The Land of Pink Needs Your Prayers.

"Bear ye one another's burdens" means sharing that there is a burden. I can not give you the specifics because they involve others, but I do have a burden today.

It just came up and I'm a little bit shaken.

Nothing life threatening, but somewhat serious.

I know I'm being cryptic, but my Father and yours knows the details! Please agree with us for wisdom, perseverance, peace, and that the RIGHT doors of opportunity would open.

Thank you in advance.

I love all my bloggy buddies and have missed our time "together"! My In-love's will be here through the weekend so I'm still holiday-ing. Catch up with y'all next week!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

The Pink family has returned from a very lovely, festive visit with family. We had three "Christmases" in two days! We kept Santa busy, and made him a bit dizzy, I'd wager ;)

I need to make a final run to Stuff Mart and to Publix today. Then I'll be in full blown Mrs. Claus mode! Be warned: I will be just as sporadic on the blog as I have been the last several days.

Here is my itinerary for the rest of the year:

Tonight is the night RedDaddy and I put the kiddos to bed early (even the teenagers), wrap all their presents while watching "It's A Wonderful Life". I can hardly stand the wait!!

Tomorrow morning will be your typical Christmas morning extravaganza. Then my mom will come over around noon and we'll cook Christmas dinner together. Dinner will be highlighted by a VERY SPECIAL gift I received from my dad and his wife. You'll have to wait for the pictures.

Friday we are having our great friends (and pastors) over for a repeat of Christmas dinner, except I'm doing roast beef.

Saturday RedDaddy's brother, his wife, and their five children will be coming to stay with us on their way to Texas.

Sunday will be our typical Sunday run.

Then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday it's work and homeschool as usual.

My In-love's (including RedDaddy's nephew) come in for New Year's Wednesday afternoon, and will stay through next Sunday.

Not that I'm going to be busy or anything...

Tea Time Tuesday: Quick Tea Is Better Than No Tea!

Two things:
"Women are like tea bags; you never know how strong they are until they are in hot water. " --Nancy Reagan.

And...
"When times get tough, remember the tea kettle; it often finds itself up to its neck in hot water, and yet still it sings." --Unknown.

Those were for me...and maybe a friend ;)

Since were going to sing, let's all sing this:

I Give You the Griswold Pink Family Tree.

**Okay, so I'm going to cheat and use this post for BooMama's Tour of Homes. I can't very well redo the entire post, because this is it folks...it's all I've got.**

I got to pick it out myself! That never happens. Typically, I find a lovely tree, and after navigating through roughly 950 trees, my family talks me into a different (clearly less suitable) tree. All the while, I am be-moaning the fact that "the PERFECT Christmas tree was just over there". Of course, if they ever do concede and allow me to put MY tree in the running, I can never FIND it again!

This year I marked the spot with a child...smart, huh? I knew we'd have to find said child before going home. Or at least we should find said child before going home.

Our lot of choice is just across the street from our subdivision. It is hosted by a church, and funds a Boy Scout Troop. It is also complete with a fire pit:



(May I insert a question here? Why is it that the guy who offers to take a picture of your family is never a talented photographer?)



Back to my story. AND hot cocoa made on a real live Boy Scout camp stove! (your boys DO have one of these, right Joanna?)




Scarlet-3 was lovin' her cocoa. Particularly the second cup, since she dropped her first cup in about 22 seconds.



I found two sisters sharing a moment (Ruby-15 and Peach-14).



Coral-10 found an elf! Oh, nope, that's Rose-4 ;)



If you knew our family at all, you'd know that often our endeavors become fiascoes memories. It seems that every year we are putting our tree up after the neighbors have all gone to bed. Not that this is all that strange...we eat dinner after most of our friends put their kids to bed!

However, this year we had a plan to do it differently! RedDaddy was off all day Friday, so we reasoned, we'd have plenty of time to get it done before bedtime...yeah, right. We headed out at 7:00 to get a bite to eat and then pick out our tree. The lot closed at 9:00; we arrived at 8:30.

So far, not tooooo bad. We got the tree in the stand and in the back door; RedDaddy straightened it up nicely. (Anyone remember BooMama's post about her Mama falling under her tree? That is NOT what happened here ;))



But when he began to check the lights for the tree, and found that not one single string was operational. Not. One. String. I think he thought about falling in a heap. But, I saved the day! At 10:15 PM EDT, I, yes lil' ole Fuschia, headed to Stuff Mart to purchase Christmas Tree lights to decorate the Griswold Pink Family Tree.

