Christmas Traditions

Last year's tree was beautiful. We always put our tree up as a family...you know...together...all 7 of us. For three weeks, my son's girlfriend has told me how excited she was about putting up her Christmas tree. Every time I saw her she would remind me that it was almost time to put up her tree. The tradition at her house was to celebrate Thanksgiving and then in the evening put up the tree. The day after Thanksgiving I asked her how she enjoyed her tree trimming. She smiled just a little and said that her mom was too tired to put up the tree on Thanksgiving. Instead her mom did it while she was away at work. I could see the sadness in her eyes. I promised her that she could be part of our tree trimming experience this year. She smiled a huge smile and said she would really like that. We were going to put up our tree this past Sunday, but decided that we would all be free to do it Friday evening. We always have fun during tree trimming. Nothing is perfect, but it is fun none the less. This year I decided to add a little extra fun. I am going to make appetizers and bake sugar cookies. We always decorate sugar cookies together for Christmas, and we are going to do that on Friday after the tree is decorated. The kids are all already looking forward to the fun that will be shared on Friday. I am sure that our tree won't be perfect, but that has never mattered before so it won't matter again. What matters to me are the traditions of family that we build each and every year...together...as a family...you know, all seven (and sometimes 8) of us!!!

grace and peace,
julie

Thanksgiving Weekend Coming to a Close

The weekend with family is almost finished. We have eaten mass amounts of food, played games, watched football, and visited. It was a fun family time. I am ready to get back to the normal routine of every day life. I find that I flourish when routines are in place. It just feels right for me, and I operate much better that way. The Christmas season is upon us. I am looking forward to listening to Christmas carols and putting up Christmas decorations. I am ready to focus some time on my kids once again. Thanksgiving is about extended family. Christmas time is for my kids. I love making special memories with my children during the Christmas season. I am looking forward to sharing these memories with you over the next few weeks.

grace and peace,
julie

A Thankful Heart

My heart is full of Thanksgiving to my Lord. I am so thankful for who He is in my life, and the blessings that He has given to me. Hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

grace and peace,
julie

A Few Pictures As Promised

I know it is well past 6:00 p.m., but I started writing this post around 4:00 this afternoon. Before I could get it finished, our company came. Michael had just finished clearing the tools out of the kitchen right before they arrived. Here is a picture standing in our kitchen looking into our living room. As you can see, we did not finish the dry wall or the painting.

Here is the view of our kitchen. The floor is not finished and the crown molding hasn't been put in place either.

Michael still needs to build the cabinet doors. We knew this wouldn't be completed until after Thanksgiving.

Here is the view from our front door. Please excuse the sunshine. I was pressed for time to get this post completed. Although we didn't make all of our goals, Michael did get the majority of the kitchen finished. I was really wanting all the trim work completed because that makes it look so much nicer. He still has about 2 more days of work in order to finish it not counting the floor. But for now, we are relaxing and enjoying our holiday season.

grace and peace,

julie

Words of Wisdom

It is really a bad idea to have a kitchen remodel deadline to be the day before Thanksgiving! This is what my house has looked liked all day. Do you have any idea how hard it has been to cook while Michael and others have been using the counter tops as a step stool? We have ALL been hitting it hard today. We even had Joshua's girlfriend helping. In between making fudge, Chocolate Torte, and potato salad, I have been putting the finish on the cabinets and painting trim. Check back tomorrow before 6:00 p.m. to see the final pictures. I am hoping we can get it all done before everybody arrives for dinner tomorrow evening!!!

grace and peace,

julie

Monday Madness

There isn't much time today for a proper post. My husband has me busy, busy, busy. I only got a chance to sneak on here while he is in the shop making a drawer front. I have been given a paint brush, polyurethane, and some freshly built cabinets. Oh, I almost forgot the best part...sandpaper. That has been my morning chore. Next on the list of things to have me do is to prime the walls in the kitchen. I am trying every way in the world to figure out how to get out of that one. I don't like to paint, but I hate priming. At least with paint, you get to see the pretty new color come alive. We are on the countdown to get the kitchen done and almost put back together before my family arrives on Weds. for Thanksgiving. As soon as we make our goal, I will be sure to post pictures so you too can see what we have accomplished!

grace and peace,
julie

List Making and a Quick Dinner Recipe

I am starting to cross off several things on my list of things to do. It feels good to know that I am on track. I also am thrilled to know that things are getting accomplished slowly but surely. I am not killing myself on any one day, but making nice progress each and every day. I should practice this lifestyle other than just for holidays!

When things are busy, we all need a quick dinner meal that is still good. Here is one that I would like to share with you. Hope you enjoy!

