Elwood meets a new friend

Of all the animals living up at Simply Country Farm I think Elwood, KL's adorable Dutch Blue, was my younger Mid-Western grandson's most favorite.

T sat with the sweetest smile on his face, holding Elwood for nearly an hour . . . he just loved the bunny. They were both just as content with each other as they could possibly be.

After a half hour or so, all he could say was . . . "I want one!"

Life is good!

The dust is starting to settle . . .

The last six days have been such fun with the Mid-Western part of the family joining us for Christmas. They arrived the day before Christmas Eve and left just this morning. Our daughter and son-in-law and two grandsons were guests at Simply Country Farm. When they left their home to come to California for Christmas, the temperatures were in the teens. So being able to play outside with their cousins was nothing but fun. And the adults had a great time, too, just hangin' out. We played lots of games i.e. Mexican Train, Apples to Apples, Blink . . . all of which were played by young and old alike! We had so much fun and you could have heard laughter all day long.

Of course when you have guests, they have to be fed. Since we all love to cook we decided to divide the responsibility of preparing dinners between the three families. That was the best decision ever, because it was stress-free knowing that one person didn't have to be responsible for all the cooking.

After six days of great fun, food, and fellowship, we gathered for a family picture.

The first day I made our traditional favorite Christmas cookie, Lemon Dream Bars. The second day SSR taught KL how to make Scotcheroos. If you haven't made them, you might want to try them. They're easy to make and easier to eat!

One reason they are great is that they are a no-bake cookie.

Topped with a mixture of chocolate and butterscotch . . . hmmm, could be why they are called "Scotcheroos!"

Once the batch is cooled, it is ready to cut into bars. Let me tell you, they didn't last long with our crowd.

KL and her "Auntie S" had a good time playing together.

While the guys watched a football game or two, the girls had fun playing Mexican Train, sipping a cup of tea, and catching up with each other!

Here is the start of Christmas Eve dinner.

The bacon-wrapped filets are browned in a very hot cast iron skillet . . .

... then placed in a 500° oven until done to perfection. Served with mashed potatoes, and string beans . . . yummo!

A tradition that was started nearly ten years ago— the kids open one gift on Christmas Eve. And that present is the one that we bring, which has always been new pajamas. It's pretty cute that they still seem excited knowing they are going to get a new pair of jammies. I've made many of them in the past but this year I was too busy making quilts. Here they are waiting with anticipation to tear into the wrapping.

Two minutes after the previous picture was taken the boys are opening their pajamas (gray fleece with white penguin print). . . KL's pajamas are always different from the boys, this year fuschia with white polka dots. The boys immediately decided they were all members of the Penguin Army!

Posing for their annual PJ picture, before going to bed, soon dreaming of dancing sugarplums being attacked by the penguin army!

Fast forward . . . here they are, lined up Christmas morning at 5:45 a.m., with the youngest in front to the oldest in back . . . as I did with my four siblings many years ago.

A big "thank you" to Jen and PD for hosting the entire family for Christmas 2009. You are very generous, gracious, and loving hosts.

Another "thank you" to the Mid-Westerners for coming out to celebrate Christmas with us. We know it costs an arm and a leg, but we love it that you spend your hard-earned cash, when you can, to be with the family.

Life is good!

Handmade gifts are fun to give!

I couldn't show you what had been happening in the gift-making days gone by for obvious reasons. Here are a couple I wanted to share with you.

The first few pictures are of KL sewing a bag for her mom for Christmas. The bag is just like the ones we saw in a shop in Healdsburg selling for $24 each. When she saw them she and her mom thought "We can make those, the feed in those bags are exactly what we feed our chickens!" So while her folks were out of town celebrating their anniversary KL and I thought we'd give it a try. She made the bag by herself.

KL patiently listens to instruction and applies what she has learned.

Carefully attaching the hand-made strapping.

She's delighted with the finish product and knows her mom will be surprised on Christmas morning.

Here are the two quilts for my daughter's Christmas gifts I made this past summer in Oregon. I love making quilts for them, knowing that some day they will be all snuggled up keeping cozy and warm, being able to relax after a day's work.

This quilt is for our midwest daughter to cuddle up in during those cold and frosty mornings, while awaiting the first burst of spring's colors.

And this one is for our daughter who lives just up the road. She'll be able to wrap up in her new quilt during our cold winters, after going up to the barn to gather the freshly laid eggs.

Life is good!

