Category: Holidays

Yay!

Today Emily came for a visit! It’s Christmas break for the schools here and so she is on vacation. I picked her up this morning at her parent’s place in southern New Hampshire and first we went shopping before heading back to my place in central New Hampshire. A little bit of a drive, but oh, what fun we had!

The doggies were so happy to see Em that they went nearly insane!

Jacque lives here and she came over to enjoy the evening with Em and Hubby and me. We started off with a fondue dinner.

Since I was away when the puppies had their birthday we also decided to have a small party to celebrate their 2nd birthday, complete with candles and a cake!!!

Watching “Mama Mia”.

It was an entirely dog friendly cake (no chocolate), and the doggies ate most, leaving small bits for Hubby and the girls. I abstained. Then we opened Christmas gifts and watched my Christmas gift of “Mama Mia”, which I could watch over and over, if for not other reason than to sing to the soundtrack!

Did someone say, “open presents?”

Emily with her Arnie.

The evening ended with Em and Arnie snuggled up together. They are both crazy about each other and it was terrific that they got to spend time together.

I love holidays!

I woke this morning with that groggy, achy, “been up too late the night before”, feeling. I tried pulling the covers over my head in the hopes that the dogs and Hubby would ignore me and let me sleep, but between Hubby preparing to go skiing, and the dogs jumping up and down on the bed, I finally gave up and got up.

It was cold this morning and I quickly put my big, fluffy bathrobe on and my warm slippers. I staggered to the kitchen in search of coffee, and after pouring it in the cup and adding some splenda and cream (fat free of course!), I sat down in the family room feeling ready to go back to sleep.

Hubby was rushing about, acting 20 years my junior, rather than 20 years my senior, as he gathered all the things he needed for skiing. With a kiss and a wave he was off, and I sat here looking at 4 forlorn faces (the pups) and decided that we needed something energetic to bring us all around.

I put on my Christmas present copy of “Mama Mia”, and though I didn’t really watch the entire thing (I actually started moving, doing some cleaning), I listened to it and sang to it.

I stopped working in the late morning, long enough to go and get the mail and pay our taxes (Merry Christmas, ho ho ho!!!), before returning and finishing up.

Hubby was home shortly after noon and we had the leftover appetizers for our lunch.

The day was rather anticlimactical after all the preparation for the “big” day. Still it was a nice day as I looked back at a wonderful Christmas day with Hubby, Mandy and M.

Christmas was splendid! Mandy and her guy, M were with us and that was so much fun!

Me with Mandy

Mandy and M.

We joked around, took pictures, opened gifts and ate. I am so full now!

Merry Christmas!!!

From our home to yours, wherever you may be, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

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Ever notice that it is nearly impossible to get a good picture of your Christmas tree? I mean, I took this picture the other day and although it looks interesting, it lacks the magical quality of the tree with the lights blinking and bubbling at night.

I sit here in the evening, and I look at the tree and I see how lovely it is, in fact I think it is the prettiest tree we have had in a few years, and I smile.

But in the picture it looks too bright and just not right. You’ll have to trust me on this. The tree looks beautiful and definitely brightens my family room up.

Maybe putting a filter on it would make it even more magical. What do you think?

The fun part was actually decorating it. Taking out the ornaments that I have collected over time or were gifts. I remember each and every one. Like an old friend. Little pieces of the past. I have put together a few that are my favorite.

This is the Angel that has been on the top of my tree for 22 years. I love her very much and I think you can understand why.

This is a gingerbread man that Uschi gave to me a couple of Christmases ago.

This little guy is just the cutest thing. Makes me think of the children’s cartoon “Chip and Dale”.

This was one of the first ornaments that I bought when Hubby and I got together. As you all know my husband is a real apple grower.

This is Snicker and Doodle. It made me laugh because my favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles! The recipe can be found in my archives under cooking!

The last few years I haven’t put up a tree because of the puppies and then I was worried that Arnie would use the tree as a….well let’s put it this way, Arnie hasn’t seen a tree that he hasn’t wanted to water. My solution for this was to put up my old artificial tree. Surprisingly I am thrilled with it! And Arnie? Well, let’s just say he doesn’t care for artificial trees!

So the tree is up, the presents wrapped and the food for Christmas Day purchased. I’m ready and life is good.

Pass the hot cocoa, please!

Ever have one of those computer moments when something clicks (like insanity) and it solves all your problems, plus the problems of another person that you know? I am feeling like a total genius right now after discovering the correct box to check thus fixing my email problem and Hubby’s.

