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Christmas is Coming-Part 8

21 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Even though Christmas has come and gone – as has the New Year celebration – I would like to continue describing my Christmas decorations – around the house, the neighborhood and our church building.

Finally, we come to the decorations at our church.   As I mentioned earlier, some of our church members were animators at Disney, and their ideas for decorating are magnificent!  Wait and see….

I’m not going to give dates on these pictures, just know that they have spread over quite a few years.

I’m not sure just where the church acquired this nativity scene, but it’s been used nearly every Christmas for a number of years.  It’s beautiful.

I asked why it looks “blue” in the picture, and she said it was probably the LED lights behind it.  In person, it is completely white.

We have two sound booths – both are decorated: 

The church has one other booth for one of our cameras that we use for live streaming the morning worship service.  They and the entrance doors are also decorated.

The committee also decorated the entrance to the building.  We have a covered entrance (really nice on rainy days!), and the supporting posts were decorated thusly:

They also placed large wreaths on the outside lights of the Sanctuary.

I really like this look for our Sanctuary building.

And so ends the “Christmas is Coming” saga.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this walk-through decorations for Christmas, as much as I’ve enjoyed posting it.  I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours, and Fred and I pray your 2024 will be pleasing both to you and to God.  We pray God’s guidance for you, and His great Love and Mercy to you.

~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming-Part 7

14 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Even though Christmas has come and gone – as has the New Year celebration – I would like to continue describing my Christmas decorations – around the house, the neighborhood and our church building.

And now the neighborhood…we had quite a few who decorated outside this year.  Some were quite elaborate…some were not (like ours – simple).  But we enjoyed them all.

Fred and I took a walk all around Chalfont subdivision one evening, and here is the result.  I won’t comment about most of them.  See what you think.  Sorry I’m not a better photographer – some of these are rather blurry, but I think you can get a good vision of what was intended.

This is the entrance to Chalfont

Across the street from us.  He also puts up a winter “village” in his garage each year – for his grandchildren, he says.  I think he just enjoys doing it and having it to play with!  The train actually moves around, as do the skiers.

It’s quite a production, and he starts putting it up about Thanksgiving time.  Amazing!

This is one of my favorites.  It is gorgeous in the daylight, as well.

Three pictures of the same house.  I couldn’t get it all in, in one frame.

As you can see, our Chalfont was quite decorated for the Christmas holiday.  We thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the subdivision and seeing all the sights.  I hope you have enjoyed it, as well.

Next time will be decorations at our church.   As I mentioned earlier, some of our church members were animators at Disney, and their ideas for decorating are magnificent!  Wait and see….

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming-Part 6

7 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Even though Christmas has come and gone – as has the New Year celebration – I would like to continue describing my Christmas decorations – around the house, the neighborhood and our church building.

Therefore:

Here is the kitchen counter, and the decorations I have there.  I have taken to attaching the Christmas cards we receive to the top counter.  We receive about 100 cards, and it’s difficult to find other places to put them.  I usually have a candle in either this snowflake holder or a swirl – either a red or green candle.  As for the “gingerbread” man – It was full of some kind of candy when given to us years ago, but now I have it full of red-hearts (hot cinnamon candies).  I think it makes a cute decoration.  

As for the white candle, it was made by a very good friend, and given to us one Christmas as a present.  Since our grandchildren (now adults) used to come to visit us at Christmas time, that white candle, wrapped in greenery, was always out.  And so our granddaughter came to associate Christmas at Granny and Grandpa’s house with that candle.

One year, I decided to just place the greenery around what I usually have in that spot.  When our granddaughter came in and saw that, she exclaimed:  “that’s just not right!  Where’s the white candle???”  So I put away the other item and got out the white candle.  And it’s been on the counter every Christmas since.

I guess the main item in the family room is the entertainment center.  Here’s a picture of the top of it, which is the only part of it decorated.

As you can see, I have used the gold tinsel garland to top it off.  The two trumpeting angels I purchased  a few years ago, and delight in them each year.  The center multi-colored pyramid I purchased while we were in Germany.  Many of the glass balls have broken through the years, and I have purchased others to take their place.  

On either side of the entertainment center are our two stereo speakers.  We purchased some candle holders while in Germany, which I treasure.  We put them out – with candles – every year.

Next to the entertainment center, is a bakers rack that I call a “birdcage” – don’t know why I call it that, just seems like one to me.  

In previous years, I wrapped greenery around it, but like this “candy cane” look much better.  The top shelf supports a Disney count-down “calendar” that we purchased from the Christmas store at Disney Springs a few years ago.  I try to change it out each morning.  The second shelf supports a figurine from the same place – just because I liked it.  the two Disney plates I purchased from a lady here in Hunter’s Creek who was selling them.  One is from 1997 and one from 1998.

Going down the hallway is this little gem.

