Winter Time Doings...

Good Evening everyone.. 

A stormy Sunday here in Eastern Canada.. 

We have snow and ice and more ice but thank the Lord we still have hydro.. 

So many people do not have it and may not have it even by Christmas Day.. 

We are to have this going on all night yet so who knows how much the hydro lines can take.. 

So blessed though to have wood heat...

I made a nice big turkey soup and keep refilling my big thermos jugs with boiling water.. 

If I can have a hot cup of tea then all is well.. smile.. 

The washer is filled with water in case of outages for the flush and Terry braved the roads and went out and stocked up with gas for the snow blower and such.. 

Not much more we can do.. 

What preps do you make if you know a storm is on it's way.. 

Last week we made a couple of trips to St. John as Terry needed to have some tests done.. 

These are a few pics of our neck of the woods...

We live on a bit of a higher plain... grin.. 

Not that high actually but some of the pics look that way, eh? 

After his tests which have been good so far we went shopping again.. 

So many people shopping.. 

My goodness it makes a person wonder where all the money is coming from.. 

Afterwards we dropped by Shonda's to pick up a couple of parcels.. 

She was preparing for a dinner that she and Dave and her boys were putting on for the ministers from their church.. 

The tables were decorated beautifully.. 

She made all of the centrepieces.. 

Aren't they lovely? 

The tables were all set up in the downstairs of their house..

Another tree is decorated down there in the family room.. 

The gathering was last night and she said it went well.. 

Some wonderful young people worked very hard at serving their elders.. 

Bless their hearts.. 

Anyway.. 

I have been busy today trying to get the homespun Christmas presents made for you know who.. 

I will show you some of the finished product later.. 

I don't want her to see anything yet.. 

We don't open our family gifts until they are all here on Boxing Day.. 

Sure hope she will like them.. 

This has been a very fun project, actually.. 

I have enjoyed the challenge .. 

I was not expecting Shonda to change her style half way through the year but I think I have a handle on it.. 

Tomorrow I hope to get some baking and wrapping finished.. 

Are you ladies all ready? 

I am never really all ready.. It just happens and I stop.. grin.. 

Church services all over the province have been cancelled today.. 

Seems funny not to go to church today but that is Winter.. 

Take care my dears and keep warm and safe.. 

Love and Prayers 

Faye...

A Winter Visit...

Good Evening everyone.. 

We are having another storm day here in Atlantic Canada.. 

The second one this week.. 

It is slowing down a bit tonight but the wind is causing white out conditions.. 

Just what we Canadians love.. 

A white Christmas... 

Terry and I had to go to the city on Monday and I took a couple of pics along the way.. 

I would say we have twice as much snow now.. 

We stayed overnight with our daughter and her family and had a lovely time.. 

They are all so hospitable.. 

We sat around the Christmas tree and chatted ... 

Our sweet grandsons were there and we were so pleased to see them.. 

They are growing up into young men way too fast for this Grandma... smile.. 

Matt did 40 push ups for his Grandpa just to prove that he could.. grin.. 

And Carter serenaded us with his guitar.. 

They are wonderful boys and we are so pleased that they have placed God first in their lives.. 

We just pray that they will walk with Him all the days of their lives.. 

Thankful... 

Here are a few of Shonda's little vignettes.. 

Her new home is modern as is her new style of decorating although she calls herself eclectic.. 

Lovely whatever style it is.. 

This was our bedroom.. 

Dave found me a little footstool so I could get into the bed... grin..

The sun was out the next day..

The river was very Wintry looking.. 

Shonda has several trees up and decorated.. 

She even drove us to Terry's appointments and cooked  breakfast after we returned.. 

We were in a hurry as we wanted to go across the border again.. 

There were a bunch of people there again.. 

I do not like shopping in a crowd but managed to get a few things that I was happy about... 

The moon was full and beautiful on our drive back home last night.. 

I wanted to thank Dustin, Veronique and the lads for a sweet birthday party on Sunday.. 

They arranged it and surprised me so much.. 

