Contest for Admission to Arizona Family History Expo

Register here. 

Because I will be a Blogger of Honor at the Arizona Family History Expo I have two tickets I can give away.  So I will run a little contest and two lucky people will be given one ticket. 

The ticket covers the registration fee only.

The contest will end on January 2nd at 6AM and I will announce the winner in the late afternoon. 

To enter the contest leave a comment on this post,

and send me an email to mebowden at cox dot net.

On the 2nd I will use my favorite Random Number Generator and pick a winner.  Now don't delay. 

Until them happy family searching!

Christmas 2010

Yes it is a tree of skulls.

Our Christmas Celebration started on Wednesday evening with our daughter Kierra and her husband Will.  Will works nights and had to work both the Eve and Christmas Day.  So they came to our home on Wednesday and we went to dinner and ice cream.  After that we came back to the house and opened gifts.  I had fun picking out their fun Halloween stuff that they use all year round. 

Will was amazed that I had done every stitch on his stocking by hand.  Such a good young man, he knew the right things to say.  Kierra was a little disappointed this Will's stocking is a little smaller than everyone else's but loved all the red it had in it. 

Shortly after the boys arrived we had Breakfast Casseroles for Brunch.  Kierra was running late so we ate without her.  We were very hungry by 1100AM.  The one on the right is an Amish Breakfast, I found the recipe on line at AllRecipes.com.  It was a hit.  I also made the Baked Stuff French Toast Recipe, I made last year but I halved the recipe.  When we finished it Sunday morning my husband asked if there was more.  Maybe next year I'll half of the Amish Breakfast and make the full French toast.  I like having both but we don't need two full ones. 



Everyone working on the flat tire



I didn't take a lot of pictures this year.  I was just enjoying each moment and forgot about the camera.  We did have a little excitement.  Kierra's tire on her truck sprung a leak and her tire was all flat.  Here they are airing the tire up, so we can roll it down to the flat street.  We were glad it happened here and not while she was driving.  After the tire was fixed the kids went to see other family member and Richard and I just hung out!  I sewed of course.

We had a very nice Christmas and it was a lot of fun this year as a family. 

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish all my blog friends and readers a wonderful Christmas!

Arizona Family History Expo

Register here. 

Because I will be a Blogger of Honor at the Arizona Family History Expo I have two tickets I can give away.  So I will run a little contest and two lucky people will be given one ticket. 

The ticket covers the registration fee only.

The contest will end on January 2nd at 6AM and I will announce the winner in the late afternoon. 

To enter the contest leave a comment on this post,

and send me an email to mebowdenatcoxdotnet.

On the 2nd I will use my favorite Random Number Generator and pick a winner.  Now don't delay. 

Until them happy family searching!

Advent Calendar: Christmas Stockings

Did you have one? Where did you hang it? What did you get in it? Do you have any Christmas stockings used by your ancestors?



Mary's 1990



I grew up having a stocking, as of today I had no idea what it looked like.  I think it was red but who knows.  I cannot remember how we hung them, we did not have a fire place. We use to receive oranges and nuts in our stockings plus little toys.

I know when I left home I made myself a stocking, one of those quilted cut and sew type and you sew a binding around the edges and I embroidered Mary on the top.  I even took it with me on my mission.  Not that I thought anyone would fill it but because I thought I needed a Christmas decoration with me and it was flat.  

                                                                                                                         



Richard's Stocking 1993

In about 1988 I decided to make a nice stocking for myself out of counter cross stitch on linen.  It was lined with satin and backed with velvet, I didn't finish it until 1990.  What a difference those reading glasses made.                                                          

Of course when I and Richard married I made one for him and them one for each of the kids and then one for each of the spouse of the kids.  So I have made a total of seven of these stockings. 



Kierra's 1995



When the kids where young I thought I would give it to them when they had their own homes, but I have since decided they can stay here until I die. 

I made Kierra's first and was going to make one each year.  Kinsen the youngest didn't want to wait for his stocking so I made his and Klint's in the same year.   



Klint 1996

Why did I made such fancy stockings for the kids.  I wanted to give the kids something they could cherish and give them traditions.  Something long lasting and stable. 

