An Agenda

"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are 

only as many days in the year as you make use of."

~Charles Richards

You might have guessed that I love a calendar.   A calendar represents so much promise.  


 And, I bet if you Google it there are lots of  great tools out there for scheduling and tracking days and dates, too.  Sometimes I lose myself in the calendar, wall planner and appointment planner sections of the office supply store.  I know.  I know.  I should get a hobby. Mostly I rely on my iCal, though I also love Google calendar for its sharing feature.  But here's a great online resource I use when I want to plan ahead and, heaven forbid,  print a set of calendar pages (like the entire summer) so that I can have a frame of reference for all our activities and appointments.  This is especially helpful when I need/want to spread adventures, trips and events out over a period of time.   


So, as you begin to organize the days, weeks and months of 2012 - happy planning.  

Today

More Tradition

"I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, 

and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands."

~Buddy, the movie Elf

My children still enjoy decorating Gingerbread houses.  Mostly, they still enjoy eating candy, but nevertheless, we do it every year.  Generally our Gingerbread house day follows the last day of school before the Christmas holiday.  

Lights

The holiday light show continues in Dallas. Every day it seems like there are more and more lights at which to gaze and be amazed. 


I have to say, this ranks right up there as one of my favorite aspects of the holidays.  As promised, here are a few photos from some of the more audacious displays.  


These 3 photos were all taken at the same home.  Trust me when I say the photos hardly do the scene justice.  There are gigantic, mechanical toys and music as well.  It is spectacular. Whoever said, "I've paid to see things not as good as this", was probably taking about this home's Christmas light show. Not surprisingly, this is the same home with the blinking eyeballs at Halloween.  They must love holidays even more than me.  

Comparatively, this home, which is just around the corner from the one above, is understated.  But isn't it lovely?

This full-sized nativity sits in the front yard of home not far away.  I have it on good authority that the Baby Jesus keeps getting kidnapped (perhaps "borrowed" is a better word, because he does eventually return).  Fortunately, he was present for our photo taking session.  

The Nativity sits in a portion (on the left) of this yard, which is also beautiful but understated.

Though you can't see it well, that's a life-size Santa in the window of
above the front door - he moves from
side to side and waves as you drive by.  Adorable.  

Even the city gets in on the action.  The 100-year-old pecan tree (it's at least 60 feet tall) which sits in the middle of a busy thoroughfare is decorated annually and it's lighting is a special ceremony.

Another reason to love crepe Myrtles, which are everywhere in Texas.  This is a random side street on our way home.  See also the cute house just down the street.  

Lest you think all the residents of Dallas have their paychecks direct deposited into the power company's bank account, rest assured, there are plenty (most, in fact) of houses with sweet, subtle light displays and even a few with Christmas inflatables (I saw my first Nativity inflatable the other day, wish I'd thought to take a picture of it). But trust me when I say, almost everyone here has some special decorations - making Christmas all the more magical.  

The Nativity

“Hey, unto you a child is born!”

- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever*

Sweet memories of my children re-enacting The Nativity

Since he was just 7 days old, I guess it's not surprising his sister enlisted him for the starring role.  

She was 6 and he was 3 and she  "demoted" him to playing the role of  Joseph.  

*If you haven't read this adorable book aloud to your children, you should. In fact, everyone should read it.  

Up On the Rooftop

No doubt, every family has a few strange holiday traditions. Chief among ours, is the ritual which follows our return from the annual tree buying excursion: we sit the children, plus the occasional toy or even a real dog or two on the roof of the car, and snap a photo. I'm not certain how this got to be a tradition, but without fail, we always pause long enough to engage in this little ceremony. Don't believe me? Here's the proof (from most years):

A Decade and a Half

Today, this guy

turns 15.

He is a joy, a delight, among the 3 best things that have ever happened to me.  His name means cheerful and is perfectly suited to him.


Happy Birthday, Tate!

Taylor Swift - Fifteen download at emp3

A Candymaker's Witness

Are you familiar with this story?  

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.He began with a stick of pure white hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promises of God.The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the Cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.Unfortunately, the candy became known as a candy cane—a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear."I pray that this symbol will again be used to witness to the wonder of Jesus and his great love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate and dominate force in the universe today.

I created favors for a ladies' lunch at church today using this sweet story.  I am happy with how they turned out - an inexpensive but important reminder of the Reason for the Season.  