The rest of our family could not get there as we were having a blizzard but Dustin lives closer and was there when we arrived at church..

I tried to get Terry to turn around and go back as it was quite the storm but he kept plowing forward.. grin.. 

I was glad he had after we got there..

And then when we returned home there were many phone calls 

from the kids and friends all wishing me Happy Birthday . 

Also a rather special call with the whole Mayo family singing the birthday song.. Such sweet friends.. I so enjoyed our chat.. 

You can find them HERE..

So ... I am a year older.. 

What can I say except that I am thankful to have my health and strength and for my dear dear family.. 

How are you all doing? 

Hope all is well and that you are more prepared then I am.. 

Take care, dear hearts.. 

GOD BLESS YOU DEAR FRIENDS.. 

Keepers of the Home Christmas Gathering...

Good Evening, dear hearts.. 

Hope you are all having a good weekend.. 

We are to have a major snowstorm beginning tonight and lasting through the day tomorrow.. 

I wonder if it will stay until the big day.. smile... 

We had our Christmas Supper last night.. 

The weather turned out fine and we had 25 people attend.. 

I thought you might like to see some of the pics of the house being readied and waiting for everyone to show up.. 

We had some snow but not too much..

The dinner menu included.. 

Hot turkey open faced Sandwiches with Swiss Chalet type Gravy.. 

Baked Potatoes   Chives and Sour Cream 

Sauteed Peas with Butter 

Sliced Carrots

Caesars Salad    Fiesta Rice Salad 

Cranberries 

Lots of pickles 

Fresh Rolls 

The dear ladies brought Sherbet Punch and

Desserts galore.. 

Cheesecakes, Pies, Cakes, Macaroons, Carrot Cake and much more..

Tea and Coffee.. 

Here is the link for the Gravy.. 

Click HERE.

I made four batches of this which was a crock pot full.. 

The turkey just would not produce enough real turkey gravy so this is a good recipe for a crowd.. 

Not as good as the real thing, though.. smile.. 

I will give you the rice recipe next week.. 

I did like it.

I think that everyone had a good time.. smile..

The girls broke my rule and cleaned all up after.. 

Thank you sweeties and also for the lovely hostess gifts..

How are YOU all doing? 

Getting ready for the holidays??.. 

I hope to get a bit of shopping done next week.. 

The lovely part of having a party here at our house is all of the little chores that get done .. 

Terry and I are procrastinators and this achieved many things that we have wanted to get completed.. 

My kitchen redo is now ninety percent finished and I love it.. 

Thank you, Lord.. 

I am so glad you all dropped by and look forward to hearing from you.. 

I am going to open up the comment section again and see how we make out.. 

Sending you all a Christmas hug.. 

Have a great Lord\'s Day tomorrow.. 

God bless..

PS.. 

Sorry about the quality of some of the pics.. xo

Just a bit of Christmas decorating...

Happy Weekend everyone.. 

Hope all is well with you ... 

Just a little post of pics tonight of Christmas decor here and there.. 

A pic here that Shonda took of her new home decorated for the season.. 

Rather lovely... 

I thought you might like to see it.. 

Here are a couple of pics of an old chair that I put out on the stoop ...

These pics were taken last year with an old blanket I picked up at the Thrift store.. 

I am doing the same this time, too.. 

A little vignette that Shonda had put together... 

I have been busy getting the house together for our rather large gathering for this Friday night.. 

I have the pantry tree up and decorated... 

A small room but one of my favorites in the house.. 

Terry has been busy also and the kitchen is almost done.. 

It takes us two ancient  older people a lot of time to finish anything these days .. 

Slow and sure does the chore eventually, though.. smile.. 

A few spare bedroom shots.. 

I kind of do the same basic decorating now adays .. 

I used to have to change it each season as I had open house for my craft business here each Fall.. 

So happy I don't have to do that anymore.. 

This is another spare room.. 

Our babies have all fled the nest but hopefully they will be back for 

a night or two over Christmas.. 

We all get together on Boxing Day this year but some of them are coming on Christmas Day and staying overnight.. 

