Oh Christmas tree...

Sorry for the extreme delay in posting folks, but I have been mighty busy this holiday season, moreso, than I ever thought I would. Like most of my Christmas's this one did not start out so great. Luckily I am the master of bad luck, and by master I mean I manage to take misfortunes very well. Someone once told me not to believe in karma, but I guess I do on some level. Despite the uncontrollable forces at work in our universe, things in life seem to simply go smoother when there is no deceit or malice about. You don't need some ancient ideology to instill that in anyone, it's common sense. People don't seem to realize this but, it takes work and maintenance to be BAD, but absolutely no effort at all to be GOOD. There are quite a few that would agree with me and just as many to disagree. Anyway, don't want to go to far off into a tangent. Though this holiday does have great basis on the workings of good and evil. Ya know, Santa Claus rewarding the good kids while the bad get coal instead of gifts. However, I don't believe that any child in the history of mankind has ever considered those ramifications. I know I never did and for the record, I still very much believe in Santy Claus, I accredit him for saving my own Christmas this year. As a child though, I never changed my behavior because of the season, perhaps I was just sweet enough...

Anyway, here is the tree I decorated. Most of the ornaments have been in my family since I can remember, some I made myself, some are new this year.


And yes that is a shake weight. Cab fare anyone?

I am huge on holiday arts & crafts and being that some personal tragedy struck me this season I was busy at it like never before. Anything to keep my head clear and out of bad thoughts, however there can be no rainbow without the rain and I was able to make an unexpected friend. I call her Cleo, and we met through eBay. She bought a childhood jewelry box from me along with a charm bracelet that had a keepsake of mine added free. Well after a common case of postal thievery, the package never made it to her. We corresponded for quite some time trying to retrieve any information we could but everything we tried failed. She was kind enough in allowing me to refund half the money she paid for in the exchange of making personal custom gifts to each other. My first ever custom swap! I've always wanted to participate in one. She put together and made me a gorgeous mermaid necklace with matching earrings. In turn, I made her a My Little Pony ponyville custom Christmas ornament.


Repainted with acrylics, the symbol was redone to stand out, eyes sealed in gloss and body sealed with mod podge.

For a friend of mine, I wanted to get the perfect gift. It is apparent to me he only loves two things; food and booze, so that's what I got him. After doing some extensive research on beer baskets, I came to the realization people were insane. Most of them were outrageously priced, 6 international beers for 117 dollars?! Sure place a bow on it around the holidays and suddenly things that aren't worth more than a few bucks, sky rocket. Any other ones I found were hardly any cheaper. Naturally, I got the brilliant idea to simply make my OWN beer basket but not only was I able to include the beers, I put in some snacks made from beer and even a select assortment of hot sauces, something which we both love. The best part is I spent less than 40 bucks for everything; 6 different exotic hot sauces, over 17 beers (some are under the paper, the basket wasn't big enough) each a different international beer I bought at the World Market for around $1.60 each, along with chips, cheese dips, and crackers all made from beer. I truly wish I remembered the name of the chip brand because they were DELICIOUS. So if you recognize them please let me know!

Beer basket of utter WIN!


Next up we have some hand painted ornaments, the whole set only cost 1.50 at Walmart. December 16 and the 17th are my two devoted Christmas shopping days, during this time prices on decorative items seem to drop drastically as the initial holiday rush winds down. Also nice to note that many Walmarts start stocking their holiday section in October at the garden center for cheaper as well. You'd be surprised how many people don't even notice and miss out.

Oops, forgot to mention I also bought a sculpey kit for making puppy print ornaments, also for $1.50. They came out beautifully I think but I didn't have time to paint them. My dogs faces were hilarious when I held their paws, like they had done something wrong and were being punished. If you can't tell their names are Gia and Bambi and I love them so.

Now no Christmas is complete without a holiday feast, unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures but I made a banging honey and aged brown sugar ham. I was able to eat on it for awhile, endless sandwiches and the like. I also made the most perfect Butter Herb Turkey, a recipe by Sandra Lee from Food Network. Of course with my own twists. I used three different types of finishing butter; sun dried tomato, cayenne, and lemon herb butter. I wedged coin size pieces in between the skin and meat of the bird and used a stove top stuffing recipe to stuff the gullet and neck area, sealing it up in twine. My first ever turkey! Took about 4 hours but I found it to be so delicious. I don't think I am ever going to make a turkey with another recipe!

To finish this blog off (finally) I made and decorated a peppermint gingerbread house that I also bought at the World Market on sale for about $8.50, TJ MAXX is another place to find randomly super inexpensive items during the holidays. In fact right now I am going to purchase a pair of all black Speedo swim goggles I saw on sale for six freaking dollars, I can only hope they are still there..

Only have a top view of it but it was my first gingerbread house and ton of fun to make, not to mention yummy to eat.

Remember, things in life may come at you unexpectedly, but the outcome is only yours to create. Do what you love in order to fight off the bad that may come. Even if you are alone, you don't have to be lonely. I hope everyone has a wonderful life, no matter who you are.

Merry Christmas!



Word of the Blog

concupiscible-

1. Worthy of being desired.