Sugar Cookies

 I was asked for my sugar cookie recipe so here it is:

          Mrs. Winters' Sugar Cookies

Cream together: 1 and 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup shortening(I use Crisco)

  Beat in: 3 eggs

  Add:  1/2 cup milk, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla and about four cups of flour to make a stiff dough.  I add flour a little at a time until I think it feels right.

  Refrigerate dough several hours.  This is important because the dough works best when it is chilled. 

    Roll out dough not too thinly on a floured surface and cut out cookies.  I like fat cookies so I roll mine out about an eighth or a quarter inch thick. 

  Place on lightly greased pan and bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes just until they are browned slightly on the bottom.  Ice and enjoy.  Or you can sprinkle them with colored sugars before baking.  These are really good with a cup of coffee or tea.

  Long ago Mom had to go into the hospital for surgery.  She almost died on the operating table.  People from church brought food to us.  There was an older lady in our church, Mrs. Winters who had snow white hair and taught Sunday school for as long as I can remember.  She sent her son to our house with these cookies because she didn't drive.  We all loved them  They were soft and sweet. When Mom got better, she asked Mrs. Winters for the recipe and we have made them in our family ever since.  Mrs. Winters is long gone, but her cookie recipe lives on and will be passed on to friends and family.  Hope you enjoy them.

Almost Here

   Can you feel it?  The expectation and excitement that is in the air?  The feeling that something wonderful is going to happen?  I wonder if that is what Mary and Joseph felt that first Christmas day?  The day of Jesus' birth.  I love Christmas.  The tree, the presents, the lights, the carols.  But it wouldn't mean anything to me if it did not have the Christ child at its center.  I feel that this day, the only one of the year where the world celebrates one baby's birth, is so special and so wonderful it is hard to put it into words. 

  Jesus has always been the center of my celebrating Christmas.  He is in everything I do.  From the making of gifts for loved ones, to buying gifts, baking cookies, feeding my little flock that comes on this special day, to the cantata at church, to seeing Santa and the joy and excitement in my grandchildren's eyes.  Its all a part of Christmas because it is all good and good only comes from the one who made us all. 

  Today I baked.  And I baked.  And I baked some more.  Six dozen sugar cookies.

  Angels and little boys and that big round cookie with the green sprinkles is for the dogs.

  Christmas trees. 

  All to be iced and sugared.  This is a favorite family recipe that I have used every year since I have been married. I will have to tell you how we came to get this recipe, but that is for another day. 

 These are especially good dipped in a cup of coffee. 

   Next I made chocolate mint brownie bites.  I got this recipe over on the Pioneer Woman's blog. She has provided me with several really good recipes.  This is a chocolate lovers delight.  I mean, even the batter is good.  I am on a chocolate high right now and so is David as we couldn't help ourselves with these goodies. 

  Little chocolate bites made with unsweetened chocolate and Andes mints, baked, then dipped in melted Andes mints and Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate and then sprinkled with chopped Andes mints or peppermint baking chips. I added that last ingredient because I didn't think they were decadent enough.

Omigosh, I am feeling a chocolate high just looking at them.  My grandchildren are going to be swinging from the ceiling lights.  I better serve a few vegetables Christmas.

  Did you know that every time David enters a room a sugar cookie angel loses its wings?   Hope your Christmas is filled with sweets and love. Bye.

The Colors of Christmas

  I love decorating for Christmas. I even decorate my shop a little bit although nobody but me sees it.  I just like to make it look a little Christmassy for the season.  We have this old mantel that I painted white and keep all kinds of paraphernalia on it all year.  I still have a Valentine picture there that you can see.  I like it so it will stay. I made a mitten garland and added a candle and that is my decoration for the shop. The little cupcake quilt I designed and made a while ago but I am thinking I will change it after the first of the year.  Don't want to get stagnant.

  This is the mantle in the house with all my Santas I have collected over the years.  It's getting kind of crowded.

 

  I especially like this Santa rowing a canoe.  I have made the room where my husband watches tv into a kind of Adirondack room for the season. 

  Woodsy looking wool blanket on the back of a chair.

   
      A wooden bowl full of mittens I have saved from when our children were little.

  Vintage pictures placed around the room.

  A green bulb in a lamp gives off a Christmassy glow. 

  Stockings hung by the window with care?  Those long red ones are really old.  We use to hang them when I was a girl. 

  The Nativity sits on top of an old spool cabinet.  My father made the manger many years ago.  Gosh, everything seems like many years ago when you get to my age!  Mary and Joseph are the only remaining pieces from the original set.  The rest were broken years ago.

  Santa, er, David sits in his comfortable chair  reading cards from his friends. 

    In the girly room......

  A white ceramic tree lit up for the holiday.

   My Charlie Brown tree with sand dollars tied all over it.

  A starfish tops the tree.   That's all I have in my girly room for Christmas decorations. 

