Christmas spirit

[meadowood]

Comments

[apeacock]

you have such a neat house. and that's a great tree! One year I went out and cut off some branches of a tree/shrub in my yard. Stuck them in some pots of dirt ( I couldn't think of anything else heavy!) and put them by my front door outside. Hung lights on them and put xmas balls on them too. Really pretty! the next spring, after spending a couple of months, just hanging out in the yard where I had moved them after the holidays, they sprouted! I had cut off forsythia branches and didn't know it and the next spring they bloomed! :)

[meadowood]

neat as in tidy? or neat as in interesting? Cuz if its the former, you just caught me on a good day. ;)

so cool re: forsythia branches! I used bricks to anchor mine in the pot hence the white swirl underneath. The bush was dead to begin with and needed to be cut down anyway. Love those "twofers"! ;)

[apeacock]

both! :)

[karenleigh]

Your Solstice tree is so beautiful.

[meadowood]

Thanks Karen. The twirly branches of the viburnum help alot!

[tau]

Ive never seen pics of your house before! Its so gorgeous!

The tree is delightful - we got rid of our seasons tree this year because it was so old and we didn't have a spot for it with the renovations. I already miss it. :(

I gave up on surprises. Thoms no good at gift giving and I really do like getting what I actually want. Its ended up being a great thing for me, and its a fun reason to shop for myself instead of everyone else! Yay!

[meadowood]

Seriously Tau?? There's more on flickr if you're so inclined... (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenworden/sets/72157594325274130/)

I agree about the buying for one another but when even our stocking contents are known? Well. I'd kinda like just a little surprise! ;)

[tricia_joy]

your tree looks pretty. I think I see a tricia piece

[meadowood]

Three Tricia pieces actually! ;)

[sweetmadnes]

i love the solstice tree. i guess when you live in the country it's easy to get branches like that!

we're thin on xmas spirit too. we didn't get a tree, so there's no decorating. i haven't listened to any xmas music because there is so much in commercials that i'm sick of it. i haven't wrapped or mailed any presents yet. we won't be with family, but we will be with debb. i don't think i'm making gingerbread this year because it is such a PITA and debb, greg, john and i are supposed to be dieting. maybe if i work on my presents some more today it will perk me up a bit.

[meadowood]

Yep, branches, brush're easy pickings from the "back 40"! These are branches from a dead viburnum that needed to be cut down anyway. Win-win.

Why is gingerbread a PITA?? I spread it over two days. Make the dough one day, bake the next. Or whenever. I make rounds (think pillsbury cookies) and just slice off what we need. Pretty simple.

[sweetmadnes]

i find rolling out the gingerbread to the proper thickness to be pretty hard. then you have to cool the dough again between each time you cut out the people. i need to get those rolling pin circular disks to help me roll out the dough to the proper thickness. rounds would be a lot simpler. i also have a recipe for chocolate ginger snaps, which are really good and much easier. but i bought a gingerbread cake mix and i think that will satisfy my ginger need for this year.

[meadowood]

Try putting the dough into a cylindrical shape then you don't have to roll out anything! Just slice and bake!