We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house because Amy and her kids couldn’t be here on Christmas Day. Eric’s girlfriend, Kelsey, was here, too, which was nice.
Then on Christmas day, Hubby’s Mom and my parents joined Hubby, Shannon, Eric, and me for dinner. Which was also nice.
I took quite a few pics on Christmas Eve. But I didn’t even think about picking my camera up on Christmas day.
Can you believe that?
I can’t. I missed getting a picture of Hubby’s Mom in her pretty Christmas outfit. I didn’t get a picture of my parents either. And I REALLY wanted to have someone take a picture of Hubby and I together in front of our Christmas tree. Really. But I even forgot about that.
Jeez.
It was a lovely day anyway.
At least I have a few shots to share from Christmas Eve.
The calm before the "storm."
All of the gifts were wrapped and placed around the tree.
The "doll' atop our tree.
Last weekend, when Joey was here, he saw the angel that sits atop our tree. He either said our tree was stupid or funny because we had a doll on top of the tree instead of a star. I like our angel okay. But what I really miss is this awful cardboard star that Shannon, Amy, Eric and I made during one of our very first Christmases together. I wish I knew where that thing went.
Ho Ho Ho
I thought for sure someone would comment about the face on this Santa Claus. I’m not sure which of my girlfriends gave this one to me, but I think it was Carol. He’s got a very unique mug, wouldn’t you say?
I took a few pics of the ornaments on our tree.
I love snowmen.
I really like snowmen. And birds. From a decor perspective AND a real-life perspective.
Dark-eyed Junco
My Aunt Kathy gave me this bird ornament several years back. She knows I like birds, but she didn’t know what this particular bird was called (Dark-eyed Junco) or that it is one of my favorite birds. They’re winter birds in this area. They’re pretty social and think nothing of hanging out on our back steps for the dogs to watch and/or salivate over.
All decorated for the holiday.
I also love the way our house looks during the holidays.
Brianna couldn't resist helping Aunt Shannon apply the egg wash to her rolls.
I especially love the house when it’s full of our kids. And our grand kids.
Lego building.
The grand kids always enjoy playing with the gazillion Legos I have here. Some were mine when I was a kid and some were Uncle Eric’s. They asked Uncle Eric to build Legos with them. Shannon and I were busy in the kitchen. I did pop in long enough to get a picture of Eric surrounded by his niece and nephews. What I missed, however, was one of them asking Kelsey (Eric’s girlfriend) if she is their Aunt now. And whether she and Eric would be getting married.
The egg wash helps the rolls to brown AND helps the garnish adhere. In this case, there was poppy seeds, sesame seeds and kosher salt. Shannon makes excellent dinner rolls.
Kids in the kitchen.
It was nice having all the kids together. Left to right are Amy, Eric, Shannon, and Kelsey.
Grand kids opening gifts.
I’ll be kicking myself for a while for not capturing shots of the parents. It really was a lovely Christmas celebration.
Tonight, we’re supposed to be getting together with some of our friends. Unless this “blizzard” actually materializes. We’re only expecting about six inches of snow, but you never know what we’ll actually get.
Rest assured, though, I won’t forget to take pictures of THAT.
I was going to do a quick post yesterday to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, but the morning flew by. And once we started cooking around 10:30 we didn’t stop doing, doing, doing until pretty late. And I was pooped.
So now it’s the day after…
I hope each and every one of you had a fabulous day. If it was even half as awesome as mine, I know it was good. Because our day was amazing.
It’s odd, though, because we only had a few people here. My Mom hasn’t been feeling well so she and my Dad did Thanksgiving alone at their house. My son-in-law, TJ, is still deployed. The grand kids were at their other grandparents’ house. Amy, who is still recuperating from foot surgery, stayed close to her own home and spent the holiday with friends. Eric’s girlfriend was with her family in Pennsylvania. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew are in Virginia (that’s where they live). So…
Our gathering consisted of Hubby, of course, my mother-in-law, Shannon, Eric and me. And the dogs. We can’t forget them. 🙂
We decided to be different this year and forgo some of the more-traditional fare (like a turkey). All of us prefer chicken. None of us are really crazy about pumpkin pie either. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Shannon, who also likes to cook, agreed that it would be fun to experiment. I’ve always wanted to try sausage stuffing. And I get REALLY tired of the same old side dishes all the time. We decided to start with the must-haves (chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy) and then add some new stuff. Shannon took the initiative to find some interesting recipes. She succeeded, too.
I really am not exaggerating when I said we started at 10:30 and didn’t stop.
Actually, Shannon started on Wednesday by baking totally-from-scratch cinnamon rolls just like Hubby makes. They were designated as our Thanksgiving breakfast. She loves to bake, and it shows. The cinnamon rolls were delicious.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing for Breakfast
One of the must-have-again-SOON recipes Shannon found was Bella’s Brussels Sprouts with Bacon. Hubby, MIL and I really like Brussels Sprouts anyway. Shannon likes them, too. Eric doesn’t particularly care for them. But we all agreed that Bella’s Brussels Sprouts with Bacon ROCKED.