Some years ago, when our daughter Janet was working for Disney, she gave us this set of Disney characters.  I always wanted some way to display them.  A man in our church is a master of wood working, and he made this shadow-box for me.  The figurine on top is of Mickey perched on top of his “house” as it was in Magic Kingdom years before, and was given to us by a good friend who worked with Disney.  Just a short garland on this one.

This little decoration tickles my fancy when I put it up.  I saw it in a magazine many years ago, and purchased it.  “Up On The Rooftop” comes out every Christmas, and I get a kick out of seeing it every year.

Next time I will post the decorations around our neighborhood.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming-Part 5

31 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Well, Christmas is behind us, but the decorations are still up.  Fred likes to leave them up until January 6, or The Three Kings Day.  I don’t mind – it’s only one month each year, and we like the decorations.

Back to our living room/dining room…early on in our marriage, when we were poor, and I didn’t know how to decorate very well (not sure I do even now!), I went for “simple,” and would just lay or drape gold garlands across some of the furniture – like I’ve done here with our teak-wood sideboard:

and other places around the house, as will be shown in other pictures.

There is a “runner” on the sideboard above – we purchased that from a vendor in Rothenberg, Germany, on our Viking River Cruise in 2015.  She had a lovely little shop along the main street, and I liked this one.  We remember that shop and owner every Christmas when we put it out.

The next thing to see is our teak-wood dining room table.  I purchased the runners through the mail when we were living in Heidelberg, Germany in the early 1980’s.  They have held up nicely, and I use them every Christmas.  The pinecone wreath I purchased while we were living in Wiesbaden, and have used it ever since.  I really enjoy it.

This is how the room(s) look from the kitchen doorway:

In the short hallway between the living room/dining room and the kitchen is a short wall, where I hang a Disney Advent Calendar (regular calendar the rest of the year).

On the opposite wall, I hang these Christmas stockings (regularly baskets and greenery).

And now into the kitchen/family room/den area.

There is a short wall between the kitchen and the living room, where I hang this Santa figurine (usually German bells).

Opposite that wall, I have what I call a “green bakers rack.”   As you can see, I’ve added some gold garlands to each of the shelves.  The candle in the middle of the top shelf we purchased in Wiesbaden.  It has a topper that holds a wick that comes off and allows you to place a candle inside that can burn.

The middle shelf holds a figurine of the gate to Heidelberg, Germany.  Our daughter, Karen gave that to us many years ago, and we love it, since we lived in Heidelberg for three years.  There is a small electric bulb inside that I have kept lit all those years – and it has never burned out!

The lowest shelf holds a Lennox cathedral, given to us by my best friend quite a few years ago.  It also has a small electric bulb in it, but I only burn it during the evening hours.  The “angels” I purchased some time ago, and are “Hope” “Faith” and “Love.”

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming-Part 4

24 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

After we had lived in Kissimmee for 3½ years, we decided we wanted to move closer to where we worked.  So we hunted around, and finally found a house in a development called Hunter’s Creek.  It’s a nice area, lots of little sub-divisions.  Ours is Chalfont.  We have enjoyed our house and the Chalfont neighborhood for nearly 25 years now.

In any case, I’ve had more fun with the house decorations in this house than any other where we’ve lived. Let’s start with the outside:

Since this picture was taken, we’ve had to add a tree (Robelinni – palm tree family) to the right side of the flower bed.

That’s about all the outside, so we’ll go inside.  I suppose the first thing to catch the eye is the tree we have up.  It’s artificial (Fred really dislikes cleaning up the pine needles from a live tree), and pre-lit.  No more fussing with tangled lights!  

And next to that would be the piano.

We purchased the Disney plates at Disney one time or another.   I haven’t added to those plates – two is enough.  The two Disney figurines – one I purchased and one is Lennox, given to us by my best friend.  The little “store” is a Norman Rockwall figurine, part of a “village” – but I only wanted the store.  There is a light inside, as well.

Do you see a lot of “snow” among the figurines?  Many years ago, we were at Bill and DiVoran’s house, and DiVoran had decorated, using fiber-fill as snow.  I thought it was a great idea, and copied it for myself.  Thanks, DiVoran.  You are an inspiration.

On an end table next to the piano is this little nativity:  

There is a bit of a story behind these figurines.  My mother came to Germany to visit us one year, but made some side trips on her own.  I’m not totally sure whether she picked this up in Spain or Portugal, but she picked them out, just for us.  I think of her every Christmas when I put them out.

On the other side of the piano, in a corner, is this marble pedestal with this Disney ball hanging on it.  It is a very heavy ornament, and this holder is perfect for display.  It’s one of my favorite Disney Christmas ornaments – vintage Mickey and Minnie.

