Egg Nog and Fruit Cake

I guess you either love or hate egg nog and Fruit Cake. I love both of them. I have not had a really good fruit cake in a while though and this year or last year I did not get any. I have a recipe for one but never get it together early enough to make it. I like the moist fruit cakes that have more nuts in them than anything else. Yum. And don't get me started about egg nog. I love it. I never can get any of my family to drink it though. I do not really care for it with bourbon or rum in it. I think that ruins the sweet, creamy good taste of it. Oh well, I guess to each his own. I just keep drinking a glass a day in a frozen mug. Wow. What's not to like? Christmas was good but I am just about wiped out from all the hustle and bustle of preparation. I was running about a week or two behind this year. Wish I could sit down, visit and enjoy it more. Just as I get ready to sit down and visit everybody decides to leave. I need to get a better game plan. I did not get very many good pictures this year. I was running around tending to food and forgot. The ones I did take had the camera set to video mode, so they look rather funky.

The Best Christmas Pagent Ever-Mini Movie

I love this book. I cry every time I read it out loud to people.

Our New Baby

We went for an early ultrasound to see what the gender of the baby is. Could not get a true 100% shot because of the umblical cord but 85 to 90% sure it is a boy!

Gabriel's For Christmas

We just got back from Nashville. Gabriel and his family could not come in for CHristmas, so we managed to squeak in there for a few days just before Christmas.

When the search seems futile, we often find what we are looking for right in our midst. May the spirit of Jesus embrace and keep you safe and strong this Christmas.

The Very First Nightengale's Song

I thought everyone would enjoy this song the few days before Christmas. I really like it as a reminder to give what we have of ourselves and the great beauty behind that will be revealed. Merry Christmas.



I have always loved the power behind this song.

This is Max as he is adjusting to his new home. He gets sweeter every day! He still is not barking very much if at all, but doing very well on all accounts. He keeps me warm while I type.

This is another one of my favorite poems from childhood. It was in a children's poetry book and I loved to hear my Mom read it to me before I could read. She would just recite it most times but I loved looking at the picture in the book and hearing her voice and the words. I love reading it and hearing it read. The way the words are written and the cadence of the verse makes you visualize being in the swing. You can hear, feel and see swinging.


The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Robert Louis Stevenson

We had our first flakes of snow tonight. Just a few flying amidst the rain. I have always loved this poem so thought I would post it in honor of the first official flake os snow.

1923 New Hampshire
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Thanksgiving

I am having mixed feelings about this Thanksgiving. It will be the first one that I can remember really being without my family. It will be the first one in almost 30 years that I have not cooked at least a large portion of the meal. The hardest part about it all is that it was my own decision to do this. I am taking a class and have a major project/research synthesis due and need the days off from work to devote to completing this assignment. I always have the time off from work but the cooking of the meal takes at least three days. One to shop, one (the day before) to advance prep food items that I can, then the actual day of Thanksgiving, cooking, cleaning and getting everything ready for the guests. Not to mention the time it takes to clean up and put everything away. I just don't have the time to do all of this. I feel doubly guilty because my Mom's birthday always is around and on Thanksgiving. They are heading to Nashville to be with my oldest sons family. I know they will all have a great time, but I am not happy I can't cook. Nashville folks work schedules would not allow them to be here anyway this year, but I hate not following through with a tradition that does mean so much to everyone. I just have to do this for me..... so fly away turkeys.... Gobble on another day. Loved this picture of some turkeys I caught at a pumpkin patch this fall. Thought it fitting to use now.

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

By William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gabe and Mel came in on Friday evening and have been here for the weekend. Don't know if I posted here or not but they are expecting! Yay! A new baby in the family. We have not had a baby in a long time around here. Nashville will seem even further away once a baby is in the house. I will have to see what this skype is all about. It was so very good to see them. They will be in again in a couple of weeks for Ashley's wedding.

Trav had a little gig at a local coffeehouse called Common Grounds on Saturday night. We had a good time and all went well. The pics turned out a little blurry but that has been happening lately, so I hope everything is well with my camera. Our laptop went DOA and our new stove is messing up big time so the saga continues with my luck and electronics and appliances. I think it has something to do with my electric personality! HA! I can never wear a watch for over a year. They always give up and die. I think I do carry an extra electrical charge because static electricity builds up so badly in me. I shock myself to pieces on everything I touch especially in the winter. Later!