joyous, magical and busy

Well, it's over for another year. All the planning and preparing and then the holidays go

by in a flash. I said a few days before Christmas that I couldn't wait for it to be over, and

 that day is here. But truly ~ I had a wonderful Christmas and loved the time spent with family.

Christmas Eve, we met Brian's father and two of his sisters for dinner at a restaurant. The

 place was packed and service was a little slow due to the busyness, but everyone was in 

such a good mood that it didn't matter.  

 My sisters-in-law surprised me with a Le Creuset dutch oven! My mouth actually

dropped open when I opened this. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that

I love to cook. And since I cook a lot, I appreciate quality cookware. Le Creuset is my

favorite, but let's face it, who can afford it? Not me. The only piece I had before this is

a saute pan - which I won in a blog contest over a year ago. I use the saute pan all

the time and it cooks food beautifully and cleans up so easily. And the pan still looks

barely worn. I can see why this cookware lasts "forever" and can be handed down

generations. This gift - to me - is more precious than gems. Forgive the poor quality

photo...I took it with my phone the minute we got home. As you can see by the clock

in the background, it was almost midnight. Yes, I was excited.

After dinner, we then went on to my aunt and uncle's house. They host Christmas

Eve festivities at their house every other year when their son (my cousin) and his 

wife fly in from Washington. I had forgotten my camera and only took a couple

of photos with my phone, so no pics to post of the goings-on that night. I don't

 think you would be interested in seeing photos of my aunt demonstrating

 how to use squat toilets in China or us sitting around a dining room table discussing

the stock market and Sweet Brown videos.  

Tim had to work on Christmas Eve until Christmas morning at 1:00 a.m., so he didn't

get home until 3:30 a.m. He immediately headed to the kitchen and started heating up

food in the microwave, so that's what woke me up. I got out of bed and went into the

kitchen to give my boy a hug and talk to him for a bit. Between that and waking up

numerous times to use the bathroom and shoo the cats out of our room, I was thankful

that we could all sleep in on Christmas day. I made a breakfast casserole and the

three of us relaxed in the living room with our food and coffee, opening gifts and

talking and laughing at the cats playing in the wrapping paper and gift bags.

 

In the afternoon, we went to my sister's house for more festivities.

 What is with teenagers and not wanting to have their picture taken? My boys

did the hands-over-their-face thing too, when they were teens. We had a ton of

wonderful food...appetizers of smoked salmon dip and crackers, guacamole and

tortilla chips, spiced nuts, and party roll-ups, and then Italian beef sandwiches, 

ham, tamales, smoked rib tips and three-layer Christmas jello salad for the meal.

The jello concoction was made by my second cousin, Greg in memory of his mother and

 her sister (which would be Greg's aunt and my grandma) : they used to take turns making

 this dish for family Christmas dinners. Homemade Christmas cookies and my
 mom's homemade French Silk Chocolate pie were on the dessert table. 

With Tim being away at school now, he doesn't get to see his cousins often. And now

that they're older (Tim just turned 24; my nieces are 18 and 16), they all seem to be

much closer. I think when they were younger, the age difference was that Tim thought

of them as pesty little girls (even though he loved them). I love seeing their relationship

evolve, much like mine did with my cousin, Greg.

 Today I actually de-Christmased the entire house! I do this every year on the 26th.

 For me, Christmas is over and 3-1/2 weeks was plenty of time to enjoy the decorations.

I just kept filling up the laundry basket with decorations and Brian made several trips

downstairs to pile everything all over the bar. The hard part will be packing everything

away properly. We ran to Target in the afternoon in hope of scoring gift bags at 50%

off, but we were too late. There was nary a one. We decided on not using traditional

wrapping paper anymore and starting next year, will use brown kraft paper.We found out 

that wrapping paper isn't recyclable! Did you know that? But the brown kraft paper is.

 And it can be decorated in many ways with rubber stamps, doodles and drawings,

 stickers, ribbons, and other embellishments.

However you chose to spend your holiday, I hope it was filled with lots of love.

The best gift of all.

these days

 Twenty-fourth birthday celebration for our son with delicious Asian food - and a surprise

red velvet cupcake and singing waiters at the end of our meal.

Presents wrapped and waiting by our little tree (decked with our son's childhood

ornaments).

Christmas cards from near and far deck the mirror and remind us of loved ones.

Candlelight and magazines and sleepy kitties on blankets.

Baking. Lots of baking.

Delicious dinner with the most amazing girlfriends...we had sweet potato curry

soup, homemade bread with three different homemade toppings ~ olive tapenade,

roasted tomatoes, and goat cheese with herbs and Parmesan, fennel and grapefruit

salad, quinoa salad with pomegranate seeds, walnuts, green olives and fresh

parsley (recipe here), leek and mushroom pot pie, three bottles of wine, and 

vegan carrot cake (which was amazing) for dessert.

And tonight: candlelit restorative yoga. I can't wait. 