I did forget to mention that, just inside the front door, is a narrow wall where I like to hang this piece of Christmas artwork.  We purchased it in Virginia – the artist was local.  Nothing special about it, except that we liked it  – and still do.

If you will turn around, you will see a sofa table against the wall.  More “snow” and lots of decorations.  Some Precious Moments, some wood ornaments given to us.  The most recent addition was last year’s Christmas when our daughter and her family gave us the German Christmas wooden pyramid.  I’ve not burned the candles yet, but it makes a lovely decoration.

Since the living room and dining room is just one big room, the decorations go on from there.  I actually copied this decorations on the chandelier from a pastor’s wife many years ago.  I have thoroughly enjoyed doing it each year.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming-Part 3

17 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wil

While we were at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Fred had received orders to be assigned to Heidelberg, West Germany.  We were so very excited by this assignment – getting to live in Germany again, and getting our girls to know Europe.  An amazing prospect!  So when the time came, Fred graduated from the school there in Kansas, and we made our way to Germany via Albuquerque, New Mexico (visiting my family), and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (visiting Fred’s family).  

I don’t have any pictures of any decorations in our apartment in Heidelberg for the first Christmas we were there.  However, here are a few from 1981 and 1982.

\\

Unfortunately, our three-year tour was up, and we returned Stateside, to begin a new portion of our life in Virginia.

We purchased a house in a small community, Seaford, Virginia, just eight miles south of Yorktown, which is part of the Colonial Historic Triangle of Yorktown, Jamestown, and Williamsburg.  Here’s a picture of our house:

And since we’re talking Christmas and winter and SNOW…

Oh yeah…we had SNOW!

Here are a few of the decorations that I did in that house for Christmas:

After both our girls married, Fred and I decided it was time to look for our “forever” place, and we weren’t sure it was Virginia.  While Fred’s parents were in San Antonio, Texas (and we LOVED that city), they would soon be moving to Washington state, and we knew we didn’t want to live in the northwest.  My parents were both gone, so Albuquerque was not really in the running.

All of Fred’s siblings were “scattered” so to speak, but my brother, Bill and his wonderful wife, DiVoran, were in Florida – a state where both Fred and I had enjoyed living so many years ago.  So we began looking to find a house in the Orlando area – which we did….kinda.  We found a house in Kissimmee (kah-SIM-ee) that we thought would be our “forever” house, and moved there just before Thanksgiving of 1995.

Well, you know, there just is NOT snow in Florida – not very often anyway.  And thank goodness for that!

This is the only picture I have of Christmas decorations in that house:   I know we had a tree up and all, but not much else.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming-Part 2

10 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I mentioned last time that I would like to describe Christmas decorations – both around the neighborhood, in our house (and others houses we’ve visited), and some of the decorations from years past at our growing-up house and our Aunt Jessie’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the decorations that our church does each year.

I started last week with the decorations my Mother did around our house, and then what our Aunt Jessie did at her house.

This week I would like to share some of the decorating I did for our house(s) that we’ve lived in.

The first four years of our marriage I don’t think I decorated at all – probably didn’t have either the funds for purchasing anything, or knowledge of how to apply what I saw in the stores and around the area.  Seems like I remember taking a small magazine – Readers Digest size – and folding each page a couple of times in a certain way (I’ve forgotten now how I did it) to make it stand upright, then spray painting the whole thing green. I would then add very small ornaments on it, and call it a Christmas tree!  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that – only the memory.

So the first pictures I have of anything we did for decorations was when we were in Wiesbaden, West Germany.  The building we lived in had a “competition” with other government buildings for decorations.  This is our building in 1968 – everyone in our building had the same “form” and we added what we wanted in the middle.  I made “Silver Bells” – cardboard bell shapes wrapped in aluminum foil.  Kinda cute.  Our apartment was the top left – at the end of the building.

This second picture is also in Wiesbaden, the following year, 1969 – our last Christmas in Wiesbaden.  It’s a bit difficult to make out the window decoration, but it was a very simple design – sort of a star burst.  I think the center was a paper doily, with “spokes” emanating from the center, with another paper doily at the end of each spoke and some “diamonds” between.  Simple, but we liked it.

Here are another couple of pictures of Christmas morning in our apartment in 1969.  Karen was just three years old here.  You will see our little tree in the background on an end-table.  And then another picture of the small gingerbread house we had.  I don’t remember whether or not I made it or we bought it.  But Karen thought it was a delight!

I don’t seem to have any pictures of decorations until 10 years later – 1979 – when we were in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  I only have a few from there, but here they are.  The six-plex we lived in was built on a hill, so we have a true “split level” house – lots of stairs, three bedrooms, two and one-half baths.  Not too bad, but they were built very cheaply and were quite noisy and cold.  In any case, here are some of the decorations we did there.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Christmas is Coming

3 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I concentrated on Thanksgiving during the month of November 2023.  Now it is December 2023, and I would like to concentrate on Christmas.  I would like to describe decorations – both around the neighborhood, in our house (and others houses we’ve visited), and some of the decorations from years past at our growing-up house and our Aunt Jessie’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the decorations that our church does each year.

