With all the chaos that happens over the holiday weekend, my Thankfulness countdown has been neglected. So rather than try and catch up I think I will just end it now since tomorrow is that last day of the month anyway. We really did have a pretty nice holiday weekend. I spent the majority of Wednesday night and Thursday in the kitchen. But as I have stated in past posts, I love to cook. I am blessed to have a husband who is willing to help out with the cooking too. This was the fits holiday meal that I have had to fix on my own. It really was not too bad!
Friday was my birthday. TJ made me a birthday cake from scratch. What a great husband! Neither one of us are real big shoppers so there was no black Friday shopping for us! That evening we headed to the Christmas Train. TJ posted about it in the previous post. It has become a tradition for TJ and me. We love to go and spend that time together. It just gets the Christmas season going for us. It was so much fun to share it with our nieces and nephews this year.
Saturday was all about the Christmas decorations. TJ and I love real trees so we got up and went on a hunt for the perfect tree. I think that we did a pretty good job! We got it home and then put up the outside lights. Personally I think that it turned out pretty well. Since moving into the new house, I realized that we don't have nearly enough decorations to fill up the bigger house! Oh well. We can add to it as we go. I will post pics of the house later.
Sunday was church. We LOVE our new church and are so excited to be attending there. For lunch, TJ's family came over again. We had a simple lunch of sub sandwiches but my nieces and I made brownies. It is so fun to have them help in the kitchen. I know I loved helping my family growing up. I hope Kiah and Ryann have the same memories when they are grown! After they left, TJ and I just relaxed for a little while. It was the first time all weekend that we really just got to sit and breathe. That only lasted for so long though. We headed to our friends house for a chili dinner. Wow can Alison cook! It was so good. There is nothing better than good food, good friends and great conversation. We got to play with our two favorite girls for a while too. Love those kids! They got me an amazing picture for the wall. It is the Serenity Prayer. That is a prayer that Alison and I both hold close as it has gotten us through so many tough times the past few years. So blessed to have such good friends!
So that was our Thanksgiving holiday. I hope everyone else had a great one too! Now we have about 2 weeks before the Christmas chaos begins! Bring it on!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thankfulness Day 26
Today I am very thankful for the Christmas Train. You might be wondering "What is the Christmas Train?" It is a really cool place where Gina and I have been the last 3 years. We took my mom and Alvin and my sisters and the nieces and nephews. We had a blast. You get to ride a real steam train and as you ride you get to hear the story of how God created the world and the life and death of Jesus Christ. It is located on an old western movie set. You also get to do some shopping and have some hot chocolate or coffee and listen to some live music. It is good a good family time. Can't wait to go back next year.
Thankfulness Day 25
This is TJ and I am very thankful to have my family here for Thanksgiving. My mom and Alvin flew in to town on Thanksgiving evening and we had a wonderful dinner that was prepared by my wonderful wife. She is such a good cook and worked very hard at making sure the meal was perfect. We had some Turkey, stuffing, corn, salad, rolls, etc. It was an awesome meal. Couldn't ask for anything better.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thankfulness Day 24
Yesterday I wrote about sunshine and loving it. Today is the total opposite! It is rainy and overcast. This is my least favorite type of day! But what I am thankful for today is a good book. I love to read. I read just about anything I can get my hands on. My favorites are the classics and poetry. Both are things that never fail to transport me to a different world. I also love a good thriller. Something about putting my self in the characters shoes and trying to figure out who done it before the character does. Children's books also hold a special place in my heart. I have quite a collection. My love of books and reading came pretty natural. Mom and Dad always read to us when we were young. We had a HUGE collection of books. Dad built us a special bookshelf just to hold all the childrens books. I think that Mom still has them all. Every night each of us got to choose a book to have read to us before we went to bed. Once we were old enough to read, we took turns reading chapter books with our parents. I would much rather read a book than watch tv or a movie. I think my imagination is much better than that of screen writers. on dreary days like this, I love to curl up in my favorite chair in front of the fire place with a book. That is the only way that I can be still! TJ and I plan to encourage the love of books in our kids as well. Much better than planting them in front of a tv for hours! Studies show that children who read have much higher test scores and IQ than those who watch tv. Who wouldn't want that for their kids?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thankfulness Day 23
On this bright and sunny day, I am thankful for the sunshine! I am such a sunshine girl. Bright warm sunshine just calls for being outside soaking it all up. It brings out the amazing colors that is in God's creation. My daddy used to sing "You are My Sunshine" to me all the time. I don't really think that started my love of sunshine but it sure helps. I love the fact that the sun helps things to grow. Without it photosynthesis cannot happen therefore no oxygen. (Yeah I am a science junky). This time of year is really tough for me because it starts getting dark so early. There is not enough time to walk Capone or go for a jog outside. It gets dark almost as soon as I get home from work. What fun is that?! My favorite thing to do is to have a nice sunny day with a slight breeze, Josh Groban cd playing in the background, a good thriller in my hand and a nice cold glass of lemonade in my hand, laying out in the hammock. Picture perfect day for me. Sunshine warms my soul and makes me happy.
