The Tree is Down . . . :(

I thought it only fitting to conclude the 12 Blogs of Christmas with the end of Christmas at my house. We took down our tree and other decorations tonight. I love putting everything out, well except the lights on the tree I ;always recruit my loving husband to do that :) He is so good at it! Taking everything down is the worst and tonight was kinda sad. I have enjoyed everything so much this year it was sad to see it go. Not to mention that I now have a big empty spot in my living room!

Although the season may be over the Reason for the Season lives on all year. The Birth of Christ gave all the world hope and that hope does not end at Christmas. I encourage everyone to take the wonderful gift of CHRISTmas forward into the New Year and embrace it.

Tonight while I was taking my tree down I watched a Muppet Christmas Carol and this song reminded me of exactly how I felt. Christmas was over but shouldn’t we live everyday like Christmas?

 

I know that it is not always easy to be caring and loving and Christmassy everyday of the year; I struggle with it everyday.  But I am going to challenge myself to do it this year. If I get to  Philippians 4:13ing that should help a lot!

So with that in the immortal words of Clark W. Griswold

 

 

I DID IT! The 12 Blogs of Christmas are over! Hallelujah!

Lets get ready for 2010 people!!!

Christmas in Review

Now I realize that I did not  make the 12 blogs of Christmas deadline prior to Christmas Day, but I do intend to finish the task with a few post Christmas blogs. Christmas spirit is good all year long right? So hang in there everybody you are going to get your 12 blogs of Christmas!

Blog 11- A Review of our Christmas Activities

Our Christmas activities begin with a wonderful Christmas Eve evening at the Oaks Homestead. Nick and I gathered with Julie, Jerry,  Nicole, and John for a wonderful meal, great gifts, and some Wii games! Here are a few picture highlights:

 

Okay, this is actually a b-day gift from Chris, Megan, and the boys but it was really cool!

John and Nicole just love presents!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wii Time! I think Nick played the most, my sweet video game player. Julie had got some cool new games- Deal or No Deal and Space Camp.

Julie & Jerry along with there furry babies

 

Nicole and I

 

Moving right along we have the big Christmas Morning at our house. I just wanted to say I love Christmas Morning and no matter how old I get I think I will always enjoy it! There is something exciting about the anticipation of opening gifts and waiting to see what is in my stocking. I just LOVE IT and ALWAYS WILL!!! A Christmas tradition that should never end.

The wonderful stuff that Nick Santa put in my stocking.

Lost Season 5 on DVD, gotta get my 2nd viewing in before the final season which begins  February 2nd. I’m excited and sad all at the same time!

 

New Vera!!! They always come in pretty boxes.

 

 

 

Nick got a new CAMERA!!!!

The aftermath- Christmas mess!!! Another wonderful part of Christmas morning.

After Christmas Morning fun we headed over to my parents house for Christmas Day lunch and then a movie. We had a FABULOUS lunch with steaks, ham, and turkey and all the fixings. Here are a few highlights:

A happy Dad with his DVD burner.

Nick finally got a tea pot for his Earl Gray. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above pictures are of the beautiful afghan that my sister made for me. One day she posted a status on Facebook saying she wanted to make an afghan and did anybody want one? I responded a big YES! From there I got a FABULOUS Christmas gift. It looks wonderful in my living room. I know the afghan would have been awesome without this but I was just so impressed with the little personalized labels that my sister has to put on the stuff she makes. The whole thing was just AWESOME!

The now annual Callahan family Christmas photo.

Following lunch and visits with the grandparents we brought back one of my favorite traditions- Christmas Day Movie. Nick and I went with my parents to see Sherlock Holmes. Let me just say that if you are looking to make the Christmas Day movie a part of your Christmas tradition, get to the theater early. We attempted to make the 7:00pm showing of Sherlock Holmes at Tinsletown in Bristol. We arrived at 6:50 and the show sold out right in front of us. However, Nick’s Droid came to the rescue and we were able to confirm that the Abingdon Cinemall still had tickets for the 8:00pm. Sherlock Holmes itself was FABULOUS! Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law were great! If you get the opportunity to see it you MUST!

***Disclaimer- This blog does not include all gifts received and it is nothing personal to anyone if your gift is not on here. We loved EVERYTHING, but in order to not have the longest blog ever we could not talk about them all.

All in all it was another wonderful Christmas celebration. We are very thankful for all the gifts that we received and the time we got to spend with our families.

Here’s to hoping that all of you and yours had a very Merry Christmas!!

