Annual Family Christmas Card 2013

If your family is like ours, then you probably love to watch holiday movies!  Since we used The hubs, favorite Christmas movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as our inspiration for last year's card and it was such a hit with our family and friends, we thought we'd continue the fun.  This year's wish from the Ruderman family comes with a little help from another one of our favorites.. Buddy the Elf.

A few outtakes...

 From our family to yours, we wish you a season filled with lots and lots of smiles!  

-I just love to smile, smiling is my favorite. -Buddy the Elf

Thankful for... Chocolate!

As if chocolate isn't on anyone's thankful list.. sigh.. she is a vixen who calls my name daily.  I don't let her tempt me though.  I just give in.  Life is too short. C'est la vie.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I adore making and giving out little tokens of my love and if I give you chocolate, well... by all means.. this is a declaration in itself.

With that said, I promised I'd share the world's easiest to make chocolate box mold instructions and here they are.

First you will need to start with an easy to use molding chocolate and fun mold.  My favorite molding chocolate is Wilton.  In my opinion, this isn't the world's best tasting chocolate, but this isn't something to worry about.  One could certainly use an excellent chocolate and melt in paraffin, but I can't see the point.  I just put the great chocolate inside!

Next you'll need a cute mold.  My favorite mold is this turkey.  I adore the Christmas Tree boxes and Sunflower boxes as well, but this is Thanksgiving so forgive my rambling..  A great place to buy these molds is through The Chocolate Belles.

I personally think the easiest way to melt the chocolate without burning it is in the microwave.  It takes about 1/2 bag per molded box.  Just follow the directions on the candy bag for melting.

Once the chocolate is nice and liquified, you are ready to pour it into the molds.  I've found the easiest way to fill the molds is from a small pouring bowl.  *You don't want to overfill the mold because it will make edges that will need to be trimmed and you don't want to under fill because it will come out then and most likely break as you pop it out. Next, hold both sides of the mold and tap it lightly on the table.  When there are no longer air bubbles rising from the chocolate, you'll know it's ready for the refrigerator.  I've tried letting the chocolate set at room temperature, but I find that it doesn't look as shiny and beautiful as the refrigerated version.
 

Let the chocolate sit in the mold in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour before attempting to free from it's mold.  The longer you let it sit, the easier it will be to free.  If you use can use the freezer, even better.  It will come out shinier and easier!

When you take the mold out, turn it upside down and gently tap it on your work surface.  Typically, that's all you'll need to do but occasionally you may need to put a finger on the back of the mold and give it a firm push.

                                                                      Voila!

Now you are ready to fill them with whatever your heart desires.  Mine always desires more chocolate, but this is purely chef's choice!

The boxes are adorable and big enough to fit all kinds of trinkets. To give you an idea of the size, 1/3 cup of plain m & m's will fill one to the top. 

Last but not least, I like to wrap and tie a note or place card to each one.  For easy to use Thanksgiving place cards or notes, I always use the free templates available on Martha Stewart's website. There is nothing I like more than saving a little time for something already cleverly designed!

 I wish you huge success!  Happy chocolate making my friends!

Skipping Thanksgiving or not..

Thanksgiving can be tough, can't it?  Trying to get multiple families schedules together, trying to get little ones to sit down long enough to eat, trying to get a conversation in while chasing little ones, trying to get a dinner ready all at the same time without one dish being completely cold or unappetizing.  Different personalities, differing opinions, the drive to and from or the hosting, cleaning, cooking.  It's enough to make one want to skip Thanksgiving. 

Every year I sit down with my thoughts and the reasons to skip.  I sit and think and every time I'm taken back to my childhood and what I want for my son and that's all it takes to make me re-think. 

When I was a kid, we always slowed down on Sundays, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  These days were sacred. Days to give thanks. Thanksgiving was intended to be a holiday to celebrate our thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.  In this day, our harvest might be our family, our friends, our job, but regardless my heart says, "slow down and take the time to give reverence for your blessings."

My grandparents rocked my world.

