Holiday Favorites

A few in the pew.

That the boys don't care what they look like on Christmas morning...
...but they dress the dog in a Christmas sweater.
Making spritz with someone special......and making snowflakes in a Snuggie.

Big brother bear hugs...

...and a crowd of cousins.The writing on the wall......and writing on her heart.
(a gift from her Mama, Grma, & Aunts, Abby had always wanted an Addy)
Reindeer games...

...and rowdy reindeer games.

Sweet sister in laws...

...and Sugar Plum Princesses Matching cousins......and matching cousin gifts...

...and matching...socks?!?

The wonder of young and old......of heads bowed......and folded hands.

Praying you have a Very Blessed & Happy New Year!

Nativity~circa~1972

Last week I was conversatin' with my sister on the phone:
Tami~so what are you up to today?
Jody Blue~not much, well I am doing something that is going to make you down right jealous.
T~rEALly? Well it had better be pretty good because right now I'm eating a double.. chocolate.. cup cake...and its filled..with chocolate. Can you do better than that?
JB~by a mile, I am setting up THE Nativity set;)
T~(busting out in laughter) You HAVE to blog that!

The story of the B family Nativity
My Mom made it in 1972 in ceramics and when she brought it home, we were in awe, and I don't mean awe like in awful I mean real awe, it was so pretty and she had worked hard on it. She had talked about it for weeks. Once the Christmas tree was up my brother Rock and I would set the Nativity up under the Christmas tree. Some years we would find a cardboard box for a stable. We would poke a hole in the back and fish a Christmas tree light to shine upon the baby Jesus. Some years they went with out a cardboard stable. Mom had always wanted to have someone build a wooden stable, but that never came to pass. We always put the Babe in last(I'm sure there was more than one fight on who's turn it was to actually place the Babe in the manger). We always referred to it as "the Nativity set". One year when I had just a couple of kids and I knew she hadn't used it for awhile I asked if I could use it. Now to be fair I have offered it on more than one occasion to each one of my siblings to have it so their children could experience the joy...they have all declined. So my kids have taken turns setting it up year after year. They always remembered who did it the last year, but that's usually after a bit of a dust up had taken place. They always save the baby Jesus to be put in the manger last. They have also been known to move it around to their own personal interpretation of how the Blessed event actually took place, and that has caused REALLY big dust ups! This year with just two boys left at home I decided to take a turn, for old time sake.

I had a chuckle the when I first brought it to our home over 20 years ago and realized that it was not historically accurate. The shepherds dressed in lime green and orange just make me smile and Joseph would have never been able to afford a red robe, on and on. Us B kids had no clue and were so impressed that all of the wise men royal robes matched their own personal camel blankets. I was always a bit star struck over the golden angel, and it can still be a challenge to find the right place to hang her, as it was when we were kids. Notice no stable, and I have no plans to provide one, some year I may find them a nice cardboard box.

The cow has a crescent moon on it and the B family initial on its behind...or maybe Mom was just labeling its B-hind:)

That poor sheep has lost both ears and some of the camels are missing tails. The little donkey was not a part of the set Mom made. It was one of the very few things that had been recovered when our house burned in Jan 1970. Mom had repainted him and added him in. My kids have since named him Madrikh after a Little Golden Book story The Christmas Donkey. When he comes out of the box I remind them that he has been threw the fire twice(I know there's a spiritual lesson in there some where!) so they have to be oh so careful with him.

The kneeling boy has a blue goats hair tunic and coordinating baby blue under garment and head band. I have always loved the color and texture of that sheep, he's probably as close to accurate as he can be for ceramics made in America in 1972.

The baby Jesus is missing part of one hand. There is usually a discusion on which way He should be placed. Grace says facing His Mama, the boys say Mary shared him with the world so he should be facing so we all can see him. Him and the manger are moved often threw out the Christmas season.

Although the Bible does not actually name the wise men, in a myth dating back to the medieval days says their names were , Melchoir, Gaspar and...no not Balthasar...

...BUG EYES!?!
No matter how my Mom tried and had others try they just couldn't get his eyes right. We have always very affectionately referred to him as Bug Eyes. We would say that of course his eyes are bugging he just saw the baby Jesus for the first time. Let me tell you its not just his eyes that has had issues. The poor guys head was broken off with in the first couple of years. And try as we might Rock and I could not get that thing to stay on. Elmers school glue just wouldn't hold, nor would super glue, so we stuffed a pencil down his broken throat and put his head back on. But his head wobbled so we wrapped a kleenex around the pencil and that held as well as could be expected, yet with a noticeable wobble. Things are looking up for 'ol Bug Eyes, when I started working at the local high school I took ol' Bug Eye's in to the art teacher and he glued his head back on and it has stuck for about 9 years now. He does still bear the scar and I don't know if the pencil and kleenex are still in his neck, I could look up the hole on the bottom but I'd hate to embarrass him, he has already been threw so much. He is loved though, and every year when I remind my two brothers and sister that I set up "THE Nativity set" they always ask how ol' Bug Eye's is doing;)

Rosie the Rosetters

Like Rosie the Riviter we were heating iron , but with a whole different outcome.

