Foto Friday

Holly

xxx-ooo

Christmas's Gone By....

Christmas time brings a certain amount of nostalgia with it.  Today it walked right in through the front door and slapped me up side the head so I pulled out the old photo album.  This post is mainly for my sister but I wanted to share some of our childhood Christmas pictures.

Every year, Santa left ashy boot prints on our hearth. 

My sister lowered her neckline every Christmas Eve (she liked being on the naughty list).

I was just itching to play with my new doll.

Nothing says Christmas like Grandma's handmade Raggedy Ann dolls, a giant Sugar Daddy sucker and an indian head dress.

Mom was such a beauty, I never once looked like this for my kids on Christmas morning.

Dad was a different story.

I wonder what ever happened to these.

I miss you Sissy. Have a wonderful Christmas. I love you.

Holly

xxx-ooo

I'm Getting There

So many of you are ready for the holidays.  I've seen the trees, the decorations, even the wrapped gifts, for crying out loud.  Every single blog I've looked at has something absolutely beautiful and Christmasy.  I finally finished making my Christmas cards and got them sent out last week so I thought I'd do a little decorating.

We are renting the house we are living in right now until we buy in another year.  We have no room for a tree, plus we have that new demon kitten and she would terrorize the tree.  I did put a few things out though.

I like the wreath on the inside of the door where I can see it and I hung an old wooden ornament in the open frame on the wall.

This is a silver ice bucket I found at Goodwill and I filled it with pine cones and ornaments.  I had the little silver frame but just put some scrapbook paper inside and glued some snowflakes on it.

One must have their husband's favorite holiday candy close by.

More goodwill finds.

This is about as festive as I'm going to get this year.  I did burn some caramel apple oil while I decorated and the house smells wonderful. 

What do you think the odds are that the demon kitten will leave everything alone tonight while we're sleeping.  Yea, I thought so too.

Holly

xxx-ooo

 

Happiness Project

I'm joining up with Leigh vs. Laundry for her Happiness Project.  What makes you truly happy?  So many things to choose from! 

Memories from Childhood Family Vacations:

These pictures make me happy.

Holly

xxx-ooo

Do these cookies make my butt look big?

Been doing some baking lately and I've found a great Chocolate chip cookie recipe with the perfect consistency.  The secret is vanilla pudding.  I make these babies 3 times the normal size and they are a great little dessert.

They are a little crispy on the outside and stay gooey on the inside, even after they've cooled off.

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups chocolate chips

• 1 cups chopped pecans

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets of onto parchment paper covered cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes depending on the size of your dough. Edges should be golden brown.

If you decide to make the cookies extra large, set the timer for about 15 minutes and then just keep checking them until they are done.

Holly

xxx-ooo

I'll be back

Things around here have gotten extremely crazy!  Work has been piling up but I can almost see my desk again.  I'm taking a little time from blogging to catch up on some things.  Hope you come back and see me in a couple of weeks. 

Holly

xxx-ooo

Girls!!

Sometimes you just need to go out and buy 7 new pairs of shoes and some jalapeno pineapple pizza.

Holly

xxx-ooo