Christmas was a blur for our family this year. During the week we normally decorate, I was busy making items for a spur-of-the-moment Christmas Market. During the month my guys usually wash down the outside of the house, well, it just seemed to slip by, and that was October. The season that I enjoy the most of the whole year was short-lived at The White House of the deep south. Sadness and a sigh---even though we did have some signs of Christmas around the house, I did not go "all out" as we say. Not a single thing happened outside, because being the stubborn woman that I am, I refused to hang wreaths or garlands on nasty windows. I did manage to assemble a wintry display on my buffet, but it was never fully complete with the greenery that I usually gather from my yard each year. I had planned to have some lady friends over for a tea, but that did not happen either!
However, we did manage to adorn our house and the homes of our loved ones with delicious holiday treats and dishes fit for kings and queens. These are just a few of the "foodie" scenes of Christmas we enjoyed with our families. After all, family is what Christmas is all about. Those we have chosen to love are our families and we are blessed to have such a large group to love!
Stu's Sunday Salad
Hand-cut REAL French Fries
Charbroiled Oysters on the grill-Drago's Recipe
Johnny's rendition of my mother-in-law's fudge recipe
Mickey's divinity, simply divine
Toasted Butter Pecan Cake, made for my mom
So, I am now looking forward to 2013 and planning for a wonderfully blessed year. A year where things that have been dreams in my heart that no one knows will come to fruition. Men are silly to think that we tell them everything. We just tell them everything they can understand and handle at the moment. As wonderful as they are, they simply do not think like us. They cannot, for our Heavenly Father made them different. Yes, they were made first, and we are the improved product. (Just kidding!)
The photo below was a gift to my husband and me from a very sweet family member. It was taken while we were on a trip this past July to Boston. We were unaware we had been photographed. When I received this on Christmas morning, it became something to cherish, because it shows we still love each other, after 34 years and counting. This year we came to realize how precious that time is, for my husband discovered in April that he had Prostate Cancer. It was a real shock, as we are only 56, and consider ourselves young and healthy. We weighed out many options and found a wonderful doctor in Birmingham, Alabama. The people at St. Vincent's Hospital could not have been any better to us than if they were our family. Stu's recovery has been gradual, but he is in full swing again. He has run a 5k and a 10k since August and works out almost every day. He is continuing his love of cooking, as you can see, and we are more aware of how blessed we are with each and every day. I am looking forward to more LOVE in 2013.
Blessings to you and yours for the best year of your life! Enjoy the sunshine on these cold winter days, for spring will be here soon and then it will get hot again in the land of this Mississippi Sunshine Girl.
Love,
Becky
