"Tidings of Comfort and Joy"

A very merry Christmas to anybody who may wander past ! 
~ here the snow is still on the ground, my trusty sherpa has set forth for the last lot of provisions and the Scabble board will soon be making its first seasonal apppearance, so I will refrain from the sherry until later. I hope that you are able to enjoy this special time of year with your loved ones and a safe and warm journey to those who have still to reach their destination.

To A Wonderful, Merry, and Peacefully Chaotic Christmas…

From our Happy{ish}Home…

ok...maybe some of us don't like photo shoots that much

To yours…

You have all made my heart and soul sing.

Each of you…The commenter’s and readers…the non-commenter's and readers…the just looker’s

the e-mailer’s…each of you has warmed…

The veery cockles of my heart.

I think I wuv you. each of you.

Merry Merry Christmas!

And...for what it is worth...

I think the Big Black Dog is smitten with you…too.

yep. Positive

And an extra for what it's worth...Happy 22nd anniversary to us!

yep...cuhrazzy kids married on Christmas Eve!

Imagine.

Macarons and Good Times at Viking Cooking School

This past weekend was dedicated to baking and what a wonderful baker's weekend it was! 

Saturday morning kicked off with a class at Viking Cooking School.  It was my first class there and I can assure you it won't be my last.  I ended up in a group of four fun macaron-making wanabees.  It just so happened that one of our group members had just completed culinary school but was taking the class to perfect his macaron.    Rolf is a personal chef.   I'm not sure what all that entails but I would like to have one!

Having a chef in our group was a great excuse to let Rolf take the lead on preparations and he was great in explaining what he was doing.  It was like getting bonus instruction because our teacher was great.  

As you can see she was very "hands on" and oh so animated.  I enjoyed her enthusiasm. 

We mixed, 

and whipped,

and piped,

and waited for "legs" to appear. 

They did!!!

Adding filling was the easy part and Mary Ella and Christi went right to work filling our orange macarons with an incredible orange marmalade butter cream filling flavored with Triple Sec!!!  Wish I could share one with each of you but trust me, these delicious, delicate crisp bites just melt in your mouth.  Yum.

Blue flowers in black and white...

If you are on a very tight budget and don't want to spend a whole lot of money (or any at all), Picasa by Google is a simple but fairly effective editing tool. It doesn't have the options of Photoshop, Paintshop Pro or the GIMP, but it is fast and very easy to use. It has all that the amateur home photographer/happy snapper needs, so don't buy into the "I must have Photoshop" line, you can great results without blowing the bank or needing a three month course in how to use the program first! (Photoshop will not make you a better photographer either btw.)

Picasa also has a few extra little bits that make it easy to publish to Picasa's on-line web-album, resize for email, and even watermark, if you feel the need. Download it here: Picasa

Taken with a Nikon D90 and Nikon 35 f1.8DX, edited in Picasa.

"Welcome To The Pleasure Dome"

W IS FOR?

A WINTER WONDERLAND!
As I child I always hankered after a snow globe. I was fascinated by these glass globes, which encapsulated either festive or well known tourist scenes. Turning them upside down and shaking them resulted in magical and hypnotic snow flurries. I sadly never ended up with my own snow globe, so was delighted recently  to come across this grown up festive version in Liverpool. Much to my disappointment though despite the welcoming 'Have you be inside?, I could not work out an obvious way in and there was not an attendant in sight. So I was left to wonder whether I would have been shaken but not stirred and would the snow have whirled around me or would I have whirled round?

The wonderful letter W stars this week over at ABC Wednesday whilst over at Veg Plotting you can enjoy more seasonal whimsy out on the streets.

Martha Stewart had me at cocktail o’clock…

A box of vicks scented puff tissues…

and this lemon ginger hot toddy from Martha

Should cure what ails me.

sniff.

Any other great home remedies for the flu?

Snow Girl

While European travel is filled with delays, the grand girls in Germany are having the time of their lives with the never ending snow.   These southern chics are sledding, having snowball fights and just completed their first snow girl. Please note - snow girl is also a Falcon's fan!!!