December Daze ,

Hello my dears.. 

How are you all?

I expect you have everything  together and are all  ready for the holidays.. 

Probably singing to the Christmas music as you strum your thumbs.. 

Just ready and waiting.. grin.. 

Or perhaps you are a bit like me and just in a daze...  

We have been here and there.. 

Viewed five Christmas pageants and just enjoying the season.. 

Here are a few pics of our daze  days... 

First stop is of course for our Canadian coffees... 

Then on to the malls.. 

Either to Moncton, St. John or Calais, Maine... 

Eating some typical Maritime Canadian food.. 

Cod Fish in a white sauce and veggies.. 

We call it Codfish Gravy here.. 

My dear man getting me some pine boughs..

As you can see we do not have much snow..

Early morning .... 

Where is my coffee?  smile... 

See the snowman drying after his tea bath..

We have had some very cold days here, too.. 

Did a little front step decorating today.. 

Bought the throw at the Thrift store for $1.50..

The colors are perfect... smile.. 

This is the before pic of a snowman I bought at the same place for $3.00

I will show the finished pic as soon as he is finished.. 

Went out to check the old farm after church on Sunday.. 

The heater had broke but Terry went up today and fixed it.. 

We can still get in the lane as there is not any snow up there.. 

YET... 

Decorated the kitchen hutch... 

I think I used a whole pine tree.. grin.. 

We were at the market and bought some more organic Eastern Canadian garlic.. 

My pot is full.. 

Well, sweet ladies I am so glad you dropped by.. 

The wind is fiercely blowing and the fire is on.. 

My tea is nice and hot and I have a wee piece of chocolate.. 

 All is well in my part of the world.. 

But my heart breaks for some dear mamas who can not sit in contentment tonight and hug their wee ones.. 

Their hearts are broken.. 

May God cover them with his peace.. 

Grant them strength and comfort.. 

Bless them that mourn.. 

Take care, my friends.. 

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AND...FARMGIRL FRIDAY BLOG HOP

A Mason Jar project...

Good Morning everyone... 

Just posting a wee Christmas project for you.. 

If you like it, that is... 

I wanted you to have time to do it or I would have waited until it looks even better... 

Time is running out, though.. smile.. 

I saw this on a blog over in Europe but I did not pin it so it is not my idea and actually hers looked better but this one is just starting.. 

All you need is a mason jar with the sealer out of it.. 

Fill the jar with water and screw the ring on... 

And put an onion on the top so that it's bottom is in the water.. 

I changed the water every couple of days.. 

It took about a week for the top to start.. 

After it gets going good add some pine or fir boughs around the bottom..On top of the ring... 

When I get it really good I will show you another pic.. 

I just have it sitting on the sill above my sink so I can look after it..

In my living room I have all these things patiently waiting for me to put them somewhere.. 

They are still smiling.. 

They must know patience is a virtue.. grin.. 

That is all for this morning.. 

Terry got all of the border stripped yesterday.. 

THE DEAR MAN...

I cleaned it up, though.. grin.. 

AND ... 

The mantel is now in place and decorated..

I will catch up with you all later..

Are you all ready?

By the way...  

Thank you sweet ladies for all of the lovely comments.. 

You guys are precious.. 

God bless.... 

December Weekend..

Good Evening everyone.. 

A snowy day here in good old New Brunswick.. 

Makes it feel more like Christmas somehow.. 

Just posting some pics of our weekend for you along with some of our dear daughter's decor...

As you know, Friday night we spent with our youngest son as he had to work the rest of the weekend.. 

Saturday night was such a lovely time.. 

Attended a nice festive supper with some lovely ladies and then attended the 40th annual Living Christmas Tree in Moncton.. 

It was beautiful and a lot of fun.. 

Made a few wee door prizes..  

Then the next morning early headed to St. John to our daughter's church...

It had stopped raining and was nice and sunny.. 

We went to their Christmas play and then back to Shonda and Daves for lunch.. 

Our oldest son and family were there also.. smile.. 

Shonda had the table set  and the food was delicious.. 

Trevor brought some, too as there was quite a crowd.. 

They remembered their Mom's big day and there was another birthday cake.. 

This birthday takes a lot of cakes.. grin..

The dining room is done in silvers this season...

Coffee maker, extraordinaire

and some grandsons who are growing so much...

A few snowmen... 

Uncle and nephew.. 

Trying to get a pic of Grandma's cake... smile...

A little bedroom decor..

Sweet chats over coffee..

A bedroom vignette... 

Love those old windows...

Someone had to work on a project..

All weekend.. sigh.. 

My fave bathroom...

Then after a long afternoon of sweet fellowship we went to hear some Christmas music... 

Those two lads were my favorite.. grin.. 

I don't know where they get the talent .. 

Not from their grandparents that is for sure.. smile..

A blessed day and God is so good.. 

Family is so important and I always want to be thankful.. 

And thank you so much for dropping by.. 

I love your sweet comments.. 

I think I am doing something major wrong as this site is being unfollowed more than followed lately.. 

I wonder why... 

Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.. grin.. 

Take care, dear hearts.. 

xo

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Family time...

Good Evening, my dears.. 

How is your weekend going? 

Just a wee posting to share my day with you.. 

Our youngest son called and said they would like to come out tonight to celebrate my birthday as he would be working next week.. 

It was great as I had a turkey in cooking.. 

