Day 198 ~ Enjoying My Snow Day

What a day! ... Just finished wrapping a ton of gifts.  Do not ask me how I ended up with a ton of them, because it wasn't like I did a bunch of shopping.  Okay, and money does come into play as well- not like we had a ton of it laying around either.  

Doesn't matter how you look at it, I feel blessed that we even have some gifts under our tree.

Then there's tomorrow... I just finished my plan on what I need to get done tomorrow... and it is not pretty!  

I have the line up of all the cookies Calley and I will be making tomorrow.  Comes out to be around fourteen dozen.  Yes I said fourteen!  But, I am only making about six or so different kinds... my famous oatmeal/raisin/pecan cookies, my signature cinnamon roll cookies (I will not be sharing this recipe, just sayin'), turtle cookie bars, and fudge.  I know fudge is not a cookie, however I am making it.  A Christmas time must.  I know there's one or two more, but I do not want to get up to get my to do list.

Why am I making so many?  Well, it's the ultimate gift this time of year.  Right up my alley.  Which means, that I will enjoy baking and cooking with Calley most the day; giving treats is easy on the pocket; and it spreads love and joy.  What a great way to give and spread cheer!  

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned what I am dreading to do on my list and have tried my best all week to avoid... going to the store tomorrow!  Y-I-K-E-S!!!  I discovered that I need just a few more stocking stuffers.. just a bit shy.  Darn Christmas stockings!  (don't want the stockings to be all skinny!)  Oh and I need just a tad more butter and sugar for the baking.

AY! That's not the half of it... We woke up to snow this morning, which does not happen every year in western Texas, let alone at Christmas time.  So Lord knows what the roads will be like in the morning.  Ideally, I would love to be at Target right when the doors open, and then hit Sam's on the way back home, stopping only for dog food.

Question of the hour... What will the weather bring us tonight?  How will it affect my morning?  (I know that was two questions, not like I'm in the 9 items or less line)  Goal is to be back home by 9am... What do you think?  Whatever way it goes, I will have fun and be safe.  After all it is Christmas Eve tomorrow, which only brings more festivities in the Karam family.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.    - Burton Hillis

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,

...   ten years of music

...   nine cousins playing

...   eight years of lovin' 

...   seven days of singing

...   six months of blogging
...   five rooms plus more

...   four loving dogs

...   three cook books

...   two ceiling fans 

...   our little girl, we call Calley

Blessings to all!!

167 days to go...

PS... I love and miss you boys.  To the moon and stars above and back.  You are my sunshines.

All contents herein are protected under Copyright laws and can not be used, altered or copied.  All accounts herein are written by Carla B Karam and are true accounts of her life.  Some names may be changed to protect the innocent or protect me from the guilty.  (just kidding...wink, wink)

Picture credits... images courtesy of Bing images.

Day 196 ~ From Our Home To Yours

In tonight's post, I would like to share with you how my family has been spending this Christmas season.  From our home to yours we wish you the best this Christmas and all year long.  For our love ones no longer with us, we will always hold you in our hearts and minds.  

God bless us everyone ...

I think we, Calley and I, pretty much started baking the day after Thanksgiving, and it has been bliss ever since!  Above we were baking our famous Oatmeal/Raisin/Pecan cookies... one word ... N-U-M-M-Y!  Below, our Christmas sugar cookies.. mm..mm..good!

While decorating our family Christmas tree, we stopped for a quick kodak moment, I should actually say, for a Cyber-shot moment..  (wink, wink)  

I am in BIG trouble!  I must say that Calley can be really bossy.  She knows how she likes things... down to where the ornaments should go!  Not a good sign.  Note to self... nip Calley's take charge attitude in the butt immediately (well maybe just a little, I do want her to be a leader-  we'll have to work on this one)!!

WOW!!  My baby is growing up!  (so sad.)  Well, she certainly is fun!  She was so happy to see Santa.  She asked him if she could tell him what she wanted for Jesus' birthday.  That's my girl!   

Calley has certainly made Christmas very special this year.  At five years old, she is very involved and wants to help with everything.  She is always showing us what she can do, and asks if we are proud of her, which of course we are.  She really is an amazing little girl, even if she is hard to keep up with half of the time.  (wink, wink) 

                                                               

              

Calley has had a hand in everything.  She was having such fun that she put the stockings on for shoes, Santa's beard and hat. (above left)  Calley even helped folding the hand towels in her bathroom, and placing them just so.  

When it came to making our Christmas wreath, I really enjoyed her reaction.  We first lined up all of our pieces we needed for the project, teaching her what everything was as we went along.  First, I took the ribbon and wrapped it around the wreath, then added the pines and glued the ornaments on.  Calley was in awe as she watched it come together.  Finally... this was really cute... as I picked up the ribbon, I twisted it, looped it, and twisted it, over and over again.  I repeated the twisting and looping several times... until.... VioLa!  With a couple of little snips on the ends, I had a beautiful bow.  All the while Calley was saying...  "ooo... oh wait... ooo... wait...oooooo mommmy.  WOW!"   

