Christmas Eve

 I’m so thankful my parents and Job arrived safely to Ohio after thirty hours of constant driving. There were so many people praying for their safe journey and the Lord brought them safely here.  They arrived at 5AM Christmas Eve and we told everyone to arrive at 1 PM for our Christmas Eve dinner. 

For dinner we had brisket, ham, Brussel sprouts, Mac & cheese, and roasted sweet and regular potatoes, and “Sharon” rolls. 

Our highlight of the get together was seeing Aurora. She’s adorable, sweet and funny. We had a wonderful time!

Everyone had to leave early due to bad road and weather conditions. It was perfect timing as we had to get ready to go to church for the Christmas Eve service where both girls sang.

Reindeer Cupcakes

 Ana has a gymnastics meet tomorrow and we signed up to make cupcakes for the concession stand. This meet’s theme is Reindeer so I looked up some cute ideas to decorate the cupcakes. I found reindeer cookies and just copied the cute and easy design: pretzels, rye candy, mini vanilla wafers and red M&Ms. Emma and Ana did a great job decorating them.

Family Pictures

I was telling my friend Amie that we needed to take our family picture for our Christmas card.  She volunteered to come over to our house and be our photographer.  Since Atenas passed away in May, we needed our chickens to be part of the photo shoot. Lol

The fun part was that Amie rode her motorcycle to our house.  We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take some pictures on her Harley Davidson.

I'm holding my chicken Camila.  Cameron is holding Virginia.

 

Emma is holding Fiona Rose and Ana is holding Orchid:

Thanksgiving 2022

 What a feast! We had a great time with our family and the food was excellent and the weather was gorgeous!

This 20 pound Turkey was brined for twenty hours and cooked in the roaster joven for four hours. The turkey breast was increasingly moist.

Girls Baking Pecan Pies

 The girls helped me bake the pecan pies for Thanksgiving. We followed my mom’s recipe and added extra whole pecan. Emma showed her artistic touch to the crust by adding mistletoe. 

 

Ana | Corn Tortilla Maker

 Ana has become an expert corn tortilla maker. She knows how to have the perfect consistency for the masa and how to cook them so that they puff up. 

R.I.P. Maple

 

Angel Oak Tree

 Another friend told me about the Angel Oak Tree.  It is the oldest tree east of the Mississippi River. It was a magnificent sight and pictures can’t grasp the magnitude of this tree.

Charleston Tea Plantation

 Visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation was quite an educational experience. I had no idea that you can get green, black and oolong tea from the same tea bush. 

The gift shop had free samples and a free tour. We had to get tickets for the trolley tour to see all of the plantation. It was beautiful seeing all the bushes cut at “table top” height. We even got to see their tea cutting machine in action.