What Defines Christmas to You

Just thinking. And wondering. From tonight until Christmas, I'm going to be focusing on the beauty of Christmas. I want to try and do things that mean Christmas to me. But what? What really defines Christmas to me. I'm being brutally honest here. These are the things that bring me joy and make Christmas the most wonderful time of the year. Hmmmm. As my lists always are, in no particular order.

1. Listening to Christmas carols. I love the old, old ones. I like to listen to the ones that were popular in the '40, '50s and '60s. I try to imagine what Christmas was like back then.

2. Watching Christmas TV shows and movies. I love Christmas television shows. And once again, I like the old ones. Betwitched, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Andy Griffith, The Brady Bunch (now there's a classic), Good Times, All in the Family. Well, you get the picture. And we've watched National Lampoon Christmas Vacation at least twice all the way through. We play it in pieces the entire Christmas season. Charlie Brown's Christmas is my most favorite. Next on my schedule is It's a Wonderful Life. I'm hoping my DVR is going to catch all the old sitcoms that will be on.

3. Snow globes. I will post a picture soon of my Christmas snow globes that I've been collecting since Jeff and I were married. I don't know how many I have. I've never thought to count. I love each and every one of them and they are my favorite Christmas decoration. My great-grandmother had one of the little blue plastic ones and I remember shaking it and watching the flakes inside. I couldn't have been more than about 5 or 6. You might say I've liked them awhile. For the next few days, I think I'll wind a few up and watch the snowflakes fall.

4. My MaMa Kimball's Not Like a Fruitcake Fruitcake. I made it again this year. It seemed dry at first, but I reached in my bag of tips and remembered that MaMa always put an apple slice or two with hers and it stayed moist and wonderful. This isn't your average, dried out, crumbly, full-of-who-knows-what. No, this is one that has 8 cups of pecans. Oh, yeah, it's divine. I'm blowing my diet from now until Christmas. MaMa Kimball's Not Like a Fruitcake Fruitcake comes but once a year. I'm eating it. I'll just have to spin that much harder in January.

5. And coincidentally, this one came last. Maybe it's because it's the one I'm focusing on the most. This year I'm going to really soak Christmas in. I'm going to enjoy every single second that I spend with every single person that I'm with this holiday. I'm going to make pictures to remember with, both on my camera and in my heart. I'm going to celebrate the birth of my Lord. I'm going to enjoy the smiles and expressions on my sweet boys. They'll always be boys, to me. I'm going to sleep with my Christmas snowflakes lighting my bedroom so beautifully. I'm going to enjoy the chaos that is Christmas Eve with my precious nephews, niece and my sweet sisters! I'm going to be thankful for what I have. I'm going to pray for others. The people that I know and people that I don't. There are children hurting and there are grown-ups hurting. I'm going to remember them all.

What about you? What's defines Christmas to you?

Till next time. Live. Love. Laugh. And do it with all your heart!

Working, Shopping, Wrapping & Baking

Do you ever wonder how in the world you get it all done? Today I've worked. I shopped. I wrapped. And now I'm baking.

And the funny thing about this is that I DON'T LIKE TO COOK! It's taken me a little while to publicly admit that I just don't like cooking. It's not natural. It's not womanly. It's not maternal.

I'm making Pioneer Woman's Christmas Rum Cake. I had not quite half a cup of rum. I needed more. So I just poured the rum that I did have in an ice cold glass of Diet Coke. Wow. It was so good. Even after the Diet Coke and rum, guess what? I still don't like to cook.

I'm also making a big pasta salad to take to our South Georgia Christmas tomorrow. We're gathering at my cousin Rick and his wife, Jackie's house. They live in Alpharetta, which is about an hour away. Even before I started to drink the rum, I had mishap after mishap in the kitchen. For example:

1. Spilled an entire, FULL CUP OF CHOPPED NUTS. (Yes, Bandit was quite happy.) Maybe that was what caused her to poop in the house. (Yes, I was SO NOT HAPPY!)

