"I Wonder Wednesday"

I wonder if it was a good idea to go shopping a few days after Christmas and stockpile Christmas supplies until next year? I think so. I am seriously so pumped about my purchases! I got everything at 50% off. Coordinating wrapping paper and ribbon (about $15 total), two garlands for the tree ($5 each - I know, this wasn't an overly great deal but it was very cute) and really cute red Christmas tumblers ($2 for 8).

A few years ago my mom changed the decor on her Christmas tree from a down home country look to burgundy and gold elegance. At our house, my fabulous dude and I decorate our tree with red and silver accesories. Next year, thanks to my mom, we will change our tree to the down home country look because she handed down the old ornaments to me. The colours are gold, green and red and I think I will make either a popcorn string or a pinecone string next year. We'll see. Too bad I bought a silver tree skirt this year.

I am pretty excited that I got these deals because it will allow me to have fun with gift wrapping and still avoid spending a fortune on paper, bows and ribbons. Now as long as I remember that I have this all when next season rolls around...

Today is "Christmas eve" for us. We spent a few days with my fabulous dude's family (24th-28th) and are now at my parents house for the week. Since all of my siblings were with our inlaws for Christmas we have opted to have today be Christmas Eve and tomorrow will be our Christmas day. Even though it's not the real day, it still feels like Christmas to us. We have so many fun traditions and are having a blast together. Once I return home from the holidays I will post a recap on the adventures of our Christmas vacation with some photos!

P.S. My sisters and mom just pointed out that this post could also serve as a thrifty Thursday tip. So, since I wasn't planning on posting thrifty Thursday tomorrow since it is my family's Christmas day and I have something else in mind, I will let this post serve a double purpose. You can be frugal by shopping at the end of season and getting Christmas decorations, supplies, plates, napkins etc. for half price!

Happy I Wonder Wednesday and Thrifty Thursday.

"I Wonder" Wednesday

I have been wondering about Mary today. Sometimes I wonder why the bible doesn't provide more insight to her experience. I wonder how she felt carrying a child given to her by God? I wonder if people stared at her when she walked down the street? I wonder if her parents accepted Jesus as their Grandson? I wonder how her friends and neighbours reacted to her news? I wonder the same about Joseph's parents? I wonder how Mary told Joseph about Jesus? I wonder if Mary asked "why me?" I wonder if Mary knew the importance of the baby she carried in her womb?

Christmas Dinner

On Saturday, I hosted my first ever Christmas dinner! How fun! Although cooking for company is not new to me, there's just something about making a Christmas dinner that seems so special. We enjoyed the afternoon and evening with our dear friends, S and T and their kids, along with S's parents. I also had the sweetest little tag-along child for the day as I was babysitting for a friend who was in the hospital after giving birth to her new son. Welcome to the world, Mason!

Aside from a minor incident which involved a child, my chin, a carrot, a fork and a first-degree burn, I think the day went very well considering I was placed in the mama position for an 18-month old for the day and my fabulous dude ended up having to do a billion hours of overtime plowing because of the snow storm.

For dinner, we had roasted chicken (yup - I'm way too cheap for a turkey), mashed potatoes, gravy, crockpot stuffing, carrot casserole, green bean casserole, butternut and hubbard squash, corn, pickles and rolls (thanks, P). For dessert, we had Christmas sweets, peanut butter pie (or.. errmm -- I mean peanut butter dessert. Some kids don't like pie) and delicious mixed berry pie (thanks, T!). After dinner, the kids (minus the cutie tag-along since she was a wee bit too tired) went outside with my fabulous dude to ride around on the sled we gave them. They had a blast. Since they didn't have their snow pants, the hubby dressed them all in his long underwear and bundle them up in blankets, mittens and hats to pull them in the sled. How fun!

I had meant to take a bunch of pictures of the cooking process, the dinner and my guests, but by the end of the night I only had a few. I guess in the hustle and bustle I just forgot. Here are a few that I did get.

T with her yummy pie

Eating dessert

The kids loved pulling each other around on the sled - inside.
"Sweet ... we get to wear Evan's underwear" - G.

Cleaning up. What a sweet helper.

