Merry Christmas!



Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
Christina Rossetti

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Weekend Fun

Thank you for your comments on our new family room! Yes, we are enjoying it very much. We are having a family of five over this evening and thanks to a couple of table leaves (and a piano bench for extra seats) we have room for everyone at the table. I'm making roast chicken, potatoes and carrots.


For dessert I made Mrs. H's Cream Filled Cinnamon Coffee Cake. I made a few changes: I left out the pecans, only swirled the topping on the bottom cake and made half a recipe of cream cheese frosting for the filling.


We have some Christmas baking planned for tomorrow, along with our church's Christmas Carol service and potluck. I'm most excited about my parents and brother arriving early next week. It will be our first Christmas together since 1995!

Garage Conversion Family Room

Good morning! I'm finally sharing pictures of our garage conversion project. It is now our new family room!


My favorite parts are the tray ceiling.


And the large closet for shoes, coats, and extra storage.


There is a small reading corner behind the couches.


We have our second fridge and snack area tucked in the other corner.




Thank you for taking a look a our new room!

Friday Night Fun

An old fashioned style popcorn popper (thank you, Target!) and fun containers (thank you, dollar section!) make a Friday evening extra enjoyable.

December 8, 2009

The first dinner on our new kitchen table. A hot bowl of chili and apple cider.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

I like having a daughter who can bake all by herself. Grace made these delicious Peanut Butter Blossoms for a Christmas party this evening. I hope they last until then!

New Living Room Bookshelf

Hello! I've been so busy since my last post, I hardly know where to begin. Our new family room is finished and we all love it. New couches arrive on Tuesday and I will be sure to share pictures. I got the kitchen painted and in the process of starting one project, 10 more seemed to pop up. Phillip had a week off around Thanksgiving and we have cleaned, decluttered, and organized the whole house.

Some of you may remember the wet bar area in our living room that I needed help with.


We were able to find an unfinished bookshelf that covered it perfectly. Phillip stained it to match the wood walls and we are very happy with it.


Now that the TV is out of this room, it's the perfect spot for relaxing!