It's going to be a Sweet Christmas

Hello to everyone...

Well, Thanksgiving is over....

we were richly blessed to be able to have our family with us again this Thanksgiving

and I ended the day with a heartfelt prayer to be able to have this blessing

again NEXT year.

Now, it's time to GET SERIOUS  about Christmas.

My Mackenzie*Child look-alike shelf that MR. SWEET BUILT, has been the spot where

all the early Christmas gifts are hanging out....just until the

CHRISTMAS TREE goes up.

For  over 50 years, I've put my CHRISTMAS TREE
up the day after Thanksgiving .
 

 

 ....gifts are on the bench

 ...they are underneath

 ...on the top

*********************************

Did you notice that they are NUMBERED..???

hahhaaaa.....

I have to wait until AFTER  Christmas to tell you all about it.

It's all about 

Christmas Fun !!

I have SOME of my shopping done...


but not even CLOSE to all of it.

This is the cutest
SANTA HAT....


when I went to Walgreen
to pick up meds, and 
NO intention of buying a Santa hat, I saw this one
and fell in love.


...a pretty red color, white fluff with rhinestones...
what's NOT to love ? 

 

I made these last Christmas Eve and will do the same this year.

GRANDS biscuits, flattened, buttered, sugared, cinnamon'd

cherries....(NOT cherry pie filling) sugared, boiled until thick,

wrap those biscuits around those cherries for a

lip-smacking good dessert.

 

...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas........

Excuse me now....
I have a CHRISTMAS TREE to put up and trim.
XOXO, bj

pink saturday

sat. night special

sat. showoff

weekly top shot

seasonal sunday

our sunday best

sweet and savory sun.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaa

Not a picture one of my beautiful family,

sharing this beautiful day...

 

Pics of the turkey and dressing and not a photo at all of all

the other wonderful dishes we had...

 My darling DREW....our first grandson

and his beautiful lady, JESSAMY...

they were just about to leave and I got a quick shot of them....

MIZ DEEDS and her dad and Granddad....

and a pecan pie...:)

Hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as mine...

and as much fun.

We had 14 and so much laughing and telling tall tales and laughing some more.

OH.....AIN'T  LIFE  GRAND !!

XOXO

bj

Thanksgiving

 On October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by Act of Congress, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "on the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."

In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…

"…announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord… But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people…"

So it is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.

 

XOXO,

bj 

That bedroom mantel has changed again.....

OK.... 

It was 40 degrees here this morning and I just about froze to death...

so whats a girl to do but

drink a thousand cups of HOT coffee,

and

change the decorations on the bedroom mantel...

(never mind that she COULD unpack more boxes...
but....that's not much fun...)

The most absolute FUN thing about having a mantel or an awesome, large shelf

is being able to decorate it...

and change it...

and decorate it..........and change any time you see something you love.

For years, I thought I didn't like symmetry in my decorating....
thought I didn't want TWO of anything alike.

This I learned from my dear sweet mother....
that was HER way of decorating and so I naturally thought
it was the only way....!!

 

...and, then one day, I found out I LOVE symmetry.
O, I still decorate some things with asymmetrical features...

mostly, I don't even think about it...
I just start putting things I love together until I get a pleasing display to MY eyes.

I bought this vintage pine mantel from an antiques dealer years ago...
it was $50.00 and I had to put it on lay-away....

The candle holder on the mantel was found in the clearance bin at ROSS
for $6......

...that candle holder on the hearth....
it looks just like 3 wooden logs...
holds 11 tea light candles
and I just love it.

It gives off a soft glow with the 11 candles burning
and no ashes to have to worry about...:>)

This photo was made several years ago...
I was using my mantel in the dining room in the olden house..

You can go HERE to see more of this table and candles....

Back to the HERE and NOW.....:)

Sometimes, I tend to over-do and get waaay too much....

Other times, I crave 

minimal...

clean lines....

crispness....

like the way my mantel looks here.

I seldom get tired of things if they are simple and clean...

when I do get too much going, I tend to tire of it in a very short time.

No pumpkins or turkeys or anything fallish...

I will start decorating it for CHRISTMAS next week....and can hardly wait.

OOO...and before I go...

take a look at our beautiful DEEDS on Halloween night....

THE CUTEST

MICHAEL JACKSON

YOU EVER SAW.....

Hope you have a great day....

xo bj

Linking with:

KNICK OF TIME TUES

THE SCOOP

BE INSPIRED

NIFTY THRIFTY

YOUR GONNA LOVE IT

TWEAK IT

TUESDAY TREASURES

Color Me Random Blue....

Hi, Everyone...




Isn't that the BLUEST sky, ever....

and the green Pine tree, paired with the beautiful, turning leaves of the Oak tree,
looks stunning against that
blue sky.

I love watching this little POOL ROBOT

clean David's pool....

 The shadowy images of the robot's cords.....

makes a pretty, interesting pattern.

Little CATE'S ball...

