Chatbug Karen

Do you need a little incentive to start your holiday decorating? I am not talking about getting text alert system messages to kick your battootie. I am telling you about the Decorating for the Holidays Blog Hop! I am excited to be a part of this hop because I have already been inspired. Check out all 23 participating blogs. You will have great fun seeing how others have celebrated.

Click on the badge to see all the participating blogs.

Are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet? After listening to Straight No Chaser for the past half hour, I think I am definitely feeling the mood. If you need a lift, you can find them in their tuxedos singing Christmas songs on their new DVD. It is on my list of gifts to myself this year.

My eyes are tired after a full day of sewing. A friend said she would be out next week to look at my purses. She wants her husband to buy one for her for Christmas. That gave me the incentive to get a few incomplete purses finished. I finished two and almost completed the third before exhaustion set in. I am too tired to sew another stitch. Here is the Christmas purse I made.

I am afraid to look! I don’t know how many days there are left before Christmas but I know that soon it will be time to pick out Christmas party invitations, plan Christmas menus and get out the snow shovel.

One of my favorite gifts to buy is chocolate candy. We used to have a candy shop here in our town that was known for their gold brick candy. These were so good that our hometown hero, Cole Porter, would have them shipped to him wherever he might be.

This recipe is as close as I could find to what we used to buy at Arnold’s Candy Shop.

Gold Bricks

5 cups sugar
1 stick of butter (not margarine)
1 large can or 2 medium cans evaporated milk
2 packages chocolate chips
1 large package marshmallows
1 quart pecans

In heavy boiler bring sugar, butter, and milk to a boil. Boil hard for 7 minutes.
Take off heat and stir in chocolate chips and marshmallows.
Beat until thick.
Stir in pecans.
Pour onto wax paper and spread to 1 inch or less thickness.
Let cool.
Cut into small squares.

So, how was your Thanksgiving holiday? Ours was so nice. Busy but nice. I had hoped we would get to the theater to see Twilight but we did so much each day that come evening we were too tired to go to the movies. It wasn’t as if we had mesothelioma but we certainly had tired brains from figuring out where to be at what time and who had the food.

My sister and her husband came from eastern Kentucky and stayed at my Mom’s house. She lives about 10 minutes from us which made it nice to get together. My sister is good about getting us to sew a project while she is here. This time we made Christmas table runners. We visited a few fabric shops to get the required fabric and then we sewed.

My son and his fiance arrived on Thanksgiving day and ate their second big dinner of the day. Poor things. LOL They suffered through the good food at two households! One of these days, we might have turkey dinner at their place. Greg and Taryn are both wonderful cooks and bakers.