Merry Christmas

 Wishing everyone health, happiness and PEACE in 2025 !

 

Countdown to Christmas!

Hope everyone is on schedule with all your Christmas plans and projects.  As I mentioned before, we are going to be away for the holidays so I did not do our usual decorating.  I made a box called "Basic Christmas" and that is all I used to decorate this year.  I suppose I could have not done anything...but that would not be me - need some Christmas in the house!

For example...I have a entire tote filled with my late mother-in-law's Nativity Set.  All the shepherds, the Three Kings, three camels to go with them...several other animals.  It takes up an entire table and we love it.  But when we made the "Basic Christmas" box we put the Holy Family in there and that is the extent of the Nativity Set this year.  

Christmas cards were done last weekend and in the mail.  I had some packages to ship and got them to the Post Office early.  One was within our state and got there ahead of the promised time.  The other package was sent out of state...and I kept tracking it to make sure it was delivered.  It seemed to sit in a "distribution center" for three days...

but it finally arrived.  I was worried it would get lost because it was a gift that has become a holiday tradition.

Have you heard of a Friendship Ball ?

A dear friend gifted me this ball probably over 30 years ago.  The idea is to put a treat or little gift in the ornament and pass it back and forth each year.  I am thrilled that over the years and moving homes for me and my friend a few times, we never lost it! The first year the ornament held bath salts for me...and over the years we have tried to find cute things that will fit inside the ball ( it opens up with a latch).  Each year I polish it early in November and start thinking about what it will hold. Early on we got to see each other in person every holiday...but life changes and holiday visits are not as possible. Since we can't be together we have expanded the gift the last few years...tucking other gifts in the mailing box with the ornament.  Last year when the ornament came to me it was filled with wonderful things.  And as I was getting gifts for other friends last year I found some great gift tags on Pinterest and other blogs...so I kept track of the tags I thought were cute and started to gather gifts to pack the box.

BUT...I did not take photos of the gifts before I wrapped them!  So here is how they looked as I started packing...

This one held a box of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate...

Chapstick...

Some holiday hand soap...

Holiday paper dinner and cocktail napkins and dessert plates...

A package of cookie mix, hot mitts, and a gingerbread man spatula...

And a pair of Christmas socks!

Tucked inside the ornament was a pair of earrings made by a local artist.

A cute friendship holiday card...

All tucked in a mailing box to bring some Christmas Cheer to my friend!

And speaking of packing...we leave soon for a Viking Ocean Cruise in the Caribbean - so I am starting to pack and get things ready.  When we packed away our summer clothes ( we are lucky to have a huge closet so we have clear totes that we use to switch seasons) I did the same thing as I did with the Christmas decorations.  I took one tote and put in shorts, summer slacks, tops, bathing suits...everything I think I want to wear on this trip.  When I started to look through things this week I noticed my bathing suit cover up was not looking too good.  Amazon to the rescue !

Short Sleeve Cover Up

I love the look of this one...and figure it can be worn with shirts or a pair of slacks, too.

I have been following this trip on a Facebook group and read that the weather is hot and be sure to have sunscreen.  Having had a bit of skin cancer years ago I am very careful about protecting my skin.  Both John and I use moisturizer with sunscreen every day, we wear sun hats when we go for a walk, and stay out of the sun as much as we can.  Just in case we can't find a shady spot on the ship or on a beach I ordered this coverup with SPF 50

Long Sleeve SPF 50 Cover Up

I intended to keep just one of these...but you know how that goes.  Both will find their way into my suitcase.

Also ordered some masks for the airport, plane, and just in case for the cruise.

KN 95 Masks

And one more thing will make it's way into our suitcase...

Oplatky

Oplatki are Christmas Wafers, like Communion Bread, but in a wafer shape with scenes from the Nativity on them.  I am from a Slovak nationality, but these are used by lots of Easter European heritage people for the special Christmas Eve dinner called Vilija...or Holy Supper.

A traditional Christmas Eve meal that takes place after the first star appears in the sky. The meal is a time for family to gather and celebrate the birth of Christ, and is marked by a special menu, rituals, and a strict fast.

