WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE

Click on the button to join up with Joyce's Hodgepodge!

1. Do you send Christmas cards? If so about how many will you send this year? How do you display the cards you receive? Or don't you? (gasp!)
Yes I do send out cards. I will mail out around 65 cards. I have two card holders that hang on the wall to display my cards. I love cards, I love sending cards, I love receiving cards. This is how it has always been and always will be for me! (I use to mail out close to 100 cards but my list has gone down. My father who is 88 still sends out close to 100 cards!)

2. When do kids become adults?
I think that when they move out and live on their own. That doesn't mean they don't still need us or do some dumb things! In the eyes of a parent they are always our babies.

3. Does your 'beauty regimen' change with the seasons?
I would have to say no to this but mainly because I am in Southern California and we tend to be dry year round. I always moisturize.

4. What's something you like to eat that might cause another person to turn up their nose?
I know that I haven't opened a can of sauerkraut in the house in a long time because it makes our son-in-law sick. He can't stand the smell.

5. Gloves or mittens?
Sorry Joyce but I have to say both! Not that I use them much her in California.

6. What's the longest queue you've ever been in? Was it worth it? Queue=line but doesn't queue sound nicer?
Yes it does sound nice and I'm glad your told us what it means. I know that two years ago we waited in line for a ride at Disneyland for over 2 1/2 hours. Right now I can't think of anything else. I am not one of those people who will camp out all night to get something.

7. Besides Christmas, what is one thing you are looking forward to in the month of December?
Going to see Wicked on the 11th and an office party/dinner on the 17th.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Life, as I am sure most of you will agree, is suddenly getting busy for me because of Christmas coming in 25 days starting tomorrow! So what does that mean? I will be very behind in my reading of posts but I will be around as often as I can so don't give up on me. Not reading posts yesterday my reader said 464 and I won't be home much today so it will be saying 1000+. (of course I only read about 20% of what is in my reader)

2 ON TUESDAY

What are your Christmas traditions?

Growing up the tradition was to go to church on Christmas Eve. Here is the funny part, Santa would come while we were at church. I don't have a clue why this is when he came. My parents were wonderful Christian people, very involved in the church so it seems strange to me that Santa came while we were at church. I guess I need to ask my dad this one! My father would sneak out of church and set everything up. When we came home and the tree was lit in the window it meant Santa had been there. Our Christmases were big and we were very spoiled.

With my own children we have done Santa on Christmas morning. Pretty much the normal tradition for most families. When we moved to California 22 years ago we would go over to my aunt & uncles on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts. Christmas day has always been just the four of us as we have no other family member here. Since my aunt/uncle passed away and the kids have grown we have done Christmas day here with a lovely family dinner. On Christmas Eve I go to church and watch It's A Wonderful Life. The kids go and spend the evening with their significant others families.

I work very hard putting Thanksgiving dinner together, decorating the tree, the house and baking a lot of delicious Christmas cookies. Not to mention all the shopping, wrapping of gifts and shipping all the out of town gifts to relatives. So last year when Christmas came around I made a decision that I wanted to enjoy Christmas day and didn't want to cook. We ordered some special Chicago deep dish pizza for the day and it was one of the most enjoyable Christmas days for me. We started a tradition with the four adult children decorating gingerbread houses so we will be doing that again this year. We open presents for hours with a few breaks in between. We are also going to be doing the Chicago deep dish pizza again too! I am thrilled that I will be able to enjoy the day and not have to spend most of it in the kitchen cooking.

POST IT NOTE TUESDAY ~ EARLY EDITION

HOW YOU DOIN'

I don't do Black Friday. I have gotten so spoiled over the last several years to go and shop at other times that I just can't seem to deal with the crowds anymore. Yet I am a bit jealous of those who do, what a great adrenalin rush it must be. (not so great when you have high BP)I will be very content to stay home and start getting ready for Christmas.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and maybe like me you will be dieting until Christmas....that is of course after the left overs are gone! Our dinner was wonderful. I worked really hard getting everything ready and I am thankful that Amber did almost all the dishes.

I have been trying to get a picture of Skye with no luck at all. She just keeps turning her face! I did get a picture of her ball which she put in the corner. I can't imagine what it did wrong. She lives for this ball.

So these treats are Skye's two favorites. Each morning she comes and gets me in my office and takes me to her drawer. So the other morning I give her what I call her "veggie burger" and she didn't want it. Turned her head away but I told her "that's it or nothing at all." She took it and then nicely dropped in back into the drawer. I had to laugh and of course gave her, which I guess is now her favorite, favorite thing....a sweet potato fry.