 
 Bonnie posing as a tree.  I should put a bow on top of her head, but she would eat it if she could get to it.

   See that pretty girl in the center of the first row of a bunch of middle schoolers?  We went to her Christmas concert Friday night where she sang a solo.  So proud. She was so calm, cool and collected singing in front of an audience.  Hearing all the Christmas carols and seeing all these young people seeming to enjoy singing them made me realize this is a wonderful part of Christmas when we sing carols for our Lord and Savior. 

  Light a candle, say a prayer and be blessed by this wonderful season when the Savior of the world came to bring light and love. 
 

A Nation Grieves

  I have so many things I want to blog about, but after the events of Friday, I haven't had the heart to write about things of the world.  I want to write about spiritual things right now.

   I have been watching the news like all of you, trying to wrap my mind around how anyone could do the terrible things that young man did.  What was in his mind?  How could he look a young child in the eye and take his or her life?  Was he really that evil?  How does one become so evil?  Does God love him too?

   I have been told God loves everyone.  We are all sinners.  Some sins seem worse than others, but in God's eyes every sin is the same.  To us humans that doesn't make sense.  This tragedy should be rated right up there with the worst sins of all mankind, and yet, to God, it probably isn't.  God has seen it all. All the cruelty man has done to man.  All the children who have died before their time.  All the adults who have died horrible deaths.  He grieves over every one of them. He loved every one.

  People ask, "How does a loving God allow this to happen?"  They also say, "God can't tell me what to do."  God gave us free will.  We are not His puppets to operate as He would like us to.  That is why some people do these horrible thing. Because they want to.  It is evil and we all know it.  It is not from God. 

  I saw a father of one of the little girls who lost her life saying his family's prayers were with the murderer's family.   "Wow," I thought. "Could I be that forgiving?"  And yet, that is what we are suppose to do.  I don't know where that young man is spending eternity, but I know that every one of those little children are in heaven right this minute and are happy and playing and being the sweet children they were here on earth.  I am assured of that. 

   In the days to come, there will be many funerals, many tears, many questions.  Most questions will not be answered in this lifetime.  I hope the parents will put their trust in God and find the peace that only He can give.  Many people are praying for them and also for those others who lost their loved ones that day.  Teachers acted so bravely.  Children obeyed their teachers. People rushed to help them.  There was good going on that day also. 

  I wish peace, love, and grace to all who were affected and I pray for God to protect and keep them in the days ahead.  Love is the only thing that will help them.  Send them your love through thoughts, prayers and even letters and cards and flowers and let them know we all grieve with them.  God will be pleased.
 

Best and Worst

  We have all received many gifts in our lifetimes.  Some great, some good, some not so good and some, well, you know the person who gave it to you had bought it at the last minute in desperation.  But, it's the thought that counts.  Right???

   I was listening to a show today and they were talking about the worst and  best gifts they had received for Christmas.  Christmas was always a magical time for me.  I received so many wonderful presents from Santa through the years.  I received a lot of  different dolls and still have a few of them  that I cherish.  When Strawberry Shortcake dolls were the rage, I think I loved them more than my daughter, but she got them all.  Still have them all and the boxes they came in.  Remember they all had little animals of some kind and smelled like their name.  Blueberry cupcake, Strawberry Shortcake, and others that smelled like lemon, cherries and other fruits.

  One year I got sister dolls with roller skates.  Still have them also. Once I took one to school and one day my teacher, Mrs. Farmer called me up to her desk and brought me real close to her and said she had a secret and she put something in my hands and put a finger to her lips and said, "Shhh, don't let anyone see this."  I went back to my desk and looked in my hands and there were my doll's underpants.  Evidently I had lost them while playing with her at school.  Mrs. Farmer didn't want to embarrass me.

  Another time I got these records with pictures on them and a little carrousel  with mirrors on the side of it and when the record spun, there would  be moving pictures and a song.  The one I liked best was ,Two little ducks that I once knew, fat one skinny one there were two.  But the one little duck with a feather in his back.  He ruled the others with a "Quack, quack, quack."  The little ducks would bob their heads in and out of the water in the mirrors on the carrousel.  I loved that. I always wondered what happened to it.  I keep looking in antique stores for one, but haven't seen anything like it, ever.

   This brings me to a question for all of you.  What was your worst and best Christmas presents of all time?  My best had to be the year I got a saddle for my horse. I had been riding bareback for a long time, but finally I got a western saddle.   I wish I still had that saddle and the cowgirl boots I would wear when I rode my horse, Tornado.

   I got a worst gift, but I hesitate to say what it was as someone might know who I am talking about and I don't want any hurt feelings.  Suffice it to say, I used up all my manners that day and acted thrilled to get this gift.  Believe it or not, I still have it!  It reminds me of the giver who I love so it did serve its purpose. 

  Anyway, if you would like to, post your worst and favorite gifts.  Just remember people's feelings and don't say anything awful. 

