Alpha and Omega

"I am the Alpha and Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."  Revelation 1:8


Today we celebrated Easter.  All of our family went to church together and afterwards had dinner there.  Lola, my granddaughter, got to hunt eggs with several other toddlers.  


My oldest daughter got engaged earlier in the week and we were able to visit and see her ring.  She was very excited and happy.  We really like her fiance.  He called her dad a week ago and asked to come over for a man-to-man chat.  They got together and he asked permission to ask Melissa to marry him.  


Time really seems to fly these days.  They will be getting married next year in April.  Lots of time to plan the wedding.


When I was a child we had a large family Bible that I would read.  There was a passage that always intrigued me.  It was from the book of Revelations chapter 1 verse 3:  "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it;  for the time is near."  At the time I was especially interested to know that I would be blessed for just reading the Bible.  

this and that

 I do love this

and I do love camouflage

Christmas time is here again

It's gonna be fun this year! I went Black Friday

shopping and found some bargains. Early Christmas

start for me.

Happy Mother's Day

I love you Mom!


Women make the world go round!  Where would we be without moms?

A Christmas Carol

I went to see "A Christmas Carol" with two of my children this weekend.  It was very good.  

Old-Fashioned Cornbread Dressing

I realized after I posted questions about cornbread stuffing that people had googled about recipes and got my post (which was only questions).  So now I will post a recipe for cornbread stuffing.  It is called stuffing if it's in the bird and dressing if it's baked separately in a pan.  

2 cups cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, beaten

2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons bacon drippings, melted

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

12 slices day-old bread, crumbled

2 to 2-1/2 cups turkey or chicken broth

1 cup milk

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/4 teaspoon pepper

• Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; add 2 eggs, buttermilk, and melted bacon drippings, stirring well.
• Place a well-greased 10-inch cast-iron skillet in a 450 degree oven for 4 minutes or until hot.  Remove skillet from oven; spoon batter into skillet.  Bake at 450 degrees fro 35 minutes or until cornbread is lightly browned.  Cool; crumble cornbread into a large bowl.
• Saute celery and onion in butter until tender.  Add sauteed vegetables, bread, and remaining 7 ingredients to crumbled cornbread, stirring well.  Spoon dressing into a lightly greased 13 X 9-inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.  
  

If you like you can use some of this to stuff the turkey just before roasting.  

Halloween Scare

Once upon a time, a family of six went trick or treating together.  The father drove his car with all four children dressed in some manner of costume.  The costumes were certainly home-made as this family was fairly poor.  The four children carried big brown paper grocery sacks to hold their cache of Halloween candy that they would be receiving.  Father drove the children into the small town that they lived in (this little family lived way out in the country with houses few and far between).  The three older boys walked with their little sister down sidewalks and up to front porches that had their lights on.  The boys rang the doorbell and when the doors were opened, "Treat or Treat" was chorused loudly.  We soon had our bags half full which equalled lot of candy and popcorn balls.  The little girl was five years old, and her brothers were almost 7, almost 9, and ten years of age.  

Suddenly, a pick-up truck with three high school boys stopped near the children as they were leaving another house with their sacks of goodies.  The little girl was in front of the boys walking towards their car.  The high school boys ran towards the little brothers and stole their sacks.  The little sister ran as fast as she could to her parent's car and jumped in with her sack.  The brothers also ran to the car and jumped in crying.  

Father started the car and took off after the high school boys' truck.  The chase was on and it was fast.  We finally ended up at a dead end and the edge of a cliff.  No pick-up in sight, but dust was flying.  They didn't go off the cliff though.  We never knew where they went.  

The family returned to their home in the country with only one sack half full of candy.  The little sister had to share her candy with her three brothers.  She was somewhat disappointed 'cause it would have been a huge load of candy and lasted a long time.  Father was certainly mad about those rotten high school boys stealing candy from children.  But Mother had been so afraid that they were after the little girl and very thankful that we were all safe.  

The little girl that grew up of course was me.  My husband and I never celebrated Halloween with our children.  We always took them to a Hallelejuah Night which was a dress-up in costumes at church with games and candy and prizes.  

I found this little funny from Sandy and she found it from momunscripted.

Our Fireworks

Here's a very short clip of our awesome 

fireworks.  We did have some nice ones but

I'm not great with the photos.

Happy Fourth of July

Have a safe and Happy Fourrth of July!

The 12 Questions of Christmas Meme

Hootin'Anni created a Meme that she has invited us to use:
     "For the holiday season, I've started a meme. "The Twelve Questions of Christmas" If you'd like to participate, I'd be honored to have you join in the fun. If you'd like, you are welcomed to use the meme header graphic!"

1. Christmas is _Emmanuel_. [fill in the blank with ONE WORD]

2. In memories, what was the best part of your Christmases past?
Opening presents with my brothers and playing the games that we received.  

Drinking eggnog that Mom made.  Going to cut a tree with Dad and decorating it.
3. Was Santa ever good to you? [describe how and what]
For my fifth Christmas I received a Chatty Cathy doll.  Pretty cool.
4. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or both?
When I was little, we opened on Christmas Eve, then my children we continued

this tradition until they got older and opened one present on Christmas Eve

and the rest on Christmas Day.  We were never early risers!
5. Is there something you make each and every year? [craft or recipe]
Pumpkin bread and I always buy a new ornament or two for the tree.
6. What is your favorite five[5] Christmas songs/hymns?
O Holy Night, Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Mary, Did you Know?, and

Breath of Heaven
7. Is there a new tradition for Christmas since your childhood days? 