 When I saw these in the blue Texas sky,

I just knew we were being invaded by.....

aliens......*gulp

 but, of COURSE, Mr. Sweet said it was 2 or 3 planes, leaving their trails behind..!

SHOOT....aliens sounded much more exciting..!!

and, 

MY FAVORITE BLUE of all...

DEEDS....

my 11 almost 12 year old sweet GRAND !!

xoxo

bj

 

AND...on Sunday, 24th, THIS is what the swimming pool looked like...

all surrounded by SNOW.

MOSAIC MONDAY

BLUE MONDAY

MAKE THE SCENE MON.

MOD MIX MON.

MARTHA'S MONDAY

Magical Fairies All Around....

PINK SATURDAY has absolutely become a way of life for many of us Bloggers...

Like me, a lot of you started with BEVERLY and her awesome link party, 

PINK SATURDAY.

If YOU haven't linked up with the fun party, celebrating the color that most of us LUV,

please consider doing so.

After a high of about 73 yesterday...

we have 26 degrees this morning and I am

looking for a good, wood burning stove to warm my hinney....

(this is my Weekly Top Shot)

A couple years ago, I did a white and silver table centerpiece

and I used my MARK ROBERTS fairies.

I love his fairies and would like to have MANY more...

I only have two right now...

but intend to add a new one this very year.

 

The GREEN fairy, on the left, is a CHRISTMAS FAIRY.

I participated in a Christmas Swap a few years back and received this adorable fairy.

The PINK one is the SUGAR PLUM FAIRY

and, if he ever comes to life,

I plan to marry him.....!!

I love his adorable face...

he always seems to have a little secret.

I have him riding a white, ceramic deer with a beautiful embossed ribbon.

Isn't he the most adorable thing, all dressed in his green Christmas finery...

and, don't you love his thick, white eyebrows...

I have to tell you that I really want to keep these two fellas out
ALL YEAR LONG...

they are just too cute to pack away for a year.

hahhhaaa....this pretty little thrifted buck only had one antler....


I just stuck a red Christmas pick in the hole, and, walla, A CHRISTMAS DEER.

A pretty wicker sleigh, full of REAL HOLLY and ribbons

and pulled by a one antlered deer with a pink FAIRY on him...

and little Green, riding on the doe, beside the sleigh.

How fun this centerpiece was to create.

 ...just take a look at those FAIRY SHOES...

ADORABLE !
 

and he has some awesome green fairy shoes, too...

loooong.......

I've always loved SILVER, WHITE and PEARLS together....

I can tell...
IT'S GOING TO BE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS. !

XOXO, bj

PINK SATURDAY

SAT. NIGHT SPECIAL

SAT. SHOWOFF

WEEKLY TOP SHOT

SEASONAL SUNDAY

OUR SUNDAY BEST

A blank wall, a new lamp and PUMPKIN BREAD...aka TOTAL RANDOM

 Hi, all...

Please excuse the lack of quality of  photos of this
BLANK WALL...

I need SOMEthing on that blank wall and have NO ideas......at all.

SOOO, I need your help.

I've never had a large wall over a stairway before.

There's 3 "eyeball" lights to highlight
what I might put there.

I am THINKING of a large, colorful
canvas art....maybe of a French village....

or a beautiful grape vineyard.....

something lightweight as it seems to me that it will be hard to hang anything with stairs beneath your feet....
Son, DAVID, does have one of those ladders that makes a platform, tho.....so using that will make it much easier.

After Thanksgiving, when you have time, would you let me know what YOU would put there...? Please and Thank you.

I bought that cute black, curvy lamp last month but didn't open it until after we moved.

Then.....

I discovered the switch was broken and missing parts.

Of COURSE, I couldn't have found my receipt for it if someone tied a million dollar bill to it....

Took it back to WORLD MARKET anyway and they were awesome...

Said go right back there and pick out any lamp you want and we'll let you have it for the $50.00 

you paid for the broken one.

HOW NICE IS THAT...!!??!!

They so happened to have the same lamp, which is what I wanted,

so I got a new, UNbroken one....

and I love it.

...moving right along with this RANDOM post....

It's the time of year to make

PUMPKIN MUFFINS...
and
PUMPKIN BREAD

and so I did that the other day...


Many, MANY mini muffins......

 I served them to my Bunco Babes...

put some in the freezer....

Into the freezer to keep nice and fresh along with my Cranberry Pecan Bread.

NOW...most of you know I am a SEMI HOMEMADE GIRL...

and if you PROMISE not to tell my sweet friend, MADDY,

I will tell you that THIS Pumpkin Bread mix is BETTER than any "from scratch" pumpkin bread

I've ever made. (Maddy is a much better cook than I...)

This mix IS very very good and makes a large batch for holiday eating.

It even has the creamy icing to drizzle.

MADDY just made her Pumpkin Bread and I am pretty sure her's are FROM SCRATCH...!!
She is freezing it and giving for Christmas gifts....smart lady.

OOO, I can tell it's gonna be a very

WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING....

XOXO

bj

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