All is merry and bright in the cottage. We fell asleep to the lights of the Christmas tree last night, twinkling in the darkness of our bedroom, like stars in the night sky.
Category: The Holidays (page 26 of 38)
We finished decorating the cottage today, just in time for the first day of Advent. Our wreath is out and our purple candle lit. We usually don’t decorate this early, I would normally start getting things out by the second week of December, but with all the craziness of school at the moment, I knew if we didn’t do it now, we wouldn’t have the chance to do it.
Mr. Michie said I was like a Christmas Fairy, sprinkling the house with Christmas here and there. I will admit, every room has a bit of Christmas in it, it just has too! I thought I would share a couple of photos we took, while we were decorating.
I hope that you are enjoying today, wherever you may be and that peace is with you as we move into the season of Christmas.
“Hello December! We’ve been waiting for you!”
It is winter here, there is a frost on the ground again, the moon was a glowing orb last night from its heavenly perch.
The smell of pine is in the air, your breath escapes you in crispy wispy spirally tendrils and the twinkle lights are out, what could be better?
The candles are lit, an old Christmas movie is on at the moment, we are going to dig out Home for the Holidays later (a must to watch!), a turkey is roasting in the oven, my stuffing is going in soon. We have a little spinach and artichoke dip to snack on this afternoon that I made last night and our pumpkin pie is ready. We are going to celebrate Thanksgiving today and enjoy every moment of it!
I am a pioneer woman. All the women in my family are. We travel where our lives take us and we keep the home fires burning. My mother and her mother before that and her mother before that and so on have given me that gift, I am fortunate and I mean this with every ounce of humbleness, I am a good homemaker. I know how to keep a home and how to make a home, they have bestowed that blessing on me.
However, I am lucky in that, I am a modern pioneer woman, I am a pioneer woman with Skype. On this day before Thanksgiving when I can’t be with my family, I am blessed that I can see their beautiful faces.
It is not always easy being apart from them, but I am married now and wherever Mr. Michie is, is HOME. I am so fortunate, that when I packed up my wagon and headed in my case east vs. the west of wagons ho, I knew that it was not forever, to never ever see my family again. Those were brave women, to leave behind everything they knew, for a new world.
As you pack up your wagons to travel to family and friends this holiday season, I pray that you are well and your journeys safe.
{Image from Ox Cart Man}
We had so much fun last night! We cut up veggies for a snack platter and made a fresh goat cheese dip to go alongside it. I saw an idea on Martha Stewart ages ago, about making Halloween cheeseburgers, so that is what we did last night, they were very cute and very tasty!
We even ate Halloween carrot cake! I laid everything out and Mr. Michie set up the projector and the screen. The first on the bill of our double feature was Hocus Pocus. I have always loved this movie, you just can’t go wrong with it!
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy make excellent witches!
After a little intermission where we made cups of tea and sliced a piece of cake each, we watched our more “adult” feature, Fright Night.
I love the wonderful cheesiness of this movie, the formula it follows, I am not a horror movie watcher, but I can watch this, it is more funny then anything else and has just the right amount of “spook” factor for me.
The 80’s music is perfect. I am not embarrassed to say that after Mr. Michie made me watch this ages ago, I downloaded the soundtrack, you just can’t beat a good bit of 80’s music nostalgia!
I love that once bitten, your hair seems to miraculously not only change color but also grow! In the end, the boy saves the girl, they kiss and we are left with his friend Evil, now turned vampire, laughing demonically, just in case they wanted to make a Fright Night 2….
It was cold here last night, the rain and wind poured down in sheets through most of the evening and into the early hours of the morning. It is our taste of Hurricane Sandy.
The rain has stopped for the moment today, but the skies are silvery gray, as I look out the window across the street I can see the bare branches of the trees waving furiously as if they alone are beckoning in the first of the month.
Today is a day to bundle up, drink copious amounts of tea and read a good book and I think I am going to do just that!
Today is one of my favorite days of all, Halloween! Our house is filled with pumpkins, candles are lit, treats are ready and snacks are in the fridge. Tonight we will feast on Halloween Hamburgers, veggies and a homemade goat cheese dip, a little Halloween carrot cake and a double feature on the old movie screen.
We never got to watch Hocus Pocus last night, so tonight that is first on the bill of our double feature and then onto the old version of Fright Night. Mr. Michie made me watch it the other year, I still find it a bit hard to see Prince Humperdinck as a vampire, but there you go.
We are having so much fun watching these old movies, it might continue in to tomorrow, there is still Young Frankenstein and The Monster Squad to watch too…
Happy Halloween all you goblins, witches, wizards and black cats, may your trick-or-treating endeavors bring you many many treats!
(retro trick-or-treaters image found here)
It is that time of year again and Halloween wouldn’t officially be Halloween for me, if I didn’t get to watch Charlie Brown. So last night, was a movie night in our household. The scene was set, the candles were lit and it was FUN!
Yesterday afternoon I made a big pot of chili, using a new recipe that I adapted a little. When the chili was almost ready, Mr. Michie went to work making his famous guacamole to go on top of it, while I set up the screen and projector.
I love this projector, it is old, it has an old smell to it, not displeasing, just old and slightly musty, it is from the early 60’s, I feel like I am in my own little episode of Mad Men, when we set it up to watch something on it.
We popped a few beers, plunked down on the couch and watched. It was wonderful, as always, you just can’t go wrong with Charlie Brown. We left the screen up last night, I am planning on watching Hocus Pocus this evening, with a steaming cup of apple cider and a bowl of fresh popped popcorn.
(Poster image found here)
Mr. Michie took me to see Frankenweenie on Saturday afternoon for our weekend date. It was the perfect afternoon for it. The day was overcast, the rain was misting our hair and eyelashes as we walked through town and when we left the cinema the fog had started to settle in for the evening.
I can remember being little and the Disney Channel showing the people version of Frankenweenie, as it got closer to Halloween. They normally showed that right before they aired Mr. Boogedy, which had my sister and I glued to the couch and afraid to move once that was over. I look back at that movie now and just laugh, but at the time, that was big time scary!
We munched on popcorn and drank our soda and waited for our little feature to begin. There were a few smaller kids in there and they were extremely funny to listen to, as they shouted things at the screen with passion when something happened, it was cute.
The movie was bewitchingly crafted and had the hallmarks of a Tim Burton film. We sat entranced and enjoyed every moment. It was a very nice treat, after having such a long week at school, just a quirky film to take our mind off things.
If you had someone of the right age to have a Halloween Birthday Party around this movie, Sprinkles Bakes has created the sweetest little cake with Sparky on it. Even if you didn’t have a special party to make this for, it would be fun to bake it just for yourself! It looks Halloweeny delicious!