I thought of my grandfather as John Wayne.  He had a deep, hardy voice that always bellowed my name at the top of his lungs.  He was partially deaf from driving a tractor most of his life, but his bellowing only enhanced his charm in my eyes.  He always smelled of fresh mowed hay and the red and white peppermints he loved.  I can still hear his voice as he said the blessing before our meals.
My grandmother was tiny but feisty.  She could pull out her shotgun and shoot any rattlesnake within 25 feet of the house, but when she spoke, she always spoke softly and her eyes always twinkled. On cold winter nights, we would bundle up together and I would ask her about God and faith.  I considered her the expert on this topic and she always had an answer that

made things right in my heart.  They were cotton farmers and lived a good distance from their local church.  Because of this distance, they spent many Sunday mornings in what I like to refer to as, "The Church of the Kitchen."  I have the most beautiful memories of those Sundays.  The smell of my grandfather's coffee and my grandmother's biscuits wafting into my bedroom and hearing "Amazing Grace" or "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" playing on the tape player.  I loved the framed painting of the Last Supper that hung over their dinner table and I loved how much they loved it.  I know they watch over me now from their perch in Heaven and when I think of giving thanks and counting my blessings, I count them among the biggest.

I can't skip Thanksgiving! I have too much to be thankful for. 

With that said, I share my thanks with you.

I am thankful for my loving and supportive husband.  I am thankful for my benevolent son.  I'm thankful for the 42 years I had with my beautiful, loving and gracious Mother. I am thankful for my dad, twin brother, older sister, little brother and well the whole bowl of cereal whom I call, family.  The flakes, the fruits and the nuts of which I am very much one!  I am thankful for my friends, who have seen me through thick and thin. I am thankful for my home and for the knowledge that when I leave this planet, I have another more beautiful home waiting for me. I am thankful for my church and my church family, inspiring role models, kind strangers, life's challenges and my ability to learn from them.  I'm thankful for technology and what the future holds.  I am thankful for family traditions, holiday gatherings and I am thankful for my faith.

I have been given so many gifts and I am thankful for each and every one, but most of all I am thankful for this day of giving Thanks and this blog which gives me the opportunity to reflect and write down on all that I have to be thankful for. 

I have decided once again. I will be hosting Thanksgiving this year and when I start the day, I'll say a little thanks to God for all my blessings and for the ability to say yes to this occasion.  Then... I might just pour myself a little champagne cocktail.  *One more thing I'm thankful for!

 CHEERS!

p.s.  I am thankful for you!

Thanksgiving and a Crazy Hostess

Thanksgiving conjures up some beautiful memories for me.  I adore Thanksgiving.  I come from humble roots.  Raised in Texas, many a Thanksgiving was spent at aunts' and uncles' or grandparents' houses.  We sometimes ate off paper plates and hooted and hollered to a lively game of football (both in the backyard and on the television).  We had a large family and the most important thing was that.  Family.

With that said, I have a favorite quote from an old t.v. show called Designing Women.  It goes like this, " “This is the South and we’re proud of our crazy people. We don’t hide them up in the attic, we bring them right down to the living room to show them off. No one in the South ever asks if you have crazy people in your family, they just ask what side they’re on.”  Ha ha ha.. don't ask me why, but this quote always reminds me of family and giving thanks.  Thanks for the sane, thanks for the crazy, but most definitely thanks for family. 

I am a romantic at heart and believe that holidays should be pretty near perfect.  It’s hard to find the time to really show those we love how special they are to us. However, I find that Thanksgiving, is also a day to show those we love just how thankful we are for them.  One of the ways I show it is by taking the extra time to set a table that is grand and lovely.

So I thought I'd share a few stress free ideas for a beautiful Thanksgiving table casual enough for a low key family occasion, but beautiful enough to entertain the princess in each of us. 

One week before Thanksgiving, I always set out the tables I will be using. I know this might seem crazy, but I break up the tasks of preparing for Thanksgiving day by day in order to make each detail an easy chore.  On my large table, I insert the lengthening pieces.  For the children, I bring up a large card table and chairs. This way I can give them a good cleaning and take my time setting the table.

The next day, I choose table cloths and cloth napkins.This time of year, I adore velvet or damask.  They just whisper the words "holiday" in my ear.  I measure to make sure they fit properly, wash, then iron if needed.  I know this sounds nutty as well, especially if they've been cleaned after your last holiday, but nothing says beautiful to me like freshly cleaned and ironed linens.  To pass the time quickly, I just turn on my favorite music and boogie my way through the chore.