Nothing like a day at the park... I love to watch Calley run all over and get her "energy" out of her system.  This time, I was able to relax and take pictures while my sister did all the chasing.  She could not keep up with Calley!  (lol)  We returned all tuckered out, even me.  (big smile)

When Calley and I cook, we have our little routine.  Calley helps me collect the ingredients for the Creamy Cilantro dip for my 1st Annual Karam Family Christmas Spa Day, we line them up and prep them according to quantity needed.  And... VioLa!  

From here on out we'll be making lots of holiday treats, dishes and etc... we'll share some of the recipes, and some are just special for our family.  I'm sure you understand.  

A Christmas Prayer 

Loving Father, help us to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men. 

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.  Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.  Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts. 

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen!   

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 

...   eight years of lovin' 

...   seven days of singing
...   six months of blogging
...   five rooms plus more

...   four loving dogs

...   three cook books

...   two ceiling fans, 

...   our little girl we call Calley

Blessings to all!!

169 days to go...

PS... I love and miss you boys.  To the moon and stars above and back.  You are my sunshines.

All contents herein are protected under Copyright laws and can not be used, altered or copied.  All accounts herein are written by Carla B Karam and are true accounts of her life.  Some names may be changed to protect the innocent or protect me from the guilty.  (just kidding...wink, wink)

Picture credits... images are property of Carla Barila Karam and of this blog, Taking Back My Life ~ Making It My Own.

Day 194 ~ Calley IS Christmas!

So far this Christmas season has been the best season in a very long time!  Calley, as you can see, is a enjoying everything Christmas.  We have baked cookies, decorated, wrapped some gifts, put some lights up, baked more cookies, we're learning one new Christmas carol each day, and baking more cookies.  (Big Smile)

I have decided that regardless of the fact that funds are a little tight this season, I was going to make it the best Christmas ever.  And as I take a moment to look around, all I see is the love around me.  Not only that, but I see Christmas.

No, I do not mean in the Christmas tree in the corner, or the garland by the window... what I mean is that I see Christmas flowing out of our hearts and into our lives.

Personally, I strongly feel that it is Calley.  Look at her.  I am seeing Christmas through her eyes and it is absolutely beautiful.  Takes me back to the way I used to see Christmas as a little girl.  

Funny, when we are out and about and we see a Santa out in front of the store, she says, "Mommy, that's Santa's cousin helping down here while Santa works at the North Pole."  I love my Christmas with my Calley girl.  I am truly blessed.

You see, I already have my Christmas gift.  Thank you for allowing me to see what I already have... a family I would not trade for the world!  The family I always wanted.

  

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall." ~ Larry Wilde, author 'The Merry Book of Christmas'. 

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 

...   six months of blogging

...   five rooms plus more

...   four loving dogs

...   three cook books

...   two ceiling fans, 

...   our little girl we call Calley

Blessings to all!!

171 days weeks to go...

PS... I love and miss you boys.  To the moon and stars above and back.  You are my sunshines.

All contents herein are protected under Copyright laws and can not be used, altered or copied.  All accounts herein are written by Carla B Karam and are true accounts of her life.  Some names may be changed to protect the innocent or protect me from the guilty.  (just kidding...wink, wink)

Picture credits... images are property of Carla Barila Karam and of this blog, Taking Back My Life ~ Making It My Own.

Day 113 ~ Fall... One of My Favorite Things

Saugus, California October, 2007

When I came across this picture tonight, my breath was suddenly taken away with the reminder of a few of my favorite things I love about [my] life, this time of the year, and the season itself...

One of my obvious favorites is this picture... Calley had just recently turned one; Dino, Calley, and I had a little "family time."  We took a little drive (which ended up being an adventure in itself since we had ran into an unexpected road closure- bottom line it took us three times as long to get there...) and took a drive to the local pumpkin farm in Saugus, California and soaked in a little bit of Fall.  After all, the season was in the air, a slight crispness to the air... a chill if you will...  yet warm enough not to have a jacket... all the signs were there and very clear, it was fall and time to bring pumpkins home.  Which takes me into...   

Another favorite...  the time of the year ~ September, into October, and nowhere near Halloween... All we have to focus on is the season approaching.  I love fall.  Fall is in a category all in itself... there's a certain charm to fall... the leaves falling off of some trees, then turning colors on others.  All the while the summer's harvests are being put to delicious use, the lawns are turning and needing less care.  

My other favorite is the smell of love in the oven! ...  pumpkin pies, apple pies, and so much more.    The smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, and maybe a little butter linger out the door, all the while hypnotizing you with the sweet memories of home.

Call me crazy, if you haven't already - lol hehehe  but I love wearing fall colors in the fall.  Go ahead, I give you permission to laugh... there's something about September ending, and Fall starting, that I stop wearing black and vivid colors ... and gradually switch over to wearing brown, greens and oranges.

There's something about Fall that brings a family together... whether it is because of all the love coming out of the kitchen or the warmth opening the hot oven leaves behind, one thing is for sure...  

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year!

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.
Stanley Horowitz

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

-  Albert Camus 

Blessings to all!!

252 days to go...

All contents herein are protected under Copyright laws and can not be used, altered or copied. All accounts herein are written by Cali-Gal/Carla B Karam and are true accounts of her life. Some names may be changed to protect the innocent.