Chicken Casserole

cooked shredded chicken enough to fill up a 9x13 pan (I use about 3 to 4 cooked breasts)
1 can of chicken broth
1 can of creme of chicken soup
Sauteed celery and onions (I use about a half of cup of each...my mom uses more...you decide)

Mix all ingredients together. Pour in a 9x13 casserole dish. Crumble a sleeve of Ritz crackers on top. Melt a stick of butter and pour it over the crackers. Bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbly in a 350 degree oven.

I usually serve this with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and green beans. If I really want to make everybody happy, I will also make a batch of yeast rolls!

grace and peace,
julie

Farm Updates

I haven't had much to say about the farm lately because it just seems kind of small to me. However, I have been enjoying having all 5 cows back home on our property. Lizzy is needing to be bred again. Since we don't have a bull, we will have to have her A.I. We will wait until we know for sure what we are doing about moving before we go to the trouble of that.

This is the next cow that will be in the freezer. She is the granddaughter to the cow in the above picture. She is half angus and half scottish highland. She is the product of a bad fence, a naughty cow, and a neighbor's bull. It works for us. We were able to get two calves without owning a bull!

Our chickens are growing nicely. We have still had some predator issues which is extremely frustrating to me. We lock the chickens up in the coop every night. It is the naughty chickens that won't go into the coop at night that is having issues. If we can keep them all safe, we should be enjoying some eggs in early spring. I can't wait. Our family eats at least a dozen eggs a day. On some days, we eat more!

I had a wonderful report concerning our horses recently. They are doing well and the girls have been riding them. I still miss them, but I know that they are happy and healthy. I am sure that until we know for sure if we are moving or staying that we will not be adding any new animals to the farm. It is a quiet season here, but one that I am enjoying.

grace and peace,

julie

Baking Accomplishments for Thanksgiving

2 pie crusts have been made, wrapped, and placed in the freezer. On Thanksgiving morning, I will take them out of the freezer and let them thaw. Then I will be ready to add homemade pumpkin pie filling and homemade pecan pie filling to them. How easy is that?

6 loaves of chocolate bread cooling on the racks. I quickly wrapped 5 of these delicious goodies and labeled them and placed them in the freezer. I let the little people enjoy one loaf yesterday after school.

4 loaves of Amish Friendship Cinnamon bread. I placed all 4 of these gems in the freezer for later use.

3 dozen pumpkin muffins... These are my kids' favorite muffins! I promptly cooled and froze 2 dozen of them. I will let the little people enjoy the other dozen for today.

2 loaves of banana nut bread still baking in the oven. After making a orange glaze, these too will also join the rest of the bread tucked away in the freezer.

Now all I have to do is to keep this person and 4 others just like him out of my freezer stash. I am hoping that by giving them a little treat here and there that they will be satisfied until our company arrives! If not, I may be in trouble!!!

grace and peace,

julie

Putting Plans into Action

Today you can find me in the kitchen making some chocolate bread, banana nut bread, and some yeast rolls. The yeast rolls will be for dinner tonight, but the other things will be tucked away in the freezer for our Thanksgiving week. I am looking forward to my time baking this morning. It always makes me feel productive. Michael has still been busy remodeling the kitchen. He has built and installed the new upper cabinets. I have to put the finish on them, but I just haven't gotten around to that. I do want to accomplish that before he installs the base cabinets. It will just make my job easier if I don't have to work around the lower cabinets. If we had known of the work situation changes that have taken place, we would never have started this kitchen remodel. It is slowly becoming my dream kitchen so I am thinking that if we have to move then the next person should enjoy it immensely. I also think the upgrades will boost the value of our home if we have to sell it. We should know more definite plans by the end of December. Until then, I am going to enjoy every minute of the new layout of my kitchen.

grace and peace,

julie

More Thanksgiving Planning Thoughts

I was glad to see that from the comments from yesterday's post that most of y'all are planners. I really liked the idea of cooking the extra turkey the day before, and having it ready to serve the next day. I may just do that very thing this year. That was a great idea! Another decision I made during my planning session was I decided to stream line my desserts a bit this year. Since I am making a large dinner Wednesday evening, I will have several desserts offered for that. The desserts that I am making Wednesday are all make ahead desserts. I knew that some of those desserts would still be available for our Thanksgiving meal. I also have to have a birthday cake for our son's 16th birthday that is on Thanksgiving. I decided that this year I will skip some of the usual pies that I serve for Thanksgiving dinner. I will just make pecan pie and pumpkin pie. I am certain that we will have more than enough dessert so it should all work out fine.