Thankfulness Day 22
Hmm this is getting tougher. And I am sorry for the lack of pics but I usually blog at work and have forgotten to bring my camera. As the holidays approach, I am most thankful for my family. I know I already did family but that was my immediate family. I am so blessed to have great relationships with all my aunts uncles and cousins. I was lucky enough to grow up close4 2to0 all of my family so that we could have Sunday dinners at my Granny's house or Grandma's and get to see everyone. I have first cousins ranging in age from 25 down to 3. We are a rowdy group when we all get together! Too top that off, often times my mom's aunts and uncles and their families are thrown in there too. Growing up there was never really a distinction between whether they were my uncles or great uncles or whatever. Like I said, I am so blessed to have so many people to love. It was never lonely growing up! We all still keep in touch even though we are growing up. I am lucky enough to say that my cousin, Kenna is one of my best friends. There is a small age gap between us and when we were younger she was like a cute little sister but she has grown into an amazing young lady. So blessed to call everyone family. I love ya'll!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thankfulness Days 20-21
Day 20
Today I was going through all of my recipes looking for things to make for Thanksgiving Dinner and making my shopping lists. Looking at all of those old family recipes brought back a lot of memories. I am so thankful for the fact that I have the most amazing grandmothers, great grandmothers and mom in the world. So many women my age do not know how to really cook. Taking something out of a box or bag and warming it up does not mean that you are cooking! Some of my favorite memories of my family holidays revolve around being with the women of my family in the kitchen. I started helping when I was so small that I had to sit on the counter in order to be tall enough to reach. And for me, who has always been really tall, that is saying a lot! I cherish the memories of hanging out in the kitchen and learning to cook. My Grandma is straight full blood Italian. I absolutely love knowing how to make and feed my husband authentic Italian food. He has become a bit of a snob when it comes to Italian food. He will take a bite and then say, This isn't as good as you or your grandma's. His palette has grown quite a bit because at first he wanted to put ranch on lasagna! YUCK! My granny is a different kind of a cook. She is definitely Southern. She is a ranchers wife and cooks like it! The best thing that I learned from her in the kitchen is the importance of your ingredients. Granny has always had this HUGE garden where she harvests most of her veggies. There is nothing better than going out to the garden and picking the veggies that you are going to be eating for dinner that night! Home grown veggies that you know are clean and organically grown are the best. TJ and I have a garden as well but it is not nearly as large as Granny's!
Both of my grandmothers equate food with love. The first thing that they ask to you as you walk through their doors is if you are hungry. Holidays are full of such good food. This is the first year that I am doing Thanksgiving at my house. TJ's family is coming over. I know that there is no way that my food will turn out half as good as the spread at my grandmothers' houses but hopefully it will be good! I am a pretty good cook so we will see!
Day 21
As TJ and I came home from church, I was thinking about the fact that Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest. With our busy lives, this is not always our reality as it should be. There are often times that is the only day that we can really get things done. We always go to church, but we often mow the grass or clean or do any number of other things. This week we did not do that. It was great! We took advantage of the day of rest and didn't really do anything other than cook dinner. I read a book, TJ watched football and we were just together. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I do not sit still and do nothing well so this is usually really tough for me. I hate to be idle. But spending this quiet day with just TJ and Capone was awesome. I felt refreshed and recharged as well as feeling like we were doing what God had intended for Sundays. We decided to really try and make that a priority in our weekly lives. I am thankful for quiet days of reflection to spend with my family and with my God!
Today I was going through all of my recipes looking for things to make for Thanksgiving Dinner and making my shopping lists. Looking at all of those old family recipes brought back a lot of memories. I am so thankful for the fact that I have the most amazing grandmothers, great grandmothers and mom in the world. So many women my age do not know how to really cook. Taking something out of a box or bag and warming it up does not mean that you are cooking! Some of my favorite memories of my family holidays revolve around being with the women of my family in the kitchen. I started helping when I was so small that I had to sit on the counter in order to be tall enough to reach. And for me, who has always been really tall, that is saying a lot! I cherish the memories of hanging out in the kitchen and learning to cook. My Grandma is straight full blood Italian. I absolutely love knowing how to make and feed my husband authentic Italian food. He has become a bit of a snob when it comes to Italian food. He will take a bite and then say, This isn't as good as you or your grandma's. His palette has grown quite a bit because at first he wanted to put ranch on lasagna! YUCK! My granny is a different kind of a cook. She is definitely Southern. She is a ranchers wife and cooks like it! The best thing that I learned from her in the kitchen is the importance of your ingredients. Granny has always had this HUGE garden where she harvests most of her veggies. There is nothing better than going out to the garden and picking the veggies that you are going to be eating for dinner that night! Home grown veggies that you know are clean and organically grown are the best. TJ and I have a garden as well but it is not nearly as large as Granny's!
Both of my grandmothers equate food with love. The first thing that they ask to you as you walk through their doors is if you are hungry. Holidays are full of such good food. This is the first year that I am doing Thanksgiving at my house. TJ's family is coming over. I know that there is no way that my food will turn out half as good as the spread at my grandmothers' houses but hopefully it will be good! I am a pretty good cook so we will see!
Day 21
As TJ and I came home from church, I was thinking about the fact that Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest. With our busy lives, this is not always our reality as it should be. There are often times that is the only day that we can really get things done. We always go to church, but we often mow the grass or clean or do any number of other things. This week we did not do that. It was great! We took advantage of the day of rest and didn't really do anything other than cook dinner. I read a book, TJ watched football and we were just together. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I do not sit still and do nothing well so this is usually really tough for me. I hate to be idle. But spending this quiet day with just TJ and Capone was awesome. I felt refreshed and recharged as well as feeling like we were doing what God had intended for Sundays. We decided to really try and make that a priority in our weekly lives. I am thankful for quiet days of reflection to spend with my family and with my God!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)