Then there were the Roasted Beets and Sweets…
The Most-interesting Vegetable
As much as I like red beets, I’ve never actually prepared them. Shannon hadn’t either. So we were both quite intrigued by the way the beets looked when freshly-peeled. The recipe was simple to follow and absolutely divine. If you’re a fan of red beets and sweet potatoes/yams, you have to try this Roasted Beets and Sweets recipe. Sorry I don’t have a picture of the finished product to show you.
I did mention that Shannon loves to bake, right? She’s my Kitchen Aide Pretzel Maker, remember? For dinner, she elected to make some dinner rolls. The recipe (actually called a formula) came from her bread maker’s Bible. Check these out…
Shaping the Rolls (I missed capturing the mixing and kneading action)Oven-readyFresh-from-the-Oven Goodness
Those were THE BEST rolls I have ever eaten. For serious. I’m not a huge bread fan. I mean, I like good-quality bread, but I’ve never been one to say, “Ooh, I would love to have some homemade rolls.” Now? We may never let Shannon move out. Having your own personal baker is AWESOME. Especially when they’re really good at it like Shannon.
While she and I cooked and baked, the dogs anxiously watched for our guests to arrive.
"Are they here yet? When are they coming?"
I baked an Apple Crumb Pie, too. Like the ones Brianna and I made back in October.
Please pass the garlic!
We used myriad spices as we cooked and baked. At one point, I had a few extra minutes and decided to reorganize the spice cabinet a bit. If you don’t do that periodically, things get completely out of hand. Shannon didn’t believe me when I told her we had FIVE different containers of garlic powder. So I got them out to show her.
When Eric still lived with us, we went through garlic powder like crazy. I prefer fresh garlic personally, but that boy loves him some garlic powder. Since it’s completely his fault that we had so much garlic in the cupboard, I made him take three of the five containers home.
Staying out of our way.
The dogs were pretty good about staying out from under foot. Every now and then one of them would sneak back into the kitchen. But for the most part, they did pretty good.
Back to our experimentation…
The last experimental side-dish was Garlic Carrots. Oh. My. GAWD. They were very simple, and really, really, really good. They were quite possibly the best cooked carrots I have EVER eaten. Again, I am not exaggerating. They were THAT good.
Experimental Chicken
We had two chickens because we made two kinds of stuffing. And the stuffing that’s cooked inside of the bird is ALWAYS better that the other stuff, so we had to have two chickens for the apples-to-apples comparison. The recipe Shannon chose was Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing. It was very good, but the traditional stuffing is still my favorite. That’s like one of my favorite things in the whole world to eat, so I’m not surprised that I liked it better. But the experimental stuffing was good, too.
Traditional Chicken
I’m sort of bummed that I didn’t take pictures of all the side dishes, but we were busy! I did try and get a shot of the meal on the table. None of these pictures are particularly good (there’s at least one person I captured with a weird look on their face or something out of focus in each), but I am posting them anyway because they were all the pictures I got.
Getting ready to eat.
That picture is actually not bad, but Eric is missing.
Hurry up, we're hungry!
This would’ve been a good one if Hubby hadn’t been goofing off and sporting a Gaige-face (Gaige loves to make goofy faces in pictures).
The meal.
And in that last one, I caught my MIL with her eyes closed. Sorry, Mom!
We were all half-starved by this point. Shannon and I somehow messed up our timing. The chickens weren’t finished until at least two hours after they were supposed to have been done. So I couldn’t make everyone wait too long to eat.
And eat we did. It doesn’t look like there’s that much food on the table, but there was. And it was all fabulous. I made succotash, too. That’s a staple. And I didn’t mention the gravy. I make yummy gravy, if I do say so myself.
Is it FINALLY our turn?
Once we were finished, the dogs got to eat their Thanksgiving meal. I use the chicken innards and necks to flavor the gravy base. Once that’s cooked for several hours, I always remove the innards, chop them all up and save it for the dogs. So they got that, some chicken, and a big dollop of gravy added to their bowls. They were all thrilled.
Even though we all wished the rest of the family could’ve come, we all agreed this was quite possibly our best Thanksgiving meal ever. Shannon and I really had a good time cooking together. And everyone enjoyed our experiments immensely. All-in-all, it was a very satisfying and very happy day.
Now, I think I’d better go and eat one of those leftover rolls of Shannon’s. And maybe some mashed potatoes and gravy, too. Plus some leftover stuffing…
I did end up spending this past weekend alone with our oldest grandson, Gaige, in West Virginia. Hubby was down with the same bug I had last week (which is STILL lingering in both of us by the way) and was really not up to that sort of outing. So Gaige and I loaded the dogs into the truck and off we went. We missed having Hubby around, of course, but we managed to have a bit of fun anyway.
