Making Tamales

Eating tamales has long been a Christmas tradition in our family. Since we've spent so many Christmases in Mexico/Texas, we never learned to make them because people always gave them to us or we would buy some from little ladies selling them door to door. However, ever since I left home, tamales at Christmastime have been almost as scarce as hen's teeth. This year, though, Mom brought the stuff we needed & a recipe & we decided to try to make our own. Boy, were they good!! We've been feasting on them for the past few days & I know that I'm definitely going to try my hand at them again next year!

Christmas Photos

Ryleigh enjoyed "helping" Grant pull things out of his stocking.

Ryleigh's favorite gift - a "puter" like Papi's!

Dad prepares to sing "While Shepherds Wash Their Socks By Night" - an annual tradition from when we were little. I think Lish got it on video, so I'm hoping to post a clip of it.

So much fun being with Grandpa & Grandma Warden this year!

According to Ryleigh, you can never have too much chapstick on. ;-)

Dwight being silly & looking like the Cat in the Hat (minus the hat).

December Daily: Day 25

The aftermath....

December Daily: Day 24

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

I've been wanting to make Christmas stockings for the past couple of years. This year, I decided to tackle the project. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, so I'll have to put the finishing touches on after Christmas.

We're looking forward to a fun Christmas spent with family, so I'll most likely be late posting my last December Daily post. I hope each one of you have a blessed Christmas!

December Daily: Day 23

On Sunday, our dog had a litter of 10 Golden Doodle puppies. We lost the runt on Sunday night and have really been fighting to keep this little guy alive for the last couple of days. It seems that the mama dog has abandoned it, so it has really been lethargic & not getting enough to eat. We've been feeding it milk from a dropper & trying to keep it warm. When Grandma Warden dropped by today, she gave it lots of TLC & named it 'Pete the Pup'! ;-)

Ryleigh has really enjoyed helping to take care of the puppy today!

Grant's Discovery

"Wow! I never noticed this here before!"

"It's stuck. Why won't it come off?"

"Do you really mean it? I can't even touch it?"

Don't worry. No actual tears were shed - he only made this pouty face for a few seconds & then everything was okay again. ;-)

December Daily: Day 22

December Daily: Day 21

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is our annual Candlelight Service, usually held the Sunday night before Christmas.

December Daily: Day 20

A mini album I made a couple of years ago to hold our annual Christmas card & letter. I think it's neat to be able to go back & look at which cards/letters we sent out in previous years!

As a side note, Jeff & I did not manage to escape the bug that has been going around in our church & have been lying around all day trying to recover. So far, Jeff has managed to escape the throwing up aspect, but I think I've been making up for it. Ugh... I just hope we get over it soon!

December Daily: Day 19

Working on our very late Christmas cards.

December Daily: Day 18

This is the way Jeff came home & found us. Ryleigh had been sick several times during the night, so we were both pretty tired!

December Daily: Day 17

Yay! Nana & Papi are finally here!

December Daily: Day 16

Someone thought she'd try some Christmas baking on her own... ;-)

December Daily: Day 15

Tonight was the second night of our Christmas drama "Little Drummer Boy." Almost every year we have something "memorable" happen. Three years ago, the stage guys were in the process of removing a desk during a scene change, when they dropped it & it broke into several pieces. There was a collective gasp from the audience & instead of quickly removing the pieces while the lights were off, they quickly ran for cover behind the curtains! ;) Last year, the lights came on too soon & the stage people gave a 'deer in the headlights' look & scurried quickly for cover!

This year has been no exception in the "memorable" department. On Sunday, all the cast members & others involved in the drama ate (a very delicious, btw) lunch together in the parsonage basement so that practice could begin immediately following. The program followed in the evening & everything was considered a success. Until today... we found out that almost everyone who ate lunch at the parsonage ended up sick all night last night & part of today. We think it was the chicken.... Unfortunately, my poor husband was one of the worst hit. Apparently, he really enjoyed the chicken, so he 'loaded up'.