For place settings, there is no end to what you can do with a napkin.  Traditionally, a napkin goes to the left of the plate.  However, festive settings can be designed any way you like!  I adore making a pocket in my napkin fold so that I can tuck in an adorable party favor.  Real Simple has a great tutorial.  How cute would a fall flower or chocolate turkey be tucked inside?  This Thanksgiving though, I have crafted mine into triangles, then folding twice more in order to pull them through ceramic Fall leaf shaped napkin rings in yellow and orange.  For the children, I've taken felt turkey stickers that I acquired at AC Moore and have attached them to a simple round acrylic napkin ring.

On day three, I decorate a festive table.
I adore a beautifully decorated table, but honestly they aren't very practical for passing dishes or conversation.  I've found that the best way around this is to a make an arrangement for the center of the table that extends down to greet most everyone, but is low enough to see over for conversation and small enough to set dishes around.  

I use a very basic formal table setting.  I've found that Emily Post has terrific directions in case one's mind gets foggy as to which side the fork should be placed.  Not that I ever have that problem.. thank you, Emily Post!  I like to set the table 2-3 days ahead of time.  This way I can polish any wayward silver or crystal that might need my attention and make sure I have everything I need. 

The finishing touch to my idea of a perfect Thanksgiving table for my guests, is to add a little token each person can take home.  I try to create a little surprise, something whimsical or unique to prolong the memory of our holiday together. Since I adore chocolate, it's usually something along those lines.  Although I do realize that means the memory may be short lived!  The token I'll be making this year is a chocolate turkey box filled with m & m's. Since, I've made these adorable little boxes before, I've decided to make it a tradition.  *I'll post directions tomorrow!  If your inclined to use place cards, this is always a great place to attach them as well.  There are some terrific free templates on Martha Stewart's website.

While the dining table is the undeniable star of Thanksgiving, I never forget to add some decorative touches to the rest of my dining area for ambiance, beauty and hopefully, memories.. Memories of the crazy aunt, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother and wife who tried very hard to make Thanksgiving perfect or as darn close to it as possible. 

In this month of thanks, I am thankful for all my fond memories around the Thanksgiving table and I am thankful for you.  I wish you and yours a memorable Thanksgiving.  xo

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

Trick or Treat

Oh how I want to write something clever and helpful on my blog, but I’m having an October mental block! 

My child is no longer a child and the teenager wants nothing to do with his prior ties to a family tradition of “themed” trick or treating.
 

Alas, what’s a girl to do?  No costume to make…no making and painting paper mache masks, no sewing tails or ears.  Humphhh...

Who am I kidding?  I knew this was coming.. I was forewarned last year when my son told me he was going to tie a loaf of bread around his neck and carry a sign he had written on, with the words, “Ginger Bread Man.” *Just for the record, that's exactly what he did and since he’s a redhead, I did think that was clever and funny.  I wasn’t going to let that stop me though... How could I give up our tradition of costumes?  Later that day, I came across his childhood book called “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and I set about becoming that mouse. Did I mention the head was paper mache and paint!  WOOHOO!

 

I had fun, but it just wasn’t the same without my little guy’s oohs and ahhs… hence my 2013 October block.

I thought I was doomed this year and all seemed lost.  Fond memories would be all that was left...

Lucky for me, I have a young admirer and she has saved the day! 

Let me explain:  Earlier this month I was invited to a masquerade party at a girlfriend's house.  At the last minute, I had a costume inspiration!  I added a pair of wings, halo and sparkly eyelashes to a white dress in my closet and voila’, I’m an angel!  By the time I made it to my girlfriends house, the angel wings had shed all over and left me covered in a veil of glitter.  My friends darling little girl (soon to lose a tooth) was convinced I was the tooth fairy.  When I explained, I was an angel, she quickly revised my title to include the angel I professed to be and officially named me the “Tooth Fairy Angel”!  So there it is.  All is not lost.  I have a costume for 2013 and a blog post.  Hooray!  October won’t be a bust! 

Just before I sat down to write this post, I set about changing my Facebook profile photograph from a three day stent as a giraffe…  (yes I failed that quiz).  But wait...there is a costume idea!  I wonder how many giraffes will be trick or treating tomorrow? 

