Before I start today’s post, I wanted to THANK everyone for viewing Cindy’s posts (the 2nd day especially) as I had my second highest number of viewers ever on that day. My record is 530 views for my post called “Just Call me Joanna!” (HERE) Cindy’s pictures of her sweet home (HERE) had 510 viewers… I was really rooting for her to surpass my record, but she just missed it! :o( But thank you so much!
I was just watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”…and I realized I forgot to answer someone’s question of how my sister, Cindy, got Hannah’s hair to stay up for her Christmas play. When I saw Cindy Lou on the Grinch movie, I remembered Cindy telling me how she did it, but I realized I had forgotten to share it…
This was Hannah’s hairdo done by Cindy…
Cindy told me she either had or bought one of those net shower body scubbers in BLACK…that was the key… It didn’t show up “pink” or “white” inside her hairdo, and she could stick all kinds of bobby pins in it and they didn’t show, but they held the hair in place…It was also lightweight and wasn’t top heavy for Hannah either… I’m sure inquiring minds wanted to know this. :o)
The second thing is…remember that yard sale I was going to go to last Saturday morning? Well, it turned out to be a Cookie Walk AND a “Christmas Sale” which only had Christmas items in it… ornaments, gift bags, figurines, bows, some kitchen plates, etc. I went around the tables 4 times thinking “surely I need something from here…” but really didn’t see much or need any more stuff. But their prices were REALLY reasonable so I kept looking!! :o) Then I spotted a pretty platter sitting on top of this box… It looked like it was crystal and when I picked it up, as heavy as it was, I was pretty sure it was. When I saw it was made in Germany I knew my hubby would say, “get it!” Since it was only $3 I decided to go for it. Here is the box… it shows up a little better when you see the picture on the box…The birds on it are Cardinals (or redbirds) which are the state bird of Illinois. (See I just HAD to buy it!) :o)
Here it is on my counter…
I was going to use it for the coffee cake I made, but I needed it for my fruit platter… so I used this antique plate Cindy gave me for my cake… this is what’s left…sorry…
Which leads me to my next tidbit… I had a coffee cake at a Ladies Brunch a few weeks ago and LOVED it! I brought home a piece for my hubby and he said it was the best coffee cake he had ever had! (works for me!) I asked the lady who made it for the recipe as I wanted to use if for my Christmas Brunch. She sent me the recipe by taking a picture of the card it was on… Doesn’t this look like she’s made it a “few” times??? :o)
It’s very simple to make… make the cake batter…it’s pretty thick when you are mixing it up… then you make the filling and add it in between the layers and on top… then swirl it with a knife. (I DID USE LESS CINNAMON… maybe 1/2 tsp) When I did mine, I used a bundt pan so when I took it out and flipped it over, there was kind of a crust on the actual top part of the cake. The bottom looked better with the sugar, cinnamon and nuts, so I left mine upside down. If you need a special yummy cake… this is it! I baked mine 50 minutes and probably could have taken it out at 45.
I had never done a Christmas brunch before but wanted to this Christmas. There were only 6 of us… me and my hubby, Kristoffer and Rebecca, Kristoffer’s girlfriend, Alexis, and my mom. Since this was my first brunch, I wanted to have EVERYTHING…and we almost did! Seriously, I think we had enough to feed an Army! I realized I had “overdone” it when we cleared off the table and were putting everything away, and had almost enough for another whole brunch from what was left. Yikes! Let me just tell you what we had so you’ll believe me…
A huge bowl of scrambled eggs, fruit on a platter: clementines, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, apple slices, strawberry fruit dip, Ambrosia fruit salad, Jewish Coffee Cake, Snickerdoodle cookies, Pirouline creme filled wafers, donut holes, sausage balls, bacon, hash brown tater tots, orange juice, chocolate milk, and I’m sure I left out something!
I snapped a picture quickly before we sat down…it’s not great, but you can see…
Okay, next tidbit… Rebecca bought Reuben a Christmas sweater and he humbled himself and left it on for most of the morning… His waist has “expanded” just a little bit so I’m thinking I might have to split it down the underside, add a little bit of something soft, finish the edges and add some Velcro.
Okay, that’s enough tidbits for today… tomorrow I’ll show you something that Rebecca found and told her dad I would love, so he said to get it and she was right… I REALLY do love it!
…and I’ll show you something I saw at an antique shop and my hubby told Kristoffer about it and HE got that and surprised me. One’s white and one’s red! :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a fun post, Jeanne! I would never have thought to use a bath puff like that–but very clever of Cindy to figure that out, and it certainly worked well!!
Oh, I love that glass/crystal plate you bought! I love cardinals, and we never see any out here in western Washington (although we do get Stellar’s jays, but they are blue/black, still very dramatic looking). We had a deaf friend in our church (since gone to heaven) who was from Iowa originally, and he loved cardinals, too. They had things with cardinals on them all over their house! I know John would have loved that plate, too!
The coffee cake looks/sounds delicious, and I am copying the recipe!! Thank you for putting it in this post–I should imagine I won’t be the only one to write it down and try it! I’m thinking it was the hit of your brunch (everything looked delicious!).
Reuben looks adorable in his new sweater! I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to make it fit him a bit better.
Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Ours was fairly quiet, but nice–we even got to see two of the grands just briefly! We’ll do our gift thing with them later on–hopefully before their birthdays (1/13 and 2/9) arrive! (I finished their pillowcases tonight; pictures soon!)
HI Charlotte,
I’m glad you had fun reading the post with all the different things in it.
