Last Day of the Year

Spending New Year's Eve with this young man:

We're planning to have our Christmas with them on Friday if the weather will allow big brother Calvin and his other Grandma to drive in.

Enjoy ringing in the New Year-be safe if your weather is like ours-a 1/4 to 1/2 of solid ice covering everything!

Sweetness

Going to go meet this precious new boy tomorrow and get some grandbaby snuggles!

It was a lovely day...

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We spent Christmas day at our daughter's home. Our three oldest grands were in the midst of wrapping paper and boxes when we got there, and were having a great time! The girls were having fun with all of the new things, and our two year old grandson had opened his gifts and then gone back to his old toys! He'll probably get the idea better next year.

Our son-in-law bought an oil-less turkey fryer and he and my husband cooked the turkey this year. We were skeptical, but it was the absolute best turkey we've ever eaten! So moist and with lovely crispy skin. My daughter and I agreed that cooking Christmas dinner was so much easier without having to oven roast the turkey. We've decided to pass the holiday turkey cooking torch to my son-in-law!

We'll be heading out next week to see our newest grandbaby-they are home now, and big brother has had a chance to meet and hold his new sibling. Sweet times!

Merry Christmas!

Look what Santa brought! A new grandson!

Born Christmas Eve- 6lbs 12oz and is 19 inches long and perfect in every way. Mom and baby are doing great!

Tonight's Sunset

Not a great picture, I just took it quickly with my camera before it could fade. It almost looks like there's a fire-and I guess there is-a fiery sun setting!

Love

Dark December

It's only 4:45pm, but it's nearly dark. Today has been grey, cold and wet-and the husband is down with some sort of a bug. Not terribly sick, but not feeling very good, so we cut our errand running short and came home. I had 2 roasted chicken carcasses and turkey wings and drumsticks left from Thanksgiving in the freezer, so I put those in a stock pot with onions and garlic and made lots of good rich stock with quite a bit of meat. I froze half and will make a chicken pie for supper. Good hearty food for a warm cozy evening at home. Feeling very blessed.

I'm Back...

www.maryengelbreit.com

Still not quite 100%, but much, much better! Christmas preparations are coming along-the tree is lit, the halls are decked as much as they are likely to be, and now I guess I should start baking. I haven't gotten any cards sent out, but I'm not too worried as I've been downsizing considerably in that department. It won't take long to get the few mailed that I'm planning to mail.

We're planning a quiet Christmas this year-having small family celebration and not travelling. (As far as we know. Our newest grandson isn't scheduled to make an appearance until the 31st, but he might decide to be a Christmas baby!) We plan to spend Christmas Eve with our daughter, son-in-law and our three oldest grands and attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight service with them. My husband and I will be singing this year and we're really looking forward to it! We'll head back over to their house the next morning for presents and Christmas Dinner. Our son, daughter-in-law and grandson#2 will be spending Christmas with her parents. She and grandson#2 will probably stay on with them until the baby is born. They are closer to the hospital where she will deliver and both of her parents are doctors so that should cover any baby surprises!

So...what are your plans for Christmas?

Joy

Peace

Yuck

After coughing my head off all night, it became obvious this morning that I was not going to get better on my own. So dear hubby bundled me into the car and took me to the Dr. Apparently, I have a rip-roaring case of bronchitis. 

I'm now snuggled deep in my chair with antibiotics, cough meds and inhaler. See you in a few days.

Throw Back Thursday

Oh Boy-doesn't that just take you back to the '70s? 1972 to be exact. My long straight hair and his flowered shirt and bell bottoms. This was the first Sunday that I spent with my then steady boyfriend's family. It looks like Sunday dinner made us a little sleepy, or maybe his mom snapped the picture when we weren't ready! He's still my "steady" after 42 years and I wouldn't change a moment of it! (Not our anniversary today or anything. A cousin posted this picture on Facebook today and I just had to share!)

Cold and Grey

It's been cold and grey the last two days. I've been staying inside nursing my laryngitis and coughing my head off, decking the halls and Christmas shopping online. It's amazing what you can get done without ever leaving your house!

I took the Thanksgiving turkey carcass out of the freezer and simmered it with onions and garlic for a few hours, then added chopped celery and carrots. I divided it up and for my husband, I added lentils, thyme, marjoram and black pepper. For mine, I added egg noodles. (Lentils are not my friend.) It made delicious soup for supper tonight with a pan of cornbread.

Our daughter has been suffering from severe anemia for quite a while and finally was able to start a series of iron infusions recently. The change in the way she looks and feels has been dramatic! In just a few short weeks she's gone from scarcely able to get out of her chair, to cleaning house and decorating for Christmas. She has her last infusion tomorrow and she should be good to go as long as she makes sure she eats lots of protein. We are so happy and relieved!