Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Hodgepodging Christmas Decorations

View from the front porch yesterday.
The sun peeked out for a minute or two and then hid again.

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1. Let's talk holiday decorating. On a scale of 1-10 where do you fall? (1=Scrooge and 10= Clark Griswold). What's your favorite corner-room-table-space to decorate? Is it done?

Probably a 3. The older I get, the less I decorate because the kids aren't here to help and aren't here to enjoy it. Still, my favorite space to decorate is the living room. Am I done? Not quite.  I'll wait until the night before the kids are coming to visit before I put up the remaining lights, candles, and cranberries.






2. Is there a nativity scene in your decorating somewhere? Post a picture or, if it's special to you in some way, tell us why. Or do both-it's Christmas!

Oh yes, we have a Nativity. Many of the pieces came from my cousin Bobby, and I bought the stable at the Humane Society of Barron County auction one year. The Nativity spends all of Advent, the 12 days of Christmas, and the remainder of January on the piano. I had once thought of getting rid of that piano because its sound board, pin block, etc. are beyond repair and we have a good piano, but my daughter said, 'Mom, where would you put the Nativity??!!' Yeah, good point. So we have two pianos in our living room. The little grandkids get to bang on play the Nativity piano. The older grandkids, who can respect a piano, are allowed to play the other one.





3.  Do you live in a social neighborhood? If so are you glad? If not do you wish you did?

We live in a very unsocial neighborhood. Although it's beautiful out here in the middle of nowhere, and I've loved it for 27+ years, I'm ready to move to a smallish town, and live right smack in the middle of it so I can walk my new, yet-to-be acquired German Shepherd puppy by the light of the street lamps, walk a block to the grocer, to church, to the pharmacy, and to the river or lake. And a hill. And an old English pub (not a sports bar or tavern). Or maybe 3 blocks would be acceptable. Oh, and a big city with lots of cultural events needs to be within a 20 minute drive. :-)  I really need to be able to teleport. Is this asking too much??


Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis

4.  As the saying goes, 'there's no time like the present'. How does that ring true in your life right now?

For me, that's certainly true. If not now, when? I hear the clock ticking faster and faster. 


5. Do you dread Mondays? Why or why not?

I have no dread of Mondays because I don't work outside our home, which means that I don't have to go outdoors in the dead of winter and scrape the ice from the windshield and slide off the icy roads into the ditch on the way to work.


 December 6, 2016
View SE from porch

6.  Poinsettia, Christmas Cactus, Amaryllis-which on the list is your favorite holiday plant? Are any of these on display in your home right now?

I LOVE all of the above, but the one I own is a Christmas cactus. I've started many Christmas cactus plants from this one mama plant and it's still going strong. It's ancient.


7. Share a favorite quote from a Christmas movie.

I love this entire segment from A Muppet's Christmas Carol with Michael Caine. It's SO CUTE!!




8.  Insert your own random thought here.

We had cookie baking and decorating here last Saturday, while the guys put the Christmas tree up on the front porch. Then they came in, drank coffee by the fire and snitched Christmas cookies.

 Oliver's mommy helping him decorate Christmas cookies.
He had just awakened from a nap and I think was rather dazzled by it all.


 From left: Christmas cut-outs, later frosted
Molasses
Peppermint

After the cookies were done, we divided them up and everyone took a pail of cookies home. My pail is out on the freezing cold front porch. It would be way too tempting for me if they were sitting on the kitchen counter. I LOVE Christmas cookies!

I need to collect more pine boughs to put across the rest of the railing 
AND move the Christmas tree back a bit, but you get the idea.
I think it tipped since they put it up.

Christmas 2013

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Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Judy

41 comments:

  1. Love your decorations. My youngest daughter is coming Saturday to do cookies with me. We will only do three kinds, too this year. As to being in a location where you can walk, we did that this year and love it. Have no regrets leaving the house in the woods. It was something we no longer looked forward to caring for and we wanted to be around people.

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  2. Judy, Good to see your family. So cute with the little one and the cookies. Hope you are staying warm there. Blessings to all, xoxo, Susie

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  3. I am so envious of your beautiful Christmas cactus, Judy! I had one bloom for the first time last year, but it didn't survive long, sadly enough. I need to muster up enough courage to try, again. Love your snowy photos...so pretty to look at, but they sure makes me shiver. Temps. here in GA. are going to be in the 40's this weekend...for those of us in the south, that's COLD!

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  4. the first and the last photos are Christmas Postcard Perfect. I love your snow view and the tree all by it's lonesome self on the porch is PERFECT. love it. your ornaments are beautiful to. I don't care for decorated cookies but I do love MOLASSES hint hint.. I am a 2 on the decorating scale and this year I came almost to be a zero, but I did drag out the top box only for the nook.