That coffee cake was pretty incredible… I know I”LL be making it again for anything special that comes up.
Yes, we do want to see your pillow cases for your grand kids…
Thanks Charlotte,
Blessings, Jeanne
I’m sitting here, kind of in a daze, since we had our family here yesterday for dinner and gift giving. I’m trying to get my wits about me so as to write something that makes sense!! I’m sure you can relate, Jeanne!
Oh, Rueben looks adorable and so intelligent sitting there in his new sweater! You be sure to tell him that!!!
Your breakfast buffet spread looks delicious! I’m trying to figure out what the 4 bowls of round things are. I’m sure if I was there, I would have tried one of everything, and I’m going to give that coffee cake a try, it looks delicious!
The fruit plate is just gorgeous, and Cardinals, yes, yes, yes!!! Of course we both live in “Cardinal Country” here!!
That was genius of Cindy to use a black bath scrubber, but who has black ones? All I see are pink, blue, white, pale colors.
Well, I guess I will get to my refrigerator today and clean it out! you know how you just stick things in there wherever they fit, and then can’t find anything later? I have that situation now, so it’s one thing I do today, and on my 52 wedding anniversary of all things, too! It sure does get more “glamorous” as the years go by!!
Dear Linda, congratulations! My aunt’s anniversary was December 23. Her birthday was December 13. My uncle had to purchase three gifts for her every December! He loved it and so did she.
My goodness,Dorothy, your uncle must have been a very special man! Thank you for your good wishes!
Linda, the black scrubbers were in the men’s toiletries section at Wal Mart. I just happened to see it & thought it might work. Cindy
HI Linda and HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to you on your 52nd Anniversary! What a testimonial to you and your hubby for being married all these years!
I was kind of in a tizzy this morning, almost wanting to take down all my Christmas decorations and put my house back in some kind of “regular” order, but my sister, Deb and my brother Bob, is coming in this weekend for my mom’s 84th birthday, and I wanted them to see my house all decorated, so I decided to leave things as they are for a few more days.
I will certainly tell him that Auntie Linda thinks he looks pretty special in that sweater! :o)
The 4 bowls with round things in them were tater tot hash rounds, donut holes, sausage cheese balls, and the Ambrosia fruit salad… I’m going to have to share that recipe too. It’s delicious!!!
I hope you got that frig cleaned out and maybe your hubby took you out for your Anniversary??? Please tell me you didn’t eat leftovers on your anniversary! :o)
Linda, did you see Cindy’s comments about the black scrubbies being in the men’s toiletry section at Walmart?
Thanks for your faithfulness to my blog, Linda.. I love hearing from you each day!
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, the good thing about leftovers is not having to cook the next day. 🙂 What a lovely feast. Love your squarish lipped new platter. Perfect for fruit and other things too.
What a sport that Reuben!
We enjoyed seeing the grands and having a delicious dinner. The kids liked their gifts and Wellie Willa is enjoying her new home. I’ll see if I can send a pic.
Congrats to Linda and her anniversary! 🙂
On to the New Year!
Hi Joy,
That picture of Landry with Willa is just too cute. It looks like a match made in heaven! You did good grandma!!! :o)
My hubby and I had fruit and dip today for lunch! I loved it and I think he did too!
When we tried to get Reuben’s sweater off, he wasn’t very happy… I finally had to peel it off of him like I was skinning a rabbit… pulling it from the part over his back and just peeling it off. He growled at us…
Yes, onto my mom’s 84th birthday and then the new year for me! Are you enjoying your heat?
Blessings, Jeanne
Thank you, Joy!
Dear Jeanne, the plate is beautiful. I can see you using it for all kinds of desserts in the future.
Reuben is adorable. He was a good sport to keep his sweater on.
We are all intrigued with your gift. Hmmmm, one red and one white. I am guessing earrings.
Hi Dorothy,
I think I’ll be using that plate for more than just Christmas too. It’s really a nice one and I like that it’s square… I have a round one from my hubby’s mom.
Reuben’s sweater was a bit tight on him.. no chance of him coming out of it until we peeled it off him.
Not earrings… bigger! :o) You’ll see!
Thanks Dorothy,
Blessings, Jeanne
I love the new plate. You will enjoy it forever, for food and for display. That was an amazing brunch — the brunch that goes on giving — you can serve the leftovers for two days, except for the eggs, and people will be happy every time. You could serve eggs differently every day, though scrambled are the prettiest, or maybe I think so because they are my favorite.
Your description of yourself shopping, “Surely I need something from here,” is funny because it’s true — if you go somewhere expecting to buy something, you do expect to leave carrying something. The platter needed a new home and it’s so beautiful that I can’t believe no one grabbed it first. The plate with the coffee cake on it is beautiful too. Don’t you love having beautiful things to use? Why ask — it’s clear that you do.
The Christmas card is beautiful too — the church, the tree, the beautiful lettering.
HI Marilyn,
Reuben got the last of the scrambled eggs today, and George and I worked on the fruit and dip… I DO love leftovers.
Of all the things at the sale, I believe I got the best thing and the price of $3 was just right! As I was washing the plate that the coffee cake was on, it said Royal Daulton on the back… It’s very pretty in person… colorful and so festive. Cindy has been telling me for a long time to use what I have and not just keep it in my cabinet. I tried at my brunch to use as many antique plates an dishes and bowls as I could.
Thanks Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Lovely brunch…it’s such a great way to start the day. You had such a good variety too…and a good brunch is all you need till dinner.
Glad you had time to celebrate with your family! Enjoy some down time.?