The day has been full of more Christmas preparation. Letters, cards and a lot of envelope licking!

About 3 PM Hubby drove me to the Post Office where I mailed EVERYTHING! Done, mailed, Yippee!!! We left, stopping at a few shops, before returning home. I started to go through the mail and I found a slip announcing that we had a package!

Ho, ho, ho!!!

So Arnie and I went back to the Post Office and picked it up. I knew what it was because I’d ordered this for Hubby some time ago.

So I came home and he asked what was in the box. Hmmm. Do I make him wait, or let him see?

Well, since we never keep secrets, I handed him the box and he opened it. Here is what he found.

Canon PowerShot SD770IS 10MP Digital Camera.

This now replaces the camera that broke when he took my picture. He was really happy with the gift. Meanwhile I have ordered the gift I would like for Christmas and it should be here before the holiday. What did I order?

Mamma Mia! The Movie (Two Disc Special Edition)

We’ll probably do a few other little things, but at this point we really don’t need much. Although Hubby has commented that he would love a new pair of ski boots.

I wonder if that is a hint? You think?

Thanksgiving. A day usually set aside for gorging on vast amounts of turkey, potatoes, stuffing and gravy, not to mention pies! Oh and I do love pie. In fact I think I like pie more than almost any other dessert, well except chocolate!

But I digress.

Hubby and I were up as usual and we worked together to get old Tom Turkey stuffed with the chestnut stuffing I had put together the night before. I could tell that this was going to be good.

While we finished up the preparation of the turkey, Hubby peeled and sliced the apples for our sugar-free apple pie. I put them both in the oven and after an hour the pie was done, I basted the turkey and sat down to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

My comment to Macy’s: Cut the stage show and give us a good old fashioned parade!

Switching channels, I found a marathon showing of the series “House” on USA TV. Since we like that show, we left it on all day. I think I like it even more now.

The turkey was basted, the potatoes boiled, as well as the pearl onions, peas, butternut squash and gravy.

At 2 PM I lit the candles, and we sat down to our Thanksgiving Dinner.

Now before you think I went off the deep end here is what I ate:

2 ounces of turkey,

1/3 cup mashed potatoes

1/3 cup butternut squash

1/3 cup stuffing

1/3 cup peas

1/4 cup gravy

1/8 cup cranberry relish

and dessert was a small slice of the sugar-free apple pie!

All in all, I think I did well. The funny part was realizing that I was really full after eating this limited amount of food. I was shocked! I thought that I would be left feeling hungry, but that was not the case.

I did part one of the clean up, turned on the dishwasher and then came into the family-room and curled up on the sofa with Arnie and Anneliese and fell asleep. Whoever said that turkey makes you sleep was 100% accurate! I slept like a baby!

Part two of the clean up is done, Hubby and I are satiated as only a good New England Thanksgiving can provide, and I’m feeling happy that I didn’t blow the whole diet thing with a meal that could have been larger, if I hadn’t been aware of what I was doing.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful day whether you celebrated Thanksgiving here in the USA or just another average day in your own country!

Today was the 4th of July. Independence Day. It’s also the day that Hubby and I like to spend entertaining our friends. The weather was perfect today, around 80 degrees, and the sunshine was bright. We set up our back patio with a picnic table as well as tables and chairs and by one o’clock we were sitting outside enjoying the day.

There was way too much food to eat (so Hubby and I won’t have to worry about meals for the rest of the week), and much talk and laughter, and dogs and kids running around the back yard. It was wonderful and chaotic and totally enjoyable!

Here is a short video montage of our day.

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Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

Easter arrived in New Hampshire with bright skies and cold temperatures. I looked outside at the remaining three and a half feet of snow and I somehow did not feel spring-like or Easter-like at all. Everything inside of me said “winter”!

Since Emily had spent the night I set about making breakfast for all. I put together blueberry pancakes and maple syrup for them. I’d discovered a sugar free maple syrup for Hubby, so he was able to partake in the feast with no guilt! I stayed with my usual Weight Water’s breakfast meal.

We had such fun with Emily last night. We watched the movie, “The Goonies”, ate pop corn and played with the dogs. It feels very natural to have her here, as she has become a part of our extended family. It was a very lucky day the day that Emily and her family moved in next door!

The Easter Bunny stopped by our house as well and left little baskets for the three girls. They all enjoyed their treats and when Sarah was leaving she looked at me and said, “I knew there would be a treat here.” I asked her why and she said, “Because you love us!”

And you know what? I really do!