WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

 It has been a long,

strange year for me.

Hubby went into assisted living

and I am still recovering

from the last few years

of caretaking--

which caused my own health problem.

I am doing a lot better.

I baked and cooked for three days

preparing for a 

Girlfriend Party

for all the decorators/undecorators

that helped with 

Christmas at the Clubhouse.

Just a sneak peak at

a few little things around

my house this year.

My grandgirl, Maria,

made good use of the whiteboard.

Later we used it to play

Pictionary.

Here she is with her 

Christmas apron on

waiting for 

the ladies to arrive~

                           Glasses are ready for some

Christmas cheer~

                       My Spode got a good workout~

I have service for 24~

                     The piano was waiting for carols-

Didn't happen-

                            Furniture moved all around

to accommodate all the ladies~

And a sweet little gift

package for them to take home~

                          I had planned lots of pictures

but for some reason

they are not loading properly

and my wording is all over the place~sigh~

So-

Here's wishing you all a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a NEW YEAR

filled with 

HOPE, HEALTH & HAPPINESS.

Thank you for all the years

you have followed me

and been patient with my lack

of posts.

Love you all~

CHRISTMAS AT THE CONDO--AND IT'S A WRAP FOR THIS YEAR

 I have taken you through much of the first floor-

minus the bedrooms.

The dining room is last on the list today.

I collected many Fitz and Floyd pieces

in the past.

Some of them grace the 

dining room table.

The table is set anticipating

my grandgirl, Alana, and her boyfriend,

coming home from college

and joining her sisters here

for a night of movie and/or games.

I will feed them first, of course.

The large clock is old--ever so old

and the wood piece with the live edge is a piece

my son did for me for my birthday 7 years ago.

There are mini-lights in the greens on the table

and wound through the greenery on the light fixture above.

My big beautiful dining room table did not

fit in this house.  It seats 12.

My daughter loves it now and we enjoy it

when we visit.

I bought a white farmhouse style table

and love it.

The dining room also has a small built in server

with storage above and below,

floor to ceiling...and OH!

the treasures I have packed in there....shhhhhh....

The picture in back is French Rabbits

and was a birthday gift from hubby 

in 1995.

The Santa fairy is one of my Mark Robert's fairies.

The mailbox holds the cards we received this year.

Hubby will sit one night and read them.

I read them as they come in.

The little fat Santa head is also a Christmas gift

from my son about 20 years ago.

Between the dining room and living room 

I have a bombe chest.

On top is the silver coffee/tea service

from hubby's grandmother.

We have write-ups in the local newspaper

where she "poured the tea" during

one of her socialite teas

back in the 40s and 50s.

She was a grand lady.

I keep it polished because I feel it is my obligation

to protect it for future generations.

The silver tray has her name etched on it.

The two Santas are part of my collection.

The picture above is from a local artist

and it is the first place, Kaaps, 

that my hubby took me

when I came to visit his family before 

we were married.

A peek in the guest bathroom:

Toilet tank top and Shabby Chic Shower curtain.

This is close to my hubby's reading chair in the bedroom

and is filled with memories and things his brother,

Steve, that passed away this last year

made. He was a wonderful craftsman.

 

Below are bits and pieces of Christmas

scattered here and there through the house.

AND JUST LIKE THAT-

It's a wrap for my Christmas posts.

I will be taking off until after the 

first of the year.

Will also be putting my new

Etsy shop on vacation mode.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

and love from me

to all of you .

 

 

GINGER DREAMS-GRAMMA STELLA'S RECIPE. soooooo good!

 I have had several people

ask me for this recipe

so here it is.

Each one is a bite of 

sweet spicy love.

EDITED TO ADD:  BAKE AT 400˚-

I use air bake sheets and they never burn.

Watch carefully because they burn easily.

They don't do well baked 

at a lower temperature though.

I have one more post coming

tomorrow to finish up the 

decorating in the condo.

Happy Baking!

SOCKS TO WRAP? YOUR FAMILY WILL LOVE GETTING THEM WRAPPED LIKE THIS!!!

Every year I like to post this little

-ahem- tutorial on wrapping 

SOCKS or MITTENS.

Prepare to spend a lot of time

IN THE BATHROOM

after you read this!

Is there anything more

mundane to wrap than SOCKS????

You KNOW that

you just don't want to

stick them in box

with a bow on it.

Right?

Look! Here's an answer to

your wrapping dilemma.

Well, peeps,

Here we go~

First you must get a sock..

well, make it a pair because

one sock won't work for

MOST people.

How about something like

these-?  Cute, huh?

Then you must find some of

those short peppermint sticks.

You can buy them or

someone might send them to you.

Then you must let the

peppermint stick

SNEAK UP ON

the SOCK!

Before you can say

Alla-ka-zam-whoheebobster-helloworld

that peppermint stick

has jumped into the sock

and worked its way down

into the toe.

Can you see it there?

I've pinched it to make it stay

and now I am gonna roll

that little sucker up

into what I like to call

THE SOCK ROLL.

Well, GREAT, we got ourselves 

A SOCK ROLL

NOW- what the heck are do we do with that?

Welllllll....

There's another kinda roll

lying around my house

cuz I've been saving them.

Used toilet paper rolls.

No..No..Not used toilet paper..

Used up empty rolls.

They look like this when they are naked.

Don't worry about that little bit of

white tissue left-you won't see it soon.

Find some foil based wrapping paper.

Foil works best because you can

bend the edges down and you

don't have to glue/tape it

lest you want to.

Wrap that foil paper around

that roll leaving about 1/3"

extending over each end.

Simply bend the paper down

so that it overlaps the edge of the roll.

You will not see this when it is

done but you can glue/tape if if you like.

Then..

Sneak up on those socks and

stuff them in the roll.

A roll in a roll.

I'm just keeping myself rolling here!;>)

Remember you won't see this at the end.

Then, take some sweet tissue paper

and cut an 18" x 18" piece~

or thereabouts.

Center the roll in the middle and

starting at one end,

roll that baby up and then

twist the ends so that it

looks like a big old fat

piece of taffy.

Toilet Taffy

Laffy Taffy!

Now is that cute, or what?

I only need to tie a bit of ribbon

around the twist and I'm done.

And, when it's unwrapped

they will see the shiny foil roll

and NOT this..

Cuz the only place we

REALLY want to see THAT

is in the bathroom.

And we don't even really want

to see it there because that

would mean that someone

like MyHero..

not pointing fingers here but it

has happened

has used the last piece on

the roll

 and neglected to replace

it and there is none to be found

making me want to scream

bad words...naughty words...

Okay-that's it-

Now get rolling and wrapping

cuz there's not much time left!

And I'll just say a little prayer for you

to have to go to the bathroom

a whole lotta times

(if you need empty rolls

to wrap your socks)

cuz I am just nice like that!;>)

You can always TRY this if you need

empty rolls in a hurry!

  

I am just FULL of .......what

good advice!  

I will be wrapping up(pun intended) 

the Pick Your Favorite Table 

in the next day or so.  

Bare bear with me.