As you can probably imagine, I took a few pictures.
Gaige was VERY proud of his new bicycle helmet.
Gaige is a bit of a character, so we shared quite a few laughs over the weekend. Starting with our visit to Target in Winchester, Virginia. He’d outgrown his bicycle helmet, so we stopped to buy one for him. He was super-excited about the cool helmet I let him pick out and insisted on wearing it as soon as the cashier finished scanning the thing, cardboard tag and all. Can you tell how excited he was?
The morning dog walk.
Saturday dawned bright and early, thanks to my crazy dogs. Gaige watched The Wizard of OZ while I woke up. Then we took the dogs for a walk. We turned that everyday dog walk into a hiking adventure.
"Mountain" climbing.
Gaige is a very active 7-year-old boy. He climbs on pretty much everything. He was super-excited to get a chance to do some mountain climbing.
At the mountain summit.
I’m not sure what he enjoyed more, going up or coming back down…
Sliding down the mountain.
He would’ve gone up and down that thing all day if I’d let him.
Running after Belle.
When he wasn’t climbing, he was running.
Making a wish.
He was quite tickled to discover one, lone dandelion seed head that was just screaming to be picked.
"G, I'll race you to the top!"
As we were heading back to the house, we got to a spot where the hill is VERY steep. Note how steep in the picture above. It only got worse higher up. I decided to back-track a bit and take the easier route. Gaige, of course, wanted to scale the steepest spot. And he wanted to make it a race. Knowing how steep that hill is, I knew I’d beat him.
"Can you believe that I beat you?"
I was wrong. I wasn’t going slow or anything. He just went really fast, which is why he’s gasping for breath in that photo above. Look behind him and you can see how steep and BIG the hill is.
Climbing a "broken" tree.
I did say he climbed pretty much everything there was to climb, right? This downed tree, which he referred to as broken, was no exception.
Gaige and Belle were playing together in the leaves.
Gaige really likes Belle and she likes him right back. Belle’s first family, who she lived with from 8 weeks to 18 months of age, had a couple of kids. So she actually likes hanging out with Gaige.
"You are NOT leaving me behind, Mama."
After our hiking adventure, I opened the back of the truck to load my bike. Belle, not wanting to get left behind (note the sad puppy expression on her face), hopped right in and immediately made herself comfortable. Gaige thought it would be fun to hang out there with her.
Moo!
I couldn’t resist including this cow picture. It was the first critter we encountered along the C&O Canal bike path.
Puddles!
Gaige very obediently rode through as many puddles as he could, just like I instructed. Until he went through one that was particularly long and deep and got soaked.
The coolest dude on the towpath.
He really likes his new helmet.
Puddle aftermath.
Riding through all of those puddles made him a little dirty.
Movie moment.
Gaige’s new favorite movie is Dante’s Peak (I love disaster flicks). He watched it on Sunday morning, with Belle, while I straightened the place up.
"Look, G! More broken trees!"
Later in the morning, he and I explored the yard a bit. There’s no shortage of stuff to climb on back there, that’s for sure.
One happy boy.
He really had a good time letting loose over the weekend. Yes, there were a number of pictures where I made him smile for the camera, but there were also lots of candid smile shots like this one, too.
I’m posting this last picture against my better judgment (I am in DESPERATE need of a haircut). I had to get a shot of the two of us together after our fun weekend.
Gaige and G on their Double G Weekend.
We need to take him back out there soon so we can build a tree fort. I wanted to do that this past weekend, but I didn’t have the proper tools with me. Next time, I’ll be more prepared.
Without her, I wouldn’t have my Hubby, or my lovely daughters, or my adorable grandchildren. So I owe her a lot.
I particularly owe her a THANK YOU for not getting mad at me for spelling her name wrong for the first 16 years of our marriage! Why Hubby chose not to tell me sooner, I’ll never know.
So, thank you Dena Jeanne Murphy, I hope you have a fabulous day!
Well, here we’ve been back in Maryland for almost two full days and I haven’t put any more trip info on my blog.
I have a very good reason for that.
Actually, I have THREE very good reasons…
The Three Grandkids
The grandkids spent Saturday night and Sunday with us. Today was Gaige’s birthday party (he’ll be seven on Monday). Originally, just Brianna and Joey were going to visit. But when we got home and I called Amy, she basically said, “Thank GOD you’re home. Come save me!” So she brought all three kids down for the evening. Which was cool. Because when the kids are here, we ALWAYS have something to laugh about.
Like this…
The three comedians.
I’m not sure what’s funnier in this picture, the look on Hubby’s face or the boys’ dual looks of mischievous delight.
