Shopping Days!

Without a doubt, the best time of year to shop is after Christmas, and while the sales extend through January, the week after Christmas is simply wonderful. Not only is there still plenty of inventory to choose from, it's available at steep discounts of 70% off or more. Stores offer those great deals trying to get rid of the prior year's product so they can bring in the next wave of over-priced gadgets and gizmos. As an added bonus, most people have already spent what they planned to spend, so they're tapped out by the time Christmas is over. Translation: More sale items for us.

To the Riddle clan: I vote that next year we celebrate on Epiphany, January 6th (the day the Wise-Men brought gifts to Jesus). Just think how much fun we would have cashing in on all the post-Christmas sales?! AND.......we could extend Christmas an additional two weeks by celebrating so late. I'm sure Lisa Dawn is on board with a Christmas extension. Who else is with me? :)

5 more days! Is your shopping finished? Are your presents wrapped? Is your heart ready to celebrate the Reason for the Season?!

Be Prepared!

I’ve heard and witnessed so many things recently that were such fallacy they blew me away. It is our job as believers to know the Word, to be prepared to given an answer, and to refute things that are unscriptural. If all we do is turn a blind eye to the things of this world, especially things that seem godly, then we’re part of the problem.

2 Timothy 4:2-5

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

1 John 4:1

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Sunday School Christmas Party!

On Friday we attended the Sunday school Christmas party at church. It was a ton of fun, and I got some cute pics of the family to prove it! Merry Christmas!

Checks and Truffles!

I walked upstairs today and saw the picture below. As it turns out, the girls were 'writing checks' to all their stuffed animals. And the line. Was. Long. Hmmmm? Kind of reminded me of our government. Not sure where they got the idea, but clearly they've seen Obama on TV one too many times talking about redistribution of wealth :)

Here are the employees themselves. Cayla brought in the 'clients' and Autumn wrote out the checks. It was too cute, she would ask, "How much do you want?" and Cayla would make up a figure for Autumn to make the check out for.

Look who cut in front of all the 'little animals' and went straight to the front of the line. In his defense, I'm pretty sure he just hoped they were eating something.

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Unlike my niece, who takes beautiful, step by step pictures of all her projects, I have a mere TWO! The one below is the ingredients for Oreo Truffles. It's simple. Throw all this stuff together...............

........and you get these (look down). Cute huh? I have to warn you though, the recipe called for Almond Bark (gag) but I decided the Candiquik vanilla looked MUCH better. It was twice as expensive (over $4.00) for that bag and I only had one tiny square left, but it tasted sooooo delicious. These make pretty cute little truffles that taste wonderful. And one more tip....if you don't have a food processor, a blender makes a great Oreo-crusher. I won't be offended if you don't ask for the recipe, but if you do want it, let me know and I'll post it.

p.s. These make a gargantuan MESS. I had nonpareils from one end of the kitchen to another. Fortunately Hoover (a.k.a. Chuck) 'vacuumed' them all up for me :)

A different picture, as often as possible, to make your season merry and bright.

Laughs!

Christmas Humor!

For Dad and Jim :)

Tonight, on the way home from my in-laws we saw a dog roaming the neighborhood, which sparked the following conversation:

Autumn: Mom, do dogs have to be on a leash?

Me: Yes

Cory: And cats do too, but nobody obeys that law.

Me: It's not even like you can build a fence tall enough to keep a cat in.

Autumn: Well, you could use a shock collar on it!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Thought my dad and father in law would especially love this because of their DISLIKE for cats!

Snow and Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving complete with snow, although these snow pics were taken after Thanksgiving. Just a few pics for family and friends to enjoy!

Snow pics taken 11/30 - the girls' play set covered in snow!

A tree in our backyard....with the girls' squirrel feeder which Autumn painted :)

The garage awning - just to give you an idea how much snow we have :)

Our backyard....pathway to the garage!

The 'teen' table at Thanksgiving! Clockwise from upper rt: Kelly, Jared, Lisa Dawn, Sierra, Katy, and EJ

Another teen, er um young adult, shot :)

Desserts!

Me, and my dearest friend Becky!

Intently watching the football game!

Adult table - tablecloth was Cory's grandmother's. I love heirlooms!

Whoa! My kitchen is a mess! And there I stand, doing nothing about it while my mom works! Hmmm?!

The kids' table - which later morphed into the dessert table!

Youth table, before the youth arrived!

It was a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!