I brought back a surprise for Scarlet, because apparently she was the only one who didn't get one last year, but unfortunately she was not in a position to appreciate it.



Peach and Rose opted to lay around stay out of the way while we got the lights and garland on.




Then all the kiddos (except Scarlet) added the ornaments. Rose had a particular branch she favored with her decorating skillz:




Earlier in the day RedDaddy put up the outdoor lights. He does a great job! I love the big ones. They make our little house look like a gingerbread house!



I'm including this picture because if you look in the bottom pane of the left window you can see where the Land of Pink goes to print ;)




Two last gems I want to share. My SIL made these lovelies for me years ago. They are my favorite Christmas decorations! (I also have an angel with a little lamb, but they have to go out in the yard and my sweet yard man hasn't gotten to it yet.) Gingerbread Girl stands on my foyer table:



And the nativity sits beside our front door. Is it me, or does Joseph look a bit worried? I think I might have been too!


And what tree would be complete without an angel?


Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Fuschia's Virtual Cookie Swap!

It's here. It's Here! IT'S HERE!!
Are you as excited as I am...probably not.

Okay, here we go.

Welcome to my virtual cookie swap, Friends. There are only a few rules:

Post your favorite cookie recipe on your blog, link to this post (feel free to copy the cute little image), add your link to Mr. Linky (remember to link to the actual cookie swap post, not just to your blog), then have fun swapping recipes!!


Fuschia's Favorite Cookies

(Actually I've posted my favorite cookie recipe many times, so I'll share an easy favorite and a tip.)

These are the most adaptable cookies I've ever made. One boxed cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes.

The fun part is mixing and matching add-in's: chocolate cake mix + 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1 cup white chocolate chips; yellow cake mix + 1/2 cup quick cook oats and 1/2 cup raisins; lemon cake mix + lemon glaze on top; carrot cake mix + cream cheese frosting. You get the idea...just creative and enjoy!

Fuschia's Fantastic Fresh Cookie Tip

Because I bake so many cookies at the holidays (as many as 60 dozen), I freeze cookies to have through out the next several months. I learned that you can easily thaw them by setting them out at room temperature for about 20 minutes. BUT, I do so love warm hot fresh from the oven cookies!

SO, I began mixing up the batter, shaping into balls, and freezing the unbaked cookies (I freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then put them in marked zip-top bags). I just place the frozen balls on a cookie sheet (btw, I LOVE to use a Pampered Chef large bar pan!), turn the oven on, and by the time it pre-heats they are ready to go in. Hot cookies in less than 30 minutes and with out all the mess!!

What's your bestest cookie recipe...inquiring minds want to know!

Just A Friendly Reminder :)

After Which My Shoulders Are Aching and My Eyes Are Crossed!

**If you are here via the Virtual Cookie Swap button on another blog, WELCOME! Now, go here :)**

I did it!
I did it!
I did it!!

I made a button for my Virtual Cookie Swap. AND...it links!

Yes, I am a bit proud of myself...just a little ;) Although, I have to give credit where credit is due: my sweet friend Joanna found the cookie picture, and my buddy Josh added the text. But...the html-code-button-sidebar-link thing was allll me!!!

You can grab the button now and put it on your sidebar so all your readers can come join our fun. The cookie swap will be next Tuesday, 12-9. (Should have put that on the button...I'm learning.)

The rules are simple: post your favorite cookie recipe, link to my Virtual Cookie Swap, add your link to Mr. Linky.

Then read everyone's recipes, pick one or twenty, and get baking! Of course, you must read the recipes in your PJ's while drinking hot chocolate...'cause that's what I'll be doing! You could even post a picture of yourself in your PJ's drinking hot chocolate.

I WON'T be doing that!

See you Tuesday.

WFMW: Favorite New Kitchen Gadgets.

Set of two Mini-Silicone Whisks: $4.37 at Stuff Mart.
Not having lumps in my Fat-free, Sugar-free Hot Cocoa: Priceless!

