CHRISTMAS EVE

Well, I blink and before I can believe it, I find myself on December 24.  Christmas Eve.  My family attended the 11:00 a.m. worship service at church and it was some kind of good Christmas Eve service.  Getting to hear the beauty of the music and words of "O Holy Night" and choir singing of "Tell Me The Story of Jesus Christmas Medley" were wonderful.  Oh, and I can't forget "Mary, Did You Know?"  I always ponder if Mary really comprehended at first the amazingness of her sweet little baby.

Then the Christmas Eve sermon touched me as well.  The text, "What would you be in the Christmas story?"  Well my first thought was a shepherd as I loved that they were so poor but got to hear the wonderful news of the Savior first.  The Pastor, though, said we all should be stars.  The star shone brightly leading the way to the manger and the baby.  As "stars" we can shine brightly and lead others to Jesus.  I love that!

There was news after the service of the passing this morning of a long time friend.  This brought sadness to my heart for his sweet family and I often wonder what exactly "the plan" is.  I realize that's not for me to know.  It is for me to continue in faith and trust in this sweet Jesus.  Because of that baby born in a stable, we can be comforted and loved in times of plenty and times of such sadness.

As we gather with loved ones to celebrate and give gifts, let us not forget the greatest gift of all--Jesus.  Because of HIM, we have all that we need.

So in the words of a song sang this morning by the Children's Choir:

Happy Birthday Jesus! 
I'm so glad it's Christmas.
All the tinsels and lights
And the presents are nice
But the real gift is you.

Happy Birthday Jesus!
I'm so glad it's Christmas.
All the carols and bells
And the holiday's swell
But the real gift is you.

Happy Birthday Jesus!
Jesus, I love you!

"Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift."  2 Corinthians 9:15

CHICKEN NOODLE CASSEROLE "MINISTRY"

The countdown stays on for Christmas!  Food is a big part of Christmas but actually as I age it grows less and less important.  Maybe I'm just strange or maybe I'm just older and wiser and tired of the kitchen.

Every now and then, though, I enjoy a bit of entertaining.  This season I was blessed to serve a few of the widows in my neighborhood a lunch.  The oldest sweet one here had the age of  99.5 years old.  Amazing and such an honor for me!  If I live to be 99.5 years old, I want to be just like her!   I could not believe after they left I didn't take any pictures.  Can you believe me?  NO pictures.

The time was enjoyable to me and to them.  I enjoyed reading them the Christmas story from Luke and listening to their conversations.  We ate a lunch of Chicken Noodle Casserole, Green Beans, Yeast Rolls, and Chocolate Cake.

The Husband calls my Chicken Noodle Casserole a "ministry" as I take it to folks who are sick or need cheering.  I have a selfish reason for that particular dish as it is easy to prepare, freezable, and delicious most times.  I have adapted the recipe from one I found so I will share my adapted way of doing it in case you blog readers want to try for your family.  Or neighbors.  Or just you.  :)  I got the original recipe from a cookbook of recipes from pastors so it must be a Christian recipe.  :)

Just a bit of trivia about green beans that my mother-in-law taught me years ago.  When you use fresh ones, do in pressure cooker.  I usually use canned ones from the grocery store.  One can season with salt pork or ham.  I throw in a vegetable bouillon cube also.  The other tip from my MIL is to let them burn just a tad...not real burn but a bit of sticking before turning them off.  Something I did learn last summer is that you can freeze fresh broken green beans in a vacuum seal bag and when you use them and cook them in the pressure cooker, they taste exactly like you just picked them from the garden.  (No charge for that lesson learned.)  :)

My yeast rolls are certainly not from scratch but I have found that the Kroger kind in their freezer section are the absolute best risers and tasters.  Here, it takes them several hours to rise.  You just put them frozen on your cookie sheet, spray some waxed or plastic wrap with Pam, lay on top of rolls, and walk away.  Cook when ready.

CHICKEN NOODLE CASSEROLE 

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped (I never use bell pepper as we don't like it...you should use if you like it.)

1 small pimiento, diced (I use the jar pimento...doesn't taste much but adds a bit of red color to an un-    red dish)

1/2 chicken, boiled and boned (I use about 3 chicken breasts for my recipe.)

2 (10 3/4 oz cans cream of mushroom soup--can use all cream of chicken or a mixture or all mushroom.  I actually sometimes use a third just to make it not dry.)

1 cup reserved broth (again, I use a bit more to make not dry.  I usually use the premade broth in the casserole.)

Parsley flakes to taste (also add color)

1 (12 oz package spaghetti--I like to use the wide or extra wide noodles.  The bag is 16 oz but I guess at what portion is 12 oz.  If you have too many noodles, add a bit more broth when mixing.  An extra I do also is to boil these noodles in my remaining chicken broth that the chicken cooked in.)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Saute onion and pepper in small amount of butter.  Add pimiento, chicken, soup, broth and parsley flakes.

