A Visit from "SANTA PAWS & SANTA CLAWS"

Twas the Night Before Christmas

and All through the House,

not A Creature was Stirring not

even

Murphy...

or Marley...

or Jack...

or Turdy!

They were nestled, all Snug in their Beds.
~

But like all 4-legged Little Kids,

they just could not sleep.

And even though AJ & ME

were trying to take a

"Long Winters Nap"

they just would not let us be!

Their Stocking were Hung on the Door Knobs

with care.

And what to their

"Wondering Eyes had Appeared"?

Puppy, Kitty and Turtle Toys!!!!!

~~~

Marley got an

"Unstuffed Stuffed Skunk"

I wonder why Santa Paws

(AKA- Aunt Carolyn & ER)

got her a Black and White Skunk?

Jack got His very own Name Tag

with "JACK" printed on it.

The back side has his last name,

address and phone number.
He had only been wearing his Rabbie Tag,

but now he feels so much more Sporty

in this new one.

Murphy got a number of Green and Red

Christmas Cat-nip Mice.

It did not take him long to make claim

on them!

Murph has the

"Only Cat Syndrome"

and does not share well with others.

And last, but not far from least,

AJ & ME's Turdy got
a new light fixture with a UV Light Bulb,

so now she thinks she is in the Sun.

Also a Floating Dock to Bask on.

When the light goes on ,

she climbs onto the dock.

The first thing is the neck

stretches out as far as it can....

and then one by one the legs are

stretched out.

She tends to have some

Ballerina Moves.

Now her Home Make-Over was not

the only thing Turdy got.

She also got a

Ping Pong Ball to play with.

All of AJ & ME's Kids loved their gifts.

After all isn't Christmas for Kids?

~~~~~~~

I saw the other day in the Dollar Tree Store a

Bag of Bird Seed for $1.00.

For $1.00 do you know how many Birds you could feed!

Christmas in the Suburbs

If you're not in the Christmas mood,

when you go to Jen & Wade's

you will be.

When you walk up the sidewalk

to the front entrance,

there are lighted bushes and shrubs

with lighted Reindeer tucked all around.

Some are standing at attention

while others are turning and bobbing

their heads.

As you walk onto the front porch you

go through an arched entrance draped

with Pine Garland, decorated with

12" wide Red Ribbon, flocked Poinsettas

and 2 extra large Red Bells hanging in

the middle. A large traditional Wreath

hangs on the front door. On the left is

Mr. & Mrs. Santa sitting on a bench

to greet your arrival.

(Click on Pictures to enlarge)

Inside

the first thing you see is a Large

rotating Tree...
and straight ahead is another
Large rotating Tree.

The oversized Coffee Table is loaded
with lit Garland, Gold Candles, Ribbon
and Deer.

The Mantel is laden with Pine Garland,
Poinsettas,.....

Old World Santas,....

and St. Nicks.

and of course for Madison

a Bronze Ballerina from the Ballet

"The Nutcracker"

Every side table is also adorned

with Christmas.

This year Jen, Wade & Madison

recieved from Steve 3 Beautiful

Large Snow Globes. These belonged

to Donna.

They are only a tiny bit of

Christmas Treasures Her & Steve

have collected over the years.
~~~

If you are not in the

Christmas Spirit by now, the opening

of the Gifts will put you there.

OU seemed to be the trend this year.

Wade got OU Slippers.....

AJ got an OU Cap...

and AJ & ME got an OU

Grill Cover...

Go Sooners!!!!!

Steve also got an OU Cap.

I wonder if he will wear it when rooting

Notre Dame!

Steve learned quickly,

that the Gifts just keep coming

and coming!

My Mom is going to be 86,

but that doesn't keep her from

tearing into the Gifts....

and at 86 everthing is a Treasure!

This is a Special Gift to Mom (Jen)

from Madison.

"Perfect Madison"

Of course this is the Best Gift

Jen, Wade and Madison got

for Christmas.

The Gift that just keeps on

giving and giving!

"ETHEL"

As the hours ticked away,

the Gifts were opened,

the paper and ribbons

put in the trash bags,

the boxes folded up and saved

for next year,

we all looked over the Loot

we had recieved and like

every year we said

"You All did way to much" ......

and then

we thought at one time,

we saw

someone wearing Red,

with a Twinkle in his eye,

peeking in the window

and giving us all a

"Thumbs UP"

~~~~~

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

AJ loves Oatmeal Cookies

"Me" loves Peanut Butter Cookies.

So I went on line to find these:

"Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies"

And

they are so gooooood!

One thing I discovered this year is

Parchment Paper.

Now I have seen this used on the

Food Network and of course

Martha has recommended it for years.

I just thought

"this is just to gourmet for me".

I used to get out the shortening and

slather up the cookie sheets.

Then came the

cooking spray and that was better then

sliced bread.

But you still had to clean the cookie sheet, everytime,

after a batch of cookies came out of the oven.

On one of my trips to WalMart I decided to buy

a roll of Parchment Paper

( I aso had a $1.00 coupon).

Not ever using it before I had to read directions.

Yes, there are rules to using Parchment Paper.

You can use either side,

no hanging over the edges of the cookie sheet,

and no oven heat above 450 degrees.

When baking cookies,

when you take them out of the oven,

slide cookies and paper off on the cooling rack.
Now I do not know if this is correct or not,

but I used the same piece of Parchment Paper

to bake the whole batch of cookies and

it stood up just fine after 4 dozen of

cookies being baken on 1 piece!

And the Great Thing is, the Cookie Sheet was

clean as a whistle! I just put the Little Darlin

back in the cupboard!

And the Cookies are beautiful,

Golden on the bottoms,

no scraping to get them unstuck

from the cookie sheet.

They just pop off the Parchment Paper!

I also use a scoop to get the same size

cookie evertime.

The Pampered Chef taught ME that trick.

One thing this has taught ME is:

"You can teach an Old Dog (Cook)

a New Trick!

~

If you want this Recipe it is on the web,

or give me a call!

~

I just threw out my old bread

to the Birds, did you?

~~~

The Beginning of the End of an Era....

Friday was "Bingo Night" at Madison's School.

I have gone to "Bingo Night" at her Elementary

School for 5 years and this 6th year is the last.

Madison will be going to Middle School next

year and I do not think they have an

"Old Fashion Bingo Night" in Middle School....

so for the last time we went to Bingo Night

at the Elementary School where there was

Pre-Ks, Kindergarteners and 1st through 5th

graders all rubbing shoulders and have a good

time.

The seats started filling up quickly.
The school even borrowed tables and chairs
from another school because the crowd
had continue to grow every year.


These are the Beautiful Faces I look at, across
the table, all evening long. Three BFFs:
Amy, Courtney & Madison.

Did I say Beautiful?

There was Cokes and Pizza...

and Chocolate Chip Cookies

to munch on.

Everyone got very serious when the

Bingo Games started.

No talking, just keep your ears open and

your eyes on the numbers.

You could always tell when one of the Girls

was getting close to a Bingo!

And you could always tell when some yelled out

BINGO

and you just had one number to go untill you

would have Bingoed!

But at the end of the night rather you

won something or didn't win something..

you had a Great Time!

Madison won one order of McDonald's

French Fries...Whoopy!

Amy won a Route 66 T-shirt that was

to small and a remote controlled car...

just what any young girl would want...Whoopy!

and

Courtney won nothing.

Now I, on the other hand, won a Bag of Beans,

a bottle of Chili Fixens

and 2- $5.00 gift cards to

Waffle House...

WHOOPY!!!!!!

~~~

The weather is getting cold so

PLEASE

feed the Birds!