Okay, so maybe I took more pictures than I thought. And no, for those of you wondering, I am not posting a picture of the burn (although I do have one).

After dinner we cleaned up, took the little one home and then came home and did more cleaning up. Sunday morning I left with my fabulous dude's cousin to come up to his home town. The normally 2 1/2 hour drive took us 5 hours because of the weather. Not a fun time. But, we're here safe and sound, praise God. Since I was already on holidays from school I decided to come up early to help my MIL get ready for later in the week when the rest of the family will be arriving. Yesterday we did some wrapping. Today we headed into town to do grocery shopping and finish up last minute Christmas shopping. When we got home, we got to work. I did some more wrapping and also made a lasagna and some manacotti for Christmas day (we are having our Christmas dinner with his extended family on boxing day) while my MIL did some work at her sewing machine. Now, we're just getting ready to sit down to eat homemade chicken stew and cornbread. Delicious! I love the holidays.

Prayer Request

This is my second post of the day, something I don't normally do, but there is something I must share. Please take a moment to read this post and offer a prayer.

Earlier this afternoon I was informed that a friend of mine lost her sister in a car accident yesterday. Her father and two sisters were driving home from shopping when their car was struck by a drunk driver. Her younger sister (age 22) was killed and her other sister and her father are both in the hospital with critical but non-life threatening injuries. Clearly there is never a good time for this to happen to a family, but something about it occurring one week before Christmas makes it seem that much more difficult. Please pray for R and her mother, who were not in the car, as they deal with the loss of a sister and daughter and the recovery of the father and other sister.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Here are a couple pics of the view from my back door this morning. I am way too chicken to try to venture out the front to take pictures of the orchard and the fields. These are just the pictures I could take while remaining in the comfort of my living room.

Part of my fabulous dude's job is to plow snow on the property of the organization he works for. Since it was calling for snow he set his alarm for 4:30 a.m. this morning to check if it had begun snowing yet. It hadn't. He came back to bed and proceeded to get up and check if it had started for every half hour thereafter. It didn't start snowing until nearly 8:00, when he would be leaving for work anyway. Poor guy. It is still coming down and doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. I'm enjoying the day inside getting things ready for a yummy Christmas dinner tomorrow.

Thrifty Thursday - Reduced to Clear

Today I'm sharing an idea for thriftiness that is not necessarily new to me (nor will it be to many of you) but I am so excited about it this week. When you go to grocery store and you are in the produce aisle, always be sure to check out the reduced to clear rack. I used to steer clear of this rack because I would never want to be seen buying "rotten" fruits and vegetables. But now, this is the first place I go. More often than not, there are some really great buys there. Usually, the produce that is reduced is not completely and disgustingly rotten ... I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even try to sell that. Rather, I've found that they sometimes include produce that has fallen out of a package (i.e. loose apples that were meant to be sold in a 10 lb bag, grapefruit that was originally in a package) along with the items that are close to the end of their life and need a good home.

So here's what I'm going to start doing. When I get to the grocery store, I will go directly to the reduced to clear rack and 1) see if there is anything on there that was on my list to begin with and 2) see if there is anything on the rack that can replace something on my list. Say I have broccoli on my list because it's on sale for .99 but there is a cauliflower on the rack for .49 I will take that instead. Some weeks I'm sure I won't be able to find anything worth grabbing but other weeks (like this week, for example) I will score.

This week I found a package of 4 grapefruits that had no visible signs that they were bad for .59. They taste delicious and are absolutely not rotten. My breakfast for the week. I also found a package with one large field cucumber and 3 small zucchinis for .79. I made a cucumber salad the same night I went shopping (it didn't have much life left in it) and I roasted the zucchinis with some other veggies last night. I also got a huge package of grapes for .49 which my fabulous dude took to work to snack on.

All of that produce for less then 2.00 and I was most certainly able to use it all before any went bad.

Some other tips for reduced to clear produce:

- If you have a dehydrator you can dry many fruits and veggies that are at the end of their life to use in baking, snacks and soups.

- You can buy reduced to clear produce and if you can't use it right away, cook and freeze it for later use.