Merry Christmas

We're waiting in excited anticipation of our Midwest daughter and family to arrive tomorrow night. There will be a joyful buzz around Jen's house filled with family, thankfulness, an abundance of love, and remembrance of the true meaning of Christmas. I'll have lots to blog about in the upcoming week, but for now I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas surrounded by love and laughter with good friends and family.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Never too old for Santa!

Last weekend was a busy weekend at Sierra Pines Church. There were three events we took part in and I've blogged about two of them . . . the Christmas play in which KL and JD were shiny stars, the Christmas Tea which was a "girls night out" —and there was also the All Community Christmas Dinner held Sunday night. We all enjoyed a scrumptious tri-tip dinner, and an auction was held for dessert. Each table bid on these fabulous desserts donated by members of the church. The money raised will be sent to our missionaries out in the field. I learned today that $1,940 was raised, and the contributors were told their goodies put Paula Dean to shame (in a loving manner, I'm sure).

Even Santa was there, and a local photo shop supplied pictures of the kids with Santa. I actually didn't know Santa was going to be there until JD came to the table with a bright smile and a wrapped gift in his hands, because he had been to chat with a mighty handsome Santa.

I asked CD if he had gone to talk to Santa and he shook his head and indicated he wasn't about to do such a thing (he's a bit shy in some ways) . . . until he saw his brother open his present from Santa. I was looking at the church's website today. browsing through the great Santa pictures, and discovered that CD must have drummed up the courage to go see Santa afterall.

Life is good!

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

What a fun few days I've had getting ready for Christmas. Saturday evening we went with Jen and family up to Sugar Pine Camp for a Christmas party. We were among a hundred or so invited guests. There were activities for all ages . . . a Dixieland-type band playing Christmas carols; Christmas Bingo; Christmas cookies to be decorated; hayrides; ping-pong; a climbing wall which our grandsons loved; dinner; and a worship service around a big campfire. A whole lot of fun!

At church on Sunday the "Children's Christmas Program" truly made us smile. It was not your typical Christmas pageant, yet it did tell the Bible story (with a little embellishment) from the book of Luke that we all know and love this time of year. The program included great singing and acting from about fifty kids from ages three to sixteen. KL and JD had special parts in the program.

Adorable little cherubs . . . so much fun to watch them sing their hearts out!

JD is such a natural!

Here he's playing the guitar in the angel band!

And KL loves being on stage!

The little pre-schoolers came in at the end . . . Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and even a little lamb.

Tonight Jen treated me and KL to our second Christmas Tea at Sierra Pines Church. What a fun tradition this has become.

After the tea, we each got to bring home, as a gift,
our pretty tea cup and saucer . . . isn't it pretty?

Three generations having fun together.

This time we scored on the raffle prizes.
Between us we won a door prize and five raffles!

All of these activities have really put me into the holiday spirit. Plus . . . I finished all my Christmas wrapping this afternoon as it began to snow!

This is the treasured birdhouse my grandson R made me nearly five years ago . . . I, along with cute little birds, have always loved it!

The snow came down for just a couple of hours, enough for a good dusting!

Life is good!

Now WE can enjoy leftovers!

The Friday after Thanksgiving I was buying some lamb shoulder to make a Greek recipe we happen to see that morning on the Food Network. While waiting for the butcher to prepare my lamb, I noticed out of the corner of my eye some turkeys on sale for 39¢ per pound.

Knowing that Ken absolutely loves leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, and that when we don't cook a turkey for the big day because we enjoy dinner at Jen's, we don't end up with leftovers. So we often purchase a turkey this time of year because the price is always so good, put it in the freezer, and then cook it sometime later in the year. I was a bit skeptical at a turkey priced so low, wondering whether it would be tender or not.

I was chatting with the butcher and asking him about his holiday dinner and he said "Oh, my dinner tonight will be the best, since the turkeys' price was slashed." He proceeded to tell me that the turkey I picked out normally sold for $3 a pound, so my turkey would have cost me $60 rather than the just under $8 I was about to pay for it. He said that these turkeys are brought in fresh and can only be kept "on the shelf" for five days . . . this was the fifth day, hence the drastic price reduction.


The turkey was not only fresh, but natural, free range, with no hormones or anything unnatural ingested. Here it is, fresh out of the oven, and let me tell you it is the best turkey we've ever had!

And you know what? I bought a second one and put it in the freezer for another time.

And you know what else? We definitely have leftovers and the grand carcass is already in the stockpot ready to become a yummy pot of turkey soup!

Life is good!