How Thanksgiving flew so quickly, I just don’t know. I love cooking that big meal and this year was so much fun! Our daughter Emily and her husband are closing on their new house this coming Friday. They’ve been with us after selling their home on the Gulf, and while searching for one to buy. They are so excited about starting that new chapter in their lives! On the other hand, I will shed some tears when they pack up and move away–even though it’s much closer to home ( an hour) than they were for the last three years.
Back to Thanksgiving, it was such fun to cook with Emily in the kitchen, too. In fact, I have to admit that she did the lion’s share of the prep and we tried to prepare items ahead of time when possible, using the America’s Test Kitchen Make Ahead Cookbook. What a help it was! Usually, by the time our twenty to twenty-five relatives gather at the table, I’m too tired to eat. This time I got to join everyone!
This was the year of the Great Stuffing Wars. :) I’ve made my mom’s recipe since the 1970’s, but Emily wanted to try something different. We finally decided on making both, with a blind taste test at dinner. I guess I’ll be making some slight adjustments to Grandma’s recipe in the future–LOL! How about you? Do you have special, family favorites you always include at the various holidays?
Have you started decorating for Chrismas yet? Do you keep your tree simple, or do you go all out with a designer look using coordinating colors?
We like to decorate on Thanksgiving weekend, and so far we just have the tree up and stockings hung on the fireplace mantle.
As you can see in the top photo, we go for the eclectic look. :)
Just decorating the tree takes a lot of time, though, because so the ornaments hold so many memories. There are many from my late parents’ collection–like the cardinal you can see in the photo, and others that I loved as a child.
There are lots of other ornaments commemorating the birth of our kids and other family events, and lots from our travels that bring back happy memories as well. I know people who bring back beautiful, expensive items from their travels. I bring back just magnets for the fridge and Christmas ornaments–like this one from Stratford-Upon-Avon. :)
I would love to hear about your Christmas preparations. Do you do any holiday baking? Is there something that you always make for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Since I won’t be blogging again until January 4th, let me wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year filled with health, happiness and every success.
For those who comment, I will be giving away an ebook copy of the 2017 Sweet Christmas Kisses Anthology in a drawing!
All the best, Roxanne Rustand
USA Today bestselling author Roxanne Rustand is the author of over thirty-five traditionally published novels, and four indie novels. Prior to 2007 she wrote for the secular market, but since then has been happily focused on inspirational fiction and sweet romance. A Golden Heart winner in 1995, she has received two RT Bookclub Magazine Reviewers' Choice Awards, and has been nominated for an RT Bookclub Magazine Career Achievement Award. She is currently writing for Harlequin's Love Inspired line, and is continuing with self publishing. She and her husband live in the country with three horses, two goofy rescue dogs, and a half-dozen barn cats.
Hi Roxanne, I am an Aussie, I spent yesterday rearranging the lounge so I could put my tree up and my Christmas village only to work out today I should have left it! The room is clean, I am in pain and when the light comes in the glare is to much so I have now moved the tv again til Jan when I can move things again.
I will start decorating tonight maybe or tomorrow. still contemplating a few things. I have decorations from my childhood plus ones I have gotten from friends and on trips (Hawaii, Canada), like a pink trolley car from Hawaii. I also have ones friends sent that are special. I decided last year less is best and gave away some of my decorations I don’t really use along with quite a lot of tinsel.
Your tree is beautiful, Roxanne. Since my autumn decorations are up from September 1 through November, my Christmas decorations have been up since the first week of November. I love when the house is full of twinkling lights, red and gold. It’s my favorite time of the year.
Hi Roxanne:) We won’t decorate here at home, apart from the nativity set and candles, this year as we are heading to my in-laws and will decorate there. I enjoy setting things up for Christmas, and generally do it after the boys finish school for the year- they only have 1 more week left! Our decorations are definitely not designer as I like to include ones the boys have made at school/church etc. but I do include some special ones that I have collected. Love your Shakespeare one, I was blessed to attend a pop up Globe theatre performance of Othello this past week- was fabulous!
Christmas and New Year’s Blessings to you:)
Your tree is beautiful. We start decorating on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
It’s fun to see pictures of other’s decorations! We don’t start decorating until after Thanksgiving, and I didn’t do anything until the 1st this year. The stockings are hung and the It’s a Wonderful Life village with all its people, cars, trees, & lights is up. Next week I will put up the nativities I collect. On the 9th we will get our tree. I make our Swedish dish Oostakaka for Thanksgiving & for Christmas, but need to make it just a day or before the holiday. I usually make a lot of treats, but since most of the kids came home for Thanksgiving, they won’t be here for Christmas. But we still like to take a plate of goodies to our neighbors & friends, so I will do some treats. Also we have another grandson due in the next couple of weeks, so we are looking forward to holding him, and then next year to having everyone home again.
We usually decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving unless we are traveling that weekend. I we are, then we decorate whenever we can after we get back. Our tree is overflowing with ornaments and I love it, but my minimalist husband doesn’t so we may need to find a compromise. Almost all of the ornaments are sentimental or meaningful, so cutting any out would be incredibly difficult. Have a merry Christmas!