When my children were little we always read the Christmas story out

of the Bible together.  We started a Christmas tradition of putting a new

bulb on a construction papar Advent Christmas tree that we put on the window.  There was

a biblical meaning to each ornament.  

8. Describe one of your Christmas trips. [whether it's across town or across country]
We always made trips to Grandparents houses, my mom's on Christmas eve

and my husband's mom on Christmas Day.  We all lived close.
9. Do you have a special Christmas outfit to wear for the day?
No.
10. Have YOU or any of your family members sat on Santa's lap?
My kids have.  They were afraid.  I haven't.  
11. What is/or will be on your Christmas tree this year?
A new pickle ornament.
12. Do you/or have you decorated your yard for Christmas?

We have decorated outdoors many times.  It's usually the front

door and bushes and posts.  The roof rarely gets decorated.

Happy Aftermath

I should have taken some pictures of our Thanksgiving but I didn't.  I had so many more things to occupy my time, I didn't feel like it.  Sometimes, I think the camera interferes with company time.  I was cooking and then eating and then visiting.  Our only little one was Litsy who was two.  She was fun to play with.  My two brothers and families and my mom were here at my house.  My daughters and son were home from college.  We had a beautifully brined 23 lb. turkey which I lifted several times out of the oven to baste.  We had two different dressings, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn, green bean casserole, broccoli/cheese casserole, orange mandarin salad, Waldorf salad, cranberry sauce, rolls, and 5 different pies.  We had a good time and I showed my brother my blog.  :D  We even got a little snow in the evening!  

Big Bird

Happy Thanksgiving!

~The best things are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you.~Robert Louis Stevenson



A mother asked her daughter, "Did you say your prayers last night?" The little girl answered, "Well, I got down on my knees and started to say them, and all of a sudden I thought, I bet God gets awfully tired of hearing the same old prayer over and over. So I crawled into bed and told Him the story of the three bears." taken from Humor Me by Barbara Johnson.


Hang in there! In just two days tomorrow will be yesterday. ~Barbara Johnson~
I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Pensieve's Poetic License-November

Want this button?
Robin started a group called Pensieve's Poetic License. I joined to try out my creativeness. I have written a few poems before, not many, but I'm going to give it a try. Here are the rules:
So, ready to write your own? You have a week to complete it, but PLEASE don't make this more difficult than it is--Pensieve's Poetic License is intended to be a fun exercise in linguistic creativity! This month's theme is "Thanksgiving"; broad enough to go in a thousand directions, but remember, since PPL's motto is "No Rules. Just WRITE!" you're pretty much free to do as you please.

For the month of November we are to write a limerick for Thanksgiving.

RSVP

Thanksgiving can bring out the best

For those who are thankful and blest.

For those who have need

Are those we can feed.

We invite them to be our guest!

We wonder why God does not see

Cruelty, injustice, poverty.

Since the fall of man

Darkness is at hand.

That's why God has called you and me.

Please go over to Robin's for more poems.

I won a contest!!

Look at what I won in a contest. There are pretty Christmas cards and tags.
This lovely prize came from Tamara at TP Designs.
She handmakes these cards and tags. Go check out her site for Christmas!
Thank you very much Tamara.

Fun Monday

This Fun Monday's host is Deborah, The Humble Housewife. She wants to know what holiday tradition we celebrate every year. Here at our house Thanksgiving has always been our favorite holiday. We just can't wait for the turkey and dressing. Through the years we have celebrated this holiday at our parent's house, usually taking turns between my parents and my husband's. This sometimes included traveling to my dad's house in Texas. We haven't got a tradition that I can think of that has been consistent other than to be thankful. A few years when our children were young and home-schooled, we would put a kernel of dried corn on the each person's plate to represent the pilgrim's and Indian's first Thanksgiving. We would then take turns telling what we were thankful for. Ooh, ended that with a preposition, sorry. There is one recipe that I learned from my mother-in-law that is a tradition at our house every Thanksgiving. I had never had this before I married my hubby. His mom made it every year and so I began that tradition. It is Waldorf Salad. Here is the recipe:
Classis Waldorf Salad
2 cups diced apple
1 cup 1-inch julienne celery sticks
1/2 cup broken walnuts
1 cup minature marshmallows
1/4 cup mayonaisse
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
dash salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup seedless grapes, cut in halves
Combine apple, celery, grapes, marshmallows, and nuts. Blend mayonaisse, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Fold in whipped cream; fold into apple mixture; chill.
I'm going to have to admit that I make the mixture sweeter by adding more sugar than a tablespoon of sugar. If you make the mayonaisse mixture first in a jar and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator to blend, it seems to taste better. This is such a pretty salad and goes right along with the turkey and dressing at the table. It's not like a dessert but just like serving cranberry sauce with everything else.

P.S. I guess another tradition for me has been to make the pumpkin and pecan pies for Thanksgiving. I do that wherever we go.
P.P.S. I thought of something else. On New Year's Eve, my husband plays a Jimi Hendrix rendition of Auld Lang Syne with his guitar and his Marshall stack for all the town to hear. We live way out in the country so the town would be lucky to hear it on a cold, clear night. We also save big fireworks from the Fourth of July and set those off at midnight.