Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Good day, lovelies! This is just a quick update, as I've still got quite a few things to finish today. I'm doing laundry while Chris and I watch Cowboys & Aliens. He rented it last night, and I wanted to see it before he brought it back. I have to pack for our trip once the movie is done, and then we've got a family gathering on Chris' dad's side of the family. I've barely spent any time with them since we've been together, so it's kind of intimidating for me. Nevertheless, I'm still looking forward to it. Finally, when we get back from the gathering, Chris and I are exchanging our gifts. I'm soooo excited about that because I can't wait to see his reaction to what I got him. Tomorrow we're spending the day with my family, and Sunday we're leaving for Edmonton! I'm so excited to see little nephew - he's getting so big! And I get to see the place where my honey grew up, which is also very cool.

This afternoon I also baked some cookies. They're jam-filled thumbprint cookies, and they are much simpler than other recipes I've been seeing for them online. I'd like to share the recipe with you because I can't stop eating them!!

2 c. butter or margarine
2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
6 c. flour

Cream butter and brown sugar, add wet ingredients, then flour. Mix well after each addition. Make small balls of dough, about teaspoon-sized, and place about a 1/2 inch apart. Using your thumb or index finger, make small indents in the middle of each ball. Fill the holes with your choice of jam (my preference is raspberry). Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Yum yum!

I wish all of you a merry Christmas, and I hope you have a blessed time with family and friends. And maybe take a moment to remember all that Jesus did for us, all the things we have to be thankful for.

xoxo Fe

Some Christmas thoughts.

Hello friends! How are you? I don't know about you, but I am so ready for Christmas!

The tree is up and decorated. The kitties wouldn't stay out of it at first, but now they seem to have satisfied their curiosity with it, and are staying out of it.

There's like 2 more presents to add to this, but that's it!

The gifts are bought and wrapped. They are not under the tree, however, because my kitties will shred them to pieces. They are attracted to both paper and boxes, so that just does not bode well for boxes wrapped in paper.

The little kids sang for "big church" on the weekend. They're so adorable :)

Today we had our cell Christmas party, which is actually the first one that I've been to this year. I've been invited to more, but I couldn't make them. We had a lot of fun. We played that game where you get the name of a person or a character on your back, then you have to go around and ask people yes or no questions to figure out who you are. I was Indiana Jones, and that was tough to figure out! We had snacks and stuff. I ate way too many desserts. Then the girls and guys split up, and we played pictionary with the titles of Christmas songs. And we had to actually sing the song for our answer to count. The boys were such cheaters - if they heard us say it before we started singing, then they would start singing. But we beat them hardcore :)

Sunday we went for a sleigh ride at my brother-in-law's girlfriend's house. Her family runs a farm where people go to get Christmas trees, and they can go for sleigh rides and stuff too. Fun times!

Me and my man (we weren't totally prepared for this, but it's the best one I got :P)

Starting tomorrow, our family gatherings are starting. First, supper at Chris' parents with my brother-in-law's girlfriend (because she's not coming to Edmonton with us). Saturday, my mom's side; Sunday, Chris' mom's side. Next weekend: Chris' dad's side, and with my family. Then we leave for Edmonton and have Christmas there with the rest of Chris' siblings! Busy, but so much fun. That's what I love about Christmas - spending time with family.


I hope that you all enjoy your holidays! Take time to relax and just breathe! And remember that the reason we celebrate Christmas is to remember all that Jesus has done for us!

xoxo Fe

Random thoughts on a Friday evening.

This is me right now. I'm kind of bored.

I didn't feel like filling blanks today, so I didn't. Hahahaha...

Right now I am sitting alone, with Rogue sleeping half on my laptop. Okay, maybe only a quarter. She's silly. Storm is hiding who knows where. We had her spayed and declawed this week, and she's doing really good, but even so I guess she's tired and she wants to get away from Rogue. Rogue can be a bit of a pest sometimes. But she's so darn cute we can't hold it against her. Chris will be on his way home from school soon. He carpools with his dad so I can use the car, but then he has to wait until his dad is done work and sometimes that is kind of late, which makes me sad :(

I am sitting at my desk, writing a letter to Jasmine. She's such a lovely lady - her letters put a smile on my face! Actually ALL letters put a smile on my face! I just love to hear stories about life, about thoughts and hopes and dreams and that supper that you accidentally ruined and that annoying thing your husband does, but gosh-darn he's just so wonderful anyway :) I love to connect with people and to be able to read their stories over and over. Someday, when I pass away, at least my kids will have these letters and remember that their mama liked tangible things over electronics :)

I'm thinking about what to make for supper. I'm thinking tomato soup and grilled cheese because it's chilly today, and that's so comforting on a cold day.

Tomorrow I'm doing some Christmas baking with Estela. I haven't picked my recipes yet, but I have about 13 tabs open with different sweets calling my name. I think I'll do 3, so we'll see which ones I end up with.

Oh hey, I have a job now! Did I mention that? I just finished my second week working at Staples, an office supply store in my town. I love not having to commute!! It's awesome, especially that winter is upon us and roads become disgusting sometimes. So far my job is pretty good - still making dumb mistakes, but I guess there's no way to avoid it. And I get a 15% discount on office supplies :D Yessssss....

Christmas in 23 days!! Wooooo!!!

Have a lovely weekend, my friends <3

Some thoughts by a smart man.

This is something that a friend posted on Facebook recently, and I decided to share it because I completely agree with it. The original can be found here. I am not sure of the validity of the rest of this - maybe Ben Stein actually said it, maybe not.

I am not posting this to offend, just to provoke thought. Some very good points in here. You can just replace "America" with "Canada" in most cases because we're almost the same at this point.

 

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shall not kill; thou shall not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein