Good Luck Tradition

The Christmas decorations are finally put away and now I'm getting ready for the new year! I'm already starting my list of New Year's resolutions. Now, how do you think that tradition got started? My list is probably no different from the majority of people. The typical: eat better, live better, exercise more, be more considerate and be a better person.

Another tradition is that of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's day. The traditional meal may also feature collard or mustard greens. This is supposed to bring good luck and financial enrichment. The peas stand for coins, the greens symbolize paper money. Corn bread also often accompanies this meal.

These "good luck" traditions date back to the U.S. Civil War. Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, would typically strip the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock and destroy whatever they couldn't carry away. At that time, Northerners considered "field peas" and corn suitable only for animal fodder, and as a result didn't steal or destroy these humble foods. Many Southerners survived as a result of this mistake.

Here is a great recipe using black-eyed peas. Now, before you turn your nose up on black-eyed peas, consider this. I don't even like black-eyed peas, and I like this dish. It's simple with only these ingredients:



There's also bell pepper in the recipe, but I had already started cutting it when I decided to take pictures.

Brown one pound of ground beef, one pound of sausage with one onion, chopped and one bell pepper, chopped.



Add four cans of black-eyed peas. Now, before you get to thinking, boy that looks like a lot of food. It is! I'm making this to take to work, so I've tripled the recipe. What you're seeing in the picture is 6 pounds of meat and 12 cans of black-eyed peas. This recipe is that good! My sister-in-law is making a triple batch, too. We'll be having it at work, feeding about 40 people. Believe me, there won't be anything left.



Now add two cans of Ro-tel tomatoes. Let it simmer several hours and you've got one good meal.


Be sure and serve it with some good cornbread, and you've got a traditional New Year's meal guaranteed to bring you good luck!

Black-Eyed Pea Gumbo

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 cans black-eyed peas
2 cans Rotel tomatoes

Brown ground beef, sausage, onion and bell pepper. Drain grease. Add black-eyed peas and Rotel and simmer for 2-3 hours.

The Gift Of Jesus

THE GIFT OF JESUS

It's a gift wrapped in love,

the love of a King.

It's a gift wrapped in grace ---

what a wonderful thing!

It's a gift wrapped in joy,

the joy of creation,

A gift wrapped in song,

the song of salvation.

It's the gift of a Man

who died on the cross.

It's the gift of new life

so not one would be lost.

It's a gift just for us,

not too big, not too small.

It's the gift of Christ Jesus ---

the best gift of all!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! II Corinthians 9:15

From my house to yours, may your Christmas be peaceful and blessed.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Here's the other picture Jennifer used on her Christmas cards. Is big sister trying to tempt little brother????? Just wait 'til they're older and starting to snoop for Christmas presents.

May the spirit of the season put a smile on your face!

Jennifer has tagged me for this fun idea wherein I have to share 12 random things about myself that are Christmas related.


Here are the rules:


1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas 2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word 3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere. 4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.



12 Random Christmas Things About Cyndy:





1. Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love all the decorations, but I don't like to put them up until after Thanksgiving. The Friday after Thanksgiving is the best time to start!



2. My favorite movie, It's A Wonderful Life, just happens to also be a Christmas movie.



3. I love driving around and looking at lights. I can usually only get Mike to drive around looking at lights only one night. So, whenever I'm out and it gets dark, even if I'm by myself, I always take detours so I can look at the lights. I think I could drive around every night from Thanksgiving to Christmas and not get bored with looking at all the pretty decorated houses.



4. I still believe in Santa Claus.



5. I'm not sure, but I don't thing my children do. But, if they don't, they sure wouldn't tell me for fear that I might stop believing, too.



6. When I was little, my brothers and I always got up early Christmas and went and peeked under the Christmas tree.



7. We also use to snoop around and look for our gifts. Some years we found them, other times my parents were pretty good about hiding them.


8. I'm glad that my neighbor across the street goes all out for Christmas. You should see all their decorations. I like to just sit in my parlor and look out the windows at all the pretty lights. I also think they do it just for my benefit.


9. I really like Christmas stockings. Just think of all the neat little gifts you can receive in stockings!!



10. When my kids were little, they heard Santa's reindeer on the roof. I did too! It was the neatest sound.


11. I like all the great Christmas baking. Christmas cookies, fudge, peanut patties, divinity, it's all great!

12. I really don't like wrapping presents, but I like gifts that are wrapped pretty. I always say I'll start wrapping sooner, but I always put it off until the last.