24 years and ignore that header

Twenty-four years ago today, I gave birth to my second son, Timothy. It's hard for

me to believe that my "baby" is 24 years old already. He's in school right now as a

photography and art major. He's been home most of this week and went out last night

with friends to celebrate his birthday. So this mama only got a few hours of sleep last

night because I can't sleep until I know my child is home safe and sound. I'm sure most

of you moms with young adult children know exactly what I'm talking about!

 We're going out to dinner tonight to one of those Asian food places where you take

a bowl and go around to different stations, choosing your protein (meats, seafood, tofu),

 veggies, and lastly, spices and sauces. You then bring your bowl of food to the cooks

who stir-fry it all up in front of you on a big grill.

While I was up late last night, I played around with my blog header in picmonkey.

I couldn't get the dimensions exactly right and I finally had to give up out of

exhaustion and frustration. I'll have to work on it later when I'm not so tired and

can concentrate. 

Happy Friday! What are your plans for this weekend?

gloomy out, sunny in

 This is what our weather has been like every day for days on end: gray, damp

and gloomy. No snow. Doesn't look like we'll have a white Christmas here in

northern Illinois. I took a walk yesterday morning and snapped this photo by my 

house. It's untouched. I wanted to show you all just how dark it is here during

the day. I'm sending a SOS to those of you in sunny climates.

 So if we don't have sunshine outside, we find it in little ways indoors, right?

 One of my best friends babysits her granddaughter on Saturdays. My friend invited me

 over this past Saturday and I got to play with this little darling and get my baby fix.

 Look at those big, beautiful eyes! She seriously is one of the sweetest babies I have
 ever encountered. She will go to anyone...lets me hold her, feed her a  bottle, diaper her 

(though that was comical...it's been about 16 years since I've diapered a baby and my

 friend had to help me!), play with her ~ and she doesn't even "know" me. 

I maybe see her once every six weeks or so. She is always so smiley and content.

Another bit of happiness...I'm in the middle of reading this phenomenal book. I think

it might be my favorite book of 2014. Hard to put down, though I'm trying to savor it

because I don't want it to end!

 

Best of all, my Bearded Boy came home from school yesterday! I made a lovely dinner:

Crockpot Italian Pork Chops and roasted potatoes and carrots. I'm normally not a fan

of pork chops, but I will eat one made this way. The meat just falls off the bones and is

so flavorful. Brian and Tim went back for seconds and kept claiming how delicious

the chops were. So easy to make, too. After dinner, we hung out downstairs in the family

room, watching Christmas programs on TV and drinking Moscow Mules. 

 And more little bits of cheer...the last of my Christmas decor around my house.

This table is at the end of the hallway. The family photo is from Thanksgiving 2008.

The last one where it was all four of us. (For those of you who don't know, my oldest

son, Philip - in the blue coat in the photo - passed away in September 2009.) The

frame was given to me by a dear friend from Boston. We started out as pen pals

way back when our boys were babies...before we had computers in our homes

and email and social media were the way of life.

I found this little bunny in a Hallmark store years ago. I had to buy it since the scarf said

Joy Phil - though Phil never was particularly amused by it. I have it sitting on top of the

bookcase under his memory shelf. 

A few Santa Claus tchotchkes on a wooden cigar box - all Goodwill finds - 

in Tim's room.

 

The only Christmas decorations I put in the main bath were the few angels that

I've collected over the years. The wooden angel by the "t" in the bath sign is hand

carved and from a European country, though I can't remember which one. I used to

belong to a woman's group called, "Circle of Gems". One Christmas we had to bring

something from our home that had special meaning to us, but that we were willing

to part with as a gift to another woman in the group. The angel was one of the gifts

 that was brought to the Christmas party and laid out on the table. It immediately caught

my eye and I hoped no one else would choose it. No one did! It was meant to come

home with me.

Thanks for visiting...and don't forget to send me some sunshine!

 

christmas in the kitchen

 Hello, friends and happy Friday! I thought I'd show you the simple touches of Christmas

that I've put in my kitchen this year...

The red glasses on this shelf were a gift from a friend who moved out of state

this past spring. They belonged to her grandmother. Aren't they beautiful? The Santa

mugs are ones collected throughout the years. 

 This grid ~ an old cooling rack ~ hangs on the wall above my stove. It's a perfect

way to hang measuring spoons and other small cooking utensils, but I changed it

up a bit for Christmas. I've had that little print for years. It was thrifted and is one of

my favorites. It says, "Gather 'round the table...all join hands in love."

 All that's missing from my winter beverage station is hot chocolate. I'll be making my

own mix this weekend. A homemade mix is so much better than the store-bought stuff

which is full of so many chemicals, hydrogenated oils, and corn syrup. And yes, that's a 

bottle of Bailey's in the back, for those who wish to add some to their coffee or hot 

chocolate. I've had that bottle for years...goes to show how much we use it! I'm normally

 not a fan of flavored coffee, but Trader Joe's Winter Blend is the only one I love and
 look forward to every winter. It's a medium dark roast lightly spiced with red and
 green peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon.