Okay, I am going to share something heavy which had me crying crocodile tears on Wednesday. Back in September I was asked by my friend Kendra (a.k.a. bowling buddy) if I could send a handkerchief to a woman she follows. Her name in Anna and her blog is called An Inch of Gray. She lost her son Jack in a tragic flood accident. I have been reading her blog ever since and they are an amazing family. His sister Margaret has had a wish, like so many young girls, to meet Justin Bieber in person someday. Well with lots of prayers, along with some tweeting her dream came true. She was invited to the AMA Awards so I invite you to read this post from her mother. God cannot answer their deepest prayers but He gave Jack's sister a slice of happiness.

Now for some happy news. A dear young friend of mine had her rainbow baby on Tuesday. She has two sweet boys and now was blessed with a little girl. I can't wait to hold her. I have shopped and shopped. Her children are as close to grandchildren as I can get right now. Can't wait for her to see these.

Enjoy your weekend.

P.S. A Rainbow baby is a baby born after a loss of another child. After the storm comes a Rainbow.

BLESSINGS TO YOU

I AM THANKFUL FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP.

WHAT'S ON YOUR TABLE?

Turkey
Stuffing
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Green Bean Casserole
Corn Pudding
Carrot Souffle
Rolls with butter
A baked sweet potato for me!
Jellied Cranberries?
Olives
Wine ~ Soda ~ Coffee
Individual Pumpkin pies
Individual Cannoli pies
Whipped Cream
Pumpkin Fudge

Enjoy!

WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE

Thank you Joyce. Click here to join in!

1. Let's start with something controversial...dressing or stuffing? What's it called at your house and what's included in your recipe...cornbread? oysters? sausage? chestnuts?
We call it stuffing. Actually I started using Pepperidge Farm cubed years ago and we love it!

2. Who do you sometimes compare yourself to?
I cannot think of anyone. Years ago at a party they put Joan Rivers on my back for me to guess in a game. That is who I reminded them of. I use to be really funny!

3. When were you last inside an airport?
July 1st when I returned home from Europe.

4. What is one side dish that absolutely must be included in a turkey dinner?
Mashed potatoes, with some corn to mix into it if you want. Our family kinda likes to do that!

5. What Christmas song do you dread hearing?
Something really silly like "Grandma got run over by a reindeer."

6. If someone approaches you and asks for money do you give it to them? Do you drop money 'in a tin cup' that belongs to a person on the street? Do you have a specific charity you support during the holiday season and/or year round?
I do and I don't. Years ago I gave someone money and I saw him go into the liquor store with it. I try to keep extra bottled water in the car and hand that out. Lately I have started to give out a dollar here & there. I know times are hard and I am lucky to have what I have. I usually do the L.A.Mission each year for Thanksgiving but I didn't get around to mailing a donation in this year.

7. Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory. If you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving share a favorite memory associated with food.
Well this one is funny and a little sick. So my husband and I were divorced at that time. I decided to go to Wisconsin to visit with my brother and his partner for Thanksgiving. They could not get their oven to turn on that day. They ended up getting a plug in roaster from a neighbor to make the turkey. They also called out a service man on Thanksgiving! Well as it turned out when they cleaned their stove because we were coming they put the knobs on wrong. Thankfully the gas man was very nice and didn't charge them for the service call. We had a great laugh over it. Also during that visit my son threw up all over the comforter on the bed and the sheets. They ended up throwing it all in the basement and eventually put it all in the trash! Now that is a Thanksgiving to remember.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I felt the need to clarify something from last weeks Wednesday Hodgepodge. Most people said that they will not decorate until after Thanksgiving. Me too! I said my tree was going up last weekend but that's all, I wasn't going to start to decorate it. I like to take time to fluff the branches, however my family wanted to wait until Thanksgiving to put it up so I am still without my tree up!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

PIN.TER.VENTION

Join Nicole at Bean and Stephanie at The Mccalls for a Pintervention: stop pinning and start doing link party!

So what have you made that you found on Pinterest? I have actually tried a few things but I don't think there will ever be enough time for me to try everything I have pinned in only two months time! Here I am wanting to go back to a low carb diet but all of these recipes are calling me saying "make me, make me!" Maybe I need a different kind of intervention :) Of course I find all kinds of things on Pinterest but the food and desserts just suck me in.

So here is what I've made so far

Zucchini Chips
We loved these!

Pumpkin Muffins
Made this with a Spice cake, they were delicious!

Eggnog Pound Cake
I liked this pound cake a lot!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip
This was so good! I used Teddy Grahams.

Calzone Rolls
I used pizza dough and it didn't work well. I will make this again!

Here are a few of my photos:

HOPE TO BE MAKING THESE FOR THANKSGIVING

Pumpkin Fudge

Mini Cannoli

Individual Pumpkin Pies

Pictures and links are from Pinterest.

POST IT NOTE TUESDAY ~ EARLY EDITION ~

OOKA Japanese Sushi and Hibachi Steak House

Join in Tuesday for the Pin.ter.vention!

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