Favorite Things

Needlepoint ornaments I made my first "independent" Christmas...1981.
Purchased various "book" ornaments in 1981...real pages with songs on each!

Gift from students Aaron and Tina, siblings, 1987.

Hand cross-stitched by Teresa, dear friend, 1994.

Our first Christmas, 1992.

Vancouver Island, Jerry and I--a Christmas shoppe between Victoria and Mt. Washington.

Myrtle Beach...198? with Vickie... The Pottery Barn, I believe.

Vancouver Island

We have many crystal pieces...Nativity Scenes are a favorite...this

one probably from Eureka Springs.

The verse that gives the true meaning of celebrating...

without the birth of Christ there is no Christmas.

One of the things I love about decorating for Christmas is unwrapping favorite things...whether it be ornaments with special memories, seasonal gifts given by special people, or just remembering the trip that led us to the special ornaments. So, I thought I would share a few of my favorite Christmas things and why they are special to me. This is by no means an exaustive list...there's not enough blog space for that!

Thanksgiving 2008

My great niece "kicking in the leaves".
Emmee and Grasen playing in the back yard.

Waiting for turkey time!

Grasen digging for shells in Navarre sand! Great idea, Aunt Phyllis!

The morning after--3 sisters going shopping at 6am...thought about 4 am,

but changed our minds!

This year we gathered at my sister's house. It's a lovely home, with room for all of us, and is centrally located in the state. Jerry and I picked up mom on Wednesday and arrived on Wednesday. We are the turkey cookers, so we had to be there to start the bird Wednesday night. I wish I had taken pictures of the process, but it's difficult to photograph and prepare the bird at the same time. So, you'll just have to suffer through my narration! This year we had a 21 pound bird--a BIG bird! Washing that bird was not an easy task...but we managed, dried him off, oiled him down, and covered with salt and pepper. We put him on the roasting rack in the roasting pan (breast up), poured about 1/2 C of beer (a BIG can of beer) in the bottom of the pan, and put the beer can---well, up the turkey's butt. Hence, "Beer-Butt Turkey". The oven was preheating to 400 while we covered the turkey with foil and tightly secured it so no moisture could escape. When the oven was ready, we put the bird in the oven...where he stayed at 400 for the first 1 1/2 hours. Then we reduced the heat to 250. I guess it was 7pm by the time we put him in the oven. At 7am, we took him out to check for doneness. Well, that bird just fell apart! I literally pulled the breast bone out without any trouble! So, I resealed him, turned the oven off, and put him back in the oven to rest. When it was time to "carve" the turkey, I was ready with reinforcements--brother-in-law Bruce! We were amazed to discover that there was nothing to carve! The meat just fell off the bones! So tender, moist, and delicious! Definately our best "Beer-butt Turkey" ever! Mom made delicious dressing and gravy, family arrived with all the trimmings,Phyllis read a Psalms of thanks, and we (17 of us, I believe) had a feast! I did manage to take a few "after" pictures, though!

"Tis the Season??? already???

Don't you love the flamingo pants? They just scream "Christmas is coming!"

What a patient and precious hubby!

Coffee table with cracked balls and a runner made by my mom.

Our 3 dogs share a stocking...sorry, girls!

Dining room table.

Ahhhhh! It's lovely!

We decorated early this year--weekend before Thanksgiving. Had to...or we wouldn't have a chance before Christmas gets here. We love to decorate the house. Let me rephrase that---we love a decorated house! A couple of years ago we had to replace our tree, so we purchased a 9 1/2' slim, pre-lit tree...now we don't have to rearrange the living room to put it up. Downside? It won't hold all of our ornaments. We do have a system, finally, that makes decorating the tree a bit easier. We get the tree down from the attic, and assemble each section before adding the next section. While I'm finishing up arranging the branches and checking the lights, Jerry starts unpacking the ornaments and putting the hangers on...then we're ready to trim the tree! Next comes the dining room table, the entry buffet, and the living room. So, this is what Christmas looks like at the Wood home! Enjoy!