 The china cabinet...

mostly filled with cookbooks, but a few Christmas touches, too.

 Everything on the shelves next to the china cabinet are thrifted items I've

found over the years (except for the little air plant). The cups on the metal

shelves on the right are Bailey's cups! I think they're so cool and unique.

They were a Goodwill find from years ago.

The top of my fridge has a plate rack with my Debbie Mumm Snowman Portraits

plates, a cooking snowman, and a Christmas crock dated 1981 from Marshall Fields.

I found that at Goodwill several years ago, too. Man, I miss that store. I actually worked

there when I was a teenager. I loved shopping there, especially with my grandma. Such

a classy store with high quality merchandise and excellent customer service. And who

remembers their Frango mints? I certainly do! My dad loved them, too. I remember one

Christmas where I wrapped up a box of these mints and put them under the tree for my

dad. Our little Pekingese dog smelled them through the wrapping paper and tore into

the box and ate them! Yes, he got very sick but at least he had good taste. 

Thanks for visiting me in my kitchen. What are you up to this weekend...Christmas

decorating, shopping, or baking? Or, are you done with all that? 

the best laid decorating plans

 I had mentioned in my last post that I had ordered a bench from Overstock and was

going to try to make my little front entrance area more foyer-like and guest friendly.

I had it all planned out...a bench to sit on when coming or going to take off or put on

shoes and boots, plus a good spot to dump purses and packages. I was going to

remove the mirror and hang a cool coat rack. I was thinking of trying to find a long

piece of reclaimed wood and installing various types of vintage hooks and knobs

on it. I'd hang that on the wall above the bench and then put some pretty art prints 

above the rack. 

The bench was delivered yesterday and Brian put it together. I put it in place and...

NO.

I actually love the bench itself. The retro look, the color, the texture, the cool legs.

But, there's a couple of problems. First of all, it turns out that trying to turn that little

 wall space into a foyer just doesn't work. That area needs to be blocked off somehow

 and as you can see by the (terrible) design of my small living room, there is no room 

to do so. Blocking off that area wouldn't leave any room for foot traffic. Secondly, the

color of the bench is all wrong for this room. All the blue accents in the living room are

turquoise, not aqua. I thought this lighter blue would blend in, but when you see it with

the turquoise wicker chair (it's hard to see the color of the chair in this photo, I know)

and the turquoise blanket on the couch, etc., you see how the aqua clashes with the

 turquoise.

When I think of blocking off a small, open area to make it into another space, I think

of a friend's house where she did just that. You see how she used a bookcase right

inside the entrance to her living room to make a little office area? I love this. But it

doesn't block the flow of foot traffic, so this idea works perfectly in her home.

So, it's back to square one with putting the console table back in place. (No, the sun

didn't miraculously just come out - this is an older photo.) I wish I could use the bench

elsewhere in the house...it would be lovely at the end of our bed, but we don't have

any room. So, the little blue bench is going to be taken apart, boxed back up, and 

sent back.

 Brian's now taking the bench apart and boxing it all up for me. All without 

complaint or saying a word about my continual rearranging. What a smart man.

And one who now deserves dinner, so off I go.

 

   

spiffing up the living room for christmas

 I started my Christmas decorating this week. I don't do any major decorating, but still

have enough decor where it looks like my house exploded until I get everything into

place. Which takes all week because I take my time...and I constantly tweak stuff.

 For today, I'll take you on a little tour of my living room. Instead of decorating "big", I 

prefer to add little touches here and there. I found this vintage sled, ornaments and

Christmas cards at an antique shop several years ago.

 These nesting Santas were found last year at Goodwill.

 A trio of miniature vintage mice decorate my collection of Mary Oliver books.

Mary's my favorite poet, by the way.

I kept the fall runners on the buffet (the burlap bird one was made by Judy of 20 North Ora).

I think they easily transition into Christmas mode with other touches of burlap, as in the little

tree on the shelf, and with touches of gold and red. On the other side of the buffet is our

tabletop Christmas tree, but I'm still decorating it, so I didn't take any photos. I use this

tree to display my boy's childhood ornaments. We don't put up a big tree anymore.

If you've been a follower of my blog for awhile, you know that I don't have a proper

foyer in my home. When you walk in the front door, you are smack dab in the living

room. This is the wall to the left when you walk through the door. I kept the console

table very simple on purpose...as I'm re-doing this area! I'm trying to make it more

foyer-like and guest friendly. I ordered a really cool light blue leather mid-century

bench from Overstock. It will go in place of this console table - which will be going

downstairs behind the sofa. The bench will be much lower than the console table,

so the wall gap between the bench and the mirror will look awkward. For now, I'll

fill in the area with some pillows on the bench, against the wall. I do have a long term

plan/redecorating idea. ;-)

Another last year Goodwill find, tucked among the floor plants by the fireplace.

 How are you coming along on your holiday decorating?