I tag Jeri.

Sugar Plum Fairy

Here is my sugar plum fairy. Isn't she just the cutest???? I thought it would be easier taking Kaylee's picture, so I saved her for last. Wrong. She was tired and ready to get the whole Christmas Card picture taking over with! But, despite her being tired, I think this one turned out pretty good.

Cup Of Joy

I've been a little busy lately with shopping, wrapping presents, sending our Christmas cards, baking and all the other things that goes along with this time of year. I did want to share this picture I took of Nolan that Jennifer used on her Christmas cards. Tomorrow I'll post the picture of Kaylee. Nolan is our little cup of joy. He was such a delight this weekend. Always so happy and looking for all kinds of new things to get into. He really liked crawling and chasing after Snickers!

Happy Anniversary

I've heard that the best way to enjoy life is to savor the passing of time with someone you love. Mom and Dad have shared their life together for 57 years. Their love for each other is such an inspiration to all of their children. Their love for each other is shown with their actions.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM & DAD

Just A Waiting

For this:

to turn into this:

Barb at A Chelsea Morning posted this friendship cake recipe and it looked so good, I just had to try it. But you really have to have patience. It takes 21 days for the starter and 30 days for the cakes. I can hardly wait to taste the finished product. It makes two cakes and I was going to give them both away, but then I thought, are you crazy????? I've waited this long and I've just got to see what they taste like. They sure look good! Mine won't be ready until December 23rd, so I'm cutting it close to give as a Christmas present. But, I already know who I'm giving it to, and I think she'll really enjoy the cake and starter.

I use to have a fantastic sourdough starter and it made the best bread and rolls. I sure would like to get some more sourdough starter. I may have to just start my own. One thing for sure, it doesn't take as long for sourdough starter as it does for this friendship cake!

Mom's Meals

About twice a month I cook with a group of fun, loving, and very intelligent women. It's with a ministry that was started at our church in 1993 by a very special man who saw a need to help AIDS patients. We prepare meals for these patients and their families, home bound or shut-ins, and people with special needs. There are currently five of us who get together to cook and package the meals. At times we have to be a little creative. Kind of like going to your pantry, seeing what you've got, and then bringing it all together for a fabulous meal, or at least edible. We also receive a few donations, which really help. Such as this left over turkey and dressing.

Sometimes it's a matter of assembling pre-packaged foods. But even when we do that, there's always cooking going on. Last night we prepared pork chops, chicken, tuna casserole, ham, turkey and beef stew.


And of course, when you get five women together in a kitchen, there's a whole lot of talking and laughing going on! Hard to keep up with all the conversations. The best part is the fellowship. One thing for sure, when you've got friends like these, you don't need a therapist!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Actually, it really isn't looking like Christmas in our house. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time decorating this year. I keep looking at different blogs and everyone is doing such a beautiful job getting their houses ready. This is what I'm looking at:

No wonder I can't seem to get motivated. It's a lot of hard work for such a short time. But then I think of all the past Christmases and all our memories we made and realize yes, it's so worth it!!!!! So all you over-worked and over whelmed mothers out there, just remember that you're creating family traditions and long lasting memories. So with that said, I've gotten the boxes out of the barn and I'm putting up the tree. I got the tree decorated last night and hung all the important stockings. I still need to put the name on the newest one!

I always try to pick up some ornaments when we're on vacation. I got this hand blown ornament this summer in Manatou Springs. I love the way the lights shine on it. The picture just doesn't do it justice.

I didn't put up my village this year, so this little fiber optic one will just have to do.


And I have a few Santas around.


Don't you just love this Santa's face?

Still Recovering

I'm still trying to recover from the weekend! The older I get, the slower I get. I just don't get as much done as I used to. Sometimes I'm a little too organized for my own good, so it's the little details that seem to slow me down. I've already started making my New Year's resolutions. On the first of the list is to start making Christmas presents in August! I had wanted to make so many different things for so many friends, family and neighbors. Will I get them all done? Probably not....I could pave a road with my good intentions, but where would the road take me?

Here's a picture of a Christmas door hanger I'm working on. Maybe it will be finished in time for Memorial Day.