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  5. So much to comment on, Judy! Are you moving to England? That parting photo (just before the kittens) looks like the perfect Christmas card. Oh, I do not wish to be the bearer of bad news, but your cactus is not a Christmas one. Sometimes I can't help being an insufferable know-it-all. I love Christmas cookie baking day! What a yummy-looking assortment...

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  6. Come live in Decatur, Alabama Judy....we meet all your criteria. Culture is here a bit but Huntsville has a lot!!

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  7. Love the two pianos in one room . . .
    And thoughts of the little ones banging away . . .
    And the older ones playing the real music . . .
    And oh my . . . beautiful nativity . . .
    The nativity is my "first placed" Christmas in our living room . . .
    My mother's Hummel nativity, with pieces of straw . . .
    laying on a cloth of hardanger which is over a hundred years old.
    My treasure . . .

    I am smitten over those kittens . . .
    Just sayin' . . .

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  8. Your nativity is lovely! (Of course, you can't get rid of its display place!)

    Christmas cookie baking day looks like great fun! My oldest daughter used to bring her kids over and we'd all have a wonderful day of baking and decorating and movie watching. The adults would rotate tasks: entertaining the youngest children, baking, assisting, helping the children with cookie decorating. As her family grew and she had children who were old enough to bake, it became easier to just bake at home at their leisure, but I miss those big baking days. We made lots of memories.

    Love the kitties-in-a-basket photo!

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  9. Love all your decorations!! Looks like a very fun baking cookie day. And boy, do they look good! I could go for a couple with my coffee this morning. Have a great week, Judy.

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  10. The kitties look so cozy!! Hope all is going well with Tuppence now?!

    #2 had me thinking about Ferrante & Teicher. I saw them in concert twice and love the dueling pianos! Google them if you aren't familiar...it could happen in your living room! :)

    #3 makes me offer the glories of living in Lakeland, FL. You could do all of those things you mentioned! Tampa is 40 minutes away; Orlando is 45 minutes away....

    I always enjoy Hodgepodge Wednesday!!

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  11. I just realized you must live in Wisconsin. I totally understand the need to live in town. We have lived 22 miles from town since 1991. I am ready like you to be able to walk wherever I want to go. And yes, I would prefer Minneapolis to be closer.
    The Christmas Cactus is beautiful. My aunt had one that didn't know what it was. The plant was huge and would bloom 3 times a year!

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  12. Living in a small town is a dream of mine, too.

    Had to laugh about putting the cookie pail outside: I've done it, too. Frigid temps provide preservation quite well.

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  13. Oh...I love your post and your decorations are just lovely, especially your nativity. I can almost picture that "little town" that you described here. If I was to live in town, I would pick a town like that as well! Your snowy photos are just wonderful...and I love the tree on the front porch too! That was really a good idea putting your cookies on the porch. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say! Enjoy the rest of your week and stay warm!

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  14. Love your tree on the porch! I wish we could do something like that, but we don't have any electricity outside, so no lights. We are slowly figuring out how to work with battery operated strings, but it is also a slow investment.
    So excited we had about an hour of "mostly sunny" this morning! I ran around and took as many pictures as I could for the blog. Lol!
    We have started our cookie baking too. And yes, the best place for them is the freezer! It would be nice if they lasted most of the month.....

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  15. Hi Judy,
    I love how you described the little town you would like to live in. I want to live in that town too. :-) Keep me posted!

    I had to chuckle about you hiding the cookies on the front porch.

    I love your nativity.
    Happy December,
    Carla

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  16. Your life always looks so peaceful and fulfilling!

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  17. Snow, Christmas cookies, grands, and kitties. Does it get any better? I think not. :)

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  18. Judy, your cookies look delicious! So pretty and I'm sure if my cookies were made already we would be tempted to eat them. I admit to no self control when Christmas cookies are involved. Your dream neighborhood sounds like my kind of place. Let me know when we can move there! Have a wonderful afternoon. ♥

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  19. Yum, your Christmas cookies look amazing. I am starting to crave Christmas cookies. Have to make a plan to start my baking. I would like to go to an English pub and have fish and chips. Now I'm having a craving for that ;) I know it isn't smart to food shop when you are hungry but who ever thought of not blogging when you're hungry- LOL! Your snow is beautiful and I am jealous. We just had rain.

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  20. It's tough to keep the magic alive when the kids aren't even around to see our decorations but like you, I've cut back a fair bit over the years and I didn't even put up the lighted houses this time.
    I've baked a couple of types of loaves but no cookies yet - I love them too much myself and have a weak resolve.
    It sounds like a little village in England you'd be happy in where one could walk to all the necessary places. We've never been close enough to walk to church but it sounds splendid, especially on a sunny spring morning. Dream on.....

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  21. Enjoyed a glimpse of your Christmas decorating and outings. But I must admit, I was smitten by that lost photo of those two furry kittens. They look so smug and comfy. They melt my heart as they must do yours!