Joy to the World the Lord is come . . . .

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem

This morning while doing some cooking for Christmas Eve dinner I was listening to some Christmas music and heard one of my favorite songs that I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. On this the Eve of Christ’s birth I felt like sharing the lyrics to this song with all of you.

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shining far through shadows dim
Giving the light for those who long have gone
Guiding the wise men on their way
Unto the place where Jesus lay
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star the hope of life
Guiding the pilgrims through the night
Over the mountains 'til the break of dawn
Into the land of perfect day
It will give out a lovely ray
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine upon us until the glory dawns
Give us a lamp to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star the hope of grace
For the redeemed, the good and the blessed
Yonder in glory when the crown is won
Jesus is now the star divine
Brighter and brighter He will shine
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine upon us until the glory dawns
Give us a lamp to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

May Christ be the light that lights your way.

2 more blogs to go . . . Have a great Christmas Eve!

The Birthday Boy

I love a good birthday even it is not my own, but I especially like coming up with stuff to do for Nick’s Birthday. Yesterday he hit the big 2-8 and I tried to make sure he had a good celebration. Since Nick and his twin sister Nicole were “Christmas Babies” they often got over shadowed by actual Christmas celebrations, so I try to make sure he has his own dedicated day. This year there were gifts, cake, and a trip to Barter:

Gifts

Nick in his Birthday Suit 

 

Windows 7 Secrets - Every good Programmer and Windows enthusiast need this. Did I mention that it is 1,000 pages.

I should note that these are only the gifts I got him, we will be eating with family tonight and I am sure he will be getting more wonderful presents.

 

CAKE

I am just going to be honest here and say that I LOVE THE CAKE, maybe even more than Nick. I actually planned the cake way back in November. I let him pick the flavor but I picked the shape. The cake is from Hannah Meade at The Cake Gallery. I have had several cakes by her and they were all FABULOUS and this one did not disappoint. I highly recommend her for all your cake needs. Nick picked strawberry cake with strawberry moistening syrup and white chocolate butter cream icing. As I type this I am having to restrain myself from going to the refrigerator to get another piece. IT IS SO GOOD!!!! The shape only a true Trekkie can appreciate

Star Trek Com Badge Cake

The Happy Birthday Boy

Barter Theater

Nick took me to Barter for my Birthday and we both enjoyed it so much that I decided to try to do the same for him. This time we got to see WMKS Christmas 1942.  The show centered around the cast of WMKS’s radio show and featured live music and singing of many Christmas and Gospel favorites. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot since I definitely feel that everyone should see it. The show was FABULOUS! They sang Beautiful Star of Bethlehem and Go Tell It on The Mountain, 2 of my favorite Christmas songs that you do not hear too often. I am always so impressed with how professional the Barter shows are, this time the set was just amazing and they even had snow. Most importantly Nick enjoyed it and that is what really matters!

Thus, another Nick birthday comes to a close. Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you!

 

 

Now just to stress everyone out:

2 Days till Christmas- Can you believe it? It got here so fast!

There’s No Place Like Home

I am now coming to you live once again from the Noble House of Oaks and could not be happier!! PRAISE THE LORD our power was restored yesterday at around 3:00 PM. Thanks again to the Martin’s for taking us in, we would no have survived without you all! Unfortunately, my parents are still powerless and are now staying in a hotel in the area. Apparently the residents in my parents neighborhood were having a hard time getting the city and power company to understand the awfulness of the situation and had to take matters into there own hands. Check them out in this article http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9019203

Please pray that my parents get there electricity turned back on before Christmas I know they are not happy at the prospect of spending the Christmas Holiday at a hotel.

This leads me directly into the subject for today’s blog, no matter what there is truly No Place Like Home especially at the Holidays. When our power was out I keep thinking what if they do not get it on in time for Nick’s Birthday, which is today by the way- Happy Birthday Nick! (The Birthday blog is up for tomorrow). Also what if we had not had power back by Christmas! I know Nick and I have the tradition of opening presents here at our house on Christmas morning and I always looks forward to that time, and I am also planning on doing a small Christmas breakfast this year. Our Christmas Morning tradition is very important to me and I would not want to let it go. So it is truly great to be home so we can keep our tradition going.

No matter where home is for you I hope you get there for the Holidays! I know being there makes all the difference.

 

8 Blogs down and 4 to go. It is  going to be tight but I think I am going  to make my goal :)

SNOW!!!!

