Today marks 10 years since my Grandma H. passed away. Sometimes I’m surprised at how much you can miss someone when they have been gone so long. One of my most cherished memories was the last time I saw her in the nursing home. I crawled into bed next to her, and she stroked my hair and told me how much she loved me. This little glass butterfly was a gift from me to her while she was in the nursing home. Now it is a part of my home and my memories.
(I will post this weekend’s photos tomorrow.)
Every once in a while I do a food post, which may give you the impression that I can cook or bake. Sorry to disappoint – but I can’t. I always want to make something new when I go to parties, but usually it doesn’t turn out quite right. I try to make it a little healthier, I fail at substituting ingredients, or I over cook it. So for Christmas at my in-laws’ this weekend, I decided to stick with the basics and make my mother-in-law’s favorite: no bake cookies. For some reason when I’ve made them in the past, they’ve failed to set up. Every. Single. Time. So she gave me her fail-safe recipe and told me to follow it exactly. I followed it to a T: I used real oats and high fat margarine, and I let it boil for 2 minutes. They didn’t set up. Again.
While I retreated to the other room to scream in a pillow, my husband peeled them off the waxed paper and threw the gooey mess in the fridge. After about 30 minutes, they hardened into little mushy clumps.
So after wasting about an hour, I had no choice but to make something new with ingredients I had on hand. I decided to try this pumpkin chip cookie recipe. Since I’d already ate too much batter I didn’t try one of these cookies last night, but they look like they might have turned out. (Although looks can be deceiving.) I suppose this time I should have stuck with the new recipe rather than try something old. But … ya never win.
I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of Christmas lights lately, so I decided to shoot a different kind of light. Since yesterday brought unseasonably warm temperatures, it was the perfect opportunity to set up the tripod and photograph lights at night. These neon signs light up the front of the Quaff Bar & Grill in downtown Kansas City.
I know, I know. The title isn’t very creative. But these are two semi-random crafty/holiday photos that don’t really have a story behind them, except that I shot these photos on Monday and Tuesday. Enjoy!
One of the best things about the holiday season is the Christmas lights. Friday evening we drove around Kansas City to look at outdoor Christmas lights. My favorite light display is at Crown Center, with the giant Christmas tree and lot of smaller trees covered in white lights and surrounded by water fountains.
Finally on Sunday Jerod and I had time to go get a Christmas tree and decorate it. The best part was turning off the overhead lights, eating cookies, and drinking eggnog as we admired our tree.
Saturday evening we attended the Fountain City Brass Band Bells-a-Plenty concert. These brass players never cease to amaze me; they’ve won world titles in Britain – a country known for brass bands. FCBB is probably the best brass band in America. If you live in the Kansas City area, go to one of their concerts.
(I’m coming back to Friday’s photo – I’m going to post it with Sunday’s photo since they have a similar theme.)
A few nights ago I pulled out a family recipe book to make some cookies for our holiday party at work. I thought I’d try something different and cute, so I decided to make candy cane cookies. Several hours later … I finally finished forming the last one. They were cute, but I could tell the recipe came from a stay-at-home mom. Or maybe I’m just a slow baker. If you have lots of free time, I’d be happy to send you the recipe.
On my way to work yesterday morning I saw a giant military airplane sitting at our tiny downtown airport. I was hoping it would still be there on my way home; it would be the perfect photo for Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. My husband got to see the plane from his office window as it took off later that morning. “It was hard to miss,” he said. “It pretty much took up the entire window.” If only I had left my camera with him! When trying to figure out what else to take a photo of on my way home, I noticed the bright moon and cloud formations around it. So I present to you my second-choice photo.
Yesterday evening my church hosted a Ladies Christmas Tea for over 450 women. I’m not used to doing much of anything elegant, but it was fun to look at the fancy table settings, sip tea with other ladies, sing carols, and listen to an inspirational speaker. (KMBC 9’s Lora Moritz, who is pretty well-known in Kansas City.) The desserts at our table were incredible, as was the message of hope – don’t you wish you had been there?
Yesterday marked the 14th year I’ve participated in Tuba Christmas – a holiday concert performed by tuba and euphonium players. This year was unique, because we had the honor of performing in the exquisite new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The concert was standing room only, with some people even in a reception hall viewing the concert on-screen. I’m proud to say this is probably the most crowded the Helzberg Hall at the performing arts center has ever been. I mean, who wouldn’t want to listen to 600 low-brass players belt out Christmas music?
Photographic Rhodes 