I’m going to stretch my neck out here and venture… A LOT!  *Next year perhaps I should go as a ham.

Have a Happy Halloween, friends!

Fall Fun and Indian Corn

The funny thing about being what people would consider being crafty, involves a lot of hit or misses. 

In my case, I am fairly certain it's a lot of misses and an occasional hit.

Lucky for me, I was born an optimist.  That plays out well for me most days, because I have a love for laughter and boy, do I keep myself laughing!

This past week I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of the most gorgeous Indian corn you've ever seen!  My friends son grew it!  Isn't that crazy?  How could I possibly not create something amazing with it??  Well this my friends, is where it all started.... 

I loaded Pinterest, typed in Indian corn... and voila!  I should have been set, right?!  You should see some of the amazing Fall arrangements..

J'adore!  Oh aren't they beautiful!  LOVE LOVE LOVE! 

O.k.  Here's the deal.. straight from my own Dictionary of Craft. *I'm seriously going to write one some day...

**If you do not have the correct "crafty" items you need in order to craft (i.e. jewelry wire, rubber bands, etc..) You really are taking your sanity into your own hands.  Remember.. you are forewarned.


Not a problem for me (she says)...  I have hot glue! 

UGGGH... Three hours later (I could have easily saved two by getting in my car and driving over to the craft store) for the items I needed..





I cleaned up the mess. Poured myself a hot apple cider (o.k. it may have been spiked at this point with something very festive like Spiced Rum)

and proceeded to put my beautiful Indian corn in containers, throughout the house. 

How is that for optimism?!  I definitely had the last laugh.  This took exactly two minutes AND just for the record of craft diva's everywhere, I did tie a bow or two around the containers...Ha!

Happy Fall my friends..

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Who is Rescuing Who?

Recently my son and I started volunteering at Days End Horse Rescue in Woodbine, Maryland.  The funny thing about this particular volunteer job is that I thought we would be doing something good for the horses and in the process my son would learn the valuable lesson that it is better to give than to receive.  A funny thing has happened along the way... 

One of my favorite movie lines is from a Chevy Chase movie called Funny Farm.  It's one of those movies that if you blinked, you probably missed it, but I've always found it hysterical.  I could probably quote most of the lines from it, but there is one where Chevy's character is having a hard time making friends in the new town he has moved to.  He is passing a Golden Retriever dog farm when he stops on a dime.. "If I can't make a friend, I'll buy one!"  In my typical story telling fashion, this doesn't have much to do with this little story except that I thing it rings true for a lot people considering the purchase of a horse.  My guess is that most of us see them as majestic, beautiful spirited creatures with gentle dispositions and an eagerness to be with us and please us-hence our reason for buying one.  The problem is that without really thinking it through, that horse might just end up needing a rescue. 

I digress.  Upon orientation at the horse farm, the crew gives us a thorough overview of what the farm is all about and how the horses end up there. Then they set about giving us general horse knowledge and how and what we can do to help.

Within a week, we sign up for morning at the farm and within a month, we are old hands.  We now know the ins and outs of feeding, grooming, basic handling and the best part.. mucking stalls and pastures.  I won't lie.  It's hard work.  We leave there and can barely stand from exhaustion.

Here's the thing... with a whole lot of hard work we've bought our friend. Not in the real sense of "buying" and the horses do go up for sale, but in the sense that our hearts are full.  We look in the eyes of those once neglected and abused horses and know they love us... and we love them.  If Chevy Chase had been passing a Horse Rescue like Days End in that movie, it would have been a short movie.

I'm truly not sure who has benefited more from our volunteer work, the horses or us, but if I had to guess, I'd say it is us.  My teenage son actually requested to work there on a recent day off of school and I must say,  I almost fell out of my chair!  I think the fresh air, sunshine and constant companionship of those adoring souls has left us both feeling better about the world in general.  One additional benefit I'd be remiss by not mentioning is that my arm and leg muscles seem a whole lot less jiggly. 

 Finally and best of all... I have to wonder if this isn't actually adding years to our lives.  After all, our hearts sure seem to be beating a whole lot stronger.
 

For ways to help, contact your local horse rescue or Days End Horse Rescue.