Family Photograph

Okay, let's play. You tell me which kid belongs to who. If you get them all right, well, I'd be really surprised and I'd have to think on it- you may get a prize. K? And if you know my family you can't play. Sorry. That wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Okay I guess I'll play a little more fair. One boy and one girl belong to one brother and the rest to the other. The kids are not grouped in any particular way. The adults are more or less grouped together. This is your first look at me how I look now, so don't gasp in horror. You've seen my hubby (dead center) and I'm right by him. We don't have any kids. I know, it's not pretty, but everyone else looked good in the picture, so I didnt' complain. I'll get a better picture posted once the camera charges up a little bit. Both girls are M so Redhead is M1 and the other is M2. Brown stripe is T, blue stripe is A, red stripe is D, white plaid is N and black shirt is B. Good luck.

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

We all know the popular refrain "It's five o'clock somewhere" - I have 2 stories for you. One has a moral, that I will get to quickly, the other is just a cute family story, I guess.
Story 1- WGJ was an administrator where I went to college. I was present one time when someone asked him what time it was. He proceeded to hold his watch out facing away from him, and the person could read it perfectly. It took all of 30 seconds for us to realize that he was wearing his watch UPSIDE DOWN. He couldn't possibly read it like that, at least not practically. So, we asked him why. He said "because it reminds me that things aren't always as they appear."

Story 2-My family has an old clock that doesnt work anymore. No matter how often it's fixed, it gets off time and is useless except for decoration. To this day, it hangs on their wall stuck at one time. Dinner time. My dad's idea. He likes food, what can I say? Now we happened to get a clock for a wedding present from a dear friend. It eats batteries every 2 weeks. In that amount of time, it slows down by 20 minutes. We've nursed it the last couple of years on batteries and finally it was an hour slow. I gave up and took the top battery out and turned the clock to five. It now stays there. The pendulum still swings, as you can see in the picture it's leaning right - but as the song goes "it's five o'clock somewhere" or as my dad says "oh look, it's dinner time".

Fun Monday-Holiday Traditions

The Humble Housewife is hosting Fun Monday. She says: With the holidays coming up I thought it would be fun to get an insight into holiday traditions in peoples homes. I want you to share a tradition, event, recipe or quirk that you or your family does or aspires to do during the holidays, whether those holidays be Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.

Okay as a bonus I listed Thanksgiving traditions on Sunday, so scroll down for more goodies and a recipe. Thanks to HMA for both recipes. Okay, for Christmas. Wow. Where to start. How about things we always do, things we do now, and things we wish we could do?

The Christmas tree always went up about a month to two weeks before Christmas. I helped decorate what I could reach and got ornaments out of boxes. I was too short to do much decorating. Mom always uses lots of silver garland everywhere. She has from time to time decorated indoors and out. It depends on the weather leading up to the holidays and the amount of wind blowing around. Santa brought presents until I could read tags. When I could, then it was to 'J' from blank. Then it was just from mom and dad. I still believe in the spirit of Santa Claus, the spirit of giving. As long as it's in your heart, you still believe, he exists.

We always went to Christmas eve service. There's always a part at the end where candlelight is passed from one candle to another until everyone is holding a lit cancle, the lights go dim, and Silent Night is sung. It's very spiritual and a final reminder of what this holiday is for, before the presents and the food and the sensory overload takes place. I have an idea we'll miss the Christmas eve service this year, as we're 4 hours away. I'm very sad about that.

As kids we always woke early and asked our parents if it was time to open presents. At 4 a.m. We were always told to go back to sleep -If only it were that easy.

We traveled once on Christmas eve and were snowed out. Away from our presents, etc. We stayed in town with my dad's boss and his wife. They played real records on a record player. That's about all I remember. We never traveled farther than church on Christmas eve again. A few years ago my hubby and I drove about 1/2 hour from home to church and I didnt know if we'd make it home or not. The road was white out (snowing so much you couldnt see the traffic) and somehow we made it home. We sang along to the radio and shivered, trying to get the heat to keep up with the harshly blowing snow/wind.

For years I have helped my dad shop for gifts for mom and helped him and from time to time a brother wrap presents. I.E. they leave it with me and have me do it.

Oh there's always candy canes on the tree. The have to be Bob's brand. Don't ask why, the other ones just taste fake. My mom has some felt horsey heads that you shove a candy cane in that make it look like a "candy stick horse" - if that makes any sense. She hasn't used them much in the past couple of years. And everyone has a stocking with their name on it now. 15 people to keep straight is just too much. Enter green and red glitter glue. Everyone gets some candy, usually peanut butter cups, maybe kisses, and little york peppermint patties.

From the time I was about 12, I've gotten out certain Christmas albums, actually they're the only ones I have. And play them a lot up until Christmas day. They're Garth Brooks Christmas albums, they're kind of peppy versions of songs like Go Tell it on the Mountain and Santa looked a lot like Daddy as well as Friendly Beasts which gives a voice to the animals in the manger. My favorite is probably Maria/The Bird Song we call it. I'd pay a lot to hear that live. They've been transferred over to mp3 on the computer now, so we should have them even if the Cd's (out of print) die on us.

We used to always be at home/home on Christmas day and now my hubby and I stay at our home together. Usually there is sledding at home and I call my mom if she doesnt beat me to it, and she tries to convince me to join them for the day. Last year my hubby and I took a long walk in the woods by our university apartment, enjoyed the snow, explored, had a great time. I dont know what this year will hold. I know it will hold a tree. We've only been able to have a big tree 2 years because we've been in University housing the rest of the time and couldnt get a tree in the place. I know after the first year of opening presents, it has felt a little empty once we're done with that. I assume that's a sign of some sort.

