A Fairy Tale Hodgepodge - 12/7/11

Joining Joyce and friends for the weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  Will you be hosting any house guests between now and the end of December? Does that thought make you happy or crazy? Do you do anything special for your guests to make them feel at home? How long should a house guest stay?

As far as I know we will not be hosting any house guests between now and the end of December, but who knows, we may have some impromptu overnight guests while my son is on winter break.  I don't think much of not having guests because we never have had guests over the holidays, although sometimes I think it would be nice. I've always wanted to make little guest baskets, but not having guests, I've never had the opportunity to.

2. Walter Elias Disney was born this week (December 5) back in 1905 ...what's your all time favorite Disney movie? Here's a list in case you're struggling...and yes, you have to pick one.

I would have to say my favorite Disney movie is Cinderella.  You can't go wrong with a classic like Cinderella, it has to be the quintessential fairy tale of all time; poor orphan girl meets, falls in love with and marries a prince. Every girls dream. Her ball gown is what I thought prom and wedding dresses were suppose to look like until a few short years before my first prom.  I can't mention the movie Cinderella without mentioning my favorite line, which is when Cinderella says "and look, glass slippers."  Plus,  I love the mice, they always make me laugh.

3. What was the last thing you purchased that you realized was a mistake after the fact?

It happened last night as a matter of fact, an acquaintance of mine brought me 5 pounds of  locally caught, freshly smoked, salmon, which I purchased from him.  Upon getting it home, I tasted it, found it over-smoked to my taste (and my family's). Now I have 5 pounds of smoked salmon I need to figure out what to do with (I've vacuum sealed it and tossed it in the freezer for now).

4. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done online?

Very little if any of my Christmas shopping is done online. I think last year I may have purchased a few hard to find DVD's for my husband, step-dad and father-in-law. This year, we may end up purchasing another DVD for my father-in-law and possibly an Amazon gift card for my niece to buy books for her kindle. But, so far, none of our shopping has been done online.

5. Amaryllis-snowdrop-poinsettia...your favorite winter blossom?

Poinsettias without a doubt. As you can see above I used poinsettias in my bridal bouquet. (One last mention here of our 17th Wedding Anniversary which we celebrated this past weekend - yay us!)  We also spent part of our honeymoon on the Caribbean rain forest island of Dominica, where the poinsettias were growing wild all over the place.  It was beautiful. 

6. What is one thing on your personal Christmas wish list? I think we all want peace on earth so let's make this answer an actual item.

It is always so hard for me to think of things for myself, as a matter of fact, just yesterday I decided to start a board on pinterest for just this purpose.  There is one item on it so far, an immersion blender.

7. If you could only use one word today what would it be?

Love.  I firmly believe that you need to tell the people you love that you love them every day.  So if I could only use one word today, I'd have to say love.  Even if I can't say I and you, I think they would understand if I just looked at them and said love.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We usually do Christmas Eve at my Mother-in-law's house. (Pictured above is Christmas Eve 2004, a 16 month old Dominic enjoying ritz crackers and cheese) Peggy is retired and my Father-in-law is planning to retire soon.  For over 17 years I've been a part of this family and every year my Peggy makes all the food. Granted, it's snack type foods, but it's a lot for one person to take on, especially financially.  This year my niece and I decided enough was enough. We've left her two things to make and divy'd up the rest of the food between the family members, some just need to pick up a bag of chips or a box or crackers. The menu has been pretty set for years, but I suggested if someone wants to bring something new in addition to their assigned item they are welcomed to do so... I'm excited to see if any new food traditions develop... (I've got one in the works that I'm sure will be a big hit - if I can pull it off that is!)

Oh, Christmas Tree!

One thing I love about blogging, is the more blogs you read, the more topics you come up with.  I hope no one gets offended when I use their topics. Once again, this great blog topic came from Amiee. Her blog Promises and Secrets  is one of my favorites.

The Christmas tree is one of my very favorite Christmas traditions. (I mean, who doesn't love a Christmas tree!) Starting in the late 70's or early 80's my Grandma began doing themed Christmas tree's. She would change the theme every few years.  One year we spent hours poking fabric into styrofoam balls to make "quilted" ornaments.  One year it was all "sugared" toy ornaments,  toy soldiers, rocking horses etc, very cute.  The last themed tree my Grandma had was very beautiful, it was all gold and ivory, she used this for several years before she died, and when she was gone, I took over with that theme, which I kept, adding and deleting ornaments, for almost 10 years after she was gone.  The pictures above are from 2003, the last year I had the "fancy tree" (Dominic's first Christmas).  Hubby and I agreed that once we had kids, we would switch to a "fun" tree (as he called it). 

12/7/11 Revision: So while working on my next entry I pulled up the 2004 Christmas pictures and low and behold, there was my lovely ivory and gold tree.  So, now a quest to determine when we actually switched to the "fun" tree... ( I think maybe for the first few years I allowed "fun" ornaments like Star Wars ornaments etc on the fancy tree... the colored lights thing was hard for me to swallow)

We've had a few live trees,  one year, hubby even impressed the man at the Christmas Tree stand by fitting a 9 1/2' Christmas tree completely inside our tiny little Ford Festiva.  He shoved it in the hatch back, trunk first until the trunk of the tree was on the dashboard, then folded the tip top of the tree over and closed the hatch. (They did wrap the tree in one of those nets or else it probably would never have worked).  Last year, we also had a live tree (pictured above) because our humble farm house does not boast the cathedral ceilings that our house in Las Vegas had, and our 9' artificial tree would not fit.  Personally, I prefer the artificial anyway, no watering, no needles all over the floor (or in your feet). So after Christmas last year we hit the after Christmas sales and bought a smaller pre-lit tree.  We got one for Dominic's playroom too (an even smaller and not pre-lit, we paid under $10 for it.) He loves having his very own tree in his playroom,  it is pictured below.

The fun tree has retained a few fancy ornaments, but now boasts colored lights (in addition to the white lights that came on the Pre-lit tree).  Of course the most "fun" things about this tree are the ornaments. Each has its own story, which is a blog topic in itself, sounds like a good one for tomorrow.
And finally, this year's tree...

So with that, I'll leave you to begin taking pictures of some of our favorite Christmas ornaments. Merry Christmas to you and happy decorating!

5 Things you may not know about me.

What a crazy week it's been! I've been itching to get back to blogging, but have been having trouble coming up with a topic. Today, while cleaning the kitchen, a topic popped into my head, so here we are... 5 Things you may not know about me...

1.  I collect copper cookie cutters. I think they are so pretty.  I love them so much that I really dislike buying cookie cutters that aren't copper, but sometimes I just can't find the shape I need in a copper cutter.

2.  I can not stand the taste of peanut butter.  According to my mom, I've never liked it... I do however like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup every once in awhile (especially the dark chocolate ones), the addition of sugar really changes the taste, doesn't it.

3.  I have a webbed toe.  No, seriously... I do. The second and third toes on my left foot are joined up to the first knuckle.  No picture, some people (namely my little sister) are really freaked out by it.

4.  I own a pink assault rifle. One of a kind, custom paint job. Cute, isn't it. Yep, a little redneck, but, that's me.

5. The gray streak in my hair stems from a scar received in a minor car accident my senior year of high school.  I cut my head open on one of those little mirrors you clip on your sun visor. 

OK, so, not the best topic, it was really hard to come up with 5 things. Even hubby couldn't think of anything unusual about me, (other than I listen to Christmas music all year long.) I guess after 17 years of marriage, he's use to my idiosyncrasies.

Until next time...