Welcome 2008!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR !"

- from our
Progressive Dinner Group.

This was our 19th year together and we celebrated it by having a 4 course Hillbilly Dinner and Brunch.

The evening started at 06:30 with appetizers - riblets, smoked salmon and stuffed mushrooms. The group then moved to the second house for the 2nd course which was Hillbilly Gumbo. Following this awesome dish we left town and drove to the 3rd couple's cottage where we had a delicious Hillbilly Stew (incredible), Baked Beans, Hashbrown Casserole, Biscuits and Corn Bread.

Stuffed to the ears we then moved to our camp for the 4th course, dessert. Our expert dessert cook baked for us a Hillbilly Pie and a Hillbilly Cake - to die for!

Everyone stayed the night, we were packed in like sardines; so close you could see the other's dreams. Bathroom parade started at about 5:00 a.m. - no togetherness here - everyone went separately. The inside door and storm door each have their own special shriek as they opened and closed. The quieter one tried to be, the louder and longer the shriek! Imagine this - for every person going to the bathroom each door squeaked twice - once out and once in, that is 4 times per person - now multiply that by 9. We all got settled by 06:00 for a couple more hours sleep before getting up for the day.

Hillbilly Brunch was served at 10:30, for this we had Sausage Gravy and Biscuits; Hash Brown Brunch Casserole; Chicken, Cheese and Grits Casserole; Mater Pie; Orange Juice and Coffee.

Lets say no one went home hungry.

Some stayed back for a hot tub before going home - Another great New Year's Party!






This is the outhouse at the first cottage, yes that is about 5 inches of snow on the seat. No one volunteered to be the first to warm up the seat. All bribes tried and failed!


Once Again-

" HAPPY NEW YEAR"

'T Was Another Wonderful Christmas

Our Christmas Party with the Grandchildren was a success, it consisted of games,lots of food, a craft (they all love to do crafts when they come to my house) This year we made Great Grandma's Christmas gift. The day ended with a sleepover.- all in all we had lots of fun.

This is the craft, we made fragrance sachet covers for Great Grandma's Christmas gift, the secret - they are quick, easy to make. The older kids helped the younger ones - it was great fun making them and she loved all 6.

The supplies and instructions are as follows:

Supplies needed:

• one face cloth for each cover
• one packaged fragrance sachet for each cover
• glue gun and glue sticks
• small items for decoration (flowers, insects, animals, etc.)

Instructions:

fold a face cloth in half as shown

the orange stripes and dot indicate areas to be glued; place glue along bottom and approximately 1/2 way up the open side; place a dot of glue on the top right corner of the face cloth then bring that corner over to the left side about half way down. The glued areas should be pressed with your fingers to ensure the glue has penetrated the material allowing it to stick. The children must be made aware of the glue's temperature, if it is hot an adult should do this part to prevent them from getting burned.

Place the sachet in the cover and fold the top half down toward the bottom, now attach your cover decorations - see how easy! I added a card on each with the photo of the Great Grandchild who made the cover and on the other side is written "Made By The Hands Of An Angel"

Dessert for dinner was "Cookie Pizza" the kids had great fun making this - if you haven't tasted one you don't know what you are missing. Nancy came up with this idea and it was a winner.

I have great respect for the "Pillsbury Dough Boy" - We used his chocolate chip cookie dough, flattened it out on a round pizza pan then covered the dough with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, smarties, jelly beans, M & M's and mini marshmallows which are added last. You can go crazy with imagination on this one . The kids all took part in adding the toppings - and sampling of course. Follow cooking temp and time as you would if your cooking the dough in cookies - do not overcook; the only thing that needs to be cooked is the dough. The marshmallows melt and brown nicely while helping to hold the toppings in place.

It was served cold but the next time I will try serving it warm with ice cream.

Christmas celebrations continued with Santa arriving at the Christmas Tree downtown on Christmas Eve. The children were excited to see him arrive on the Fire Truck accompanied by 5 Firefighters. He passed out bags of candy to all then he was quickly whisked away. The children were then treated to hot chocolate as they stood round the tree eating their candy and telling each other of their dreams for Christmas morning. Santa was taken back to the open field beside the Fire Hall where he untethered the reindeer and hurried on his way.

Allan and I spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family and friends - by the end we were as stuffed as the Christmas turkey!

" 'T Was A Wonderful Christmas!"