Jalapeno dish

...i really like hot foods - jalapenos are high on that list...

...this summer i was intoduced to this quick and easy dish...

...it only takes four on hand ingredients...

- jalapenos

- cream cheese

- bacon

- cheddar chesse

...wear gloves to cut the jalapenos in half and remove the seeds, or...

...if you like lots of flame let some seeds in it...

...your choice!

...mix however much bacon you want into the softened cream cheese...

...fill the peppers...

...top with grated cheese...

...bake @ 350-400 degrees...

...for 20-30 minutes...

 ...both at your choice...

...i like the cheese a little crunchy and the peppers soft...

...enjoy!

...blessedness!

ox

My lettered mess...

i'm not much of a crafter but after seeing miss mustard seed's blog on glitter lettering, i was inspired to do our five grandaughter's names for christmas - truth to tell, it was kinda fun, albeit a glittery messy fun...i think i ate some glitter with my lunch! lol... 

...things i learned with this project...

...story book letters work the best (just an opinion!)...

...i learned how cricuts work, how time-saving they are for projects like this...

...i became proficient at cutting out letters...

...to place cereal boxes printed side up so just one side needs paint...

...glitter is messy!

...that spray glue worked better than spreading it on...

...but is also messy...

...again, glitter is messy - you see it around for weeks...

...on the floor and carpet, on your clothes and face...

...but i did enjoy working with it and will probably do a few more projects...

step 1 - tracing and cutting...

step two - spray painting...

step three - glittering...

...the next time i'd wear gloves - it took several days for all the glue/glitter to disappear...

...really, it's easy and a fun project to do!

...the girls with their letters...

...my lovelies!

...blessedness!

ox

Last minute stuff for the holiday...

...favorite houses at the kitchen window...

              ...kitchen table...                                                                  ...living room...

...tins on dinning room window sill...

...bargain buy at thrift shop...

...i will miss the frills of christmas!

...blessedness!

ox

Christmas time...

...our christmas...

...all twentyeight of us...

...we clean up the garage and open the whole house...

...christmas was still white from the previous snowstorm...

...but it rained all night and all day, melting the snow...

...lots of energy around...

...but the grandkids did very well!

...vignettes of two days of togetherness...

...lots of foot gear and coats...

...eating...

...snacking...

...homemade truffles by Judith...

...games around the dinning room table...

...or on the floor...

...two days before christmas i set up a 'game table' in a corner of the living room...

...it was a busy place...

...or being read to...

...the book 'Think No Evil' by Jonas Beiler was read...

...the three youngest babies and their daddys...

...the girls with their names dressed up with glitter...

...playing dress up...

...football...

...the end of two days of togetherness...

...exhausted but happy!

...blessedness!

ox

Emanuel - God with us...

Nine months after the angel appeared to Mary, God arrived. He pitched His fleshly tent on a bed of straw...in a stable...under a star. Jesus silently slipped into our world and breathed our air, felt our pain, became acquainted with our sorrows, died for our sins, and rose again to offer us eternal life.

                                                                                                                      - Charles Swindoll

Before Jesus' birth, He was a spirit...a part of the threesome...the trinity. After He took on the form of human life He now has a body...a body with nail prints on the palms of His hands...hands that someday we will see...the visible evidence of the penalty He paid for you and me!

The above picture was taken at a local farm...beautiful with the life-size figures...the story of the beginning of this season and the reason we celebrate it.

                                                      Have a blessed, blessed Christmas!

ox

Handel's Messiah

Many years ago a friend gave me a recording of The Messiah - I loved the mass chorus singing but the soloists not so much, in fact not at all. Growing up in a culture that had zero knowledge or acceptance of classical music, this 'la-de-la' singing was really far-out! So I would either put up with the 'bad' to hear the 'good' or fast-forward the tape (this was waaaay back in the seventies!).

Until I went to Philadelphia to a grand theater there (sorry, I don't remember the name of it) and to see this in person...I. Fell. In. Love. With ALL of it...it was GLORIOUS! The surroundings, to see the mass chorus dressed in their robes, the violinists - ah, the violinists...that wondrous music! To see the soloists sing with such power...though I have to admit it took awhile to see that as an art...

And the Hallelujah! chorus...well, there simply are no words! No. Words! To hear for the first time in person that moment of silence before that final hallelujah is sung - when one could hear a pin drop among the thousands that were there...it's an awesome, profound, goosebumps, worship moment...and this description does not do any of it justice!

Then there's the The trumpet shall sound with that powerful trumpet music and Worthy is the Lamb - Amen...it's a piece of heaven to hear! 

I look forward to that eternity when I'll be able to sing the Hallelujah! and the Amen without fumbling or losing my place in the score or merely singing in snatches of my favorite places...I'll be able to sing it with perfection! To sing it with all of those who have gone before me and all those who will come after me - from every tribe and every nation where we will all together sing in one mass chorus...

THAT is heaven!

...blessedness!

ox

Quick, easy & plain lucky!

...this post is a last minute deco for christmas...

...quick and easy and pretty...

...take a jar, in this case it's a blue one...

...fill with water and empty it...

...immediately pour table salt into it while tipping and turning it...

...the salt clings to the wetness that's left...

...allow to dry...

...insert a glass tealight with a tealight candle...

...light it...

...bingo...

...a lovely, glowing effect!

...a clear glass is pretty as well...

...i used large grained salt to fill the bottom...

...placed a tree inside...

...bingo again!

************************

...now for the plain lucky item...

...this summer i took a side street in strasburg

 and found a christmas sleigh beside a dumpster...

...immediately my mind went into a spin...

...what a waste to let it there!  

...so...

...with a push and shove i managed to sqeeze it into the car...

...with good results!

...sleigh with lights still on...

...on the front porch...

...the greens were free, castoffs from a nearby christmas tree lot...

...twenty hours later...

...buried under the snow!

...but...

...it's still there...

...and after knocking some of the snow off...

...it will be lovely for christmas!

...blessedness!

ox

the morning after...

"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?"

 

...a beautiful morning!

God calls us to reason -

'though our sins be like scarlet,

I will make them whiter than snow.'

...what a promise!

...i claim it, rest in it...

...everything this morning is 'capped'...

...several pictures taken last night...

...blessedness!

ox

Black and White

...we're in the middle of a major snowstorm here...

...the 'black and white' photos are fascinating...

 

...yes, there is beauty in winter...

...merely of a different kind...

...blessedness!

ox