Thanksgiving breakfast can be a bit of a challenge for me. I know that everybody will still want breakfast so I have made a plan for that as well. I have decided that we will eat finger foods for breakfast. I will have pumpkin muffins, chocolate bread, and banana bread tucked in my freezer. All I will have to do for Thanksgiving morning is have those items thawed out and tucked into some pretty baskets just waiting for everybody to have breakfast. I will cook up some sausage pinwheels for those who don't like sweets for breakfast. Just add coffee and tea and I will be ready to go. Since we eat our main meal in the early afternoon, I think everybody will have enough to hold them over until then.


I would love to have the space to set up my Thanksgiving table before hand. I have visions of beautiful tablescapes, but that isn't the world where I live. We have one large table and I will have the folding tables set up to sit the extra people. I REALLY wanted to have all the food placed on the tables instead of doing it buffet style. However, that is considerable more work so I will continue with the buffet line for this year. It works out well so I won't complain.

grace and peace,
julie

Cooking Plan Ideas

I can't believe it is Friday already! Where has this week gone? Since the days seem to be turning faster than I can count, I decided that I better get busy planning our Thanksgiving week. This morning I got up early and sat down with a cup of coffee, notebook, and a pen. About a month ago, I had a brainstorm session concerning the meals for the Thanksgiving week. We always host my out of town family for Thanksgiving. They will be staying at cabins in our area, but our house is the gathering place. We all eat together here and it is always fun.
I needed to tweak my menu for the week. Since I had already thought out meals, all I had to do was to settle on the final plan. After making my final menu, I then took some time to look at all the items that could be made in advance. I made a "To Do" for each day from now until Thanksgiving. This way I know exactly what needs to be done each day in order to have my ducks in a row. I also made my cooking plan for Thanksgiving day. It helps if I think through my cooking day before it gets here. I know that I will get up at 4:00 a.m. and bake the pies. I could bake the pies the day before, but I really like them better if they are baked on the day that we are going to eat them. Just my preference, and I don't mind to make that extra effort. Around 5:00 a.m., the first turkey will go in the oven. I will then do prep work for the vegetables. I have everything written out so it is pretty much a "no brainer" for the big event.

I always do a cooking plan whenever I am hosting a big meal. I have always done one for every Thanksgiving that I have ever cooked. I started this when I was 19. The thought of cooking such a large meal overwhelmed me, but I wanted our first Thanksgiving to be special. I started writing out my plan and I felt a lot better about the whole thing. How about you? Are you a planner or a fly by the seat of your pants kind of cook?

grace and peace,

julie

Happy Veteran's Day

To all of you who have served our great country to protect us and preserve the freedom that we cherish so much, I want to say thank you. While those two words cannot possibly capture the gratitude that I truly feel, they are a beginning.





grace and peace,


julie



Here is a link to last year's veteran's day post. You see, my husband is a veteran. He spent almost 12 years of his life serving our country. Military personal and veterans hold a near and dear place in my heart.

Count Your Blessings Not Your Troubles

Today has been a rainy day, but I love rainy days so I was happy. I think we have cried just about all the tears over the possible move that we can or should cry for now. There will be more water leaks later, but for now we are going to concentrate on the season at hand. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I plan on enjoying every minute of my favorite holiday. I saw a billboard at a church close to our home that said, "Count your blessings and not your troubles." I decided that was wise advice so I have been focusing more on our blessings than what might seem like troubles. It isn't always easy, but I also decided that I would face this next journey of our life with much grace and some style along the way. My niece called today and had a strange request. She told me that she had only eaten fudge one time in her life and it was at the Smokey Mountains. She was hoping that I could make her some fudge while she was here for Thanksgiving. I personally think my brother should be put on probation for not feeding his 10 year old fudge on a regular basis. I assured her that her Aunt Julie would see to it that she would have all the fudge she desired. I have never had fudge on my Thanksgiving menu, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it would be on this year's menu!

grace and peace,
julie

A Cheerful Flower on a Blue Day

The last few days have been a bit hard for our family. Michael's job came to an end, and a possible move to a new job looks to be on the horizon. There are many bright spots in the new possibility, but that being said, it also brings sadness to leave what we thought to be our home. Our children aren't one bit happy. It seems as if we are putting out fires hourly between teenagers that are having moving issues and a 5 year old that swears that he isn't leaving THIS farm. Lucky for us, we can still pick him up and put him where we want him. Due to the fact that I was needing a voice of reason to help settle me, I called my middle brother. He is Mr. Reality and I knew I needed a good dose of reality. He told me right up front that I should be thankful that I wasn't married to an average bear instead I had a Nuclear Engineer bear for a husband which would make it easier for him to find a job. I knew he was right. He also told me that my kids would adjust and it would all be fine after the initial storm. I wonder if he would like to come weather the storm for me... If you think of us, please pray for our family. It would be much appreciated!

