Apology!

My sister called me out. I used her twice in my blogs...stealing her favorite cookie recipe and claiming that Molly was a family gift when she was really a gift to Kendra (due to the Haley vs. Kendra war). She is right! She's way cooler than I will ever be, so I had to steal her identity!

Sorry, Kendra! :) You win this round! Hope this super cute pic of you and Jess makes up for it. Now you are the real star of this blog!

Love ya!

WoF:You must be a military spouse...

You must be a military spouse at Christmas time if you...keep a sense of humor!


This is only my second Christmas as a military spouse, so I don't have a whole lot of experience to fall back on. What I do know is that if I didn't have a sense of humor, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make it through Christmas (or any other day!).


Last year The Man was in training for the first few weeks of December, he popped in for about a week or two for Christmas, then headed to Florida for the majority of January to assist with a deploying group. During the time he was gone, we had boatloads of snow. I can't tell you how many times I shoveled our driveway last year. Each time I shoveled, I thought to myself, "Next winter he's shoveling it all!"


HA HA!


The joke is on me!


The Man was deployed in March of last year...and just last week the snow season began. We had about a foot of snow fall in a handful of hours. I pulled out my trusty shovel. Actually, two trusty shovels (one is better for the heavy wet snow that fell last week, and the other is exceptional for the light, airy stuff - yeah, that's right, I know my tools!) and I got to work.


Yep. Joke's on me.


It was a similar story with the Christmas decorations, we decorated together between his schedule, and then, The Man was off to Florida and the decorations were still up. We had purchased an artificial tree that was really marked down right after Christmas. It sat in the box in our kitchen until February! I said to myself, "Next year the Christmas decorations will be put away in a reasonable time!"


....but I think we might be in the same predicament this year. The difference is that I'm smiling about it now. What's a few weeks or months!?!


Join the conversation at Wives of Faith!

WoF: The Best Gift I Ever Gave

I am the worst gift giver known to man. I don't mean to be so crummy at it, I generally put a lot of thought into people's gifts, but they never are really all that great.

Every year, I try to do better, but usually end up bummed out and days away from Christmas knowing that I've fallen short another year! I haven't given up, yet! Maybe next year?

So, Wives of Faith bloggers and readers, I'm sorry for coming up short on this one!

I'm excited for tomorrow...I have two really great gifts I have been given (well, one might be this year!). To find out what great gifts other military wives have given, click here! You just might find a good idea for this Christmas!

WoF: The Best Gift I Ever Received

I haven't received my Christmas gift yet this year...but if all goes as planned, The Man will arrive sometime around Christmas this year for his R&R! Dates don't mean much to me, so Christmas Day 2009 will be when I pick him up from the airport, whether it's the 25th or not!

Because this Christmas isn't here quite yet...I'll take you back in time...

The best gift I ever received for Christmas was a black lab puppy. My parents gave us Molly for Christmas and I won't forget it! Maybe someday when we have kids, I can surprise them the same way.

That Christmas morning, I woke up and I hopped in the shower before my sisters woke up (four girls in one bathroom, you take the shower when you can get it!). While in the shower, my parents kept banging on the door and saying, "First one up gets to open the first present!" Which, didn't make any sense to me. We always waited for everyone and opened gifts in an orderly fashion.

Out of the shower, I got dressed and headed downstairs. As I was getting a glass of water, my parents were really starting to drive me crazy with their, "First one up gets to open the first present!" mantra...

...and that's when I heard scampering.

It didn't sound like the familiar padding through the kitchen from our dog, Haley. I whipped around and there went a little black thing scuttling across the kitchen floor. A pudgy little black puppy!

We brought the puppy upstairs to wake my sisters up. First Amanda and Jess, and finally Kendra. Side note: Kendra and Haley didn't really get along (baby of the house syndrome maybe?).

We plopped the wiggling puppy onto Kendra's bed and Kendra shouted, "GET HALEY OFF ME!" as she tried to pushed the puppy off her bed. It only took a second for her to realize that this wriggling thing wasn't Haley...the mood changed dramatically :)

Kendra and Molly...


