Baking with Bliss

My sister Becky & I, through our growing years affectionately referred to one another as bliss. Why? I cannot remember, but it has stuck with us all these years. Being 15 months apart in age has helped us become such good friends and I'm thankful for her friendship.

Today Becky came up and we did our Christmas baking. We made church window squares, butter tarts, hello dollies, snowball cookies, reece's peanut butter squares and chow mien noodle cookies. Mmhhmm! super yummy!

Next week Krystle will be home for the holidays and we'll finish our baking by adding sugar cookies to the rest of the goodies made today.
Blessings

Bird's eye view

Wayne had an awesome opportunity to go in our friend Doug's plane to get a bird's eye view of our place. In the bottom left corner is Huron Ridge Acres and our place is at the top right of photo. This 100 acre farm has been in Wayne's family since 1927 and Wayne & I are the 7th owner.
What a different perspective it gives.

Blessings

Tribute

To John Lennon.
Today marks the 29th anniversary of his death. Leaving behind his family, a multitude of fans and a legacy of music through which his memory lives on.

I am a Beatles fan. I love their music - from their earliest recordings right into their solo careers. I admire John's ability to write songs that said what was on his heart and that he was willing to take a stand for what he believed.

This is one such song:

The quote "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” from Dr. Seuss, I think can be applied to the life of John Lennon.

Blessings

'tis the season

finally the Christmas tree is up ~

Krystle was home for the weekend and we spent time together reminiscing about all the Christmas decorations while we decorated the house. She makes it so much more fun, because she exclaims at each piece "oooh - where shall we put it this year?" It definitely helps garner a little more Christmas cheer.

So now our home looks a little more Christmasy. Listening to the CD's helps the house sound a little more Christmasy. Next week my sister will be up to get our baking started and then the house will smell little more Christmasy.

Blessings

1929

1929 marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties and was a time of wealth and excess. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 a worldwide Great Depression ushered in.

Famous people born that year were:
January 15 – Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)
May 4 – Audrey Hepburn, British actress (d. 1993)
July 2 – Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines
July 9 – King Hassan II of Morocco (d. 1999)
July 26 - Joseph Jackson, Father of the Jackson Family
July 28 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady (d. 1994)
August 24 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
September 5 – Bob Newhart, American comedian and actor
September 10 – Arnold Palmer, American golfer
September 25 – Barbara Walters, American journalist
November 12 – Grace Patricia Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco (d. 1982)
November 30 – Dick Clark, American television entertainer
December 16 - Nicholas Courtney, British actor

Not overly famous to the media but pretty important to us - Wayne's dad (Keith) and his identical twin brother (Uncle Ken) (photo coming soon) were born on December 5, 1929 to Pete & Irla Gingerich. They were born in the small front room of our house or as we like to call the 'man room'.

We celebrated their 80th birthday with both families gathering together for dinner and an afternoon of visiting. We looked through the book that Grandma (Irla) had put together of the boys growing up and enjoyed listening to the many stories shared by Dad & Uncle Ken. These days twins while still special, is something seen a little more often than what you would have had in 1929.

Blessings

Ready or not...

I love the story "How the Grinch stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. It's the story of the Grinch, that lives on snowy Mount Crumpit, just north of Whoville, home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos. His only companion is his faithful dog, Max. From his perch high atop Mount Crumpit, the Grinch can hear the noisy Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville. Envious of the Whos' happiness, he makes plans to descend on the town and, by means of burglary, deprive them of their Christmas presents and decorations and thus "prevent Christmas from coming". However, he learns in the end that despite his success in stealing all the Christmas presents and decorations from the Whos, Christmas comes just the same.

The point of this post? Christmas will come, there is nothing we can do to stop it, but there is something we can do to be ready. I don't mean buying presents, decorating the house, or even listening to Christmas carols, I mean having our hearts ready to receive the ultimate gift ever given.
The gift of Jesus sent from heaven above.

Blessings

Countdown

The countdown to Christmas has begun. Without snow so far this year I must admit I am finding great difficulty getting into the holiday spirit. Hopefully, once I begin the special Christmas baking, start our Christmas shopping, get the house cleaned & decorated while listening to Christmas Cd's it'll help get me ready. Each year I look forward to watching all those Christmas specials on TV and noticed that even commercials can help get the holiday spirit moving.

Like this commercial I found on youtube that aired in 1970 - love it!

Blessings