Nolan was everyplace this weekend. He just started crawling a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend, he pulled himself up for the first time. He was a little surprised with himself, but he did it several times this weekend. Jennifer said he's doing it all the time now. He'll probably be walking by Christmas. Oh how quickly they grow up! Here he is trying to pull himself up on one of my dining room chairs.

Here's on more snow picture. This is looking out our back door. I'm still a little surprised of the snow we received this Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Whew, we did it! We had the All-American Traditional Thanksgiving! I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to pull it off. We had an unexpected cool front coming. We went ahead with all the preparations and kept listening to the weather reports. I started making my list of all things that needed to be done, I sure didn't want to forget anything! I woke up early, checked the weather, yep, the roads were clear. So, with lists in hand, Jennifer and I grabbed our keys and we were off......What? You thought I meant the traditional turkey dinner?? No, I was talking about the traditional after-Thanksgiving shopping! Because of the road conditions, we really weren't sure if we would even be able to go, so we didn't start too early. We were out the door around 7:30 a.m. We had to be back home by 11:00 because the men were leaving for a few days to go on their hunting trip. Even though we only had a few hours, we were able to get a few presents taken care of. We didn't even encounter any rude shoppers.

We also did the traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. We ate way too much! Kellie had made a Hot Milk Cake that was soooo good! Since she has started a blog, maybe I can convince her to make it and take pictures for her blog and then post the recipe. After we all ate, it began to snow. It wasn't heavy, but at least Kaylee got to play in the snow.

Here is Kaylee throwing a snowball at Uncle B.

Notice the palm tree in the background. Snow and palm trees just doesn't seem to go together.



On Saturday we were suppose to get more bad weather, so Jennifer, the kids and I stayed inside all day. It was a great time to take photos of Kaylee and Nolan for Jennifer and Nate's Christmas cards. Want to see them?

Sorry, you'll just have to wait 'til Jennifer gets them in the mail.

Nana Wall

I have the sweetest, most thoughtful husband! A few months ago we decided to enclose our back screened in porch. When we built the house, we knew that one day we would probably enclose the porch for some added room. Well, we sold the hot tub and decided it was time. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do, but after some talking with different people, we finally came up with what we wanted. It's called a NanaWall. It's a sliding glass wall with folding French doors. Mike has worked so hard picking up the system, lining up the contractor, having the installer come from Dallas, scheduling the heating and air conditioning company so they can duct the room and.... getting the framer back out to finish the trim. (taking a deep breath) And doing all this so we can use the room for Thanksgiving. My father has been at the house all day with the heating and air people. Tonight, Mike and I will scrub the floors and clean the walls. Hopefully the trim guy will finish it tomorrow without making too big of a mess. It won't be stained and painted, but at least we'll be warm and comfy while we eat our turkey dinner. Isn't my husband the greatest!!!! Okay, as I was writing this blog, Mike was scrubbing and cleaning the floors. Now, he really is the greatest!

This picture doesn't do the wall justice! Click on the NanaWall link above and you can see how it works.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

If you're digging through all your recipes and looking for something different to make this Thanksgiving, well, I've got the one for you! It's good, no, make that delicious and best of all, it's easy. Here's all you need to make it.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer.

Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter.


Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well.


Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

Cut you a piece, add a little whipping cream and Enjoy!





Yep, that's a very empty plate. Now, here's the recipe. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

PUMPKIN GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 X 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread the pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Babies are Beautiful

Babies are so much fun! I always enjoy holding newborn babies. I can sit there and just watch them sleeping for hours. With each passing week, they start changing and developing their own personalities. I only have two children and they were as different as night and day. I'm sure if I'd have had seven children each of them would have had their very own, distinct personality. They are all such little miracles of God. When Nolan was born I wrote this little poem about his feet.


Ten wiggly toes, on feet not yet plump
Covered in skin, so soft to the touch
Stretching and kicking, unsure of their purpose
We start out with rhymes, to the market they go
And before you know it, you're on tippy toes
Those first timid steps will bring forth many smiles
As we clap and encourage you each step of the way
Soon you'll be jumping and running with glee
Exploring and playing, not a care in the world
Oh, such a journey you'll take with these feet!


Now, here he is crawling and getting into everything! Before we know it, he'll be taking his first steps on these tiny little feet.



