I spoke of traditions in my previous post. I believe it’s important to have family traditions, they leave lasting memories that endure for a lifetime. I can still remember details of Christmas celebrations my sisters and I shared with my parents when I was just my daughter’s age. I know I can still remember them because my Mom took the time and care to create family traditions. When things are repeated year after year, we tend to remember them.
It’s odd, I can remember things like holiday celebrations when I was a kid, but I have a much more difficult time remembering things when I was older, like special places we traveled to and attractions we visited. When I was in high school my parents lived overseas. I would meet them at least twice a year, usually in Europe, and we would spend a couple of weeks together visiting cities and sites. We took tons of pictures, but this was way before scrapbooking was around. I did manage to put together a couple of photo albums, but most of my pictures are in boxes. I have one box with about 500 pictures of our trip to Kenya. I still love looking through them, but I wish I had been smart enough to keep a Globetrotter's LogBook® or a journal of some sort to help me remember where all those pictures were taken.
I would love to be able to share better details with my daughter of all the places in the world that I’ve traveled to. Sometimes I think she thinks I’m making it up! I think when we’re younger we think we have these amazing memories, we just need to be smart enough to write those memories down! I’m glad my daughter likes to keep journals. When we went to South Dakota a couple of summers back she did keep a journal of our activities. After we got our pictures developed she was able to use her journal to put all the pictures in order and put it all into a scrapbook. I definitely need to use her method on our next trip. Maybe I’ll get a nice travel journal as a gift this Christmas, I’d really enjoy that.
I feel like the holiday season is now officially underway, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on T.V.! That always kicks it off for me. I love Charlie Brown and I love that these little shows have endured for so many years. I think what makes the Charlie Brown shows even more special to me is that now I share the joy of watching them with my daughter. It’s become part of our annual family tradition.
We always start of watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, of course. Who could resist watching for the Great Pumpkin? Then it’s the Thanksgiving show and next Tuesday they will be airing my all time favorite, Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I love the speech Linus gives with his little blue magical blanket.
I’ve been noticing some changes in my daughter recently. Of course she’s getting taller, but also getting thinner. She’s wearing her hair in different ways to school, no longer is it a ponytail every day. I’ve even flat ironed it for her a few times, what a difference! She’s even starting to get a shoe collection! Now, if you knew me and my sisters, you’d know that this is an inherited trait and we’re surprised at how long it has taken to appear in my daughter. She’s also developing in ways that tell me she’s not a little girl anymore if you get my drift.
My daughter is a pre-teen, and I know it won’t be long before she is wanting to wear make up. There have all ready been a few occasions when she has put on some eye shadow and some lip gloss. She has the most beautiful, soft skin, I hate to see her cover it up, but I also know it’s just something girls do. When the time comes, I want her to know the proper way to apply make up so that it looks clean and natural, not overdone.
I myself, don’t wear a lot of make up. I tend to wear a little cover-up followed by an almost translucent face powder and then a little blush. That’s it. If we’re going out some place special, I put on some eye shadow, otherwise, not. My eyes are very sensitive and tend to start itching if I have anything scented near them, so I have to be careful with that. Because I don’t wear much make up and never really have, I’m not sure I’m the best person to teach my daughter makeup tips but I will do my best to point her in the right direction.
I know her growing up is inevitable, but I sure wish she could stay my little girl forever.
This time of year is so crazy. I just finished buying all my groceries for our Thanksgiving feast. Even with getting a free turkey, my grocery bill was over $100. But I look at it this way, we will eat several meals off of all of that so it’s not as bad as it seems. I do love turkey sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving, don’t you?
Starting Friday, our Christmas decorations begin coming out of the boxes. It starts with the tree, then my husband spending several hours dealing with putting the lights on the tree. We did consider buying a new tree this year, a pre-lit tree. But, when we saw the prices on those trees, even on sale, we opted to stick with what we’ve got. We did buy some new lights for outside. Our neighbors just hired someone to come put lights up all over the outside of their home. I guess I just have better things to do with my money, although I know their house will look very pretty. They haven’t turned on their lights yet, I’m assuming they’re waiting for Thanksgiving.
If my daughter & I are bored tomorrow, maybe we’ll at least bring the tree in from the garage and set it up. My husband is due home tomorrow night and then it will be all ready for him to put the lights on it. This is our tree from two years ago.
The Gallery Collection, a leading producer of Christmas Cards has teamed up with Soldiers Angels by donating greeting cards to be sent to soldiers of the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. In addition, they have donated a blank card and envelope to be included in care packages sent to the soldiers by Soldiers Angels. This will allow the soldiers to send greeting cards home to their families.
Please visit Soldiers Angels to make a donation to this great cause. Also take time to visit The Gallery Collection to thank them for their generous donation.
This is a wonderful recipe I got from my sister. Not only is this dish wonderful served with Thanksgiving or holiday dinners, but it is excellent when re-heated for leftovers as well. I will definitely be having this on my table Thursday.
3 c. cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
2/3 c. white sugar
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. butter, softened
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 C). Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl combine sweet potatoes, white sugar, 1/4 c. butter, vanilla, milk, and beaten eggs. Mix well. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, chopped pecans, flour and 1/4 cup butter. Mix well. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.
