Christmas Ideas- Nails

Christmas Ideas ( 1) Nails

This idea is for the young , maybe a teenager who has a steady hand, who has money for nail paint, who likes to be different,who wants to get attention from Grandma or from the new boy at school. Who wants to be one up on her girl friends.Who has artistic talent and doesn't want to use her hands!!

This idea is not for senior ladies who have shaky hands, hate nail polish, dislike silly stuff painted on nails, are a bit grumpy, and think decorations have just gone TOO far.

I actually think whoever did this is very clever and have put their art to good use .

Time to find the Christmas Decorations

Time to find the Christmas Decorations

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I know we did. We had the lovely BBQ of pig with the family and today our friends came to eat a lovely turkey dinner with us cooked by Mike.

So with Thanksgiving officially over, time to start thinking about Christmas.

As you drive around here some of the houses are already shining with lights and Christmas trees are beginning to sprout in the yards,

We don't do a lot of decorating, mostly a few lights on the outside of the house and few Christmas mementos inside. I do like to see all the lights but occasionally I think they are a bit overdone .

decorated tree photo by Mike

One of the most impressive displays around here last year was a beautiful tree , a huge oak or elm standing alone in a pasture and it had lights all over it. It stood out against the night sky and looked truly wonderful.

I certainly hope they do that again this year.

Simple and awe inspiring.

Cooking the Pig

Cooking the Pig  

As soon as the cover came off we all wanted to look

This Thanksgiving was certainly very different. We usually meet with as many family and friends that are around at the time and choose one of the homes and everyone brings food to share. A typical family Thanksgiving. A lovely idea to catch up all the happenings and news.

This year, our grandson-in -law, Ben.( Chrissy's husband) decided as the event was at their house, he would go the whole hog ,as it were,( pardon pun) and cook a pig.

Still not done

He said he was going to cook the pig in the fire pit they have in their yard but that didn't work out as the rain had left a puddle at the bottom of the pit so getting a fire/charcoals going would have been quite a challenge. But Ben likes a challenge so he set too and built a fire pit with cement blocks and then welded two grids together to form the shelving needed. Complete with trays of charcoal underneath and thermostats stuck through the blocks it was ready to go.

Better than watching TV

It worked out really good. The whole pig was seasoned with various things , the fire got really hot and the piggy cooked for most of the day.

Two small turkeys were added later on and so we had a very different kind of Thanksgiving meal.

All ready to eat!

A most delicious one at that.

Thanks Ben for doing all that work to make it a day to remember.

Another look at being Thankful

A friend sent me this poem and I thought it made a lot of sense.

BE THANKFUL...Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. 
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference.
It's easy to be thankful for the good things. 
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. 
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

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PASS IT ON!Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it!www.mikeysFunnies.com 

Thanksgiving thoughts

 I saw on facebook that many people were writing what they were thankful for and I thought this was a great idea.

We often go through life without doing that. So Thanksgiving Day is a good time to think about this.So often the things that are always there that make us feel good and happy are just taken for granted.

All in all I have had a pretty good life to be thankful for. .I have been blessed to have had wonderful people around me for the most part that make me truly grateful and very thankful for knowing them.

Those people have taught me true love, responsibility, creativity, humor independence, self reliance and many other things -too many to list.

I am very thankful for my family; for my husband, my boys my daughter in law my grandchildren and the many friends I have had throughout the years. It is a great feeling to know we all still feel like “Family”

I am thankful that I was taught to read at an early age and knew I could then discover the world for myself and enjoy the fun of reading other peoples stories.

I am thankful that I had the chance to live in 3 different countries so I could see for myself the different way people live but that in so many ways , all people want the same things

I am thankful that I developed a love of nature at an early age so I could appreciate the wonderful world around us.

I am thankful for all the wonderful dogs and cats that have filled my life and shown me their love and companionship.

I am thankful for the computer and internet because it has made the world a smaller place, where people can learn from each other and can know and understand other peoples thoughts

I probably could go on all day with things I am thankful for .

These are just a few

Happy Thanksgiving.

300 – Big problem

300 – Big problem

So this is my 300^th blog I have written this year. As you might remember I am writing a blog each day this year and I started on January first to see if I could actually keep it up.

 I added the rest of the days up this year and I am 30 days short. Now I thought how can that be? as I have sat down at some point each day and do this blog whether it is a painting or a write up about an event , a photograph or just random thoughts..

Then I remembered how this came to be.

When we went on vacation or out of town , I took my new tablet with me planning to write the blog on that but never could make it work well enough to actually write the blog so I have lost 30 days .There is a Blogger app for my ASUS tablet but it does not correlate with the Blogger page on my regular computer.

Never mind, the intent was good and it's even harder to get going again if you spend a couple of weeks away from a habit but I did it so onward I go.

Only 35 more to go.

Thanksgiving / Harvest Home

Thanksgiving/ Harvest Home   

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

View this version on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWu_kQUdef4

In England when I was growing up we did not celebrate Thanksgiving .

However every Autumn we celebrated Harvest Home at the Methodist church I attended .

This was a very special Sunday service when everyone was asked to bring some food to be blessed. All the little kids from Sunday school were told to get their mums to give them some fruit or veggies, pies or tin cans to help for the display. These would be brought into the church and the church ladies would arrange them very decoratively and tastefully all over large tables at the front of the church by the altar.

Now you have to remember I grew up during world war 2 and food had been in very short supply and still was to some extent so it always made us all astonished to see the huge and colorful display at the front of the church. I can still remember the magnificent displays of colors and all kinds of shapes just incredible.

We always had a very special service on that day. The kids all had practiced special hymns to sing, the sermon was about the beauty of the harvest and God's goodness to us all and we all were encouraged to think and give thanks for all His blessings.

So I guess Thanksgiving and Harvest Home are very similar in nature.