What a Difference a Day Makes

Remember the photos I took yesterday? 
You know, the bare tree and the dining room full of boxes? 
Allow me to share with you the end result.

I realize the beads are a bit much 

but Bethany really likes them

so they stay!

Yes...my dining room DOES have a floor.

There are a few decorations we own that I absolutely adore. 

Even though I pared down my decorating this year, 

these are a must each and every Christmas.

The Lennox Manger set from Mr. Sister's aunt

My "Saint Nicholas" nutcracker

The little yarn Santas that used to adorn my childhood tree

Ooooh...more nutcrackers. 

I <3 nutcrackers.

The Santa my nephew made over 25 years ago.

The safety pin angel a home care patient

of mine crafted.

Our Jingle Bell Rockin' Santa.

It plays Jingle Bell Rock 

and dances and spins around.

So dorky but adorable!

The Santa Bethany made out of a paver.

Pure awesomeness.

The wreath that has graced our front door 

since Bethany was a baby. 

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As Christmas approaches I have no choice but to pare down my blogging. I apologize if I haven't had a chance to visit you. My work has been quite busy ('tis the season to be wheezin') and the hectic pace of the holidays have me completely swamped. My hope is to be back in full blogging mode by the beginning of the New Year. In the meantime, I'll pop in periodically as I am able. 

God bless you all! Whatever holiday you celebrate,may it be filled with warmth, love and laughter in the bosom of family and friends. 

Tuesday's Tidbits: December 14, 2010

Dream snippet:

I rushed to join the marching police band for the parade. No one wanted me marching next to them. I looked down at my clarinet and realized I had no reed. You can't play the clarinet without a reed. Oh well. I didn't know the songs anyway.

So I raced off to join the firemen and march beside their truck, but they drove way too fast and I couldn't keep up. 

Maybe the lesson to be learned here is that I must march to my own tune at my very own pace. 

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It was a miserable game this past Sunday: the Panthers vs. Falcons. It was cold and blustery, too. Trying to maintain any enthusiasm for my beloved team is difficult at best these days, especially when the team was intentionally gutted by management. I normally do not use the language I am about to but I know you'll agree with me: The Carolina Panthers SUCK! There I admitted it. It's the 1st step towards healing. Now I pray that they can admit it as well and use their draft picks wisely. 

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Dear Starbucks Barista,

Yes you're quite cute. And silly, too. But seriously, telling my daughter about your 12 inch burrito was, let's say, inappropriate. From this point forward I kindly request that you keep your enthusiasm about said burrito to yourself.

Thank you,

Mama 5th

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Munchie-Boy was moved up a division in swimming. This means more scheduled practices (6 times per week), and longer practices as well (up to 2 hours). He's getting quite the work out and comes home exhausted. This division will either make or break him. So far, he is holding his own quite well. I'm proud of you Munch!

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I'm on this crazy elimination diet (doctor prescribed) in order to find out what foods I am "sensitive" to. I already know I am sensitive to corn and corn byproducts (high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, etc.), MSG and a few other chemicals. But taking away my yogurt, aged cheeses, and fruit is just plain mean!

Which leads me to a very kind thing Mr. Sister did for me yesterday. I am not suppose to eat store bought bread because of the added chemicals and preservatives. So Mr. Sister, knowing I had a very busy day ahead, baked for me a wonderful loaf of bread...from scratch! How sweet was that?! 

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We finally got our tree up yesterday. It's not decorated (except for lights...thank goodness for pre-lit trees!) and will probably remain that way through the weekend. I also have stockings hung but not much else. The time has flown by this Christmas season! Hopefully, after this weekend (I work) when school is out we will all have time to breathe and pause to remember the true reason we celebrate. 

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I must now get started on the day at hand...Make it a great Tuesday everyone. Thanks for dropping by!

The Greatest Gift of All

The Nativity by Duccio di Buon Insegna, 1308-11

National Gallery, Washington

May God grant you and your family abundant blessings 

this day and throughout the New Year. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Free at Last! Now Time for Reflection

I am now free to take back my blog! Did you all enjoy Mr. Sister's post? He took his mission very seriously, I see.

On another note, I am feeling some "breathing room" now. We are on break from our home school duties and responsibilities, there is one last choir performance, just a gift or two left to wrap and a dinner to plan. Easy. I can now focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

With that said, this week's focus will be on the biblical teachings about the birth of Jesus. Today's scripture is from Luke 1:26-38...The Annunciation.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Image courtesy of St. Peter Canisius Apostolate at http://catholic-teaching.org

For Your Listening Pleasure - Part 3

My dear son would like to now serenade you with his "rocking" version of Jingle Bell Rock. Rock on little dude!

For Your Listening Pleasure - Part 2

Today you will be treated to a piano version of Oh Holy Night, as interpreted by my daughter. Someone please get this girl a hair clip!

For Your Listening Pleasure-Part 1

I must earn my keep over the next several days. Therefore I will use this opportunity to update this blog with music videos, 5th Sister style. Hopefully, I will have a different one, each day, until my return next week. I will begin with my very favorite Claymation Christmas song: We Three Kings. Enjoy!

What I Did This Past Weekend

I don't bake. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE to cook. It's just that my talents don't cover the realm of pastries, pies, cakes and cookies. With that in mind I decided to test out some snowflake cookie cutters I purchased last year for next to nothing during the after Christmas sales. 1st I had to decide upon a recipe. I am a frequent purveyor of http://www.allrecipes.com/ and came upon The Best Rolled Sugar Cookie recipe. It has an average 4.5 out of 5 star rating with almost 2000 reviews. So I plunged in. Took me an hour to get everything mixed on Friday afternoon and into the fridge the dough went to chill.

Since I am off so very few weekends I had to figure out when I'd have the time to roll out and bake these cookies. I decided Saturday morning was best. I started working the dough and cutting cookies at 9:00a.m. 3 and 1/2 hours later I'm still at it. These snowflakes were driving me nuts. The small ones kept tearing and the large ones were obviously time consuming. The dough wasn't very cooperative either. Finally I just rolled a few and put them in the oven while I rolled a few more. They expanded a touch during the baking process so some of my intricate designs were no longer that intricate. Oh well, at least this part was over.

Christmas shopping, a choir concert and a sleepover took up the rest of the day. Mass, packaging gifts, more Christmas shopping and a Carolina Panther game was on the agenda for Sunday. Sunday evening around 8:00p.m. was the only time slot available to ice these snowflakes.

Icing the cookies was another battle. I, again, went to trusted Allrecipes and found one that I had all the ingredients for called Butter Icing for Cookies. It included confectioner's sugar, butter, cream and vanilla. Simple, right? After following directions EXACTLY what I had was a mess. The icing hardened up really quickly, wouldn't spread.I even tried "piping" the icing but again, just a crumbly mess. HELP! I went back to Allrecipes and posted my plea on the Recipe Exchange board. Within minutes I had many suggestions: some suggested adding a little more cream while others instructed me to keep the icing over low heat and to stir continuously between cookies. I still had rotten luck. I ended up adding a LOT more cream and using the icing as a "glaze" into which I dipped the cookies. When the icing ran low, I drizzled the rest over the remaining snowflakes. I was finally finished 3 hours after I began.

The snowflake cookies actually turned out quite pretty and tasted yummy. Would I do this again? NO WAY! I do not have the patience for this type of cookie baking. If you all have a simple cookie recipe to send my way I'm game! Feel free to share in my comments section.

I'm off to deal with more deck issues. An update will be given sometime this week, I promise!