More Christmas ...

here's the before.........

and here's the after.......

later......



2012 in Review ....

here's my annual recap of the year

in the Delaney family

JANUARY

-Our son started a new job which equaled the start of a

new career for him

-Our kitchen was finally finished.....as in everything installed and

all painted. Still waiting on backsplash and furniture

-We still had NO snow

FEBRUARY

-We celebrated my mom's birthday with a party at our house

-Johnny and I went down to the Chesapeake bay with family and friends

-And on the way back from the bay, we finally got some snow....4 inches

of slushy snow!

MARCH

-I discovered Pinterest where I spent many many hours

-Jacquelyn and Bucky had plumbing issues and came to stay with us for a couple of weeks

-3/17 marked one year since Johnny's stroke

-We went to see Elton John

-Jake and Jacquelyn threw a surprise dinner party for my birthday

APRIL

-Jacquelyn had a birthday

-our doggie Pippa Lou discovered a nest of bunnies in the backyard

which then became my newest worry

-I finally found the backsplash for the kitchen!

-Jacquelyn and I started attending Jazzercise

MAY

-Jake had a birthday

-Jake and Jacquelyn surprised Lynne and I with a Mothers Day dinner

-Johnny and I celebrated 33 years together

JUNE

-Jacquelyn, Bucky, Johnny, and I went to Atlanta to see family for a week

-Jacquelyn and Bucky celebrated their one year anniversary while there and we all went out to dinner together

-Johnny had a birthday

-June marked my 6th year of blogging

-we had a tornado right by my work!

JULY

-Johnny and I went down to the bay with Tommy and Joanne for 5 fun days

-Mom and I canned 44 quarts of tomatoes

AUGUST

-Nicole had a birthday

-Johnny and I went down to the beach

-I blogged a lot about food....hmmm
-We found out a BIG secret

SEPTEMBER

-Maddox and Gabe had a birthday....they celebrate the same birthdate

-We spent Labor Day at the Chesapeake Bay with Tommy and Joanne

-And we saw a blue moon while at the bay

-We were finally able to share the news......Jacquelyn and Bucky having

a baby on or about March 6th

OCTOBER

-We went back to the beach for a week

-I set up my cute little coffee bar in the kitchen

NOVEMBER

-We had 13 for dinner on Thanksgiving day

-Bucky had a birthday

-We had 24 for dinner on Saturday after Thanksgiving

-We watched Jacquelyn get bigger and bigger with our new grandson

-we had a very mild and beautiful fall

DECEMBER

-Our son Jake moved out....our last one to leave the nest

-I did a 25 day countdown to Christmas

We had a sort of calm year......and that's a good thing in my book

We have been having a lot of fun anticipating our new grandson

and we have high hopes for a wonderful new year

calm, I can handle that so my wish for 2013 is calm....

love....diane



Christmas breakfast ...

I always make the egg casserole called Breakfast before

for Christmas morning breakfast.

it's the one with the bread and sausage

I've probably been making that for more than 25 years

so this year I decided we def needed something new

So I made this one called

Easy Oven Omelet

here's the recipe....

1/4 cup butter

18 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 cup milk

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp dried basil leaves

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can (4 oz) mushrooms (sliced)

4 green onions thinly sliced

1 jar diced pimiento, drained

Heat butter in 13 x 9 baking dish in 325 oven until melted. Tilt dish to coat bottom with butter. Beat eggs, sour cream, milk, salt and basil in large mixer bowl until blended. Stir in cheese, mushrooms, green onions, and pimento. Pour into baking dish. Cook uncovered until omelet is set, 40 to 45 minutes.

Do ahead tip: after pouring into baking dish, cover and refrigerate no longer than 24 hours. Cook uncovered in 325 oven 50 to 55 minutes.

I made this the night before.....and it is delicious! Johnny loved it but some members of the family wanted the "traditional" casserole....haha.

can't please them all

we also had bacon, cinnamon rolls and hash browns to go

along with the egg omelet.

later.....



Christmas 2012 ....

Christmas 2012 was so much fun!!

LeapPad was a huge hit....

Maddox had so much fun opening presents.....

later....



Surprises....

I love when you give

someone a present and they are totally surprised

it makes all of the shopping and wrapping worth while....

later.......



