Nativity Scene

I went in to the Church office yesterday. As I pulled up to park, there were two women wandering in front of the Church. I asked if they were looking for something and they said they used to go to St. Matthew years ago, like 30 and would like to see the Church. I took them in and they were very happy to reminisce. The younger woman went to school there when we had a school. One woman was from Tennessee and the other from Canada; they were visiting a relative in Skokie.
When I left the office, I noticed a shepherd in the Nativity scene was leaning. So I went to set him straight and noticed that Jesus was not in the manger. Oh no, did we have a thief stealing Jesus? I told Dana, our secretary and she was going to call the police after she talked to some of the guys that put up the Nativity. She went on a hunt in the building and found Jesus still on the shelf. Evidently the guys were going to wait till Christmas morning to put Him out and forgot. Mystery solved!
Happy New Year!

Lights Out

I had to cancel Bible study last night. The power went out about 5:30 and when I called ComEd they said it would not be on until 8:00. BS is from 7:00 to 8:00. So here I sat in the candlelight reading a book by a battery operated light. It started to get a little chilly [outside temp was 20 degrees] so I lit a fire in the fireplace. Thank goodness for that. Power was back on at 7:50. Then because of the power outage, my computer was being stubborn this morning. I finally got it going after rebooting the modem and restarting a couple of times.

Monday

Still putting away Christmas gifts and straightening up for the BS group tonight. The flamingos are frolicking in the snow that fell Saturday and the guy in the canoe keeps paddling. Had a good time at the Christmas dinner yesterday with my artist friends. Always good for a few laughs. The rest of the week is pretty quiet, time to start thinking of what to carve next now that ornaments are done.

The Snow

It snowed all day yesterday. I stayed in. My neighbor Mike came over in the afternoon and removed the snow, then later in the evening after another couple of inches fell, my neighbor and his 3 young boys came over. The boys rang the doorbell and asked if they could shovel my drive for $5. I said sure and come back when there is more snow. I gave them 6 because there were 3 boys. So it snowed another 1/2 inch since then and it is snowing now, hope the young lads come back.

Carved Nativity Set

Thought I would share the Nativity set that I carved for my niece Samantha.

And share with you the ZhuZhu pet I got for Christmas. His name is Num-Num. They are cute.

The Big Day is Over

Karrie and I went to Church Christmas morning. The Church looked beautiful with all of the poinsettias on the altar, and the tree glistening with white lights and hand made Chrismons. Poor Ryan who works for ComEd worked 16 hour days due to the ice storm, so he spent Christmas day sleeping.

Christmas dinner was started with appetizers and cocktails, then ravioli, sausage, meatballs, salad, followed by pork tenderloin with an apricot sauce, white and sweet scalloped potatoes and dilled carrots, and tons of dessert. Thanks to my daughter, Karrie for cleaning up before and after dinner.

I just have to show the little penguins made out of black olives, cream cheese and carrots. I smiled when I made them as did all of my guests when they saw them. The directions for these came from The Center cook book submitted by Lois H.

Biscotti

Just finished a batch of biscotti. Made some with cranberries and walnuts, some with chocolate chips and walnuts and some with just walnuts. Now to call my nephew to come over and help me move furniture and get the table and chairs up from the basement. He's a good kid, came over yesterday to shovel my driveway. Still have butter out to make chocolate chip cookies.

It's Snowing

The weather guy said one inch, I wonder what kind of ruler he uses. Looks more like 4 to me. I went to Jewel to pick up stuff for Christmas and thought I got everything I need, but now have to go back because I forgot 1 thing on my list and no thought of three others that I need. It was crowded today and tomorrow should be worse. Ho, ho, ho.

Christmas Caroling

We had a good time caroling. We went to a few houses and a nursing home. One guy said he had something in the kitchen for us and it turned out to be a bottle of blackberry brandy. Some of us took a shot to warm us up. Another guy had us stand outside, we could have used the brandy then. Then we went to the Lemont nursing home to visit a Church member and found a few friends of the singers. It was sad to see some of the residents, but heart warming to see the ones that enjoyed our singing. One woman stood up and joined us. It was nice to see the smiles.

Snow

We had a little less than an inch of snow last night. Makes everything look clean and glistening. Today I plan to bake cookies and wrap gifts. I made some cookies yesterday to take to the shut-ins when we go Christmas caroling. We will be going right after the late service and a light lunch. I went last year and it was fun and the folks that we visited really enjoyed our singing.

Look at This!

A friend, Pauline gave me this dish that she made. At the top it says "he will raise you up on Eagles wings" and towards the bottom it says "and holds you in the palm of his hands"; this is my favorite hymn.. You can see the hands in the center of the dish and on either side of the hands is one of my favorite sayings, "let go, let God". Above the hands is the eagle. The process is called sgraffito. When she gave me the plate, I was speechless so thank you again, Pauline.

