Today has been a delightful day of giving heartfelt gifts to those we love, as well as spending time with our loved ones. We were thrilled to visit our friends house for an English Christmas dinner complete with Yorkshire Pudding! Yum! We pulled our first crackers and wore our paper crowns, read our jokes, and had fun. Being with my husband, son and daughter has been a real treat. Here is a photo of my daughter and I making a few more cookies last night, and some of our gifts early this morning. Christmas hugs to you all!
It is getting late, and I should be heading off to my lovely bed. It is just that I have been thinking about Christmas, how close it is and how grateful I feel. Sometimes my heart feels full to bursting with the love I feel. I have so many reasons to be thankful! So I thought I would just make a list of all I am thankful for tonight...
I am thankful for my Wonderful Husband! He is my dear, dear soul!
I am very full of love and gratitude for my Children...they are the joy of my heart!
I am so lucky to have such loving friends, I am so thankful for everyone of them, those here with me and those I have never met but share so much with!
I am so grateful for my Husband's job, that he loves what he does and feels like he is doing something great.
I am so thankful for the health and wellbeing of My family, myself and my friends.
I am so grateful for our dear Home, that houses us so comfortably and is a place of peace and creativity.
I am so thankful for our country, it's people and our leaders. Many blessings to all!
I am so thankful for creativity and the ability to express through art.
I am so thankful for my own little room where I can go to create.
I so love my two little doggies! They are pure love and I am so thankful to have them with us!
I could go on and on, but for now, this is what I wanted to say from my heart.
Merry Christmas to you all, I am full of thanks for the internet, for blogging and for each and every one of you who come by and visit here. Many blessings to you and your's!
Our family has a cookie tradition.
We bake the same ones each year, and to us they signify the holiday season.
I am sharing my absolute favorite cookie recipe with you today,
in case you are looking for something special.
Don't let the coconut fool you. I don't like coconut, yet I looovvvee these cookies!
I hope you enjoy them too!
Coconut Cranberry Chews
(The cookies on the left)
About 1 ½ cups of butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 teaspoons Vanilla
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups dried cranberries (I only put in about a cup)
1 ½ cups sweetened dried coconut flakes (I only put in about a cup)
In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat 1 ½ cups butter, sugar, orange peel and Vanilla until smooth.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, and then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about five minutes. Mix in cranberries. (The mixture will look dry until it comes together as dough, if it is too crumbly to form into balls, the dough needs to be mixed longer. It should be a smooth mass.)
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on a buttered 12x15inch baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees until cookie edges just begin to brown, about 8-11 minutes. A shorter cooking time will make chewier cookies, a longer baking time will yield a crispier cookie. Let cool 5 minutes.
This recipe was developed by Nancy Jamison, Woodside California. I believe I found this years ago in a Sunset magazine (not sure though…).
Today I have been working on cards to give to my family members. I am inspired by many of you out there, whose art I see on your blogs. You are all truly talented! The images are all from PaperWhimsy.
By the way....remember I told you my husband was giving me cupboards and shelves in my art room for Christmas? Well, somehow I did not realize that it meant me cleaning out my entire room!!! I was shocked at how much I had! Half way through the moving and sorting I truly wondered if it was worth it! But, as in all big jobs..."inch by inch it's a cinch and yard by yard its far too hard!" so I inched my way through and finally did move it all. Yeah! And my husband has been doing an amazing job! It has only been a few days and they are half way built! It is going to be fantastic! I will post pics soon. (Did I mention my husband is a dear soul?)
Clicking on the images will really improve the quality of veiwing
Not long now, and it will be Christmas! Which means that we are all rushing around crafting gifts, meeting up with people, shopping, shipping and cooking. Whew! Lots to do, but still lots of fun to be had, and plenty of things to be thankful for.
I have been doing all these things this past week, hence I missed posting. I also picked my daughter and son up from university. Having them home for the holidays is a rare treat. During my crafting time, I have been making more bookmarks, and some other projects like the "Marie" shoe above. (the bookmark image is from Paperwhimsy, and the shoe template is one I have created with the idea in mind of the template we used for the slipper swap I showed pictures of earlier at Paperwhimsy.) Did I ever tell you that I just LOVE Paperwhimsy??? The ATC I made with a image from Lynn at her Koupie shoppe on Etsy.
My husband is building me cupboards and shelves in my art room, as well as helping me set up for better video making, for my Christmas gift. Yeah!!! I am so lucky!!! I wrote earlier in the fall that I would have more video tutorials coming....and I haven't forgotten. I have been trying to figure out how to do it better, and this work on my art room will help tremendously. My art area has a tendency to...ahh....explode with ephemera....somehow, and it just gets worse from there. So these cupboards and shelves will make a huge difference.
How are your holiday plans going? How are you celebrating this year? Thank you for dropping by!
Hello all! Today is a fabulous day, the sun is out, the sky is a tender blue and white clouds edged with gray are skipping across the sky. I love just sitting outside and looking up. The weather is glorious today, after two days of torrential rain. Everything is washed clean.
Today I have been making some ATCs and bookmarks for gifts. Here is one that I was inspired to do for Theme Thursday. The both images are from Paperwhimsy. I love that site!!! I chose the word because today I feel whimsical! The crown is from Michales, the company is Madame Delphine's, and they come in a string of 9 for less than $5 !!! What a deal!
I am thankful for days like today, it is one of those days that you just can't help but feel good. And I love to feel good!