Something I wish I could do is an advent calendar, especially with a kid, because you can count down the days until Christmas with a focus on Christian values (and/or tiny presents to go along with that) and not focus on "shopping days until Christmas" - know what I mean?

Candy and cookies. I will always remember the candy cane cookies with red and plain sugar cookie dough twisted together to form the cane. Yum yum. My mom always makes peanut butter and chocolate fudge, and now, so do I. It's really yummy and makes great gifts. I have an easy fudge recipe if anyone needs it (you can get the same one on the back of a jar of marshmallow cream, by the way)... and I have from time to time made different things, chocolate caramels, which were good, but were hard to chew. My hubby had just gotten braces. Bad timing. Um... I usually make a couple of types of cookies along with the fudge. I like the peanut butter blossoms (just a hershey's kiss stuck in the peanut butter cookies) pretty well. In the past I have helped mom make cracker jack/caramel corn but not tried it myself, oh and I usually make at least one batch of chex mix (with extra garlic). Oh and we usually make a powdered hot chocolate mix that lasts us all year, last week, I got some of last year's out of the tupperware, stirred it into the hot water and voila hot chocolate! It's probably better for you than the swiss miss and tastes better, I think. It makes a big batch and is good for kids because it has more than one item that has minerals, vitamins, calcium, etc. and not a whole lot of sugar. I've had about 6 cups and we're finally getting low on it, so I need to stock up on the ingredients before my hubby gets a taste for it, he uses about twice the mix to water ratio that I do (another good reason to have your own mix instead of the packet stuff)... Oh and I have been known to dip stuff in chocolate. This year I'm going to try Payday mini bars. I snagged the last bag on sale from Halloween. Before it's been oreos, plastic spoons with sprinkles or marshmallows that you individually wrap and add as a "hot chocolate stirrer", etc.

Okay, last but not least, food. Much like Thanksgiving, there are always a few items that take billing. One of them is Homemade Noodles. If you ask my mom real nice, take her a dozen eggs and a bag of flour along with your manpower, you too can have a bunch of meals worth to put in your freezer. We did a dozen eggs and got 9 or 10 bags plus a half a bag, probably could have had 12 mostly full quart bags out of it. She has 2 pasta machines (they cut, not mix), but making them goes pretty fast. We've gone through umm about 9 bags in the last month and a half or so. Probably a bag a week. Yes, they are that good. Chicken and noodles, beef and noodles, etc. Yum yum. Now, can I convince her to help me make some more? With the church thing and Thanksgiving both coming up and needing probably at least 6 batches apiece of those? Hmm. We'll see.

Homemade Noodles

2 eggs
1/4 C milk
2 C flour
1 t salt

Combine all ingredients to make stiff dough. If you have a pasta machine, follow directions, or.. Roll out thin on floured surface, roll up and slice 1/4 inch wide, unroll, spread and let dry. Drop into boiling broth and cook uncovered about 15-20 minutes, or until tender. Makes 6 cups cooked noodles.

Bonus Holiday Traditions w/ Recipe

I thought since Fun Monday was all about Holiday traditions, that I'd use Sunday to write about Thanksgiving traditions and save Christmas for Monday.

First things first, we get an early taste of holiday fare in November at a church potluck. My mom always volunteers to make the stuffing (dressing, really) - nothing ever gets stuffed at our house, except the people, I guess. And she usually goes ahead and makes homemade noodles (more on that during Fun Monday) and takes those too. Not only that, but she usually makes both things for the family Thanksgiving dinner, on Thanksgiving day. No matter where it's held, she takes them and cooks them wherever we happen to be travelling. A few years ago, she held Thanksgiving at her house. Woohoo! No 1.5-2 hour drive! Well, this is her year again, and lo and behold, we live 4 hours from either town now. So it wouldnt matter where it was, it would still be a 4 hour drive. The ones that gather are the ones without big enough families to have their own event. Although I would argue that our family is probably big enough for it's own now. There's 15 of us. But then we'd never see the family. Since mom is hosting this year, my hubby is taking the day before Thanksgiving off and we're leaving Tuesday night and going down to help her prepare and clean her house, set up tables, etc. We expect about 40 people to be there. Oh boy. There's usually turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles and dressing, and then whatever else people bring. Always tons of food. Always a lot of pie. Mm. Pie.

Tired of boxed stuffing? Bad results from turkey malfunction? Try this instead. Prep bread the day before and store in a covered bowl or large roaster.

Stuffing/Dressing
325 degree oven

16 C dry bread cubes (1 SANDWICH loaf-bigger than regular loaves)
1/2 lb margarine (2 sticks)
1 t sage
1 C chopped onion
1 t poultry seasoning
2-3 cans chicken broth

Cube loaf of dry bread (leave it partially open for a day or so-just helps make sure that the bread is super dry). Spread cubes on baking sheet in single layer in 300 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly brown. Saute onion in melted margarine until tender. Add spices. Pour over bread cubes in roaster or large bowl and mix until well coated. Heat broth in pan and pour over mixture. May add hot water to find right consistency. Spray 9x14 pan and add dressing mix to it. Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 min to one hour or until browned and dry on top. Has a smooth, moist consistency and subtle rich flavor. No twiggy mouth feeling or dry bits.