Thursday, December 6, 2007

Potpourri Friday


Okay, the days are going faster now. I'm in a rush finishing projects and gifts for Christmas - and guess what? I think I'm going to make it! I'm not there yet, but I'm going to be! And I am excited because my husband and I are going to keep a tradition this weekend that we started several years ago. We leave after work on Friday and go to the big city. We eat dinner out, go to a movie, and stay in a nice hotel. We get up Saturday, after sleeping in of course, and have breakfast together in the hotel restaurant. Then, my friends, we hit the mall! We get all our shopping done in one day. This is helped by the fact that I have done a lot of online shopping beforehand. I love online shopping and I am not so much a mall shopper. But we make it as fun as we can and it becomes part of our Christmas present to each other. We are both looking forward to our overnight shopping trip.

I bought a Christmas present for our little unborn grandbaby! How fun is that?! When I saw it I just couldn't resist. So this will be wrapped and under the tree this year with a tag that says

"To: Savannah or Tyler
From: Your Grandparents who already love you to the moon and back!"

Yippee! After I ordered it I began to worry about the recall issues and the lead paint/China thing in the news. I sure hope it's okay. I wouldn't think you could still buy things if they are dangerous - could you? Oh my, it's been a lot of years since I have had to worry about these kinds of things - I'll have to get back into practice!

This Sunday evening we will be having our traditional tree decorating evening. And I have finished the girls ornaments for this year! I have made one for them for each year of their life and when they make their own homes - they get to have them to decorate their very own tree with. I gave Andrea her box two years ago for her first married Christmas. This year I will be giving Michelle hers. It's always bittersweet for me. But I digress. I want to share with you what I made for the girls this year:

They are cross-stitched little Christmas villages on navy aida cloth. Navy is very hard to cross stitch on because it is harder to see the squares. They are done. I also make an ornament for me because once I give all the girls their boxes, I won't have anything left! Mine, however, is not done. I'll finish it after Christmas. And Tara honey, if you are reading this, I will hang your decorations for you but your new one will be waiting on the mantle for you to add when you get home! Yes, my girl is coming home from Boston for Christmas! Amen and Amen!

Some of you have asked for the Tea Time Tassie recipe that I talked about in this post. They aren't hard to make and they taste wonderful. And they are fancy looking too. So here is my mom's recipe that I got from her 29 years ago.

Tea Time Tassies

3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
Blend softened cheese and butter. Mix in flour. Shape into 2 dozen 1" balls and press into small muffin tins.

1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
Beat until smooth. Chop 1/2 cup pecans. PUt small amount of pecans in bottoms of pastry in tin. Add some of the filling. Place a few chopped pecans on top. Bake @ 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I am going to leave you today with my most favorite Christmas song of all, "Mary Did You Know?" This is my favorite version and is sung by Kathy Mattea. The words in this song move me every time I hear it. I especially love the line that says, "When you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God". Doesn't that just give you chills up and down your spine? And then the line, "This child that you delivered will soon deliver you"
My. Goodness. Perfect theology in 9 words. Enjoy!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, that is one of my favorite Christmas songs too. I love it. In fact, I have the picture book for children with the words, and traditionally, the very last thing I ALWAYS did on the last day before Christmas break in 3rd grade was to play that CD and turn the pages of the story as it sang, and cry. I just cried. And some of the kids would cry too. It was the most holy of moments for our class. I miss that.

Your ornaments are beautiful. Really. I think my favorite thing is that they are on navy aida. No .. I take that back. My favorite thing is the gold stars. They are so precious. I clicked and made them big so I could see the details. Just beautiful.

I am so glad your daughter is coming home for Christmas. What a glorious celebration it will be. Christmas is so much fun that sometimes I just wish it would not get here. The anticipation of it all is so exciting to me.

I forgot to look at your granbaby's present. I need to go back and do that.

Off to make some potatoes for our party tonight.

Unknown said...

Cute present. Very cute.

Karen said...

The baby's present is so sweet. I wish I had seen it before I shopped for my little nephew who is my godchild. The tradition with your husband sounds wonderful! This is the second year in a row that my husband and I have done something special to kick off the holiday -- purely by accident -- and I realized that it just made the whole season better. I'm thinking of what we'll do next year. I love your idea!

Beautiful ornaments. Such a beautiful gift for your daughters that will be treasured for years to come.

gail@more than a song said...

I love that song too! Have you watched The Nativity Story? We saw it recently.
Your ornaments are so pretty...and yay for your daughter coming home!
Will you find out what the baby is before hand or be surprised? We just found out today that our next grandbaby due in late April will be a boy!

Aunt Angie said...

what a fun tradition! I wish I had the forethought about the Christmas ornaments for my girls when they were born. I am so glad Tara will be home for Christmas!!How wonderful!!
Be blessed this weekend Robin...I am so slow in getting back to everyone still....and since I had two young visitors to sleep over last night...I may have undone what the dr. is trying to repair...maybe not. They just wanted Nana to play...oh well. They are only here for two days....
Thanks for praying for my back Robin...Have a great day in the Lord!

Dawn said...

That is my current favorite Christmas song, and I love the Clay Aiken version that Barb played the other day. I haven't heard this one before.

Those ornaments are awesome! Absolutely gorgeous. All of you crafters are putting me to absolutely shame.

I am so glad you go the Fisher Price nativity. You did see my post on that, didn't you? It is a wonderful addition. I never even thought to check on the lead thing. No bad news on this end.

I'm writing from Kona at 6:18 a.m. and wondering when the sun comes up here. They've had lots of crazy weather here lately and we're hoping for improvement - to the way it was 10 years ago for us. There has been an amazing lightning show going on over the ocean for over 2 hours. Yes, I was awake, because we cashed at 7 after being up 17 hours - it was 10 our time. But 9 hours in bed was all my back and head could take. So, with my husband's blessing and knowledge, I am blogging!

I will post from here after today, which is the day my post is dedicated to my daughter and DIL and their common birthday.

Have a great time in Big City!