The bright spot of the day was that while I was doing dishes I glanced out and saw a bear on our property. I started yelling, and the whole family made fun of me. They were sure I saw a black dog or maybe our black calf, but most definitely not a bear. I made them all stand on the deck and watch. After just a few minutes the bear showed himself again, and to every body's amazement I was right. It was a bear. Of course I was too busy proving my point and then celebrating my victory with a victory dance right there on the deck to get any pictures. But take it from me...it was a bear. The bear was smaller than Missy, but it was a bear none the less!!

grace and peace,
julie

The View Out My Window

I glanced out the living room window this morning and realized that there was an addition to my flowers. Our buff hen decided to make a nest right in the bucket of flowers. I think she was trying to have revenge on me for yesterday. I went out to our large pile of hay yesterday morning. I quickly started forking hay to the cows. Just a side note...I wish cows wouldn't waste hay. It would work so much better for both them and me if they would just eat what they want and then go lay down somewhere else. No, they would rather eat what they want and then lay in their leftover breakfast. While they are there, of course they decide to pee or other things. Then they don't want to eat the hay. Instead they want you to give them fresh hay so they can waste half of that too! Because we try to be frugal with our hay, we always pitch hay to them as needed. Back to yesterday... I was quickly forking hay to the cows when all of the sudden I felt my pitchfork poke something other than hay. I heard all kinds of racket and realized that our adult hens had decided to bed down in the hay. At that point, I was unsure if I had speared the buff chicken or just grazed her. She came out of that hay running every which way. I was chasing her to see if she needed medical attention.. (Like I am really going to know what to do if she did)! Apparently, I didn't hurt her physically, but I must have made her mad. I think that is why she put her big fluffy hiney in my flowers this morning. Maybe she was just making sure she didn't end up on the end of the pitchfork again today!

grace and peace,
julie

Best Friends

With all the remodeling going on lately, Seth and Missy have been left to entertain each other. Missy was hoping that Seth would forget about his blocks and leave them out for her to eat. She was much disappointed.

Seth incorporated her into his building project. Her head was under the tower. If she raised her head, she would have knocked the whole thing down. I guess he was confident that she would lay still for a long period of time. She does that most days! Now that the weather has turned cooler, she is starting to get into some trouble again. I have found her in the garbage several times these past few weeks. The highlight of her day is going with me to let out the baby chicks. She LOVES to chase them! She doesn't hurt them, but I am sure they are still terrified none the less. It still pays to keep an eye on her. You just never know what she might get into!!!

grace and peace,

julie

A Peek Into My New Kitchen

I was without a sink for 3 days. My husband called me melodramatic because I didn't handle those few days very gracefully. I am happy to announce that he has removed all paneling from the kitchen and dining room area. He has rehung all of our cabinets, and I pray he NEVER takes them off the wall again. As you can see, I am back to cooking once again. I have chicken simmering on the stove to make chicken n dumplings. I will be making a sweet potato casserole, green peas, and yeast rolls for dinner. My kids did even worse than me when they were forced to eat store bought pizza, hot dogs, and pop tarts. Let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight!!

I am so thankful to have a sink installed again. I haven't complained once about doing dishes since the sink has been returned. It could help that I know our new dishwasher will be here on Thursday!

We still have a lot left to do for our kitchen remodel. Michael will be working on mudding and finishing the dry wall. I love watching him finish out dry wall. It always amazes me when he is done. Once that is complete, then we will be able to paint it. He will be installing appliances on Friday. (Sears had a great deal and we were able to get our needed appliances at a 25% discount)! We are still trying to decide what to do about the counter tops. Again, our budget is a key element to our decision. He is thinking about doing granite tiles for the counter top. It is about the same amount of money as Formica counter tops because Michael is the one doing the work. We still haven't made up our mind, but it is okay because we aren't in a position to purchase anything else at this time. He has all of the materials in the shop to build the corner cabinet and new upper wall cabinets. This will take some time and when he is finished I am hoping we will have the money to go to the next step. If I have my way, floors will be the next large purchase that we make. We should be past the hardest part of this renovation after last weekend. Whenever we do get to do counter tops, it will require my sink to be out of service again for a time. I am going to be better prepared next time. I WILL have meals tucked away in the freezer for those few days. I will also make sure we have plenty of paper plates and cups!

We also purchased a hood to go over our stove. We have never had a hood since we have lived in this house. I am looking forward to our cabinets staying cleaner and free from grease. We are all getting more used to the new configuration of our home. Thus far I really like it. I am hoping to get done with the dry wall, paint, and new cabinets by our Thanksgiving deadline.

grace and peace,

julie