Love, Bruce (and the rest of us!)

Merry Christmas to you...

Bits of Christmas

Hi all,

We're just a little over a week until Christmas

so I wanted to show you a few things around the house.
This guy might be my favorite.
I added his scarf and bells.
I sat him on a bed of giant pinecones and greenery.

Every year I add a new plate or two to my woodland plate collection.

This year I choose a fox and I am out of room to store them all!

I need a new china cabinet.

Hmmmm....Swedish or French?

This brown plaid ribbon was my favorite this year...

anyone have a source for more?

I did this embroidery of Jack.  I still need to do Bruce.

I left the oranges up from Thanksgiving -
I love them too much to take them off.
I love the simplicity.
I might get a little fancier with it before Christmas...or maybe not.

There are a lot of deer in the house.

He's hanging out under a tree.

I love this old book with a whimsical embroidery wrapped around it.

I like creating little moments that make me smile.

Cameos are a favorite.

This is the sideboard in the front room.
That's Dan...he likes to dress up for the holidays.

Working on the front door wreath.

Glitter is everywhere.

This photo was last Sunday after I finished decorating the tree in the entry

Jack was exhausted from watching me go up and down the ladder.

The packages are wrapped....except for the late deliveries.

Don't let me down, FedEx guy!

My favorite gloves and ear muffs...like I get to use them much!

I need to visit some of you snow bunny friends.

Yesterday the high was 82- it dropped to 32 this morning!

I guess gloves and ear muffs are in my future, after all.

Santa on the piano next to a bay leaf wreath.

This entrance/exit is the side door leading to the driveway...

the door we use the most.

My walls are not yellow, Vera!

They are the same cream as the back wall.

This was a shelf with detachable wedge shelves that I was tired of storing- we attached it to the wall and now I use it for seasonal displays.

And it's a pile up for stuff to take up the back stairs.

I wish there was room for a nice bench, but it's a weirdly narrow space.

The stockings are here until Christmas Eve.

Isn't he a cheerful Santa?

He's paper mache and I've had him for years.

He's the only Santa that I haven't painted away the red on.

These cute little winter birds were a gift from 

Kris @ Junk Chic Cottage.

They are adorable sitting on packages under the entry tree.

Out of Jack's reach!

Thank you, sweet lady.

And a big thank you to Vera from Rowhomes and Cobblestones

for sending delicious chocolate pretzels from Philly.

They are all gone.

I had to share with Magoo- we love a good sweet and salty snack.

We had a little bowl of caramel pecan sauce to dip in.

Should I send you some Texas jalapeno fudge, Vera? ;)

I hope everyone is enjoying the season!

More baking is in my future.

Maybe I should stop eating it all????

Merry Christmas everyone~
and may all the blessings of the season be yours.

Apron Winner!

Congrats to Pat from Gypsy Heart!

I hope you enjoy it, Pat.

Get baking!

Thanks to all who entered.

I loved reading all your favorite cookie comments.

Have a great week!

Christmas Apron Giveaway

Hoping this finds you all well and not in a holiday frenzy!

I have a quickie giveaway for you for this morning

that I think you'll enjoy.

This apron is rough linen with red striping, 

has a large pocket in front and is knee length 

with ties in the back.

I have embroidered it with cream and green 

and added two matching pot holders.

A spiffy holiday baking outfit just for you

or a great gift for someone else this season.

Of course, you'll need to add your own Santa hat. ;)

Hmmm, what ridiculous question can I make you answer?

Since this giveaway is baking related, how about telling me what your

favorite childhood cookie was and what your favorite is now.

Easy enough and I might be inspired to bake up a new cookie or two!

Just leave your comments and I'll reveal a winner on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

and ship it out that day.

Good luck, friends!

Around the house...and the cookie recipe

Hi all,

I love finding interesting things with dogs on them- 

so I was thrilled to find this on eBay.

Hot chestnuts! And look who's right there in line- Bruce!

He's a beggar, that one.

A perfect depiction.

A few finds while out in the last few weeks-

I found this reproduction trophy to put my little tree with orange slices in.

And I loved this sign at Hobby Lobby to put by the side door 

where we all come in.

It's not for outdoors but I think it'll be ok since it's covered.

I'm changing the pillows to moodier winter textures.

Pretending it's cooler- we were at 85 degrees again today.

With the time change it seems like the days are flying by-

and my house is in more chaos than usual.