Santa came to our house ....

Santa came by our house

he left me this gorgeous garnet / diamond ring

Santa has been told not to do this but......

he said it caught his eye. So that's ok by me!

later....



25th Day of Christmas ...

On the 25th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me....

25 GIFTS!!!

Just kidding.....those are family gifts

but it's been fun coming up with 25 items

Jacquelyn gave me some ideas on some of them

But what my true love Johnny has given me is....a wonderful family

a beautiful home

and more love than any one person should have

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone

later....

24th Day of Christmas ...

On the 24th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me......

24 delicious oranges...

later.....

23rd Day of Christmas ...

On the 23rd day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

Cocoa dusted truffles

later...

22nd Day of Christmas ...

On the 22nd day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

22 plus a zero calories per slice of vanilla/peppermint cake!



later....

21st Day of Christmas ...

On the 21st day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

21 cocktail napkins...



later...

20th Day of Christmas ...

On the 20th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me .....

20 Christmas cards received....

later....

19th Day of Christmas ...

On the 19th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me .....

19 inches of Christmas garland



later....

18th Day of Christmas ...

On the 18th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

18 pretty pinecones



later....

17th Day of Christmas ...

On the 17th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

17 corks added since Dec 1st....

later...



3 soup day ....

Just like everyone else, I have had a very heavy heart this weekend

the senseless shooting on Friday is just so evil, so hard

to believe....just not right.

I went shopping on Saturday but all I could notice was the happiness

on little childrens faces and thinking of the children who

wouldn't see a Christmas this year

Today is rainy and dreary

it's def a day to stay inside

and cuddle with your family

and have soup!

The best comfort food is soup

And I ended up making 3 of them

Vegetable, bean and baked potato

I love the soup below......it's creamy, cheesy and oh so good

and it's made in the crock pot so that makes it even better!!

and yummy vegetable soup ....

and 15 bean soup....with onions and bacon, yum!!

it's going to be a very busy week getting ready for Christmas

so all of the pots of soup will be good for dinner

and we'll hold the families from Newtown close to our heart

and pray for healing, pray for peace

later...

16th Day of Christmas ....

On the 16th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

16 GREEN tree ornaments!

later...



15th Day of Christmas ...

On the 15th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me...

15 Bean Soup!

yuummmmmm



later...

14th Day of Christmas ...

On the 14th day before Christmas

my true love gave to me....

14 days off of work!!!

my vacation starts on the 19th and I will

return on January 2nd!!

later...

13th Day of Christmas..

On the 13th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me....

13 beautiful nutcrackers...

later....

12th Day of Christmas ...

On the 12th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

12 golden haystacks..



later....

11th Day of Christmas ...

On the 11th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me....

11 peppermint candy canes...



later......

10th day of Christmas ...

On the 10th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.......

 

 

10 dinner place settings

 

 

later....



Christmas trees....

Here's my tree in the living room.....

I normally do it in all gold so I wanted to switch it up

a little this year. I added the lights garland with the tulle tied to it

and then just used only red balls and red beads

I love it.....



then for the den, I did all white with snowflakes

and icicles. and some silvery sparkly stuff

I don't have a topper for it yet

was thinking about going to Michaels and having

a large white bow made

later.....

9th Day of Christmas ...

On the 9th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.....

Nine sweet little jingle bells....



later....

8th day of Christmas ...

On the 8th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me....

8 new boxes of lights

later.....

7th Day of Christmas ...

On the 7th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me....

A seven and a zero on a beautiful December day...



(I told you some would be silly)

later....

6th day of Christmas ...

On the 6th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.......

 

6 yummy avocados

 

 

 

later......

5th day of Christmas ...

On the fifth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

 

5 cute snowmen

 

 

 

later......

Text of the week ....

From our son Jake, after only a few nights away in his first apartment

I get the following text...

 

 

Jake: What are you supposed to do when you're being a grown up and have nothing to do around the house? And have no cable? Nor a dog?

 

 

Me: Read, watch the Voice, draw, hang your curtain rods, watch a movie,

find a wife.

 

 

Jake:  Nothing to read, no cable, done and done and hard to

do when you have no money. haha

 

love him

 

later....

4th day of Christmas ...

On the fourth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me......

4 new Christmas towels



later...