    Sending you wishes for a wonderful Christmas season...
    Brenda
    xox

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  22. Judging form your photos it's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas at your house. I need to have a cookie baking day to fill the air with those great aromas. I enjoyed your Hodgepodge!

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  23. Looks like winter's arrived in your part of the world with Christmas soon to follow. What I want to know is who turned up the speed on the clock and calendar?

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  24. Judy, my husband is not a blog reader, but your snowy scenes caught his eye and he had to come over and look over my shoulder. And, of course, he had to check out the kitten update! (He does read *my* blog, but I don't think he even noticed, when reading OR eating, that my pecan tart last week was gluten-free!)

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  25. My dear Judy, your posts always bless my heart. The snow pictures are simply lovely. We are supposed to get snow for the next week....my son and I are hoping it's a lot {{smiles}} This morning was oh-so-cold! -6 degrees...brrrr!

    Your cookies look delicious and I'm sure they will enjoyed by many.

    Have a fabulous day! Hugs!

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  26. What is your ginger cookie recipe? I had a chewy version, but lost the recipe.

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  27. Lovely decorations. Very Christmasy. Cute kitties to

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  28. Lovely decorations. Very Christmasy. Cute kitties to

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  29. Your Nativity set is beautiful. I always enjoy your Hodgepodge posts...wish I was there having a cookie with the kiddos right about now :) So far I've just baked one batch and kept around 8 here and taken the rest down to my sons. Then I wished that I kept more for myself, lol :)

    Another enjoyable post and photos:)

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  30. Enjoyed the hodgepodge. Cookies look good. I love to make them to give away, but haven't done so in a couple of years. Maybe this year! Granddaughter and I had a conversation about your mystery kittens again today, and she had several ideas, one being a delivery man left a door open, or maybe there was a window somewhere in your house that was unlatched so the cat could get out to either feed her kittens or delver them, whichever way the story was working out. Nice to have pictures on IG to illustrate it all!

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  31. Beautiful snowy photos and those cookies looks so good! Your nativity is very pretty. I live in an area where the neighbors are not so friendly, too. People who move to the 'country' tend to keep to themselves. I have always dreamed of living in town and having everything within walking distance and neighbors who stopped by to say, 'Hi'. I've lived here 35 years and hardly know my neighbors. It's sad. If you are 'too friendly' they think you are weird. Haha! My parents were my friendly neighbors and now they are gone and I miss them so much. So glad I have a big family of my own, though. Love those sweet family photos and little kittens. xo Karen

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  32. Wonderful post, Judy. Loved all of the photos, especially the lighted tree on the porch and the cookies. They look fabulous, especially those peppermint ones. Oh, and the close-ups of the tree and ornaments ... beautiful!

    You might find your ideal town/village in Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont. It pretty much lines up with my ideal also (though there is much to be said for living in the woods too). As we get older I do like the idea of being in walking distance of places I need/want to get to.

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  33. I am in love with your Changing of the Guard ornament. I must put my husband on the hunt for that one when he travels to the UK. Your nativity is lovely. Your Christmas Cactus is amazing! What a fun time you must have had baking. It all looks so good.

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  34. Oh, I've always wanted a white Christmas, Judy...lucky you. To open up the front door and see a blanket of snow would be a sight! Your ornaments are so pretty, and I love that soldier fellow. The red balls made me smile, as these are just what my mom had on her tree every year. In fact, I just did a post mentioning them. :) They look like the original red ornaments from way back. It looks like you are getting into the Christmas spirit, Judy.

    Wishing you wonderful days during this Christmas season.

    ~Sheri

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  35. oh, I forgot to mention the cookies - they look amazing. Sugar cookies are my favorite. These look so Yummy and nicely decorated. :)

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  36. Your peppermint cookies made my mouth water! And the precious kitties - I want them!! Your dream town sound lovely - let us know where you find it!!

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  37. Lovely decorations Judy!

    Your nativity is so pretty and I love the piano story to go along with it. ;) I really love that you put a tree outside all lit up like that - with snow blowing around that has to be the prettiest scene.

    And I'm SO craving a cookie right now thank you very much! They look soooooo yummy and I would need to freeze them out too, or I'd be nibbling!!

    I don't blame you for wanting that perfect location somewhere with access to everything. When you go looking for it I hope you find it! Lol

    Blessings on your weekend Hon! xoxo
    PS: Annie and I watched Muppets Christmas Carol the other nigh - it was her first time. She loved it other then being "creeped out" by a few parts. Ha!

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  38. Hello, Your decorations are so pretty. We left our Christmas decorations back in Maryland, so I did not decorate at all here in Florida. Your cookies look delicious, YUM! Your dream town sounds nice, so does the German Shepherd. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Happy Sunday, enjoy your new week ahead!

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