2. Burned my fingers on the pan with the boiling water and pasta.

3. Dropped half the noodles down the drain after burning my fingers on the pan with the boiling water and pasta.

4. Thought I bought olives with no pits. Bit into one. Guess what? Picked up the wrong jar.

5. Removed the pits from exactly 12 olives. Didn't take me long to decide that a machine needs to do that job. This pasta salad will have 12 olives only.

Those things have happened and I have not yet mixed up my cake yet. Jeff had to stop on his way home from work and get me some more rum. I may have to have another Diet Coke to make it through the rest of this cooking project.

Hope y'all are getting all of your Christmas chores done, and that you're enjoying every minute of it. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Till next time.

Lifesaver Storybook

Around here tomorrow is the last day of school before the Christmas holidays begin. I've been reminiscing tonight about what that last day was like when I was a little girl.

We always had big class parties. We had a room mom who would bring refreshments for us. I don't remember making very many Christmas ornaments or crafts, but there is one craft in particular that I made that my mom and dad still have. I don't even remember making it really. It was a baby food jar, filled with water -- I guess it was water, but it's still crystal
clear -- and it had plastic holly inside. I always loved it when she brought out that jar.

I also remember these.


My friends and I would exchange gifts. I'm sure you know how that goes. Some girls would start telling you in November that they were going to give you a gift, so naturally, you would make sure to get them something. Sometimes they gave you something; sometimes not. But that didn't matter. My mom always bought several of those Lifesaver books for me to give my friends. And usually a friend gave me a Lifesaver book, too.

Sometimes we would leave our house after school and head to south Georgia to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents and my uncles in Twin City. It was a three-hour drive and I can remember sitting in the backseat of the car with my sisters looking at the wonderful little gifts we had gotten at school that day. The thing I remember the most is those Lifesaver books. And the occasional LipSmacker.

Santa brings my boys a Lifesaver book each and every year. I don't know if they like them or not, but nevertheless, they get one. Sometimes I curse Santa for bringing them because the silver wrappers are everywhere, but Santa knows what he's doing. He knows that one day my boys may remember, with the same fond memory as I, the Lifesaver Sweet Storybook.

Till next time. Be a blessing to someone this holiday season. You don't have to look far to find someone who needs one. Maybe you can share a Lifesaver Storybook.

Tybee Lost a Great One

If you've been reading my blog a while, you know we always vacation on Tybee Island and have been for many years. It's my favorite place on earth.

We're lucky enough to make the trip several times a year. One of them being in February when we go down to celebrate Ms. Sylvia's birthday and Jeff's too. This year Ms. Sylvia turned 101 and Jeff turned 48.


Ms. Sylvia passed away peacefully yesterday. Her wishes were to be cremated and her ashes spread out over the water.

We were lucky to have hand the acquaintance of such a special and unique person. She lived life to its fullest and was an inspiration to me. Even though the numbers say you're old, and sometimes you might not feel the best, you need to get out there and enjoy your life, whether it's shaking a maraca or anything else that you love to do. Ms. Sylvia did and she really enriched the lives of the visitors of Doc's Bar.

She was the epitome of Living, Loving and Laughing.

Rest in peace, sweet Ms. Sylvia. We'll miss seeing you in your own little corner of Doc's.

Halloween Carol

I have been cleaning out my closet and listening to some Halloween music. It made me think about all the different Halloween songs there are. This one comes to my mind as probably the most popular.
Although really, what is scary about that image? Um. Nothing. Definitely not my favorite, although, I do remember the fun surrounding the movie and song.


Maybe I'm more of a I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me kind of girl.

No, thankfully, paranoia is one thing I don't have. So that one's not gonna get it either. Not my favorite.

How about Witchy Woman? That title could be about me. And I do like the song and the lyrics, but no, it's not my favorite Halloween carol.

One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple Eater. There is nothing to like about that song. Definitely not my favorite, and definitely my least favorite.

Do children even like that song?