They were on sale yesterday and we thought it would be nice to cook one and have some leftovers for the next bit as it is such a busy time and I don't think we really get tired of turkey.. 

Anyway.. 

Out they all came.. 

Dustin, Veronique and two sweet wee boys.. 

Loaded with presents and birthday cake.. 

A lovely plant and picture for my big day.. 

I had made a couple of loaves of bread when I knew they were coming.. 

One white and one 12 grain.. 

Both no knead, of course.. 

They like to take a loaf home with them.. smile.. 

What are mamas for?  Right?  

So we had turkey and all the trimmings.. 

We just ate in the kitchen.. 

Very casual and fun.. 

Dustin does not live far from us so we see them quite a bit.. 

So nice on Friday night to have your family come for supper.. 

The two wee boys love cookies.. 

So I made a batch of 

Great Gram Henry's Dent Cookies.. 

1 3/4 cups of brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening 

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. of baking soda in 1/2 cup of hot water.. 

Stir well and add 2 3/4  cups of flour.. 

Roll in balls and make a dent with your thumb.. 

Fill with homemade jam or jelly.. 

Sprinkle on some sugar if desired.. 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes..

These are one Dustin's faves.. 

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends.. 

Looking forward to hearing from you... 

God Bless... 

The Winners are...

Good Morning, dear hearts... 

Just a wee post to give you the name of the winners of the labels.. 

Thank you so much for such a great response for such a small giveaway.. 

I am sorry I am a bit late posting but we were away yesterday for the day and did not get home till later... 

We had such a great day, though.. 

Met up with a dear sweet friend for coffee and a lovely visit.. 

When kindred spirits meet there is not a silent moment.. 

My coffee even went cold.. grin.. 

Thanks Laurie.. 

Then we shopped and went to our grandson's concert... 

It was lovely.. 

Ok... 

Here are the five names .. 

Please email me at houseofhenry@hotmail.com and give me your addresses please.. 

Paula

Annie

Trace

Krista

Elaine

Have an awesome day girls and I will try to post something tonight or tomorrow.. 

I need to show you the awesome thrift store find I found yesterday.. 

God bless... 

December doings and a wee giveaway...

Hello everyone.. 

I expect you are surprised to see me posting again so soon.. 

I have to keep you all on your toes.. smile.. 

I thought you might like to see what I did with the fabric labels that I posted about yesterday.. 

Here I tea dyed them first and then hung them out to dry..

Then today I cut or actually ripped each one out so as to have a torn edge.. 

After that I glued a piece of old music paper onto a piece of card stock and then sewed each cloth label on top of the music paper.. 

Used a bit of distress ink on the edges and add bits of lace, rick rack and buttons or whatever.. 

A bit of spray glue and glitter and a hole punched in the top and they are ready for packages or just to use as a card to mail out.. 

They were fun to do and did not take long once I got set up..

Here are a few close ups... 

I will putter away doing these.. 

Then I wanted the reindeer that I bought from the dollar store to look a bit more aged shall we say ..

So I dropped one into the bleach and water concoction that I made up

for the little bottle brush trees below..  

Remember they were red and green.. 

I loved how they turned out.. 

Very vintage and I will show you later the little gifts that I hope to make with them.. 

Anyway... 

The reindeer didn't change in the solution so I added some of the distress ink and it worked perfect.. 

Planning a little reindeer theme because of these.. 

Aren't they something? 

Bought them  at the Thrift store.. 

A little bit rusted but of course I love that..

Terry is supposed to help me make a wreath with branches and boughs.. Soon.... smile.. 

Dug out my old red and white quilts today and started decorating the foyer.. 

Man, I am slow at getting stuff done.. 

Perhaps, it is because of a birthday looming here in a few days.. 

Yikes.. 

The BIG one.. 

I am blessed to be that old, though... 

Just hard to count that many blessings... grin.. 

And I can't close without showing you something in food.. 

Well, my sweet Aunt Eleanor phoned me a week or two ago and as always we talked about my Gram.. 

Her and Dad's mother.. 

She was giving me some frugal tips for cooking that my sweet Gram used.. 

One of them was this.. 

Bread and Potato Hash.. 

Gram had 14 kids so she had to be frugal and my aunt was telling me some of her little tips.. 

When Gram had a bowl of cold boiled potatoes left she would put some bacon fat in a cast iron frying pan and add a couple of onions and start frying them up.. 

Then she would add whatever cold boiled potatoes that she had left over from the day before along with some pieces of day old bread.. 

Salt and pepper.. 

When this was beginning to warm through then Gram would take her cutter.. 

It was a tin can with the bottom cut out and the top pierced.. 

She would chop chop until it was all like a hash.. 

Her little secret was to throw in some summer savory that she had grown in the garden and dried out.. 

I told my Aunt that I could remember that and was so glad she reminded me.. 

As soon as I had a few potatoes left over I gave it a try and of course we both loved it... 

I hope you try it, too.. 

You do need a cast iron frying pan though ... 

Dear old Gram... Bless her heart.. 

Well, sweet ladies that is all for tonight except for this.. 

For each of you followers who leaves me a comment I will put your name in a bowl.. Dear hubby will draw names and I will  send you each one of my little labels.. 

I will let you know on Thursday.. 

I will send out five of them.. 

OK?  

Thank you for all of your sweet comments yesterday.. 

Sorry, I didn't get back to you this time.. 

Sometimes, I can answer each comment and other days I just don't get to it.. 

I hope you understand..

Love and Prayers..