Everyone came in moaning & groaning tonight about how sick they'd been. To those of us who didn't get it or had a very mild case of it, it was REALLY funny! And next year, they'll think it was pretty funny, too....

December Daily: Day 14

December Daily: Day 13

December Daily: Day 12

Failed photo shoot attempt....

December Daily: Day 11

December Daily: Day 10

Ryleigh's "big surprise" arrived today - a little Golden Retriever puppy! To say that Ryleigh is thrilled would be putting it mildly. She is SO excited with her new puppy! The puppy, that Ryleigh has named Holly, is very cute & sweet-natured & seems to be adjusting quite well to her new surroundings.

December Daily: Day 9

December Daily: Day 8

A Stratton family tradition - The Farming Game

December Daily: Day 7

December Daily: Day 6

She sampled more cookies than she actually made - but it was fun! ;-)

December Daily: Day 5

A regular part of Christmas around here is putting lots of work into the annual Christmas drama. This evening was spent painting backdrops for the set.

December Daily: Day 4

Due to technical difficulties, my December Daily post for today will have to wait until tomorrow....

December Daily: Day 3 + DIY Wreath

I have always wanted to try my hand at making a live wreath, but this was my first attempt. We had a lot of greenery left over from trimming our Christmas tree & I happened to have saved my wreath form from last year's wreath. So... I decided that I was going to try to make one. Seriously - it was SO easy that I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures of the process. Maybe you'll decide to try one yourself & then post pictures on your blog! If you do, I'd love to see them, so be sure to leave me a comment.

Step 1: Gather your materials. I used some floral wire, wire cutters, a wreath form (you probably could even make your own out of wire), & something to cut your greenery. I used the only thing I had on hand, which was this:

Yeah, I know, it would have been much easier to use something a little smaller, but I'm all about using what I have on hand.

Step 2: Start wrapping greenery around your wreath form & attaching with wire. (It was at this point, that I decided to do a quick search online for instructions & found out that I could have totally skipped this step. Oh well....)


Step 3: Gather small bunches of greenery & wire them together at the bottom.

Step 4: Attach each small bundle to your wreath form, layering them as you go.

Step 5: Add a bow, ribbon or whatever you want & hang it up!

Thanksgiving Happenings

We had a house full of company for Thanksgiving this year. Jeff's parents, his brothers, Joe & Jon & Jon's girlfriend, Stephanie Hoffpauer, all came for the weekend. Also, for Thanksgiving dinner, we had Alicia & Dwight & Ana & Shane. It was a lot of fun... so much so that I didn't take many pictures. So... some of these are from Joe's camera.

This year was my first to roast the turkey. I was very nervous about how it would turn out, but it actually was much easier than I thought it would be. I consulted Martha Stewart & she suggested a dry brine of coarse salt & crushed bay leaves. I let that sit in the fridge for 24 hours (should have been 48, but I didn't start thawing the turkey soon enough). Then, the night before Thanksgiving, I rinsed all the brine off, stuffed the cavity with onions & celery & then generously rubbed it down with butter. The next morning, I put it in the oven around 6:15 & kept basting it every half hour with melted butter & cooking wine. It was roasted to perfection by 9:30 & it really was delicous! (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it before it was carved.)

Everyone enjoyed watching Grant eat enormous amounts of food. The child is a "bottomless pit" when it comes to eating table food!

We played lots of games...

...Cranium

...& Quiddler, just to name a few.

There was so much excitement that the kids kept going until they finally succumbed to sleep --wherever they could find it!

We got to spend some time at Uncle Bill & Aunt Judy's on Friday.

We had Grant's dedication on Sunday morning. Grant fell asleep while Grandpa was praying!

The highlight of the whole weekend was getting to meet & get to know Steph. She is such a sweet girl & a perfect match for Jon! Ryleigh & Grant have already adopted her, so I know that she passes their approval, too! ;-)