I think many people do not want to buy produce from this section because either they are too proud to (like I was in the past) or they are afraid it will all be too rotten. But I suggest you give it a try, you might find it's not so bad after all.

Have a thrifty Thursday! I won't be posting next week as it is Christmas day. I may (or may not) be back to regular posting on New Year's day, we'll see! Happy Holidays.

"I Wonder" Wednesday

I wonder why these stinkin' Christmas treats taste. so. good! I just can't stop eating these sweeties. My tummy is starting to hurt. I am beginning to wonder if, perhaps, it was not a good idea to make nine varieties of Christmas treats.

This year, my mom and I made:

- shortbread
- shortbread chocolate chip skor bars
- turtle bars
- raspberry crumble bars
- peanut butter balls
- chocolate coated almond toffee
- tingalings
- almond bark
- white chocolate mint raspberry candy

The Christmas festivities my fabulous dude and I are involved in begin this weekend and they couldn't come soon enough. I am so excited to begin the holiday season with family and friends! But more importantly, I am excited to give some baking away so I WILL STOP EATING IT!

So, perhaps my question should be, I wonder why I have no self-control?

What are you wondering about on this fine Wednesday? Let us know! Use Mr. Linky to join in.

Have fun linking up but please remember two things...

1.Link directly to your “I Wonder Wednesday” post so people will have no trouble finding it.
2.Include a link back here from your own blog.

P.S. The difference in font style and size was not meant for dramatic effect. This thing is giving me a hard time this morning and I don't have time to fool with it - I have more baking to eat ... I mean ... umm...

P.S.S. When I posted about making toffee, I mentioned that I was concerned that I had not boiled it long enough and that it was not thick enough. I was right ... it's very ooey, gooey. Too ooey, gooey. It is still in the freezer in one piece. I guess I am hoping if I leave it in there long enough it will miraculously form itself into perfectly set deliciousness. Not happening, I'm afraid.

Thrifty Thursday - Christmas Baking

It's that time of year. I can hardly believe that Christmas is only two weeks away. As we all know, this time of year has a way of getting rather expensive rather quickly. If you are like me and you enjoy having a variety of baked goodies kicking around during the holidays, this can end up being an added expense. So, with the help of my father, last night I devised a strategy to cut back costs on Christmas baking. There are five steps you need to take to significantly decrease the expense:

1. Plan - make a list of all the things you are going to bake. Try to choose a number of recipes that include the same ingredients. For example, if you have a recipe that calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips (1/2 a bag) then try to find another one that calls for 1 cup as well so you can maximize that purchase. Once you have a list of all of your recipes, make a list of the ingredients you will need so you are sure to get everything required and avoid unnecessary purchases.

2. Drive - Travel a short distance to the house of an unsuspecting woman, who also likes to bake. Mothers and mother-in-laws work perfectly.

3. Scrounge - Sift through the cupboards of this unsuspecting woman while she is at work to see which ingredients she already has in her cupboard and then cross said ingredients off your list.

4. Shop - Have the unsuspecting woman accompany you to the grocery store to pick up the rest of your supplies where she will undoubtedly pay for the entire purchase.

5. Enjoy a day of baking with the unsuspecting woman, who, upon completion, will tell you that this is far too much baking for her to keep around the house for the holidays and send half of it home with you.

I estimate this plan will save you anywhere between $30-80 per year (depending how much you like to bake). There you have it. It has worked for me for the past three Christmases. It's foolproof.

"I Wonder" Wednesday

I wonder why I am not wondering anything today. Perhaps it's because I spent 20 hours over the past two days grading my first year student's exams and now my brain no longer works. My eyes are blurry, my head is confused and my fingers are sore from writing comments on their essays. But the good news, I have officially survived my first semester as a grad school. I am now on holidays, although I still have a fair chunk of reading and other jobs to do before I go back in January. Regardless, the pressure is off for a little while. I am off to my mom's house for the next few days to do some Christmas baking.

What are you wondering about on this fine Wednesday? Let us know! Use Mr. Linky to join in.

Have fun linking up but please remember two things...

1.Link directly to your “I Wonder Wednesday” post so people will have no trouble finding it.
2.Include a link back here from your own blog.