Log Cabin Christmas - Part 1

Good morning everyone! I thought I would share a few photos of our Christmas decorated log cabin. For many years I dreamed of having a cozy log cabin and I always thought it would be a wonderful place to spend Christmas. (As well as drive my neighbors crazy with me yelling "Hi there" from the deck. Ha! Next I might break out the schnauzer pajamas....)


Here's my skinny 9 foot Christmas tree. I put it up all by myself! Scout tried to climb onto the ladder to help me hang ornaments. I'm lucky to still be alive...





Here's my electric fireplace. I added some cranberries to the garland afterwards. One day I'll have a fieldstone fireplace.......(Greg is running to hide his wallet right now.....)






Here's a close up of my Santa. Notice that he's carrying a birdhouse? He likes the birdys too.








Here's a close up of my tree. I love my angel ornament. Greg says he hopes she inspires me.......what does he mean by that?!

A snowy morning

We had over two feet of snow up at the log cabin. It was so beautiful but we had a lot of digging out to do. First priority was for Greg to dig out a path to my bird feeders! Don't want to make those birdys angry....





The sun is just starting to peek out. The lake has a light covering of snow on it. It's going to be a beautiful day.








I don't see any of my neighbors out on their decks. Too bad. I was going to wave to them while wearing my silly cat pajamas....







Well here's a nice visitor....the downy woodpecker. Let's invite him in for a nice cup of hot chocolate. We won't mention the fight he had earlier with the nuthatch....

I'm ready for Christmas!

Snow - here I come!

We've had no snow in the southern part of Michigan. This morning as I write this it is raining! But alas, up north at the cabin, they've already received 10 inches of snow! And there's more coming!

I'm already driving Greg crazy with the 101 things I want to do at the cabin this weekend. (Snow shoeing, baking, more decorating, taking photos of Scout in the snow and of course - waving to the neighbors from the deck of my cabin as I wear my kitty pajamas! Last year it was sheep ones.)

And to those kids in my classes that wear pajama pants to class and think they are the "cat's meow" - they have nothing on me! Ha!

Amish Caramel Corn

I love giving homemade food gifts to family and friends for the holidays. This week I've been testing different recipes to see which ones I think will be perfect for the Christmas goody baskets that I make up.

I found a great recipe for Amish Caramel Corn. It was easy to make and Greg gave it thumbs up! This would be perfect to put in a cute holiday tin. Are you making any special gifts for the holidays?


Here's the recipe: "My Amish Friend's Caramel Corn"

Ingredients

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

Happy Birthday to me!

In case you haven't guessed, today is my birthday! Ha! That baby with the smirk on its face in the above photo is me. I'm with my parents, grandparents and my favorite Uncle.

So far it's been a great birthday! Hubby gave me a gift certificate to a day at the spa (and he has another surprise gift for me!) Wixy wrote me the best birthday poem ever on his blog - check it out here. Some of you dear blogger friends wished me happy birthday on my facebook page - thank you! I'm going to lunch w/ my sister and mom. And then for dinner - w/ my dad, stepmom and hubby.

And hopefully there's a cake along the way....I love cake....have I told you that already? I'm dreaming of a multi-layered buttercream cake with chopped nuts...hmmm....okay, enough of my cake obsession!

P.S. I wonder what Scout gave me? Besides underwear! HA! (See below's post if you missed it.) Have a great day blogger friends! I'll be announcing a giveaway very soon....

Thief

"Hi there! I'm stepping in for my mommy today while she's studying. I upset her a little bit today when I took a pair of her underpants and ran in the yard with it waving it like a flag! You should've seen her chasing me! Especially when the neighbor that lives in back of us came outside w/ his dogs and saw what I was doing. I think the last straw was when I started digging a hole and burying the underwear in the dirt. That's a no-no! And mommy is still scratching her head trying to figure out how I got that underwear! But I'll never tell..."