I had no plans to do Rosettes this year. Grace had other plans. We made it a mother daughter day while A & W were at school. Grace did 90% of the work, I stepped in for pictures. Isn't she adorable in her apron. Its a youth apron that Barb gave her years ago. I offered her a bigger one but she was fine with hers, she didn't want to wear one with chickens on it!
Am I a beaut or what!! I think the apron added 10 pounds, that and the 3 layers you need to wear when you do anything in my kitchen in winter. I have on my Christmas apron. I have no idea where it came from. Had to be in a hand me down box. I'm sure it was made for someone alot taller than I, and the little pocket that once held someones hanky now holds my cell phone.
Grace came down with a bandana on, and like any full grown woman would do I said "Ooo go get me one!! It was fun teaching her how to make Rosettes (I had always done them when everyone went to bed a "my thing"). A memory I will hold dear.

Rosette Tutorial (kinda)

I've been making Rosettes for years. I love them, I could eat my weight in them - if it were humanly possible. I looked on-line to check out how other's are making them, I was disappointed. Most sites just had the recipe, but no tips and techniques, so I'm sharing!

Rosettes
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Lard -- for frying
sugar -- for dipping finished rosettes in

Mix first 6 ingredients until smooth. Let rest until room temp. Don't stir. Skim off foam. Heat lard to 375*-400*. Heat iron in hot lard. Tap on paper towel to remove excess lard. Dip iron into batter. Dip battered iron into hot lard. Hold in for a few seconds and pull away, you may need to use a fork to help rosette off iron. Fry until delicately brown. Turn once. Fry a bit more. Remove. Place on paper towels. Cool. Gently dip in granulated sugar. Store in air tight container.

Tips
*Don't use Armor Star Lard it tends to smoke. I use Snow Cap.
*Skim off foam with a flat end pancake turner so batter doesn't get to stirred up.
*I use clear glass bread pans for batter, lets you see the foam better, and is the perfect size for a double rosette iron.
*I mix 2 batches and put each batch into a bread pan.
*Don't cover iron top with batter.
* If batter "falls off" iron - iron could be to cold - your moving to slow - or the batter is to
saturated with lard and needs to be tossed
*Don't use last 1/2 inch of batter (lard saturation).
*Have a nice stack of plates, it helps with less lard build up.
*After removing Rosette from hot lard, place pretty side up, and don't stack any on top of each other or lard will drain onto the bottom ones.
*I store Rosettes in an ice cream buckets (I have alot of them. I may have eaten my weight in ice cream!)

Well worth the mess and effort!

Dressed in Holiday Style

Drum roll please! I told you he out did himself!

We all stand in the front yard for the first lighting of the season. We take turns flipping the switch, Willy did the honors this year. Jon put in a master switch for all outside lights. It's located inside at the top of the stairs, to be turned off when the last one up is turning in.

I don't always get all (or any for that matter) of the candles turned on in the windows. If you drive by for a look, call and I can make sure they are all on.

I may be a bit prejudice, but this has my vote for

"Best of Show in a Small Town"

Line up the shoes, its St. Nicks Day!

It always makes us happy when St. Nicholas Day lands on Saturday, as it did this year. If not we just celebrate on the Sat. closest to that date. This years gifts were Dollar Tree Mugs, and the traditional oranges, nuts, & candy. We put our shoes outside of bedroom doors, its way too cold to leave them outside or even inside the back door for that matter!

Grace, who has a wee bit of a shoe addiction, always puts out the funnest pair of shoes she has.Avery put out his baseball cleats, he keeps them in his room to "gaze upon their loveliness" he rescued them from being sent to the garden shed attic for winter storage.
Willy forgot to put out a pair of shoes. I had no desire to traipse back down stairs and find some for him. I grabbed his catchers mitt (another rescue from storage) off his bedroom floor. I figure it like this: Its leather, its dusty and stinks, and I spend a significant amount of time tripping over it when I come in the back door, close enough to a pair of shoes!

Tree Shopping

We went with a scotch pine this year. $10 from the too big clearance lot! What a deal! They don't hold ornaments that well, but with a price like that we couldn't pass it up!

Eli making sure Uncle Willy is getting the job done right.

J.J. taking his turn at the saw!

Grace helping Elijah learn stump jumping.

Exterior Illumination Specialst

Every year I tell him: cut it down, its too big, plant a smaller one, you can't see and I don't want to hit a little old lady (The one who is caretaker of the A. A. Arnold house) when I (or Grace who Chauffeurs me) back out, and you are going to break your neck one of these times. Every year he says I know but I planted these with them, Randi was in 3rd grade and J.J. was in kindergarten, they brought them home for National Arbor Day. Every year he devises another "tool" to help him get the lights to the top. And every year he out does his self! I will post the end result soon, we just had a beautiful snow and it is lovely.
Checking up on the Vikings game between putting up the strands of lights. He bought a "I gotta have it" tool, he heard about it last year but MENards was sold out. It repairs the light strands so slick and helps find that one burnt out bulb that makes 1/2 of them to go out.