I found these two lovelies the other day and got sucked into an impulse buy. Well, not really impulse per se, I've been wanting a mini-whisk for some time. I just hadn't planned to make the purchase the day I actually did.
These are just so cute! I wish they were pink, but Red(Daddy) is definitely part of the Pink Family ;)
The larger of the two is great for scrambling two eggs in my Pampered Chef measuring cup, or mixing small amounts of wet ingredients real quick.

The little bitty one is absolutely PERFECT for mixing up hot chocolate! I do mean perfect. Here is where I should admit that I forgot a step in my hot cocoa recipe...add a tablespoon of HOT water to the dry ingredients and mix (with a little bitty silicone whisk) well...then add the hot milk.
Kind of silly, but that what Works For Me!

The 25 Questions of Christmas.

I got this meme from Mama Hen and thought it was cute. I'd love for y'all to participate, but I'm not tagging any one (or six) person(s).

While I have your attention: I've postponed my virtual cookie swap a week. I didn't have anyone offer to make me a button, so I'm still working on that, and I had intended to remind everyone last week, but well, you know how it goes.

So, Tuesday, December 9, is the day for you to share your very bestest cookie recipe!!

On to the meme:
1.Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, hands down.

2.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? It depends on who wins the argument on any given year: RedDaddy says just put 'em out. I say wrap 'em all. Usually a compromise between the two. One of my favorite traditions is to put the kids to bed and wrap (me all by myself; RedDaddy doesn't wrap) gifts while we watch It's A wonderful Life in front of the fireplace.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Again here's a disagreement: I prefer white lights on the tree, RedDaddy has to have colored...hence, we always have colored. On the house, we both like colored.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Never have, but I always think about putting some up.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Living in Florida, we watch the Weather Channel looking for the first really cold evening after Thanksgiving...it MUST be cold; we've been known to turn the A/C on as low as it would go, so that we could light a fire for the tree trimming. True story!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? RedDaddy's Grammy makes a cranberry/Jell-O salad that I often try to eat my weight in.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Thanksgiving and Christmas at my grandparents'. Everyone would be all dressed up, and the adults got to eat on my grandmother's china (not us kids). I now own that china, and my kids DO get to eat on it!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? This is the honest to goodness truth: I was putting out cookies and milk for Santa, and my dad said, "I think Santa would rather have an Old Milwaukee!" I think I was seven or eight.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No, though we used to celebrate with my In-love's on Christmas Eve, so that was a "yes".

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? As many lights as RedDaddy can get on it, and a hodge-podge of ornaments from our life together. I triple heart theme trees, but have never had one.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? What's snow?

12. Can you ice skate? I've been twice; I was respectable.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I really can't think of one, though the Rolex RedDaddy bought me was pretty great :)

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family. Period. I love having three weeks of special movies to watch together, baking cookies for days on end with my girls, making unique gifts for all our friends together, shopping with RedDaddy to get just that perfect something for each of our Pinks, and oh, seeing my kids eyes light up on Christmas morning is the cherry on top!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? On Thanksgiving it's Pecan Pie with real whipped cream; at Christmas, RedDaddy's Grammy pulls out her cookies and by far, my fave is her peanut-butter balls!! All season I have my very own cookie stash and my favorite is an oatmeal cookie with craisins, pecans, and dark chocolate chunks...holy cow! I need to get to baking ;)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? See #2.

17. What tops your tree? A stained-glass lighted star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Gift giving is my love language, so both are very exciting to me. I hate having to shop from a list; I'd rather find that special something for each person that is just from me. Same goes for receiving gifts: I love getting something that someone personally picked out just for me!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? White Christmas...only Bing Crosby...ONLY.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum-o. We have them on our tree every year, and watch them slowly disappear.:)

21. What do you want for Christmas? Lots of insignificant things are on my list, but what I truly want is for my kids and husband to be happy and healthy, and for us to enjoy every moment of the season!

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas Party? Not specifically. This year we are hosting two: one for RedDaddy's company, and one for the church Youth Group.

23. Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJs? We do jammies on Christmas morning then everyone dresses to the nines for Christmas Day dinner.

24. Do you own a Santa hat? Yes, with my name on it in glitter!

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? We make the rounds the weekend before: My dad, RedDaddy's parents, and his grandmother. Then we have my mom over for dinner on Christmas Day.

If you decide to answer, please let me know so I can read your answers...kay?