December 12 ~ Christmas mail

This wonderful photo was in New Hampshire Troubadour for December 1950.  I love the simpler, safer, saner time that it evokes.

Christmas mail has begun arriving in our mailbox.  I am sure there are many people who begin sending out their Christmas cards on December 1, but apparently our friends and family are not among them.  (I'm certainly not!)  In the past few days, though, we've received a Christmas card and a Christmas letter.  It's fun to open up the mailbox and find some "real" mail in there -- not just junk and bills.

Growing up, my siblings and I frequently vied for [make that fought over] the privilege of getting the mail.  How important we felt opening up that box and bringing the contents into the house, then sorting it out to the rightful owners (usually my parents unless one of us had a birthday or a letter from a pen pal).  Back then, of course, most people wrote letters.  Email was unheard of and long-distance phone calls were expensive.  So in opening the mailbox, who knew what treasures might await?

Never was that more true than at Christmas time.  Maybe that's why I'm drawn to vintage Christmas cards that depict country mailboxes overflowing with cards and festive packages.  Here are a few from my collection.  Feel free to pin or save them for your own use.

I absolutely love this one... the falling snow, the frosty pine cones and bushes, the holly trimming the mailboxes...

Forest friends at the mailbox

A festive red mailbox ... love it!

Very similar to the one above it, isn't it?  I had never noticed that before.  It has to be by the same artist.

So sweet.  I love the chickadees and the red berries.

Such festive trims on this one.

 Hope you have enjoyed this look at some of my vintage cards!

December 11 -- Christmas Tea mug rugs

The picture also shows one of the mugs I included in the gift basket.

I gave these away at a Christmas gift exchange this evening, in a basket which included mugs, tea, and Christmas napkins.  So now that they are safely in the hands of the recipient, I can show them here.  I started with this tea time mug rugs pattern from Wild Olive, and adapted it from there.

They are lots of fun to make once all of the pieces are cut out.  I enjoyed choosing fabric scraps from my stash for these.  It's not too late to make a set for a gift; they go together really quickly!

December 10

Time to think about my goals for this week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
* Get started on Sunday School lesson 7
 *  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Review Psalm 103 (memorized some years ago)
*  Read 2 chapters in How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post daily in both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms, plus a few from Zone 2, the kitchen
*  Finish with the gifts I need to buy
*  Finish Christmas decorating
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the couples' retreat from October
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


Here's how last week went:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- DONE!
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 6 -- DONE!
 *  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- DONE!
*  Finish memorizing Psalm 145:1-5 -- DONE!
*  Read 2 chapters in How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground  --  nope, only read one.
*  Limit sugar  -- not too much
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times -- managed 4 times, which is not too bad
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas -- did fairly well with this
*  Keep up a good water intake -- DONE!
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post daily in both of my blogs -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 2, the kitchen --  not done
*  Decorate the Christmas tree -- DONE!
*  Start my Christmas baking -- DONE!
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews -- nope
*  Post about the couples' retreat from October -- nope
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

December 9

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Sundays are always busy, but on winter Sundays we have a potluck and an afternoon service at church, which means a little bit more time at home in the late afternoon.  Today we had a little less time at home than usual due to different things we were doing, but our evening was devoted to Christmas preparations.

I worked on a couple of stitchery projects (and finished one of them!) while Mr. T worked in the kitchen and made a double batch of Eggnog Logs.  He did not frost them yet, but formed all of the dough into logs and baked them.  We'll frost them on another day.  If you try the recipe, I should mention that we never use the rum extract in them.  The nutmeg (especially if you grate your own) makes them taste eggnog-y enough.  These cookies are a big Christmas favorite in our family!

December 8

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Another busy day, but we did accomplish quite a bit toward Christmas.  Mr. T spent much of the morning in the kitchen making fudge.  He made Heavenly Delight and also a Creamsicle Fudge that we all enjoy.  Tonight after supper he tried a rocky road fudge recipe from a Betty Crocker recipe calendar I have.  It is new to us, so we will take some to the potluck at church tomorrow and see how it goes over!

He also investigated in the attic as I was sure I had purchased some gifts from Kohls.com on clearance after Christmas last year.  He thought he remembered seeing a Kohls box up there.  Sure enough, it was there and so another gift or two is taken care of.

We made a quick run to our nearest Wal*Mart that sells fabric and picked up some needed components for crafted gifts (and also for fudge!).  I worked on a cross-stitched gift on the way there and back, and it is nearly done!  When we got home, I finished up one of the sewed gifts and did work on several more.

We had my dad up for supper and cooked a ham and scalloped potatoes to go along with homemade beans and coleslaw.  After supper I filled the slow cooker for tomorrow's potluck and then did some more crafting.  A productive day!

December 7

What a day!  It was intended to be a day when I got a lot of crafting done -- and I did accomplish some.

  But did you ever have a crafting session where things just didn't go according to plan?  I've had a few, and today was one of them.

Some months ago I had found a tutorial for an item I wanted to make for my grandkids.  I planned on making seven of these and thought I could get them all cut out today.  It was not to be.  The "tutorial" I had found did not include an actual pattern.  I was supposed to draw a template for this thing.  Let's just say that after a Google search I did eventually find a template I could adapt.

Well, I ended up getting perhaps half of the necessary pieces cut out, but at least now I have a template.  Maybe tomorrow I can get more done.

Now, back to cross stitching.  Mr. T is baking Christmas tree spritz cookies, the snow is falling, and all is well.

Glazed Corned Beef Dinner

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Here's a great comfort food meal for a busy winter day.  It's the slow cooker meal I made yesterday:  Glazed Corned Beef Dinner   I have made this the past couple of St. Patrick's Days, and we really liked it.  This year, we bought extra corned beef after St. Patrick's Day and froze the briskets.  I think we just used our last one, though.
The corned beef and vegetables cook in the slow cooker until about a half hour before you want to serve the meal.  Then you transfer them to an oblong pan (using a slotted spoon), pour a glaze over the meat, and bake for 20 minutes or so.  It's a delicious all-in-one meal -- and so easy!