~New's Years Eve and A New Magazine~

Tonight is New Year's Eve. How do you celebrate this special night? Sometimes I fix a special dinner, but tonight we're going to one of our favorite little restaurants and then home for movies and watch the activities on TV. Tomorrow we are having a family favorite dinner....breaded veal cutlets and all the trimmings. I have all the Christmas decorations down and we'll be taking the tree down on Friday...maybe tomorrow.

I've set out my New Year's postcards,I love reading the sweet messages that were sent to friends and family and that's all I do for decorating for this holiday. Well I need to get moving, I want to get my groceries before the store gets too hectic, and when I come home........

I' m going to take a peek at the new Country Living. Patty at Attic Clutter had a give away earlier this year....a 1 year subscription to CL and I was the lucky winner. My magazine arrived yesterday and I can hardly wait to enjoy it. I'll be by for a chat later today...hugs, Linda

~Christmas Books~

Greetings everyone. Thank you for all the happy Christmas wishes...we had a lovely Christmas, hope you did too. I have been enjoying the past few days, actually basking in the after glow of Christmas, watching holiday movies and reading the beautiful books I received..... This is the sweetest book, filled with darling graphics and special sentiments.

Christmas Curiosities is very interesting and I love the book...but I have to tell you, Santa in the early 1800's was rather scary looking.....in many pictures he is rather devilish looking.

Oh, this is a book of heart warming Rockwell illustrations with wonderful hymns, poems and stories from contributors...such as Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott to name a few. All these books are wonderful additions to my Christmas library, I'll enjoy them for years to come.

Lisa gave me a novel, I'm so looking forward to reading, but first I have to finish the third book in The Ladies of Covington series. I'm enjoying this series....I read about it on someones blog (I wish I could remember who's) each book is most enjoyable. As soon as I finish the third book I'm reading.........

Knit Two. This is the second book in the Friday Night Knitting Club series....which for me ended on a sad note....I can't wait to see how everyone is doing. See you soon...hugs, Linda

~~Merry Christmas~~

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. May the warm cozy feeling and the spirit of the season be ever in your heart. Linda

~Mexican Wedding Cakes~

Yesterday I baked my favorite Christmas cookies. Mexican Wedding Cakes. I've loved these little cookies since the first time I ate one and that Christmas 1951, the year I was in the second grade. Three classmates and myself were invited to our teachers home for dinner (a special reward for good citizenship) we were so excited and thrilled to be going to our teacher's home. When I was little we adored our teachers, they just were so special to us...well anyway, to dinner we went. It was magical. In her home the lights were low and her Christmas tree was so beautiful and twinkly, there were candles everywhere. My family never burned candles so I was in paradise. Dinner was served on pretty dishes...I don't remember what was served but for our dessert we had wonderful little cookies....Mexican Wedding Cakes. Oh, I had to have the recipe. When my mom came to take me home Miss Hill gave my mom her recipe and here it is........ I know it is in pretty sad shape....I don't care. It's in my mom's handwriting and there are wonderful memories attached to this recipe that I've made every year since 1952. If you click on the picture, I think you can read the recipe.

Cream the butter then add the other ingredients...mix well.

Form into balls, I make mine a little larger than a marble. I love parchment paper and line my cookie sheets with it...no need to grease them. Bake about 10 minutes (light brown) in a 375 degree oven.

Cool slightly, then roll in powered sugar.........and

Enjoy! Christmas hugs, Linda

~Sharing and I Won A Give-Away~

Mom, are we done yet? Lily and I have been wrapping packages all afternoon and I agree it's time to clean up. Just five more days until Christmas and I'm ready...except for baking cookies. Before I gather all the things up I wanted to share some stitched pieces with you..... I enjoy cross stitching and thought I'd share some holiday pieces I always have out. I have a small chest in my dining room and these pictures hang on the wall behind it.

The cute little Santa is a Just Nan and I stitched it last year.

I love this sampler...my Mom made it for me in 1989. Do you see my initials in the stocking in the left hand corner?

This is my most treasured piece. My sweet daughter stitched this as a Christmas gift for me when she was a teenager.....love, love, love it. If you see a little orange spot on the green Santa's outfit please excuse.... it's from the flash

One more thing I wanted to share are these beautiful coasters.

Yesterday when I got home from running errands there was a large envelope waiting for me... all the way form the Netherlands. Heidi at Needle Necessities was having a give-away and I was one of the lucky winners. Hedi was giving away sets of her beautiful handmade coasters. She asked what colors we liked and the set she made me is just perfect....I love the colors and the pattern....and the sweet card too, thank you Heidi. Heidi has a lovely blog and she is very a talented stitcher, quilter, and makes the most beautiful lace. If you have never met Heidi, stop by for a visit, you won't be disappointed.

Well, back to cleaning up and then time to start dinner. Happy rest of the weekend to all....Christmas hugs, Linda

~ Christmas Tree~

Hi everyone. Are you ready for Christmas? I'm getting there.... I don't know about you, but for me there is just not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to do. We did get our tree up and decorated this weekend and I did something a little different. For a closer look you can click on any picture.

I love and collect vintage bead garland, but this year I just didn't want to decorate the tree with it, but I did want to put it out. What to do? I think Christmas ornaments look so pretty in glass containers so I thought why not put the garland in a large glass vase.

What do you think? I love it! I have to tell you when I first started putting the garland in the vase, I thought to myself, this is one of your crazier ideas, it's going to be a tangled mess to get out, but I put it in carefully and I'll just be careful taking it out. Until then we'll enjoy it.

Be seeing you soon....hugs, Linda

~ Father Christmas ~

Look what my Santa just gave me, Father Christmas. Carl went to his regular little Saturday flea market and on the way home stopped at a garage sale and found this rather regal fellow. He has a beautiful green cloak edged with fur and I think one of the sweetest faces. What is so ironic I have been seeing some beautiful Father Christmas's on several blogs and in my comments I had mentioned I'd love to find one for my collection...but I hadn't said a word to Carl. So, you can imagine how surprised and happy I was when I found this Santa on the dinning room table. I love him and you too honey. Hope everyone is having a jolly day....hugs, Linda