Wrapping Up Christmas

I'm making good progress with my shopping this year. How about you? I've even managed to begin the wrapping process. I find it's a lot like cooking - if you don't clean as you go, you have a big mess on your hands when you get to the end. So, I'm wrapping as I go this year and I must admit, I like it.  


Perhaps I'm a bit strange, I enjoy wrapping presents.  I shun gift bags,instead spending some time choosing  the paper I will use. I've found that often times  even the most inexpensive of gifts  (hello, Big Lots and Dollar tree!, lovingly and decoratively wrapped, are a delight. 


My sister is the gift wrap master (she's an artful gift-giver too which, as we all know, is no small feat). She has wrapping paper themes and cute and appropriate gift tags and ribbon.  No doubt, she's elevated my game.  


This is  the gift wrap I'm using this year:

I love silver and gold at Christmas and, of course,  I'm a sucker for a nativity scene:

I bought these little word embellishments (5 in a package) after Christmas last year for next to nothing:

Perfect to hang on the tree later

How about Santa?  Does Santa wrap the gifts he delivers to your house?  


Santa delivers 3 presents to our children.  "If it's good enough for the Baby Jesus," we've always said and his gifts are always wrapped.  I know this makes lots of extra work for Santa and his elves (Mrs. Claus too), but Santa's special Santa paper (usually sans bows and ribbons) adds to the excitement of Christmas morning.  Plus,  little eyes that sneak downstairs in the wee hours of the morning have no idea what 'ol Saint Nick may have left.

The Heisman

Tonight the highest award in college football will be awarded and I must admit, I'm pretty excited.  


I credit my dad and brother for my love of the game.  While I grew up cheering for the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings (thanks to a 5th grade crush), I now find myself in the heart of Cowboy County. 


These days I'm more captivated by  college football, in particular, the University of Georgia Bulldogs (SEC football, the best) and, this year, the Baylor University Bears.  Don't get me wrong, I'll watch at least part of any exciting game, and I always enjoy cheering for the underdog, but these two teams have me pretty much enthralled.


As a consequence of my fandom for Baylor, I've followed this year's Heisman race closely.  Among the five finalists for the award is Baylor's young quarterback, Robbert Griffin III (aka RG3),  who has been so exciting to watch, put Baylor football (currently #12 in the BCS, thank you) on the map, and seems as impressive on the field as off.   

All this thinking about the Heisman takes me back to another Heisman-related story that involves (long story short): my husband (then boyfriend) on a business trip to Los Angeles, an emergency/unscheduled landing in Ontario, California, a 3 a.m. appendectomy at the Ontario Community Hospital, a 6 day hospital stay, a slow recovery and the Heisman award.  Suffice it to say, in a drug-induced state, seeing Andre Ware win the Heisman was seemingly the highlight of my husband's entire life.  As he wept "tears of happiness" from his hospital bed, I knew three things immediately:  despite almost 5 days in the hospital he was a long way from well, medication does strange things to people and, one day this would be the most hilarious story ever.  This story's been recounted numerous times and always has me laughing.  


Anyway, in it's 76 year history, there have been some pretty impressive Heisman winners.  Saturday night, here's hoping RG3's name is added to that list.  

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I'm endeavoring to make a few gifts this year; easy things really, for neighbors, my husband's co-workers and a few others.


Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home Cookbook is amazing.  Every recipe I've tried is  terrific.  This year, I'm making her Lemon Yogurt Cake. (I love lemon!)  Lots of steps, but it's fairly easy, delicious and beautiful.  Here's the link to the recipe.  

I found great 7.5 inch by 12 inch plates at a local party goods store, used 10 by 16 inch cellophane bags and a gold ribbon and I think they turned out really well.

I'm also trying my hand at cookies in a jar.  Here's the how-to.  

The jar on the left was my practice jar.  I quickly figured out to layer the ingredients in a way that makes it more eye-catching.  I used the seasonal variety of M & M's to make these Christmas- y.  On the top of the jar I included the additions required to complete the recipe and I attached a recipe card.  Since these are Cowboy Cookies I used a bandana to fancy-things up!

I'm also making my sister's Easy Peanut Cluster recipe.  

I bought these adorable little treat boxes after Christmas last year.  

Each box holds 8 peanut cluster candies.  Adorable!  

Finally, these aren't homemade but don't they look like it? I bought these here and they make great gift exchange ideas from your kids to the other kids in their classroom. I'm giving mine to the younger children in our neighborhood.  They're just fun!