Do you hear what I hear???

I am slowly getting some things decorated for the holidays, but I have a story to tell you.....and it's affecting just how much decorating I am actually doing this year.....
Sunday night, I had successfully taken down all of my fall decorations and made way for the Christmas decorations to come out in full force. It was time to dust and straighten and then out would come all the boxes of Christmas decor my son had pulled down from the attic for me before he left to go back to college.
My husband walked thru the house and came to me and said, "hey this is nice.....there are areas that aren't cluttered, nor decorated to the hilt.....I LIKE this."


Did you hear me....did you read that??? I have to say things have been a little stressful at work for him....things are cluttered everywhere with ugly details that he has to pay attention to. Things are mentally challenging as he faces his world. He comes home every night (for which I am ever so thankful!!!) and this is his haven, his safe place from a world that bombards him with stuff. So at that very moment, I vowed to simplify my Christmas decor this year to make it a restful place for him. It is my little secret sacrifice (well, except that each of you now knows it...how secret is THAT??? LOL)...It is MY GIFT TO HIM......I will still do some decorating, but all the snowmen will stay tucked away in the box, the village will not be placed on the table; I will not have as many chotskes (sp?) this year. I will work to make it as uncluttered, yet festive as I possibly can. I will work to make our home a place of peace and rest for him, rather than the commercialization of a miracle. Now, I LOVE Christmas decorating and the way it makes the holidays special. But this year, we are going simple and next year we'll see if we're ready for more.....one step at a time......
Merry Christmas, honey.

Do you hear what I hear???

I am slowly getting some things decorated for the holidays, but I have a story to tell you.....and it's affecting just how much decorating I am actually doing this year.....
Sunday night, I had successfully taken down all of my fall decorations and made way for the Christmas decorations to come out in full force. It was time to dust and straighten and then out would come all the boxes of Christmas decor my son had pulled down from the attic for me before he left to go back to college.
My husband walked thru the house and came to me and said, "hey this is nice.....there are areas that aren't cluttered, nor decorated to the hilt.....I LIKE this."


Did you hear me....did you read that??? I have to say things have been a little stressful at work for him....things are cluttered everywhere with ugly details that he has to pay attention to. Things are mentally challenging as he faces his world. He comes home every night (for which I am ever so thankful!!!) and this is his haven, his safe place from a world that bombards him with stuff. So at that very moment, I vowed to simplify my Christmas decor this year to make it a restful place for him. It is my little secret sacrifice (well, except that each of you now knows it...how secret is THAT??? LOL)...It is MY GIFT TO HIM......I will still do some decorating, but all the snowmen will stay tucked away in the box, the village will not be placed on the table; I will not have as many chotskes (sp?) this year. I will work to make it as uncluttered, yet festive as I possibly can. I will work to make our home a place of peace and rest for him, rather than the commercialization of a miracle. Now, I LOVE Christmas decorating and the way it makes the holidays special. But this year, we are going simple and next year we'll see if we're ready for more.....one step at a time......
Merry Christmas, honey.

Christmas treats!!

I have a sugar cookie recipe that always comes thru for me in a crunch......need decorated cookies in a flash? Well this recipe is great because you don't have to chill the dough! And the icing recipe will dry shiny and hard so that the cookies are stackable even though they are decorated! I don't have a picture to show you because I haven't made any yet, but I am sure I will be making some.....remember Google images is my best friend!! ;)

Here's my favorite sugar cookie recipe:

Easy Roll Out cookies

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 t. baking powder

2 3/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. (may add butter extract here if using margarine) Add baking powder and flour (mixed together first) one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be very stiff; blend in the last flour by hand. Do not chill. Dough may be tinted with paste icing color for colored cookies. For chocolate cookies, stir in 3 oz. melted unsweetened cocoa. If dough is too stiff, add water a teaspoon at a time.

Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball in a circle about 12" in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased sheet on top rack of oven for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. If you like cookies that are more like tea cakes, make the cookies a little thicker.

Cookie Icing Recipe (dries to a glossy, hard finish and tastes good, too!

1 c. sifted confectioner's sugar

2 t. milk

2 t. light corn syrup

Place sugar and milk in a small bowl. Stir until mixed. Add corn syrup and mix well. For filling in areas, use thinned icing (add small amount of corn syrup until desired consistency). Tint with paste icing color or very small amount of food coloring.

This is a Wilton recipe and I've used it for years.

Also a fun treat to make for kids is Snowman Soup. Psstt, it's really hot chocolate mix.


Mix up some hot chocolate mix or open envelopes of pre-made mix and add to a ziploc bag. Add in a few miniature marshmallows, a few hershey kisses of your choice (remember those bad, bad peppermint ones??? mmmm.....) and add a peppermint stick or candy cane for stirring. Attach this poem, and decorate package as you wish. Ok, I didn't have time to take pics or make a tutorial, so you're on your own here. We call this YoYo at my house, especially when it comes to fixing your own dinner night. YoYo= your on your own, get it???? ;)



So here's the cute little poem for Snowman soup. You can package it with cute snowman stickers, stamps, cute ribbon, etc. Even when it's yoyo night, mom has ideas for possibilities!



Snowman Soup


I was told that you’d been good this year
Always glad to hear it.
With freezing weather drawing near
You’ll need to warm the spirit
So here’s a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick
Add hot water, stir it slowly
It’s sure to do the trick!

Ingredients: Hot chocolate mix,
Snowballs, Snowman kisses and
Stirring stick




Ok, I'm a lazy crafter and time-crunched, so I googled Snowman Soup and there are all manner of graphics to use for this recipe. Does that me an expert if I can refer you to all the right references??? hmmm.....i doubt it.


Some examples:

Christmas treats!!

