without getting any frosting on his fake fur or going up in flames.
Makes me wonder what next year’s cake will be like? I mean, honestly – how can you top a stuffed pica with a flaming M & M catapult?!
Happy birthday, Buddy! We love you!
Can I confess here that I never knew that you could make creamed corn from scratch?
My idea of creamed corn was the stuff you buy in a can by accident when you’re looking for canned corn.
Oh – but how wrong I was!
I discovered this gem recently and had to pass it on!
It’s rich and delicious and so easy to make!
We put it in the crock pot on low before we leave for church – and the corn is hot, creamy and ready to eat when we get home. It’s the perfect side dish for our traditional meat and potatoes Sunday lunch.
I took it to a recent potluck and brought home rave reviews and an almost empty crock pot.
It would be a great addition to a Thanksgiving meal, too!
Crock Pot Creamed Corn
16 ounces frozen corn (I used a fat quart of our home-frozen corn)
8 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon white sugar
Melt the butter and cream cheese. Add the milk and sugar.
Stir in the frozen corn and put everything in a crock pot.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook on high 2-4 hours or low 4-6 hours.
It’s that easy folks!
Enjoy!
I’ve linked this post with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.
Jan did a double take when he walked in the kitchen the other day.
There I was – sitting at the table with four of the kids surrounded by a pile of blocks and Duplo people.
A few years ago that sight would have been commonplace – but now that 3 of those 4 kids are teenagers – it was a little unusual.
So unusual that it made him pause and ask, “What are you doing?!”
“I am being brilliant!” was my reply.
He looked at me quizzically.
Okay – so maybe brilliant isn’t the best word. Maybe creative would be better.
I explained that it was time to stage the Children’s Christmas Program – and since that was traditionally a very confusing and noisy rehearsal – I had the brilliant idea to use Duplo people and stage it on the kitchen table before using live children.
The kids found the right number of Duploes and helped me name them. We added a few blocks to act as the piano and the riser and my cell phone became the manger.
We went through the script scene by scene, moving our Duplo characters across the stage.
It went pretty well except that I often forgot who was who and would occasionally call them “carrot nose” and “fireman” and “mustache dude” instead of Eli, Jotham and Levi.
Funny thing was – because of my large hand maneuvering them – those plastic kids still fell off the riser and often knocked each other over!
But at least they didn’t talk out of turn!
I still think it was brilliant.