Many of the traditions that my family observed have been changed over the years, but we have always observed Holy Supper.  The idea for the oplatky is that one wafer is at each place and before you eat dinner you break a piece off of each other's wafer and wish them a Merry Christmas.  All anger or disagreement it to be gone with the breaking of the wafer and a wish for health and happiness.   I have found many explanations for this tradition, but the one I like the best is that in many Eastern European villages in the mountains ( the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia) the churches would give these wafers out early in the season to be used as Holy Communion in case the snow was too deep in the mountain passes to make it to church on Christmas.  We celebrate Holy Supper by making cabbage soup ( that is from John's Ukrainian tradition - his family never did oplatky), fish, pirohy,  - and we always set an extra place at the table for the Baby Jesus to make sure that there is room in "our inn"...in case a stranger should come to call.

So...this year we will be on the Viking Sea...I will make sure we have some kind of fish, no pirohy but some kind of pasta or noodles...and our oplatky.  Christmas Eve is also John's birthday, so we will have much to celebrate.

Please leave a message below and let me know about your holiday traditions.  Do you celebrate at home, or like us - are you traveling?  I love hearing from you!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends...looking forward to 2025!

 Hello December !

Happy December - Our tree is up!

We will be traveling over the holidays so we are not putting up the big tree...and our decorating in a Basic Christmas mode.  Since Thanksgiving was so late, I am not even bringing out my much loved Christmas dishes.  Not enough time to make it worth the work.  But we are in the holiday spirit...this little tree, a wreath on the door, and some simple decorations scattered throughout the apartment.

We kicked off the holiday season with our traditional Thanksgiving night viewing of Miracle On 34th Street.

Love watching this film - always in black and white - and remember my father loved this movie.  And, my Uncle Joe had white hair, was very generous to his family, and always carried a cane.  When he passed away I took his cane...so every year when the movie is over I take the cane out of the umbrella stand and place it by our fireplace.

Another tradition..."we believe".

We have been doing a bit of shopping in order to get ready for Holiday Movie Month. 

We love the Skinny Pop popcorn at Costco, so when it went on sale we braved the Thanksgiving crowds to buy the limit of 10 bags...

Good thing the limit was 10...we would not be able to fit another bag in the trunk!

I've done some other shopping too...the sales have been to good to resist.  

This sweater was a deal on Amazon and I could not resist - 

Striped Sweater

Refillable Atomizer

I ordered new perfume - Lancome La Vie Est Belle - and wanted to have a travel size, so I ordered these refillable containers.  Hope they work out.  Does anyone wear that scent ?  I am hoping I like it and that it is a scent that lasts all day.

And on Thanksgiving one of our local department stores had Black Friday prices available online, free shipping...and when you add in Rakuten and Ibotta - well it was a great deal.  Waiting for a few more packaged to be delivered and hoping the shoes, boots, purse are all as good as they looked online!

That's all for now...this week has some Christmas Concerts in our community, some volunteer work in the library, and hopefully some baking and getting Christmas Cards in the mail.

Are you decorating BIG this year...or scaling back?

Sending cards ?  I was going to stop, but still enjoy sending and receiving cards.

Leave a comment below and let me know about your holiday preparations.  I love hearing from you !

Have a great December !

 

Recent Reads

I have enjoyed some great books recently...even though the weather here in Pennsylvania still feels a bit like summer, this time of year I love to curl up with a Pumpkin Spice coffee and a good book.  Here are a few that I have enjoyed lately.

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.
It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.
But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.
From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?
The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

I really enjoyed this book...thought provoking and timely.  Not a happy, easy read - but glad I read it!

The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines - a place so free from crime it doesn't even have its own police force.

Somehow, as much as I love to read, I never read a Louise Penny book.  Then she was a author for our library's fund raiser and she was so interesting.  With my ticket I received a copy of her newest book - The Grey Wolf - but everyone told me I needed to start with her first book.  It was very interesting to learn about her writing process, how she develops her characters, and who she based them on.  So I started with this one...the first of now 19!  So many books I want to read ( I came home from the library with 5 yesterday!) that I don't know when I will get to them...but I will try.

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

I read this book in one day !  A very easy to read book and a wonderful look at how she became the Barefoot Contessa.

How good is that ?

 Amanda Delanoe finds joy in running a chic contemporary art gallery in the City of Light. The only child of a French businessman and an American model, both now deceased, Amanda lives well and adores her dog, Lulu, but so far the love of her life has eluded her.
Then she meets Olivier Saint Albin, a dashing publisher. At the same time, she reconnects with Tom Quinlan, an old boyfriend from her days at NYU twenty years ago, now a lawyer on sabbatical who has come to Paris to devote himself to writing a thriller.
Charming Olivier is a master at the art of flirtation, but as Amanda feels herself falling for him, she learns he is married. Providing counsel and support is her friend and co-owner of the gallery, fun-loving bachelor Pascal Leblanc. When Amanda begins to receive threatening phone calls late at night, it is Pascal she turns to. Then someone breaks into her apartment on the Left Bank, and it’s all too clear she is in real danger. But from whom? An old love, a new love, or a stranger? As love enters her life, so does terror. . . .
Triangle is at once the story of a woman dedicated to staying true to her principles and a breathtaking tale of suspense from the one and only Danielle Steel.