I have a sugar cookie recipe that always comes thru for me in a crunch......need decorated cookies in a flash? Well this recipe is great because you don't have to chill the dough! And the icing recipe will dry shiny and hard so that the cookies are stackable even though they are decorated! I don't have a picture to show you because I haven't made any yet, but I am sure I will be making some.....remember Google images is my best friend!! ;)

Here's my favorite sugar cookie recipe:

Easy Roll Out cookies

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 t. baking powder

2 3/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. (may add butter extract here if using margarine) Add baking powder and flour (mixed together first) one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be very stiff; blend in the last flour by hand. Do not chill. Dough may be tinted with paste icing color for colored cookies. For chocolate cookies, stir in 3 oz. melted unsweetened cocoa. If dough is too stiff, add water a teaspoon at a time.

Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball in a circle about 12" in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased sheet on top rack of oven for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. If you like cookies that are more like tea cakes, make the cookies a little thicker.

Cookie Icing Recipe (dries to a glossy, hard finish and tastes good, too!

1 c. sifted confectioner's sugar

2 t. milk

2 t. light corn syrup

Place sugar and milk in a small bowl. Stir until mixed. Add corn syrup and mix well. For filling in areas, use thinned icing (add small amount of corn syrup until desired consistency). Tint with paste icing color or very small amount of food coloring.

This is a Wilton recipe and I've used it for years.

Also a fun treat to make for kids is Snowman Soup. Psstt, it's really hot chocolate mix.


Mix up some hot chocolate mix or open envelopes of pre-made mix and add to a ziploc bag. Add in a few miniature marshmallows, a few hershey kisses of your choice (remember those bad, bad peppermint ones??? mmmm.....) and add a peppermint stick or candy cane for stirring. Attach this poem, and decorate package as you wish. Ok, I didn't have time to take pics or make a tutorial, so you're on your own here. We call this YoYo at my house, especially when it comes to fixing your own dinner night. YoYo= your on your own, get it???? ;)



So here's the cute little poem for Snowman soup. You can package it with cute snowman stickers, stamps, cute ribbon, etc. Even when it's yoyo night, mom has ideas for possibilities!



Snowman Soup


I was told that you’d been good this year
Always glad to hear it.
With freezing weather drawing near
You’ll need to warm the spirit
So here’s a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick
Add hot water, stir it slowly
It’s sure to do the trick!

Ingredients: Hot chocolate mix,
Snowballs, Snowman kisses and
Stirring stick




Ok, I'm a lazy crafter and time-crunched, so I googled Snowman Soup and there are all manner of graphics to use for this recipe. Does that me an expert if I can refer you to all the right references??? hmmm.....i doubt it.


Some examples:

I'm NOT away from my desk today....

I am busy working the SLaHOME Winter Sale!!! We are cleaning out the warehouse with around 90 items marked way, way down. Seventy -ish new items are on the way to the new catalog!
To see the Sale Flier, copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.southernlivingathome.com/pne/pdf/announcements/200912_DecemberSaleFliers_112409_1518.pdf

I'll be back to regularly scheduled posts tomorrow...thanks, friends. If you see something you want, you can click on our products and add my name when it asks you for a hostess name....Suzanne Joffrion. Have a terrific Tuesday!

I'm NOT away from my desk today....

I am busy working the SLaHOME Winter Sale!!! We are cleaning out the warehouse with around 90 items marked way, way down. Seventy -ish new items are on the way to the new catalog!
To see the Sale Flier, copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.southernlivingathome.com/pne/pdf/announcements/200912_DecemberSaleFliers_112409_1518.pdf

I'll be back to regularly scheduled posts tomorrow...thanks, friends. If you see something you want, you can click on our products and add my name when it asks you for a hostess name....Suzanne Joffrion. Have a terrific Tuesday!

Monday magnificence....

Woke up this morning to a gray day, but oh the temperature is amazing.......50's all day. I know that's not a big deal to some of you, but yesterday afternoon was like soup......lukewarm soup. Warm and humid. So I am so loving the overnight change.

I am reading blog after blog of holiday transformations....astounding cuteness and great ideas. Me? Well, I did manage to get all the fall out and back in the attic and the Christmas boxes down, thanks to my son before he left to go back to college.

It was a wonderful week and weekend, relaxing and visiting with family and friends. Not much shopping happened here, but I have three weeks to get it all done, right????? um, hum, I do work best under pressure. So the hours will be full for the next three weeks. I don't need a blinking reminder or even a paper calendar to remind me just how many days are left before Christmas! I can only take one day at a time anyway. It's good for me to plan, though, and I will be doing LOTS of that, so as to be efficient in my "only three weeks or so" left. But again, I can only do the twenty four hours in one day at a time, so I MUST be reasonable. Remember my post on Perspective? Um, hum, I'm going to be reading that post regularly to keep me in line!! I am continually telling myself, "It's only November 30th, not even Dec. 1st yet, so ease up, self. "
And keeping all those expectations in a reasonable frame of reference.....yep, that's a big job. We can encourage one another to remember what's truly important, and realize we are all in different places.......yes, I need someone reminding me of that.
That's why it's so good to have friends all over the place, of every age and ability, of all frames of mind....so we can encourage one another.
Wouldn't it be better if Thanksgiving were in EARLY November??? I would sure like to have a week or two extra after Thanksgiving, wouldn't you?

Well, today is my day to go visit my little quint friends, so decorating will wait for tomorrow here at my house........it's going to be a great day! I hope yours is as well. I'll celebrate December 1st with Christmas decorating, as I am sure many of you will........I am just so thankful to be able to do so......see you tomorrow, and perhaps I'll have a few pics of progress being made around here.