   Here's to gifts, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Bye.

Oops! and a Precious Gift

  If you read this blog very often, you know I like to post pictures. I am not vey good on the computer and don't have any fancy things on my blog. I don't advertise and I don't have special effects although I would like to at some time..  I just like to write and have some pictures to show what I am talking about.

  I was going through my blogs last night and discovered that almost all my pictures on most of my blogs have been erased.  David had done something with all our pictures and after he did it, my blog header was messed up and now I have no pictures except for the two most recent blogs. He does not know what he did and I know he feels bad about it.

  Therefore, I will not be posting pictures for a while until I get a new webpage, but I will continue to write.  David said he would buy me a new webpage for Christmas and I will, hopefully, have a brighter and more picturesque blog when he does. 

  I will be busy from now until Christmas anyway and then after Christmas I will begin working like gang buster on my big, fat, secret project that will be revealed sometime next year. 

  Today I want to talk about a very special girl.  She came into my life thirteen years ago.  I was never so happy to see someone in my life as I was that girl.  She was born on this day thirteen years ago and I had to wait two whole weeks to see her because she lived in Chicago.  That girl is my granddaughter, Abigail Grace Craig.  She is so special. She has a good heart, is generous, talented, smart, loves to read(something I am so glad about) and she can sing beautifully.  She will be singing  a solo in the school choir Christmas program this year and I am so looking forward to it.  If I had ordered a granddaughter from the granddaughter store I could not have gotten a better one than Abby.  I love her so much and pray for her everyday and only want her to have a wonderful life filled with happiness and as little trouble as possible. 

  When I found out we were going to be grandparents for the first time I could hardly wait.  The day Abby was born her daddy sent a picture of her on the computer.  I wanted to get my hands on her so much, but had to wait two weeks before we could travel up to Chicago.  The day I saw her, I fell in love and I have watched her grow into a wonderful girl and I love her more each day.  A teen-ager.  I can't believe it.  How quickly the time has passed. Happy birthday, Abby.  I love you so much.

   Those of you who are grandparents know how special grandchildren are.  We love our children, but our grandchildren are the icing on the cake of life.  I have five by birth and one by adoption and I love them all.   I remember being the apple of my grandfather's eye and I want each of my grandchildren to know they are the apples of my eye. 

  On this day of remembering Pearl Harbor and celebrating a birthday I know I have alot to be thankful for.

  Here's to granddaughters, birthdays and blogs that work.  Bye.

A Good Time Was Had By All

   I love Christmas time.  I love everything about it.  For me it is about  faith, family and fun not shopping, greed and gimme more.  I try not to do much more than one or two days of shopping as I think all year about what I would like to give someone and shop accordingly.  I also like to make gifts and I am always finishing things up the week before Christmas which is fine with me.

   This weekend was so busy and fun.  I loved every minute of it from putting up the tree, to baking all day Saturday, to sitting by the campfire with David and eating giant marshmallows, to seeing the Santa train with my grandboys, to celebrating five birthdays on Sunday and having homemade strombolies and Chocolate cake with fluffy icing. I also helped in Sunday school with six of the cutest kids.  I really look forward to seeing them every week.  Ones and twos and they are so much fun. 

    Here are a few(?) pictures from our weekend.

 

   Warm fire and hot chocolate. 

   My sweet Belle begging for a marshmallow.  I made her and Bonnie homemade dog bisquits so that will have to do, Belle.

  Friday night we went to the Santa train.  The Santa train travels through small towns in southern Indiana  and stops where the children can get on and talk to Santa and Mrs. Claus.  There are all kind of characters who get out and visit with the children.  It really is fun for kids and grownups too.

  Rudolph wanted to say "Hello," but my grandson wasn't having any part of it. 

  The Grinch wasn't so grinchy and handed out candy to the kids.

   There was Batman and is that Robin?????

  Santa and Mrs. Claus were busy taking orders for Christmas and handing out candy canes.  Everyone on the train was so nice.

  On our way home that night, we took a picture of this house on a hill decorated for Christmas.  It's on 46 and you can't miss it if you are heading to Nashville.

  Sunday after church we headed back to our daughter's house for her husband's homemade stromboli sandwiches and to celebrate a few birthdays taking place in December.  Believe me when I tell you these were so delicious with his homemade dipping sauce.

  There were kids climbing hills....

  kids walking, er, kids....

  These kids, to be precise.  Bolt and Jessie, two cute pygmy goats.  I was feeding them potato chips and they followed me right up to the front door begging for more.  They eat all the time and I mean all the time.  They keep the grass cut very well.

   It was a super fun and busy weekend but all good times must end and we had to go home.  I will leave you with a picture of Bonnie and Belle begging for treats at the backdoor this morning.  Who's that begging with them??

  Who will get the treat?  

  Here's to Santa trains, pygmy goats and birthdays.  Bye.