I like to read Danielle Steel in between other books...very easy to read - and this one was a little bit different because of the mystery involved. I enjoyed all the references to places in Paris.

That's it for now...but I just picked up five books at the library yesterday!  Have you read any of these books?  What did you think ?  What are you reading ?  Please let me know in the comments below - I really enjoy hearing from you.  

Have a great week and enjoy November.

Batty Brunch and Dinner 

Almost Halloween !  We had fun entertaining friends at brunch and dinner earlier this month...and have more friends coming for lunch this week!  I saw a photo of these napkins somewhere and decided to try and get "batty".

I did not have black napkins...and I just found the black sparkle chargers at Dollar Tree, so I tried Amazon and found these - 

Surmente 17-Inch Polyester Cloth Napkins Linen Dinner Napkins - Set of 12 for Weddings, Banquets, or Restaurants (1-Dozen) (Black)

I chose the 17 inch - they also had 20 inch.  I was not sure I wanted polyester napkins, but figured I would not use them very much, and they were a deal at $ 9.99

Once I got the hang of folding the bats it was fun !

I ironed the napkins and think that helps with keeping the bats in place...

Fold the napkin into a triangle..

Turn the triangle upside down with the point facing you...

Then flip the point up...

And flip each side up to make the bat wings.

At this point I pressed the entire napkin to make sure it did not flop out of place on the plate...

And I also gave a shot of steam to the top of the "head"  - that makes it easy to press in with your finger to make the "ears"!

And that is it !  Easy...and they were a big hit with our guests!

We were four for dinner, so I did not used a table cloth - just these fall color placemats that I bought at the Cash and Carry Sale our community has ever few months.  These four mats - with the tags on them - were just some of the many things I crammed into a bag that you buy for $2 dollars ! The chargers are from Dollar Tree, as are the skeleton salad tongs.  I used my A&J water glasses that were a wedding gift and are showing that cloudy look glasses get after a while...well...47 years.  I can't seem to get rid of the haze, but I also don't have the heart to get rid of them.  Once water, ice, and lemon are in the glasses they look fine.

Simple centerpiece...candy corn for filler, a mini pumpkin, and a ceramic ghost... also vintage - made by me 47 years ago!

Salad dressing went in this little glass pitcher with a Temptations Spooky saucer to catch the drips.  

Lasagna in the crockpot was our dinner - we had attended a church service beforehand, so it was ready and waiting for us.

You can find the recipe for the lasagna here - 

Crock Pot Lasagna

A week later we hosted a brunch for some neighbors.  I used my everyday white dinner plates again...with the chargers underneath they really show off the bat napkins!

This time I used smaller water glasses that are so pretty...I was able to get these stuffed in that bag at Cash and Carry where I found the placemats.   I am using these more often...and probably will retire the A&J glasses...:-(

Used seasonal dish cloths with the mimosas and champagne.

Along with my favorite chalk board saying for brunch...

"Brunch, without booze, is just a sad, late breakfast!"

We had a great time with our friends...I love having people in our home and enjoying food and fun.

I always say I am not going to decorate as much for Halloween, but I end up putting out all of the items I accumulated over the years.

I made this wreath several years ago and since we are now in an apartment it does not get any weather and is holding up well.

Our entryway with some Dollar Tree spiders and a print I downloaded from the internet...

I painted some old books black and added some seasonal wine to the wine rack...

More bats...

My cherished ghost made by my Aunt Mamie...

Simple coffee table arrangement...

Spooky corner of the kitchen...

and our Jack O' Lantern that I made the first year we were married...every year when I pull it out I remember how excited I was to make it and decorate our first home for Halloween.  Feeling very blessed to enjoy all our days together.

Do you decorate for Halloween ?  Do you like to entertain?  And do you set a seasonal table ?  I would love to hear from you - please leave a comment below !  Reading the comments makes my day!

Enjoy the rest of October and wishing you all a safe and

Happy Halloween!!!