I'll never forget that Christmas! We love our little Molly. Although she's pretty old and her muzzle has greyed, she's still our Christmas Pup. And no one has better Christmas spirit than that dog!

She loves to "hand out" the presents (she usually picks out the presents under the tree that are hers before Christmas arrives!). She helps unwrap the presents. And, she loves to play fetch with wrapping paper balls!

Here's Haley covered in wrapping paper. We'll miss her this Christmas!

Read more great gifts other military wives have received!

My Favorite Christmas Recipe - Take 2

This blogging carnival might have caused me to go a little crazy...I just baked up another favorite Christmas recipe for my cookie exchange at work tomorrow. I thought I'd post it too!

Another recipe with an ambiguous name. I've heard them called Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Tea Cakes. No matter the name, they melt in your mouth!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups finely chopped nuts
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Additional powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Whip butter for 30 seconds.
3. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar to butter and beat until light.
4. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
5. Stir in flour, nuts and salt.
6. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet with about 1-inch spacing.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes until set but not brown.
8. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar. Place on wire rack to cool.

(This recipe was from www.bettycrocker.com - but you can find variations - sometimes I add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon almond extract)

WoF: My Favorite Christmas Recipe

We are in day two of the Wives of Faith Christmas Carnival Blog. For more favorite Christmas recipes, visit the blog and read the comments. I really thought that these topics would be easier! I love cooking...but to pick a favorite recipe is impossible.

One of my favorite cookies to make is for my sister, Kendra. She lives almost 2,000 miles away in sunny Arizona, so I am looking forward to having a big batch of these prepared for when she makes it home for Christmas this year.

It's a simple recipe - no measurements or baking! Our family calls them "Wheat Thin Cookies". They sound strange, but true to using chocolate and peanut butter, you can't go wrong!

Ingredients:

• One box of Wheat thins (I use reduced fat...I know, what's the point when you are using PB and Chocolate? I'm not sure. I just feel better about it.)


• Peanut butter (I recommend creamy)


• Chocolate bark (white chocolate bark also works well)


• Sprinkles, coconut, non-perils, any other favorite decorations

1. Make mini wheat thin sandwiches with just a little dab of peanut butter between each.
2. Melt chocolate in microwave. Be careful not to burn! (Or, if you're a heath weirdo like me and you don't use a microwave, you can melt in a double boiler on the stove.)
3. Dip cracker sandwiches into chocolate and coat. Using a fork, gently remove from chocolate and place onto waxed paper.
4. Decorate using sprinkles, or simply drizzle the opposite color of chocolate onto the semi-cooled cookie.

Watch for a photo during the next couple of weeks. I haven't made mine yet and can't find an image online...it'll give you a good reason to stop back!

Enjoy!

WoF: My Favorite Christmas Song

I’m blogging again! Well, at least for the next 12 days as part of the Wives of Faith Blog Carnival.
Today’s topic: My Favorite Christmas Song


I thought that this would be an easy one to start out with…until, I started some research. I don’t have a favorite Christmas song.


This year, I’ve found new respect for The Little Drummer Boy. I was watching my 6-year old niece, Kayla and 18-month old nephew, Jake. We were on our way to church for a Bible study. We had the radio on and The Little Drummer Boy started playing. It’s not one of my favorites, but I decided to leave it on. Before I knew it, Jake was singing along! His version went something like this, “Pum Pum”….”Pum Pum”…so he may not have caught all the words, but he sang right along with the music!


Not to be outdone, on the way home, we were having a singing contest, a normal happening when we get a handful of us in the car. Big sister Kayla sang her first song, then she helped Jake sing a song. They were right in the middle of Old McDonald and big, fat snowflakes started to fall. Kayla gasped and then jumped right into her own song…”I’m Kayla and I’m going to sing a song about Snow”…


Snowflakes falling down
One snowflake falls down
Two snowflakes…
(I’ll spare you the rest, but impressive that this spontaneous song was written and produced by Kayla herself. )


My takeaway: Choosing an all time favorite Christmas song for me isn’t possible because each has its own meaning, often driven by what I’ve experienced while singing the song.


Pum pum…pum pum…