Merry Christmas 2015!!

This year has gone by so quickly. Although I have had good intentions, I have not gotten as many projects done as I would have liked.

This Fall, I Have:

• Made fudge and failed so many times but I finally can make this Old Fashioned fudge recipe from scratch perfectly! The trick is to be patient and wait till the temperature is below 120 degrees before pulling it. I purchased a granite slab (21×24 for $36) from a building supply store for used/recycled material.
• Spatchcocked a Turkey for Thanksgiving. It was perfect but my oven paid dearly for it… splattered everywhere. Need to bag it next time.
• Purchased too much Liberty of London Tana Lawn from Craftsy.com during CyberMonday. Still on sale at 15-40% off. If you purchase from this link I will get a small commission. 
• Discovered the awesomeness of a Dutch oven by purchasing a used Le Creuset for a fraction of retail. Score! 
• Upcycled a thrift store dress for our Christmas Card extravaganza.

The dress got shortened and the very revealing cut-out got filled in by a remnant from the bottom. I shortened the neckline by an inch or so. It was then trimmed with 1 inch fur at the neckline and then double width of it along the bottom.

We are thankful for the many blessings this year. As always, there is always heartache mixed with joy. In addition to all the world tragedies, I lost a dear friend whose family will greatly miss her. She was too young to pass away. Life can be so unexpectedly short. Thankful that she loved Jesus. For those of us who believe, I am thankful that we have the hope of someday being reunited with our Best Friend Jesus, who will take us away from this imperfect world. Until then, may you fill your corner of the world with love, peace, and a little bit of laughter.

To that end, I will add our traditional jab at the commercialism of Christmas. We had fun taking the photo and we were even able to recycle a few things from previous years’ cards. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!