The Real Thing--Mt. Magazine

Today was a beautiful day--still a little cool, but no wind...so the perfect day to take a chance on seeing the last of the fall leaves from atop Mt. Magazine. For those who don't know this mountain, it is the highest peak in Arkansas at 2,753 feet. It runs east to west for 6 miles, and up to 1 mile across. You can get lots of information by going to http://www.mountmagazinestatepark.com/. So, we set off on our excursion with the 3 girls in the back of the car. We stopped in Branch for pie from Sula Mae's...then on to Shirley's Outback for burgers (where I saw the names "Karen, Pam, Debbie, Idella" in the guest book from earlier this year--I believe I know those girls!). Having all we needed for our picnic, we headed up hwy. 309 to our destination. We enjoyed our meal then drove to the scenic overlooks....and there are several. It was a bright clear day, so we were able to enjoy the vistas every direction we looked. To the east we could see the steam tower from Nuclear 1 in London. To the south we could see Blue Mountain Lake. It was just a lovely day. After the views, walking around the lodge, and a short hike on Benefield Trail, we loaded up for the drive home. The girls all fell asleep quickly, and Jerry and I both had a hard time keeping our eyes open for the ride home. The brightest leaf color has passed, and the winds from this past week cleaned many trees off, but we still enjoyed the colors, the views, and the cool, crisp air. We'll continue to make this trip an annual fall pilgrimage.

Not Even Close to Mt. Magazine

What a mess!

Making progress.....

Soooo much better!

All week long, Jerry and I have talked about it being time for our fall pilgrimage to Mt. Magazine, with "the girls", of course. You see, earlier in the week it was 75-80 degrees, calm, and sunny. Then the front came through...the cold front. We had storms Thursday night, and crystal clear skys on Friday....with killer wind and a high of 55---in the sun with no wind blowing! Being a fair weather picnic-er and mountian vista enjoying kind-of-girl, a repeat of Friday's weather today left me wanting to stay warm and cozy inside. So, on to plan B. "B" for bubble bath, and the crazy notion that it was time to clean out and reorganize the kitchen pantry. What on earth was I thinking? I had a good thing going with the bubble bath, and I could have just snuggled in for a day of movies and snoozing. But I did it, I opened the pantry door, couldn't step in because of all the debris, and started unloading it. There was nothing to do but completely empty a few shelves and come up with a new plan. Jerry graciously made a run to Wal Mart and Lowe's in search of some kind of shelving for all my cookbooks. He couldn't find exactly what we wanted, but brought home an alternative that is going to work just fine. So, here are pictures of the during and after....sorry, but I didn't think about "before" shots until it was too late, and I wasn't about to put all that stuff back in for a picture....

First Day of November

I find it hard to believe that we are now in the 11th month of this year. I also find it hard to believe that in all our years of visiting my mom and sisters in Clarksville, I have never walked the Spadra Nature Trail. It parallels Spadra Creek, and from Main Street, is 1.3 miles. The entire trail is 1.7 miles, one way. Usually Jerry takes one of both of our Westies for their morning walks here, or he does his Saturday morning marathon training run, and incorporates the trail into his run. Needless to say, I never participate in these! However, this 1st day of November was different. We didn't have anything on the schedule early Saturday morning, so we took Emmee, our oldest Westie, for a walk. Our other 2 canine children stayed at home under the care of our neighbor this trip. Well, let me tell you, it is a beautiful and well planned trail! The asphalt jogger/cyclist-walker trail is well maintained, well lit (you could safely walk at night), and beautiful. If you live in C'ville, this is the perfect place to unwind from any day of work with a nice walk, ride, or run!

Halloween Night 2008

Great fun on Aunt Janice's front porch during Trick-or-Treating!

"Sarah Palin" even made a campaign stop...there were certainly enough voters present to warrant the time and effort! Joe the Plumber also showed up, but he was camera shy!

"Greatest" and Little Ride Riding Hood!

Pirate Paige, or is that a syrup icon from years gone by???

Mom and sister Susan in Janice and Bruce's newly remodeled kitchen.

Apparently, for the past several years, there has been quite a gathering at my sister and brother-in-law's house in C'ville on Halloween night. I guess we just never knew it was such a well attended and fun event, and had never gone....until this year. Well, let me tell you, I think every trick-or-treater in Johnson County came by their house, and half of them came in to join in our "Soup Supper". I've never seen such a line of ghosts, goblins, princesses, and the like. We had a blast! The candy trail lasted from about 5:30 until 9:00...and could have kept going if someone had been willing to make another "candy run"! We'll definately participate in this again next year!

Catching Up!

Since I failed to post any blogs most of the month of October, I have lots of catching up to do. I'll start with Tyler's birthday. Tyler, Casey, Asher, and Leila came over the night before Tyler's 29th birthday. We had a nice meal, lots of fun playing with Asher and Leila, and the highlight of the night was Asher singing "Happy Birthday" to his dad. I will attempt to post my first video clip of the serenade...we'll see how that goes! We enjoyed celebrating Tyler's 29th year...we think he's an extraordinary son, husband, dad, and man. We pray God continues to richly bless you, Tyler! Happy Birthday!