But I am doing little bits of decorating here and there.

The trees are up but not decorated yet.

I love looking at them plain... a slow progression to the ornaments.

Or maybe not- like last year.

Here's a peek at the family room wreath.

The porch has a few lemon cypress trees and my chimes from Tuula

remind me to take time to play-

which is very important to Bruce and Jack.

I put a few cool weather pansies on the porch 

but the marigolds are still hanging in there.

Below is the cookie recipe I promised you.

I refer to them as breakfast chubs.

Oatmeal and eggs and pumpkin- breakfast, right?

They really are delicious and not too sweet-

cakey cookies like a mobile pumpkin bread.

Grab and go.

I hope you'll take the time to play and make cookies, too.

We make the holidays stressful- they aren't stressful on their own.

I have to remind myself of that now and again.

Slow down. Sit down. 

Or maybe get down.

Kitchen dancing is always the answer.

With a cookie in your hand.

Simple pleasures.

I hope the rest of your week goes well!

Orange Crush

Helloooooo...

I'm on a mission to dehydrate enough oranges to make 

several wreaths for the holidays and have enough leftover for other things

like filling small baskets with greenery or using as tags on gifts.

I'm not sure if this dehydrator will work as well as the oven

but I'm going to find out.

So far, it's taking at least 12 hours to dry these large slices.

One batch took fifteen.

This is the one I chose- Magoo is very excited about making jerky with it.

I decided I'd get busy with my oranges before he gets ahold of it,

if you know what I mean.

It's simple as pie- slices are placed on the tray- time and temp are set

and I can walk away and forget it.

I've never used one before so fill me in if you have any great ideas.

I don't like missing out on great ideas, girlfriends. ;)

Before the days of blogging, I used the oven on 200 degrees and then would just watch them to determine when they were ready.

My favorite thing to dry was pomelos, because they are so huge.

One year I dried a zillion of them and hung them from a branch in the kitchen and covered the kitchen tree with them.

It was so pretty and the larger size of the pomelo equaled

a lot more bang in my book.

These oranges were large and not very flavorful- so perfect to dry.

Is something amiss with the orange crops this year?

I'll let you know how they work out.

I thought I'd show you a few more pops of orange around the kitchen.

My perfect little pie pumpkin is still hanging in there.

I always wash them with soap and hot water, dry them 

and then give them a coat of mod podge.

It really helps them last longer.

Feathers, dried oranges and chocolate velvet ribbon

sit in the transferware cup and saucer

and I'm just realizing that the spoon needs to go.

Anywhere but there!

I took it's tiny white pumpkin and gave it to my new bear.

Oh, well.

Ma and Pa have come out of the cupboard-

I bought them long ago for hardly any real money. 

(as Distressed Donna says...I love that saying!)

I embroidered this chocolate brown quilted fabric that I had 

with bright orange thread and framed it 

in a lonely frame that had nothing to love. 

It loves it's new companion, but I hope not too much because you know

I'm going to rip it out of there and replace it with a Christmas design

after Turkey Day comes and goes. 

This was an Instagram photo I shared.

I'm pretty good at pretending I have fall weather, hmmm?

I love candy corn and when it first hit the shelves this year, I bought this terrible maple flavored bag just so I wouldn't eat it.

It worked, too.

Until I went to buy Halloween candy.

And then, I bought the mother lode of delicious candy corn to put in pretty tall jars on my table and perhaps dip into 

one or twenty or a hundred times a day.

But the terrible corn looks pretty with a candle and was instant gratification when I wanted to add some fall feelings 

to my kitchen in September.

Bad corn below. 

I made pumpkin cookies today.

I ate pumpkin cookies today.

They might not last until the weekend.

I'll put the recipe up soon.

The last bit of my orange crush is the kitchen towels I 

sent in Lynn's giveaway package.

I love these patterns and they make me laugh.

How many times have you said these things in your kitchen?

Mostly I say "Simmer down, Boo" to Bruce.

He tends to get wound up if there's a salad on the counter...

he loves salad! 

And pumpkin cookies like his mama.

That's all for today-

Have a great weekend doing autumnish, sweater weather

boot wearing things!

We were at 88 degrees yesterday.

I'm annoyed and very envious of you girls engaging in these activities!

I do so enjoy living vicariously thru your photos in apple orchards

and golden landscapes so keep them coming please. :)