 

Kinsen's 1996

Each person could pick out their design.  When I took Klint and Kinsen to the cross stitch store to pick out their patterns I was very tickled by the patterns they picked out because they so fit each boy's personality.   Klint picked the pattern with the lion, and he was an active, loud boy.  Kinsen picked the one with the angel and he was a very calm and helpful boy. 

Will's Stocking 2010

Kierra wanted one with not a lot of flowers and yet I think hers has the most.  I won't tell if you don't.  Kierra picked out Will's stocking, her husband's. I gave him the stuff to make the stocking last Christmas all wrapped in a box and this Christmas I will wrap it in a box with all the stuff in it for him to open.  

Krystal 2006

The other stocking I made was for Krystal, Klint's wife.  I gave it too her when she left our home and family.  I for some strange reason cannot find a picture of it completed into stocking shape.   I wish I had known that so I could have taken a picture of it before she left.  I told it it had been made with love.

So how do we hang all these stockings with out a mantel? 

 My friend Heidi made this for me. 

And the stockings were hung

Christmas 2008, I had placed everything in the stockings and all of a sudden I heard a big crash dowel for the arms had broken. 

Have a Merry Christmas and make some great memories.

 

Advent Calendar: Grab Bag

This was the topic from the 17th but I thought I would us it today. Author’s choice. Please post from a topic that helps you remember Christmases past!

When we lived in Whitestone, New York we had a finished basement.  At one end of the basement there was a closet that went from one end of the room to the other.  I drew it here below in my Electric Quilt program.  I made the doors a different color but the room was all wood paneled.   

My drawing of the basement closet

In the middle of the closet my Dad kept the summers screens or the winter storm windows.  What a big job that must have been to take those off and swap them out twice a year for a three story home. Anyway I am sure my drawing is not to scale but I just wanted to give you an idea of how the closet was set up.  At each end he had shelves for tools and what not. 


So how does that relate to Christmas?  In that middle section on top of the screens our Christmas gifts would be hidden.  They were hidden under a tarp or old blankets.  I don't remember which one of us kids found them first but I have a vague memory of George and I poking around.  I think I decided it was more fun to be surprised on Christmas morning instead of knowing what we were going to receive. 

Advent Calendar: Holiday Happenings

December 15 – The Holiday Happenings!

Often times December to mid-January birthdays and anniversaries get over shadowed by the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year holidays. So we’re going to shine a spotlight on those family members and ancestors this time around. Select one or more December to mid-January birthdays and/or anniversaries on your family tree. Write a short tribute to or memory of those birthday guys and gals and write a toast to the anniversary couples.

My mother Edith's birthday was December 26th but I don't know any of the stories about how she celebrated her birthday.  To me it would be a real drag.  She died before my 1st Birthday, that is why I don't know.

My husband's birthday is in mid December and he never had a birthday gift wrapped in Birthday paper until I was dating him.  Or so he told me.  All his gifts were always wrapped in Christmas paper.  That made me feel sad, knowing my husband, he just let it roll off his back.  Matter of fact I just asked him about any special events for his birthday or about the gift wrap and doesn't remember.  That would be my honey!!

Advent Calendar: Fruit Cake Friend or Foe

Did you like fruitcake? Did your family receive fruitcakes? Have you ever re-gifted fruitcake? Have you ever devised creative uses for fruitcake?

I think this is a trick question!  Fruitcake friend or foe or a little of both. I do like good fruitcake!  I don't like lousy fruitcake! I like the kind my Dad made.  He started making it right after Thanksgiving.  He would make it and soak it in some kind of liquor.  I was too young to remember what kind.  He also made some without the liquor for us little people.  After he made the fruit cake he would wrap it in aluminum foil and store it in the front hall coat closet by the front door, right in the corner against two outside walls.  When we moved to Florida when I was eleven he stopped making fruit cake.  Probably because there was no cold coat closet to store it in.

I have never re-gifted fruitcake, or used it as a door stop. I would like to find a good recipe to make.  I don't have my Dad's recipe.