Shredded paper & glass

.......ORNAMENTS!

Kelly, from Kelly's Korner has decorated some

of her Christmas trees with these glass ornaments.

They are just so super easy, with a bonus of being

super cute! Great gift opportunity here.

The best part is I bought all the supplies at JoAnn's

fabric store ON SALE! Lurv when that happens.

I found these clear glass balls in a pack of 6 for

50% off making them $1.50 for all 6.

I then found the shredded paper (comes in many

colors and can be found in most stores near

the gift wrapping section) for 15% off,

making it $2.00 (but I have tons left for packages)

Already had the ribbon and stickers.

You can find the stickers in any scrapbook isle.

Carefully remove the top. Be sure to not bend the metal out of

shape. Fill the balls with shredded paper, replace top, and

adorn with stickers. You could use small stickers, and spell

out name, OR You can use cute Christmas stickers. This is

a great project for kids. These would even make great teacher

gifts too.

To everyone that stops by....

I want to take just a second to THANK everyone that

stops by my blog every day.. or every other day.. or

even every once in a while.

I want everyone to know that I CHERISH your comments.

I love to hear "ding", 'cause usually it means I have

a new comment. I read each one, and there are so

many times that I wish I could reply, and answer y'all right back.

Thank you to those that take a minute or two of your time

to comment on my photo's, crafts, recipes, or rambling randomness.

I appreciate each one of you!

And to those that stop by, but don't comment, I love y'all too! HA!

Keep stopping back, your always welcome!

Live Nativity & Lights

Hub's and I enjoyed a nice "mini date" last night.

We are lucky enough to have a wonderful

Christian museum very close to our home.

Each Christmas they have an outdoor Live Nativity,

and a beautiful light display.. FREE!

I LURV FREE!!

Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus

Camel

Alpacas... they also had cows, donkey's, bunnies, wallaby's, and

chickens.

A lighted Path

A partially frozen waterfall

Lights

The lighted path takes you all the way around a huge frozen lake.

It was JUST SO BEAUTIFUL.. COLD.. but beautiful! I just love how

the lights reflected on the ice.

(All photo's were taken without flash, very little light, and no

tripod... not to mention, I was shaking like a leaf from the

bitter cold.. LOL.... not too bad for those kind of conditions)

We had a great evening.

A whole Saturday... free

We didn't get home last night until past midnight.

We had a lovely Christmas dinner at a coworker's home.

(hubby's) Wonderful host, wonderful (unique) food.

The Mr. is from Lebanon, and the Mrs. is American born,

but of Lebanese decent. I tell you this, to give an idea of the

flavorful menu they provided. My children are older

than theirs but they enjoyed each others company

non the less.

It's so nice to go out and be an "adult" for a change.

Hubby and I are always running, running for our

kids. Sometimes it's just nice to be the "Mr. & the

Mrs.

My hardworking husband was out the door by 6:30am,

to put in a few hours at the office. while I strained to open

my eyes. The kiddo's are still fast asleep.

The good thing is .. Once hub's gets home, we have the

WHOLE day free. Well almost. We do have a

commitment this evening, but that happens to be

during evening Mass. Other than that we are free as birds.

So... what am I going to do with all this free time??

Believe it or not... I'm looonnggginngg to go to the mall.

Crazy I know! What am I thinking?

I haven't been shopping at the big mall in the city forever....

and I want to go see the decorations, lights, oohh.. and Santa.

I want to get a Peppermint mint Mocha too.

I have one special place I need to stop...

I took this picture (with my phone) when I was

in Macy's a few weeks ago. How cute is this??

I totally forgot about it until I saw THIS.

Check out how you can help.

My ever changing view

Out my back door.

Just as the snow began to fly....

The pond is frozen.. with snow on top. It looks tiny in this shot,

it's actually a lot bigger than it looks.

One of my favorite things about the leaves falling is it allows

a better view of my critter friends. I can't wait to share with y'all

my deer friends. They lounge just

inside the woods.. they are beautiful. That's to come, I've

got to catch them first.