Hi Roxanne! Merry Christmas and thanks for sharing your holiday preparations. I decorate a little at a time. starting with Advent. I begin decorating with the advent wreath, advent calendar, and Christmas placemats. Since I watch my granddaughters ages four and ten months four days a week, the Fisher Price Little People Santa Village is out – along with my Christmas teddy bears, a Santa pillow, Clarice the reindeer, gingerbread people, and Bella the Elf on the Shelf. Every season I change out the children’s books and finger play activities. This weekend I plan to do some Christmas baking and put up the prelit table top tree if I can get the lights working. I have a great variety of decorations. No glass ornaments this year since the 10 month old is into everything; so I will decorate with soft and wooden ornaments. My favorite ornament is a thumb print mouse my youngest son (age 28) made in preschool. This year my 4 year old granddaughter / his niece will be making the same ornament, since she is attending the same preschool as her uncle Nate. After St. Nikolaus Day on December 6, I will also bring out the manger sets, especially the Fisher Price Little People Manger Set for the granddaughters to interact with. Please DO NOT include me in 2017 Sweet Christmas Kisses Anthology drawing, since I already purchased the set and wrote my review. I enjoyed your story A Christmas in Montana, but the heart wrenching story that really hit home was Shanna Hatfield’s Saving Mistletoe. Best wishes and Happy Holidays.
We keep Christmas fairly simple. I dislike decorating a lot — too time consuming, both to put up and to take down. Our tree is eclectic — lots of different types of ornaments. I wouldn’t even know where to start with something elegant. LOL
Merry Christmas.
We had a large family gathering at our new house. No one had to travel far since we moved closer in April. My grand son single handedly, he talked his uncles into it also, decorated our house. He kept asking for permission to do the next step. Our tree looks a little interesting but it’s up!
Merry Christmas to you as well.
❤? I LOVE your tree! ?❤
I enjoy putting up my tree; My mom started an ornament collection for me when I was young. Every Christmas growing up (sometimes birthdays, etc.), I received an ornament that she would box up, label it with the year, and record who it was from. However, when I was young, I didn’t care at all about the ornaments. I never saw them because they were placed in storage right away, never to be seen again until the following year when I got another one…and watched her box it up. I was constantly thinking to myself how ridiculous it was that I was 7…8…9yrs old, getting an ornament! What…huh?!? UNTIL…I bought my 1st home and got my 1st tree! I then realized how AMAZING my mom was to have planned all these years for this moment! So wonderful! I like to put my tree up all by myself because I love looking at all of them one by one, and it takes time to carefully unbox each one and place it just right so that it won’t fall and break (some of them are so delicate!). Truthfully, though, I’m scared my “helpers” won’t be as careful as they should! Hehee! I’m so crazy about all of it that I would probably put a little fence around my tree if I could.? After that 1st Christmas I became a true collector of ornaments, making sure to buy one each time I went on vacation, as well as when I visited special, memorable places. I also have reveived ornaments as gifts from my students and other family members. Still to this day, I continue to carefully label and box each one up, just like my mom did. I carried on the tradition and also started a collection for both of my nephews, who probably think it is just as ridiculous as I once did, but one day they, too, will see the value in this special gift! My tree is a representation of my life, those I love, places I’ve been, and beautiful memories that have been collected over the years. :-) Thank you so much for sharing…you made me smile! ?
I always wait until after Thanksgiving to start Christmas decorating. This year we were away from home for Thanksgiving, and once we got home, I’ve had other things going on, so finally started decorating yesterday. I probably would have put it off, except that we have a neighborhood Christmas get-together at our house tomorrow afternoon, so I had to get going. We don’t put our tree up until after the neighborhood party, because the tree would take up too much space in the living room. We have a very eclectic collection of ornaments – all with special memories! Well, I need to go get breakfast going :-)
I begin my decorating after Thanksgiving, and it is now complete. My ornaments and other decorations have been collected over the span of many years, so they bring back lots of wonderful memories of my family and other special people the Lord has brought into our lives. I will begin wrapping gifts next week and then bake cookies. Christmas is a special time. May yours be blessed, as well. ???
Hi Roxanne, I enjoyed your pictures. Our tree is usually eclectic, but this year is a little bit designer. I have a table top rather than a full size, so thought I’d try something different.
Your tree is lovely! The only decorating we’ve done is put up the tree. We probably won’t do much more than that.
We wait until the day after Thanksgiving. My husband would start earlier if I would let him.
This year we are not putting up a tree to decorate, but instead we are using a ceramic tree that has been handed down in the family – probably 50 years old or so.
The rest of our house inside AND outside are beautifully decorated with cartoon characters of all sizes and our Texas room is decorated mainly with the nativity set and angels. Lots of color in and out.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this contest.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I hope you enjoy your holiday, and thanks for the opportunity.
Merry and blessed Christmas to you!!! I loved the picture you shared. thanks for the opportunity to win an ebook copy of one of your boosk
No detailed preparations here. Christmas is a pretty laid-back holiday for this household. We do like collecting ornaments throughout the year for the tree.
Our family goes to visit my sister-in-law for Thanksgiving where she cooks (I help), so my big holiday dinner is for Christmas. I have either turkey or ham with all the fixins’. My favorite dish is my mother’s giblet stuffing I make. One year, I even went all out and made homemade bread instead of the usual seasoned bread crumbs I buy, yummy! :-) Then of course, we top it off with my from scratch pumpkin pie. I do as much homemade as I can, I love the labor of love in the kitchen. It always smells so divine!
As for the tree, we don’t usually put it up until about 2 weeks before Christmas and then it comes down the day after New Years (or there abouts). I also have special ornaments I put on the trees. Some of them my children made when they were younger…they are the most precious :-)
I also make two batches of cookies to eat on Christmas eve, usually chocolate chip & peanut butter ones. What a treat to get in the mood for Christmas morning!!
Roxanne, thanks for sharing some of your traditions. It sounds like it was fun to do dinner preparations with your daughter. I’m so happy they will have their own house soon and be closer to you. How fun!
We started decorating for Christmas this weekend, the first Sunday of advent. We have a lot of ornaments bought in travels or somewhere nearby. My mom has a great collection and we just started ours, but already have a pretty good number, enough not to fit in our small apartment, so we have to choose which one to use every year.