Okay, so in case you have been living under a rock for the last 3 days, OR you don’t live in the Tri- Cities area, let me just tell you it SNOWED here!!! Paul Thurrott (the host of Windows Weekly and editor of The Supersite for Windows who lives in the Boston area) put out a tweet last night saying that they were going to get hit with a Category 5 Death Storm!! Not sure if Boston got hit, but I know our area got hit with at least a Category 3.

It all started on Friday afternoon at about 3ish, LUCKILY I had got off work early and was already home. I am truly thanking God for this, because shortly after I got home things starting getting BAD!!! When the snow came it CAME FOR REAL! Here are some pictures of the progression:

Friday-3:00PM

 

 

Friday-4:30PM

 

Friday-6:00PM

Saturday- 9:00am

I actually measured the total from our back porch and came up with . . .

Now when it initially started snowing  Nick & I were sitting home warm and toasty having a FABULOUS time. We were watching DVD’s, playing Christmas music, and doing a few home shores. The worst thing that happened was our satellite was out. Nick actually could have fixed the satellite by climbing up on the roof and dusting it off but I refused to let him. I told him we did not need to have a Christmas Vacation moment.

The best part about the snow was I got to make SNOW CREAM!!!! Growing up every time it snowed a good amount my Mom would make snow cream and I always LOVED it. For those of you who have never made it here is a recipe:

Snow Cream Recipe

1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
scant 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
large bowl of snow (about 3 quarts)

Blend milk, sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough snow to make snow cream to an ice cream consistency.

One of the keys to snow cream is making sure you get CLEAN snow, you especially have to avoid the yellow variety if you know what I mean.

Collecting the Snow

Finished Product

 

Now while we were sitting home having fun many other people were experiencing  the BAD collateral damage that snow brings. My parents lost power early due to catastrophic event in which a tree took done a power pole very close to there house. They have now been without power for about 3 days. We also knew several people that sat gridlocked on the road for hours trying to get home and in some cases actually abandoned there vehicle and continued on foot. We also have not escaped the storm unscathed, our  pretty/shiny snow fun actually ended Saturday afternoon. We went out at about noon to get some groceries and a few other things and returned home to find the power was out. We spent one cold and dark night at home and it was NOT FUN! We lit a ton of candles, wore 2 layers of clothing, and burrowed in the bed for warmth.

Here is Nick talking on the phone by candlelight. I know you can not really tell it is him but trust me it is!

Now over 24 hours later we are still with out power and have been graciously been taken in by John and Nicole. We are so thankful to have a warm place to be tonight. BIG THANKS TO NICOLE AND JOHN!!!

We shall keep you updated on our electricity status, hopefully we will be back home by Christmas :) The Category 3 Death Storm got us but we are not completely down yet. With a little electricity we could emerge from this event victoriously!!!

On a side note I know this blog was not very Christmassy but I am going to count it as the 7th Blog of Christmas. It was about snow which makes me think of Christmas and Nick did ask if we could open presents during the pretty/shiny snow time.

Till next time- Stay Warm and Merry Christmas!!!

Hey! Unto you a child is born!

So we have made it all the way to the 6th Blog of Christmas and I have yet to mention once the true reason for the season. Often it is all to easy to get caught up in the card sending, gift buying, and food eating (I have been truly guilty of the eating this week) and forget the reason we celebrate,.

Every year at Christmas I have a few “Christmas themed” books I read and one of them is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. The Best Christmas Pageant ever is really meant for those in Grades 3rd-6th but I read it every year and it is a great reminder to me that Christmas is truly about the Birth of Jesus Christ. If you have never read this book I highly recommend it. I have been reading it for years and have actually seen plays based on it a few times.

In the book the Herdmans who are described as “the worst kids in the history of the world.” end up cast as all the main roles in Christmas Pageant at there local church. Everyone feels that the Herdmans will ruin the Christmas Pageant but in fact it turns out to be the best Christmas Pageant they have ever seen. The Herdmans hear the story of Christ’s birth for the 1st time and find the true meaning of Christmas.

The greatest gift any of us can ever receive at Christmas time or any other time is Jesus Christ. If it weren’t for God sending his only begotten son to earth to die on the cross for our sins, we would have no hope of eternal life.  Jesus did not belong to Mary and Joseph but was God’s gift to all of us, we must only choose to receive him.

So in the immortal words of Gladys Herdman . . .

“Hey! Unto you a child is born!”

That is the “gift” and the true reason for the season.