So excited....

I love having all of our children under this roof again at one time.. 

Don't  you? 

A little vignette by Shonda for the back of a flush.. 

We are planning on spending a couple of nights with them next week so will take a few pics of her new home decorating to share with you.. 

I have the menu all ready for our party next week and most of my decorating is finished but you know how many last minute jobs there are to do, eh... 

Hope I get it all completed before they get here. 

We are expecting almost 30 people.. 

Yeah.... 

Looking forward to it all.. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day.. 

The weeks practically fly by, don't they.. 

We feel so blessed to be attending this little church and love the  precious people who worship there .. 

God has blessed us so much and I am very thankful tonight for his faithfulness.. 

We go through storms in this life and He is right there with us in the midst of it all ... 

Guiding and protecting us and directing our steps.. 

Answering prayers and giving us more then we can even think or imagine ... 

Ephesians 3: 20

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..

Thank you dear hearts for your sweet visit.. Your comments are lovely and I look forward to them.. 

Welcome to the new followers of the blog.. 

So glad to have you.. 

Have a blessed day tomorrow and remember to put Him first in your day.. 

Hugs.. 

The first week of December with a recipe and how to..

Hello everyone.. 

Hope all is well in your part of the world.. 

We have been waking up to snow some mornings and then the next day it is completely gone and we may have rain.. 

Never quite sure what we will be having.. 

Today the roads were very dangerous here in New Brunswick.. 

I was glad we did not have to go anywhere and our sons did not have to go to work until tonight.. 

The Christmas Closet has been emptied.. smile..

There is a closet in our room which has been given over just for Christmas decor and such.. 

This week I have slowly worked my way through it... 

The only things left in there are the ornaments for our real tree.. 

We will not put it up until the week of Christmas.. 

There are several smaller artificial ones here and there, though..

The mantel is the one thing I love to have finished and except for fresh greenery it is completed.. Yeah... 

Not a great pic but you get the gist for now, eh... 

The mornings are so dark when I get up now, especially if it is a rainy or snowy day..

Do you enjoy the dark mornings along with your coffee?  smile.. 

As we have been busy this week I have tried to do a few bowl meals.. 

Terry is finishing some work in the back hallway and me decorating so I like something easy that will do for at least a couple of meals.. 

One I did was chili which we love over hot mashed potatoes, rice or salad.. 

The only thing is it was such a big hit with hubby that it disappeared before I could stretch it much.. 

We did have it over rice and potatoes but then it was gone.. smile.. 

We also had Broccoli and Beef which is good over rice, too.. 

Do you make bowl meals and what ideas do you have??

I would like some new ones.. 

We had bought a butternut squash so I baked it into a couple of sweet breads.. 

Baked it in the oven and then pureed it.. 

The bread is such a nice treat with a hot cup of tea, eh? 

Here is the recipe in case you would like to have it.. 

It is an old one that I have had for years..

You can use either pumpkin or squash.. 

The Best Pumpkin Bread..(or Squash)

2 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking powder 

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ginger or allspice

1/4 tsp. cloves

2 c. sugar 

1/2 c. butter

1 1/2 c. pumpkin or squash puree

1/2 c. water

3 eggs

1 c. nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

1/2 c. raisins.. 

Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.. 

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs.. 

Add water and dry ingredients.. 

Stir well.. 

Add nuts , chips or raisins if desired.. 

Pour into 2 greased pans and bake at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes or until done in the centre.. 

You can also use a 28 ounce can of pumpkin pie filling if you like.. 

Hope you enjoy this.. 

It is so nice for the Winter... 

I included a pic of little gift bags you make with lunch bags, pages from an old book, a stamper, and dried pears.. 

You glue it all together with an Elmer's glue stick and then spray a bit of glue and glitter.. 

Add a tag..

I go around the edges with a bit of brown ink.. 

Well, that is all for tonight dear hearts.. 

Hope you are enjoying getting ready for the season, too.. 

Thanks so much for visiting and leaving your sweet notes.. 

Take care and God bless..