hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. ours was filled with lots of eating, christmas shopping, tree cutting, and tree decorating. can’t believe christmas is just around the corner! i’ve been enjoying the daily inspiration from the holiday countdown of sweet paul [a new york food and prop stylist]. especially this photo wreath he constructed for country living…

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
we started the morning off with our tradition of cinnamon bun scones and the macy’s thanksgiving day parade. bread machine rolls are in process, and we are looking forward to celebrating [...]

thanksgiving is day after tomorrow, christmas is a month out, and i haven’t even thought about either. yikes! happily, all year i’ve been bookmarking gift ideas for just such an occasion. i’m going to do my best to get in a post a day with gift ideas. if nothing else, hopefully it will spark some [...]

well, i was going to start my week of christmas gift ideas tonight, but instead i went to go visit my newest nephew dylan who arrived this afternoon. he has a pretty awesome head full of hair, and super squishy cheeks. i loved getting to meet snuggle him. a pretty good excuse to skip blogging, [...]

everyday food has been coming up huge for me recently. lots of new recipes to add to the notebook. this recipe was a fresh take on the standard chicken + rice dish. it was different and yum. a bit of a greek flair. and you really can’t get much easier than melting some butter in [...]

for all those who have inquired, this is what our tree of thanks looks like…

super simple.
a crayon tree colored on a large sheet of butcher paper.
construction paper leaves.
every morning at breakfast we write down something we are thankful for,
initial it and glue it on the tree.
it’s been fun watching it fill up over the past [...]

“All things may be against me ‘to drive me to despair’,
I do not understand what is happening;
but I know this,
I know that God has so loved me
that He sent His only begotten Son
into this world for me,
I know that while I was an enemy,
God sent His only Son to die on the Cross on Calvary’s [...]

love this idea from tiffany at simply modern mom for making a thanksgiving garland. she gives a thorough tutorial over at tangled and true. i’m tucking this idea away for next year. although, honestly, i don’t know if i could talk the kids out of making our traditional thankfulness tree…

[image credit. www.carissagallo.com]
it’s friday. and i’m glad. my boy has been gone since saturday on a business trip, hence the lack of posting this week. he’s coming home in a few hours. oh my. i. can’t. wait. looking forward to being a family again…
a few random goods from the web this week…

a field journal has [...]

i made pumpkin spice whoopies from cuisine nie the other night for a little weekend treat, and boy were they ever good. rich, yes. but ooooh, so good.

[image via cuisine nie]
PUMPKIN SPICE WHOOPIES
for the cookies:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 package spice cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
for the marshmallow spice filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 [...]