To Lurch was fun. It was a new one that I had never heard before. I liked it, especially the voice of Lurch. Wasn't he so funny on the Adams Family?

Lurch would be such an awesome costume and you never see one. I think he's even better than Frankenstein. Lurch could be real, but Frankenstein, err uh, no. Great song, but not my favorite.


So that may lead you wonder what my favorite Halloween carol is. Or maybe you couldn't care less. Either way, here it is. It's the best Halloween song EVER!

How could you not love that fun song? Everyone was there. The zombies, the WolfMan, Dracula, Igor, The Coffin Bangers, and a vocal group "The Crypt-Kicker Five. Hands down, best Halloween song ever.

What about you? Do you have a favorite Halloween song? Let me know about it. Maybe it's one I've never heard and might be my new favorite. Nah, Monster Mash Forever!!!!

Till next time, Happy Halloween to all you readers of A Girl Named Kelly Kelly!

Outside My Window

Happy Fall, y'all! I made some pictures of the views outside my window a couple of days ago and tried for the longest time to post them. Blogger was having one of its fits and wouldn't let me. I decided I'd share them today because they're just too darned pretty not to remember.

The dogwood. Can you believe the color of those leaves? As I've said so many times about other colors in nature, you just don't find those colors in the box. Those come directly from God's hand.
Don't want to forget what my scarecrow looked like this year. Thank heaven Halloween is this weekend, although I could leave her up longer I guess. Her pom pom has fallen out and she looks like she'd like a break from the weather.

Speaking of the weather. This fall has had the weirdest weather I can remember. It seems like it's never going to get cool. Yesterday according to my car it was 87 degrees outside. That's too hot for fall. When it's over, it's over. Summer 2010 is over, so it's time she move on and let Autumn 2010 move in.

I don't know what kind of tree this beauty is, but it's one of my favorites. I can see it out of my bathroom window and I always look forward to its color every year.

And with the warm temps, even some of my summer flowers are hanging on to their beauty. This hibiscus out by the pool braved the scorching summer and continues to hang on, still bringing on new blooms.

I made this wreath out of some of my hydrangeas. I think dried hydrangeas are so pretty. And they are so durable too. The flowers on the wreath have not dropped their petals and still look so pretty to me.

This is outside the door coming into my house. And I mean it, too!

With two boys and a hubby who just won't take his shoes off before coming inside, I have to be witchy sometimes.

Hope you've got lots of fall beauty outside your window, too!

Till next time...

Mountain Girl or Beach Babe

Which one are you? Do you like the mountains or the beach better? I don't wanna hear that you like the beach in summer, the mountains in fall! That answer is way too easy.

Jeff and I are here in the mountains and it seriously feels springtime outside. Last night we had pizza and we ordered enough for the entire town of Blue Ridge, Georgia to eat. Blue Jeans Pizza is very, very generous with their pizza. And oh, BTW, did I mention that it was awesome too? Leftovers are gonna be lunch today and maybe tonight we'll try another place for dinner.

I ate like a pig yesterday. Hands down. Suz had left some of her World's Best Cupcakes -- don't y'all wish I'd post the
recipe -- at my house after the wienie roast. I brought them along and yesterday, I think I ate four.

Speaking of recipes, because I love all of you so much, I'm posting my Mom's Pumpkin Bread recipe. And honestly, I can't wait to get home to make it myself!

MY MOM'S GLAZED PUMPKIN BREAD
Makes two loaves

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon of each of these spices:
Ginger
Cinnamon
Allspice
Clove
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking SODA
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking POWDER

Mix the wet ingredients, then slowly add the dry. Pour into loaf pans and bake it 350 degree oven for one hour. Let the bread cool to warm, then drizzle with this wonderful glaze:

1 cup milk mixed with 1 cup sugar. Thicken to desired consistency, then slowly drizzle over the warm bread.

Do you have a pumpkin recipe to share? I'd LOVE to hear about them. I want to make some different things over the holidays.

Till next time...