A hostess gift

Cookies in many forms....

First.. a recipe.....

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Cast of Characters:

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup baking cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Mix first 4 ingredients in bowl, set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar &

vanilla extract. (this is where having a kitchen aid comes in handy,

but you can do it by hand) Add 2 eggs, continue to combine.

Slowly add dry ingredients continuing to combine to form dough.

It will be stiff. Once combined well, add in chips BY HAND.

Place on a non greased cookie sheet. I like my cookies to be big,

but judge for yourself how large you want yours to be. Bake

at 350 degrees for about 9 minutes. I like my cookies chewy, but

soft, not crispy. Watch yours, the dough is dark, so they can

burn without noticing.

Here they are all baked up. These cookies are SO GOOD. Good enough

to share for sure.

I found these cute plastic containers at Walmart. 3 nested

sizes for $3.00.. great deal!

So.. I placed a baker's dozen inside.

Form #2, 3, & 4....

Christmas Cookie Candle, Gingerbread (cookie) ornament,

all tucked inside this adorable little Gingerbread (cookie)

tote! (Purchased at Yankee candle store for $12.99)

How often have you tasted a cookie, and thought.. mmm..

I'd love to have this recipe. Well.. I do.. and I thought I would

tuck the recipe inside the containers lid just in case they want

to make a batch or ten.

I'm still in need of some cellophane, I plan to stack and wrap,

and tie with a shiny bow on top.

Things I'm thinking about

just some randomness this morning.....

Snow is so pretty, you can play with it, build

with it, throw it at people, some even eat it..

even though they say you shouldn't.

Snow can also be the devil in disguise of slippery

roads, car accidents, blizzards, down power lines,

and the list goes on. It's very temperamental and

you gotta know just how to finesse it... and even

when we try, it still sometimes gets the better of

us.

Since I'm on the whole snow kick here.. (probably

because we are getting a little more this morning)

Many just don't know how to drive in it. There are

times for caution, and times to just give it a little

gas, and do us all a favor and get out of our way.

Then again, there are some that give it way too much

gas, and end up turned upside down, just up the

road from you. It can be scary.

Christmas lights are beautiful, just one strand of lights

can make a home beautiful in the darkness of night.

Same goes for the guy out on the "big road" that lights

up his boat. I mean that thing is u*g*l*y, but at night

with lights.. its beautiful... ha!

Santa riding a motorcycle hung up on a garage, makes

me smile each time I see it, and frown when it isn't

turned on.

Christmas songs just make me happy, but I find myself

listening in the car, becoming entranced, and then finally

saying.. ok.. enough with the Christmas songs already.. lol..

When is enough..... enough? I have a hard time stopping

at enough when it comes to buying people Christmas

presents, especially for my immediate family.

Note to self. Hide all Christmas cookies. EVERY

time I make cookies, I leave the kitchen, and I come

back to ONLY a few carefully placed cookies on the plate.

Do they think I won't notice? It can take hours to

create, bake, and decorate, and all of 30 seconds

to eat.

Do people still use bows on packages? I see so many

gift bags, tissue and wrapping paper, tape, but few bows.

Did I miss the memo?

A simple wreath can make an over 100 year old cabin

look so festive.

This time of year can bring out the happy, and bring

on the stress. I like the happy best.

My question is Where are the red kettles? I've seen ONE,

outside of Walmart last night. That's it!

I manage to get around to quite a number of stores,

but no buckets. That has to be hurting the Salvation Army.

We always choose ornaments from the giving tree each year.

Our church provides MANY needy families with food, and

presents during the Christmas season. I noticed that almost

all the ornaments were for gift cards. Wonder why? Are

5 year olds excited to get gift cards?

Projects, I have so many. I find myself feeling overwhelmed

and accomplishing nothing. Why is that?

Christmas party stress. What to wear, what to bring

what to say to strangers.......

And finally... cause I've got a lot of projects to do... lol...

I want to leave you with this link to one of my favorite

SUPER SILLY Christmas songs. Please tell me I'm

not the only one that has family....... nevermind...

just watch.