Speaking of babies, I made this burp cloth and baby blanket for a friend of Kellie's this week. I wish I had more time to sew and create. I have several things I'm trying to get completed before Christmas. Maybe next year I'll start sooner!! But, probably not. I always seem to do better with a little pressure.

You've Got Mail!

Don't you love getting packages in the mail??? It's so exciting going to the mailbox, opening the door and having a package in there just for you. Not junk mail or bills, but a package with your name on it! How exciting! Well, that's what happened to me today. Do you want to see what I got? Look, it has my name on it!

Wow, let's see what's inside!

A letter to little old me. Hmmm, what's under the letter?

Isn't this pretty!!! The best part is that I won it while visiting other blogs. Not only do you get to visit some neat sites with great decorating tips and recipes, but you get to meet some really nice people. This came from Francie at The Scented Cottage. If you haven't visited her site, you really need to! She also has a little boutique with some of the prettiest and most unique gift items. I have my eye on a little sugar and creamer set. So go visit her and tell her Cyndy sent you!

Care Package Sent With Love

My brother, Ronald, is taking chemotherapy treatment and we thought he needed a special care package sent his way. Since Daddy just completed his chemo and radiation therapy, we knew of a few things that might be helpful. Daddy developed terrible sores in his throat and since Ronald is having the same three chemo drugs, we thought he needed some herbal green tea in some pretty winter mugs, after all, he does live in Colorado! And since it's cooler up there, we put in some flannel lounge pants, a comfy henley and warm wool socks. Not to mention a fleece throw to keep him snugly and warm. And just in case he gets dry skin, some good lubriderm lotion with an applicator. I know Rebecca is more than willing to put the lotion on him, but every once in a while, the care giver needs a well-deserved break! We also put in a lavender scented neck roll that can be heated or cooled. And a gel mask to soothe his sinuses. Some crossword puzzles, note pads, pencils and erasers. I'm sure he won't really need the erasers with the puzzles, he's pretty good with those, but we sent them just in case. And some great snacks to keep up his strength. The main thing we included was a basket full of LOVE! Each gift was individually wrapped so he could have some fun unwrapping it all. He called and said it arrived just as he came home from his chemo treatment. Perfect timing! Our prayers and blessings are with you, brother!

Weekend Fun

I had a good weekend of babysitting Kaylee and Nolan. Nathan flew out to San Diego to go to the football game with his brothers and father. I think they're going to try to make it a yearly tradition to all meet for a football game each year. Last year they went to a Cowboy's game, this year it's a Charger's game. His two brothers flew in from Alaska and they're staying with his parents there in California. Jennifer had a speech tournament that she had to go to in Dallas, so I was tickled pink when they asked me to come watch the kids. They were so good, I just wish I could have been able to do some things for Jennifer around the house. But with two little ones, there wasn't much time to get a whole lot accomplished. I don't know how single moms do it!!

When Jennifer and Nate were here last weekend, Kaylee had found a dress of Jennifer's when she was in kindergarten. I let her take it back with her and she wore it yesterday so I could take a picture of her in it. It doesn't look too bad considering it's 25 years old!

Now, here's what Jennifer looked like when she was wearing the same dress. I wish the picture was clearer, but after all, it is 25 years old!

What do you see?

A couple of weeks ago Brandon and my Dad went to far west Texas to look at some land my parents have. It's in the middle of nowhere!!! And I do mean nowhere. When my son-in-law asked Daddy where it was or what was out there, Daddy said no trees. Nathan just thought he meant there were no trees around there. Actually there is a town in Texas called Notrees and the land is near that town. I think Daddy got a kick out of seeing Brandon's enthusiasm. Brandon is an avid hunter and where Daddy has always seen the land as worthless, Brandon saw it as paradise. Well, probably not paradise, but at least something with possibilities. While out there they found the well site my Grandfather had drilled in 1958. Nothing much left but a pad, but Brandon did bring me back a memento. This is some home made, rusted tool the roughnecks had made. I have no idea how they used it. When Brandon saw it, he saw a cross and thought it would look great with my cross collection. I have to agree with him!

Papaw or Poppy

Who needs a bouncy house when you've got Papaw? My father has given every one of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren horsey rides on his back. Not bad for an 83 year old man who has just completed chemo treatments and radiation therapy!


Even though every other grandchild has called him Papaw, for some unknown reason, Kaylee has always called him Poppy. I don't think it bothers him one bit!!