^{Luke 2: 8-14}

⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 

Chocolate Oreo Truffles- YUM!

Here is yet another Christmas treat coming at you with lots of yummy goodness. Are you ready . . . Chocolate Oreo Truffles!!

I make these little slices of heaven every year as a Christmas treat to take into work. They are always a hit and the bonus for me is that they are really easy to make!!!

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Oreo Truffles

1 Bag of Oreo Cookies

1 8oz box of Cream Cheese

1 Packages of Chocolate Almond

Crush bag of Oreo Cookies in a food processor until finely blended. Place in large mixing bowl and combine with softened cream cheese until completed blended. Form into balls and place in freezer for 15 minutes. Melt Chocolate Almond Bark while the truffles freeze. Remove truffles from freezer and drop into melted chocolate one at a time. With a spoon make sure truffle is completely covered with chocolate. Remove from chocolate and place on wax paper to dry. Once truffle is dry, trim of excess chocolate with kitchen scissors.

*** Can substitute regular Oreos with mint or peanut butter flavored.

 

A few tips if you decide to make these:

1. I do not own a food processor and use my handy dandy Pampered Chef Food Chopper to  take care of the Oreos. You can do 3 at a times and it gets them really finely chopped. On a side not if you do not already own a Pampered Chef chopper I highly recommend getting one. They are FABULOUS!!!
2. I am always challenged when it comes to melting the Chocolate Almond bark. I did the microwave once and that worked okay. This year I did it in a good Rachael Ray Sauce Pan on the stove. Rachael Ray Cookware yet another FABULOUS product! Next year I may try to make my own double boiler and do it that way. Whatever way you choose just do not let the bark dry in the container you are doing it in. You have to re-melt the stuff to clean it out .
3. Don’t worry about how many you eat calories don’t count at Christmas right?

**Special thanks to my Mom for sharing this fabulous recipe with me!**

Happy Chocolate Oreo Truffle making!!!

Rogersville’s Christmas Tour of Homes

So on this cold day I embarked on my 1st ever Christmas Tour of homes and it was FABULOUS!! My Mom saw information regarding the the Christmas Tour of Homes in Rogersville and purchased tickets for me and her good friend Barbara. The tour was self guided and took us to 9 different places in Rogersville, here is a complete list

 

 

But before I launch into any tour details I must mention the Cafe Jubilee in Rogersville where we ate lunch. The restaurant is located inside an old house and they also have a gallery where they allow local artisans to sell there crafts. The food was AWESOME! I got a grilled chicken salad that had strawberries in it, YUM!! I also got a delicious piece of some kind of brownie pie for desert. If you are ever in the Rogersville area I definitely recommend giving it a try. I also found the coolest wind chimes in one of the rooms in the gallery. The “chime” part of the wind chimes were made of antique forks and spoons and the tops were other non-traditional items like tea pots and wooden clogs. I am not sure if my description is doing them justice they were just so unique and I absolutely fell in love with them. Unfortunately, I did not get one because I have no where at my house to put one.  Maybe one day!

Okay back to the TOUR . . .

Well, we saw so many wonderful and beautiful things on the tour. Not sure if my descriptions will do everything justice so here are some pictures . . .

 

Beautiful see through fireplace at the Baird Home.

 

Really cool chair/planter at the Kirkpatrick Home.

Awesome mantel decor and original built-ins at the Kirkpatrick home.

The real reason for the season. The Nativity at Hasson Street Christian Church.

The Hale Spring in had been totally renovated and was beautiful.

Check out how high the bed is!

It was so cold the fountain was frozen in down town Rogersville.

Pink Christmas Tree with china decoration . . .too cute!!!

Fireplace in the Bowman Home. The House had been completely renovated in the last 2 years.

The Davis Home

Beautiful center piece in the Davis Home. They had done a lot of cool decorating with fruit.

Ebbing Flowing Springs United Methodist Church

 

Neat signs inside the Church

More inside the church pics

The Amis House- it is 300 years old but beautifully renovated and restored.

These pictures represent a fraction of all the great stuff I saw. Touring all the homes really made me want to not only finish my own home renovations but also really deck my house for the holidays. Almost all the places we visited has such a “homey” feel, it was just incredible. I do a decent job of getting Christmasy here but I could do a little more and I think we would truly enjoy it. Some of the best things we saw were not even complicated just a bit of greenery and bows and they really made all the difference.

 

I had a great time with my Mom and Barbara and hope we do it again next year! It can be a new tradition.

Until next time . . . .