Hubby needs a bigger lap!
Between the kids and the dogs, neither of us felt even the slightest bit ignored all weekend.
Pop's Little Helper
After Gaige left for his party, Joey “helped” Pop with some repairs to the irrigation system.
Then he played with Belle for a while. I promise, it isn’t nearly as bad as it looks.
"Mama, help!" Belle screamed.
Yes, it looks like he’s choking her to death. But he wasn’t. They were playing very nicely. Belle loves kids. But isn’t that picture funny?
Once Joey was down for his nap, Brianna and I made some apple pies.
Brianna's first Apple Crumb Pie.
While I was at the store yesterday, I decided to buy the ingredients I needed to make an apple pie. Once I realized Brianna would be able to help, I went back to the store for more apples so she’d have a pie to take along home. She really likes helping me in the kitchen. With my guidance, she made her very own Apple Crumb Pie.
I’m guessing her Mom and brothers were very happy this evening.
Really, look at this pie…
Close-up of Brianna's pie.
Not bad for a nine-year-old, eh? The only thing I did was slice the apples, give directions, and put the pies into the oven. She even unrolled the refrigerated pie crust all by herself and used it to line the pie dish.
It was a very nice weekend.
It’s good to be home.
And remember what I said about the kids keeping us laughing?
All three of them are hams. I can only get them to agree to sit for a picture for me if I promise to let them make silly faces at some point. While the first picture on this post isn’t the greatest picture ever, it’s the best of the bunch. The whole series I shot of them over the span of about 60 seconds was sort of funny. Hopefully you’ll get a chuckle out of this series of pictures, too. Look at the kids’ faces, but also take note of Meg’s practiced look of complete and utter boredom.
Yes, that shot is horribly blurry, but it shows Gaige trying to tech Joey how to make that funny face so I HAD to include it.
Goofy kids #7
I’m not sure exactly what Joey was doing in that last shot. But that image will forever remain in my book of favorites. No, it isn’t the best picture in the world, but it shows their personalities. It reminds me a lot of another one of my favorite grandkid pics from last year.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to share some more about our fabulous trip. Though I still have lots of pictures to cull through and edit…
Where were you 21 years ago? Can you remember? I can remember exactly where I was because today is my “baby” boy’s 21st birthday.
I know it’s a cliche, but time really does fly.
Eric doesn’t read my blog, so I figured it would be safe to do an Eric through the years pictorial tribute.
Of course, most of the pictures I have are not digital or easy to get to so I’ve got a limited selection to work with.
Eric at about 13 months
Eric was even rocking it when he was a baby. We never really know what sort of influence we’ll be, or what impressions we’ll leave, as our kids are growing.
Eric at about age 3
Eric was probably more like 2 and a half in that last shot. I’m glad he grew out of the “looking like a preppy” phase.
Eric around age 7
Eric’s very short-lived tenure as a Cub Scout. Activities like that and sports didn’t go over so well with the non-custodial parent.
Eric at age 8
It’s funny as I look through these pictures that I begin to realize I did influence the boy in a way. He’s got a bit of my goofy streak.
I'm guessing he was around 10 here.
Eric in desperate need of a haircut. His hair is so thick, when his summer buzz cuts grew out, it always looked like he was sporting an Afro.
Eric around 11
Fishing with Pop (my Dad) in Virginia.
Eric's 12th birthday celebration
Eric and my parents on his 12th birthday.
Eric and his friend, Tim, around 12
Curling with Tim. He was between 12-13 here I think.
Eric with his brother (Jeff) and sister (Samantha)
Eric (age 14?) visiting with his brother and sister (on his father’s side) at Cherrystone Campground in Virginia, where I dropped him on the way home from my brother’s house.
Eric (around 16) with his favorite Mom
This is Eric in uniform during his time at the Freestate Challenge Academy, a National Guard-sponsored youth program that rescued Eric (and the rest of us) from his challenging high school days.
Eric (16), Mike and I at Amy's wedding
Here’s Eric looking all “gangsta” with Hubby and I after Amy’s wedding.
Eric won the garter toss!
I think my sense of humor definitely wore off on him. He’s a good sport about just about everything.
Eric at 19
Here he is with his new, pink pouf at around 19. He needed a pouf and it was the only one we could find at Walmart.
Eric at 20
This shot is relatively recent. I lifted it from his (or his girlfriend’s) Facebook page.
Eric with his girlfriend, Kelsey, and Emily (I assume she's Kelsey's friend)
Speaking of girlfriend… here Eric is with Kelsey. This one is only about two months old. Ah, to be young and in love. They look so happy together. And she’s a real sweetheart, too.
Happy birthday, son!
Raising you wasn’t always easy (every kid presents a challenge), but I’m proud of the wonderful young man you have become. I love you!
Eric at about 14 with his brother (Jeff) and sister (Samantha)