Party Last Night

We had a nice time last night. Every one brought great appetizers. They loved Rich's bacon wrapped dates. Above are the ornaments that were given to the attendees. Hope they like these. I keep looking for new ideas for each years ornament, I think I know what I will do next year and I will start early so I can get them all done. I still have to carve and paint a couple for myself.

Gifts are ready

The gifts are ready and wrapped.
I stopped in to Celina's new market down the street. Very interesting. I bought a few things to serve tonight; herring in sour cream, smoked polish sausage, and pickled mushrooms. I'm not sure if I like the mushrooms, but I do like the other 2 things. I also bought some chicken noodle soup and some golumbki(stuffed cabbage rolls) to eat later this week.

Party Tonight

Tonight is the Bible study Christmas party. It's a pot luck appetizer party. I still have much to do, finish the ornaments, clean up the kitchen and family room, make the date wrapped with bacon hors douvres(thanks Rich). I also have to deliver my old Christmas tree to the township so they can give it to a needy family. I'm tucking a small nativity set in with the tree as I did with the package I wrapped for the giving tree recipient. He is a ten year old special needs boy who put a Christmas tree on his list; he didn't need a big tree so I had a small one footer that I included with the purchased gifts and I had another small Nativity set. I think that I will start this as a new practice.

Isabella's Lunch

These are the "girls". Back row, l. to r. Nancy, Bonnie, Kathy, Frani, and Sue. Front row, Ruth, Pat, and me. we had a lot of laughs and laughed about what we forget. Lunch was a little pricey (for lunch) but was very good. I had a chicken breast stuffed with 4 cheeses with a white brandy sauce. Really good. The restaurant is cute as it is in an old house on Oak Park Av. in Tinley.

Lunch

I'm going to lunch today with a few "girls" that I used to work with. We're going to Isabels in Tinley, hope its a good restaurant. Frani, an old payroll girl[actually she is younger than me] lives here in town and is picking me up.

What Makes You Smile?

I was driving through the parking lot of the local Jewel and the Salvation Army guy was ringing his bell and dancing. As I drove by he waved, and I smiled and I gave him a thumbs up. Christmas cheer, that's what makes me smile.

It's Brutal

It got too cold too soon. Yesterday was a super windy day with blowing snow. Today the sun is shining but still cold, 1 degree. I didn't go to carving class because the street in front of my house looks slick.
Yesterday I made sweet sour cabbage soup using the recipe from Scott's Prime Rib, a restaurant that was in East Hazelcrest. It turned out a little sweet, but still good, so next time I will cut down on the sugar.

Tuesday

Today I paid bills at Church and then went to Target to get a couple of gift cards. Now I have to get going with decorating or Monday will roll around again without decorations.
We had about an inch of snow but more is predicted this afternoon and evening. Aah, a winter wonderland.

Party

Today is the Ladies Aid party at Aurelios. We find out who our secret pal has been all year and get a new one for next year. Should be fun. Tomorrow is the LWML party at Church. This party is a pot luck with store bought fried chicken. We bring a white elephant gift which is always good for laughs and food for the food pantry. Still don't have all of decorations up and the tree is naked. I should get finished next week as I have all of my shopping done except for a couple of gift cards. And then there is the wrapping.

Little Audrey

I was going to change my picture on Facebook to one of the cartoon character Little Audrey and when I went to upload the picture, I was warned about getting permission from the people that own the copyright. So not wanting to get sued for illegal usage of her picture, she remains in google. I always tell people that I was named after her, but lo and behold I wasn't; she was born in 1947, nine years after I was named. I met another woman at a memorial service named Audrey yesterday. There just aren't a whole lot of us, but the name is having a comeback. There are a lot of "little" Audreys around.
Still working on decorating the house. Slowly but surely it is getting done. I managed to get the tree put together and now I need to decorate it. I went last night to help decorate the Church for Christmas. It is very festive and will be even more so when the poinsettias decorate the altar.
Off to the store to get some sesame seeds for the appetizers I'm making for tonight, asparagus sesame rolls.

Done!

Shopping is done except for my secret pal. Hope those kids fill out the questionnaire so we know what their likes and dislikes are. Now back to finish those ornaments. Tonight is soup supper at Church followed by an Advent service. I still have to carve and paint a couple of ornaments before Christmas.

Getting Ready

I have most of my Christmas shopping done, thanks to the internet. Today I'll run out to pick up a couple of things. I also have all of the decorations and tree up from the basement. My nephew Brad brought everything up and now I need to decorate and get rid of the boxes and tubs that are sitting around the house.

The youth from Church are selling hand crafted items at the Hometown Holidays in downtown Lemont Saturday. I gave them a couple of gourds and some carved ornaments to sell. A friend asked if I would decorate some plain ornaments to sell. She has these neat velvet boxes to sell them in. Here are a couple of the better ornaments.

I'm off to the mall.