Boil noodles (boil in the used chicken broth), drain, and add to chicken mixture.  Add 1 cup (or more if you want) grated cheese to chicken and noodle mixture.

Pour into greased casserole dish and cover top with remaining cup of grated cheese.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.  Serves 6.

It's really hard to mess up this recipe.  I often double it and freeze one recipe in several servings to freeze.  For freezing, can or cannot top with cheese for freezer.  Fine to wait until cooking.  Wrap in plastic wrap and foil and use within a couple of months. These make great single servings in those little mini foil disposable loaf pans.  The Husband likes his to be spicy hot so he adds crushed red pepper flakes....so many options!

This double recipe fed my guests and then my family with those leftovers.  Two other casseroles fed two of my family households and two others went to my freezer for future use.  Yum!

HO HO, HI-LIGHTS, AND HALLELUJAHS!

Can you believe it's only one week until Christmas Day?  This past weekend held lots of Christmas fun for my family.  Plans had been to see "HoHo" the first weekend in the month, but The Grandbaby and I had the dreaded stomach virus.  This weekend, sadly, The Grandaddy had a sore throat so The Nana and The Grandaddy missed the fun.  I really missed them also as we all enjoy that time together.

Last year, The Grandbaby sat in "HoHo's" lap happily.  This year, not so much.  The line was a tad longer and The Grandbaby enjoyed all the sights while waiting.

Then it was her turn to sit with "HoHo" as The Girl pulls her along....

After the visit and a nice meal, we went to the local light display.  Wow...it was beautiful!

There was another "HoHo" with his reindeer...

Winnie the Pooh...

and Tigger, too....

Snow Monsters...

the Coca-Cola bear (The Grandbaby was having none of him)...

Rudolph....an obvious favorite...

..did I say The Grandbaby is sporting a vintage coat and hat?  35-36 years old--it was her Mama's.

Dada got to enjoy being a snowman...

and posing at the favorite Christmas tree in the display, The Grinch!

Of course, there was the real reason for the season...

and many poses...

The next morning, the family of three went to see the "HoHo" at a Breakfast with Santa event at my sister's church.  It, too, was memorable.  She only warmed up to him when he asked her about her favorite things--animals....here's the event...

For years upon years I had directed the Children's Choir at my church.  Each Christmas on a Sunday morning, we would present a "concert".  I was trying to remember yesterday how many times I had smilingly told parents, "Don't worry if your child doesn't stand still.  They are children."  Well, yesterday I observed as The Grandbaby participated in her first Children's Choir Christmas Concert.  I will say that my heart was full of joy, not only that she was there but that The Girl plays the piano and helps with this group.  Joys abound.  Pictures show the activity....

She started off pretty good until she saw her buddies on the back row.

Then she lasted a short time holding the hands of her buddies.  These guys really look out for her.

From there, it went to here....the singing was wonderful and all did a fabulous job.

Bells were ringing as they always do...

And that, my blog readers, is the REAL reason for the season.....Jesus came!  Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Consider....

LIFE LIKE A HALLMARK MOVIE

This past weekend was a wondrous surprise of SNOW!  Friday was a nice day of watching the huge flakes fall and accumulate while we stayed toasty snug in our warm house.  Saturday morning brought an early morning power outage which changed the warm house to a slightly warm house that was dark.  I do dislike being in the dark.  I would never have been a good Pioneer woman.  I can barely see in the light, so by candlelight is impossible.  And aren't we so funny how we constantly flip the light switches when we go into a room, whether they respond with light or not.  It's hard to break our habits.  Anyways, 11:00 p.m. last night, the light returned.  Ahh, joy....

If one overlooks the power outage which would NOT occur in a Hallmark movie, the beauty of this snow surpassed any I have ever seen in all of my years.  The trees covered with the snow, the smooth yards and hills, the beauty, oh the beauty!  The Husband said, "It's like a Hallmark movie"  as we ventured out to visit The Grandbaby and watch her play in the snow.  When all was said and done there was eight to nine inches of the beautiful white snow.   I hope you got some to enjoy as well.

Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words so here's many thousands of words....

 Snow was falling constantly from tops of trees like this picture shows...note the "snow fog" about the middle of the picture right above the fence.

And of course there was a snowman--Auburn style, of course...

sledding....

and plastic bag boots.

Snow angels were made....

and smiles, posing, and joy were abundant.

The weekend ended with the annual church Christmas program.  I have always said I would have liked to have been a shepherd if I could have been in Bethlehem that night my Jesus came as a baby.  What a wonder of the shepherds, so poor and lowly, to have been give the very best gift of all!  In a sense, this weekend ended for me as a shepherd--a Gramma shepherd.  The Girl was director and the sheep didn't want to stand alone so The Gramma stepped up.  Yes, blessings abound.

I would say, life was not like a Hallmark movie, it was BETTER!