re-gifting?

About 5 years ago or so, dd15 had pretty much stopped playing with her vast American Girl doll collection after years of enjoyment. She had a bitty baby as well as the big doll collection. When her collection started to only gather dust, she and I decided it was time to pack it all away for hopefully a granddaughter someday??

Only God knew at that time that He had another daughter for us.

DD15 and I dug out part of the collection out this Christmas for another special little girl to enjoy. We reminisced about those days when she was just a little girl and played and played with these dolls for hours on end. A certain girl who is not so little anymore had great fun going through all of her old things.

The greenhouse went up yesterday. I'll keep you posted on that this year, I know you can hardly wait...

A nursery we like was having a great sale this week, tulips were 75% off. So we planted more tulips.My mother in law, cooked a turkey on Christmas Day. She gave me the leftovers, so I made lots of turkey stock, then turkey noodle soup. I wasn't planning on taking a picture of this but then when I saw the carrots, onion and celery looking so pretty, well....

Now I have stock of stock for the freezer. Which I love to have on hand to make soup. I am allergic to MSG (monosodium glutamate), which is in many store bought chicken broths/stocks. I can't always find the brands that don't have msg, like Kitchen Basics-which I love but can be a bit pricey. So homemade stock is a really good thing.

I know most of you have probably made stock but for those who haven't and want to try, here is how you do it;

Chicken or Turkey Stock

Pull off all meat (save for soup) and place carcass in a large stock pot. Cover with cool water. Wash and chop, but don't peel a few large carrots, a few stalks of celery and 2 medium onions. Add some whole peppercorns and 1 or 2 bay leaves. Bring to boil and reduce heat and let cook on stove for 6-10 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Take out and skim off fat.

a gift...

Just a little gift for a friend.

decorated...

Just thought I'd show you a bit of our decorations. The picture of our nativity came out blurry but it is especially beautiful this year. Sorry you can't see it.

The tree.

The garland was made from boxwood that came from a friend's yard. This is not the nativity I was referring to. This one is in the kitchen.
I really enjoy making these greenery arrangements. I think they make every room festive...
Here is another little one.
Well , it is finally Christmas Eve. We will go to Mass this evening with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We will then come here and have dinner together.

We are so fortunate to be able to be with some of our family this Christmas. We miss those who live far away-LOVE YOU GUYS!

May you and your families be blessed abundantly with the gifts

that come from God alone this Christmas Season!

oh those crazy kids...

I think this might be the consequences of watching How the Grinch stole Christmas just one too many times...

Anywho, thought this was pretty funny.

Big sissy has a 2 ltr. coke bottle in her hair (that's a lot of hair!) and little one has a water bottle.

This lovely note was on the door of my son's room...

If you enlarge it, it reads

I am disgusted with my room!

don't have time to clean it now.

I will clean it on the break,

it is the first thing I will do.

Please don't bug me, I am aware I am living and sleeping in a

PIGSTY.

It made me laugh because although I am aware of how bad it is, I have not said anything. But I do like this conviction and self awareness he came to on his own. He's growing up.

BTW, he got his license a couple of weeks ago. I feel such a loss of control. I find this new chapter very challenging. A whole new lesson in surrender to God.

A friend once said to me, just wait until you watch your two oldest children pull out of the driveway together in the same car for the first time. She was right, it was really hard, scary, I definitely felt a little nauseous...

As with everything else in my life, I must leave them in HIS hands.

thrifty decorations...

Hubby made this wonderful wreath. I love it! It now hangs on the side of our home with a spotlight shining on it at night and we are enjoying it very much.

A year or two ago after Christmas, hubby found two large wreaths out on the curb of a church next door to where he works. He took all the greenery off them and put them away. As I was driving down the road one day I came across some utility workers cutting pine branches away from the phone lines and the road was lined with large piles of greenery that would be disposed of. I quickly ran home to get hubby and we filled up the car twice with lots of fresh pine. The men were happy to let us have all we wanted.

It's so much more fun getting things this way rather than going to the store and

just buying them. Not to mention being able to see the hand of God that much more clearly.

I wish I had blogged more this Advent, but I didn't, oh well.

One of the things I like about blogging, is that it is really like a scrapbook or journal. I have journaled for many years and it is so nice to look back and see where

I have been and what I've done. It's helped me to recall those special moments with much more clarity and when I read about the more challenging times it reminds me of lessons learned and as St. Teresa of Avila said,"all things are passing, God only is changeless"