For those about our church, I want to explain that within our congregation are a few people who were animators for Disney here in Orlando.  Consequently, the ideas they put forth are quite elegant and beautiful. Please keep that in mind when I describe and show pictures of some of those decorations.  

I think I want to start with what our Mother did for our house in Albuquerque.  This one from 1952 is the earliest I have of any decorations – that’s me, with the fireplace mantle decorations, and all the Christmas cards Mom and Dad received taped to the side windows.

 And here’s one from 1958 that shows the “corner” of the living room with the tree and all. 

Another one from 1958 – the decoration Mom put on the mirror above the mantle.  They didn’t have “clings” back in those days – it was probably the “spray-on-snow” that is so difficult to remove – at least I don’t remember Mom doing that any other year.

This one from 1964 shows Mom, Dad and me, and the way Mom taped the Christmas cards onto the front door.

 And this one from 1966 shows my Granny and the decorations Mom placed on the shelf under the side window.

Moving on from the house I grew up in, to my Aunt Jessie’s house.  She and Granny lived about 10 minutes away from us, and had a neat house that DiVoran called “Art Deco” style.  I loved that house almost as much as my own.  

It wasn’t huge, but had some unique features to it – including a basement.  Here are some of the decorations Jessie did:

I remember her making Christmas “candles” by pouring melted paraffin wax into those old (cleaned out) square milk cartons.  The paraffin had melted crayons in them, to make different colors of the candles.  She would then take some of the melted paraffin (no color) and whip it up with her electric mixer to make a “foam” or frosting-like that she spread on the outside of the candle when it  had cooled.  Here is a picture of her holding one of her candles.  This was sometime in the 1950’s

And here is Jessie, Granny and a good friend of theirs that we called “Aunt Clarkie” in Jessie’s house at Christmas time.  You can see the candles Jessie made on the stair-step room divider from the dining room into the living room.  This picture was taken in 1960.

And here is a table arrangement that Jessie did in 1963.  She had really elegant  taste in the way she decorated.

Here is the decoration she did by the fireplace and mantle in 1963.  Loved those stockings!

And here’s a front door decoration she did in 1964.  I have another picture of a front-door decoration she did, but the picture is not good quality.

This concludes the pictures from my childhood – both our house and our Aunt Jessie’s house.  Next time will be the decorations we did with our house.  Unfortunately, I don’t have either my Mother’s or Aunt Jessie’s good taste in decorations – but we like what we do!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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After Thanksgiving

26 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Well, Thanksgiving 2023 has come and gone.  It’s amazing to me how fast that happens!  You gear up for it, then POOF!  It’s over.

So what do you do now?  Well, Christmas is on its way now, and there is soooo much to do to get ready for that.  However…there’s still some turkey left over.  Okay…more than a little turkey left over.  What to do?  Well, there’s always turkey sandwiches…made on a hoagie roll with thin slices (or thick if you like) of turkey, lettuce leaves, tomato slices, sliced onions, pickles and any condiments you like (mustard? Mayonnaise? Oil and vinegar? Some kind of salad dressing?).  Cheese of course.  Warmed in the toaster oven perhaps? Or just eaten cold.  Subway…eat your heart out!

But our very, very favorite way to eat up that leftover turkey is by picking the turkey carcass clean of all the meat (light and dark) and cubing it up in about 1″ or smaller pieces, and making my Mother’s recipe of Turkey Tetrazinni.  Fred says it is his favorite part of the turkey!  I’ve included the recipe below.  I cook it in either a 9″x13″ glass pan, or a 10″x10″ Corning Ware dish.  It works well with either.

This recipe makes quite a bit, and with just the two of us eating it, it takes a couple of days to finish it off.  But we manage to do just that!  We really enjoy this dish.  I’ve never tried to freeze any leftovers, so i don’t know how it would work.

I hope you will try this – and enjoy it as much as we do.  It’s a GREAT way to finish up the turkey!

TURKEY TETRAZINNI

By Agnes Lites Yearout

1 cup cooked rice**                                                             2 Tbsp flour

2 sticks diced celery                                                            2 cups (total) broth and milk**

½  onion, chopped                                                               Salt & Pepper to taste

1 small can mushrooms with juice                                    1 tsp Worchestershire Sauce

¼  lb. butter (1 stick)**                                                         ¼ lb. grated cheddar cheese

                                                                                                Cooked turkey, cubed

Cook celery and onion in butter until transparent.  Combine vegetable mixture, flour, broth, mushrooms and juice, and seasoning to make the sauce.  Add turkey and most of the grated cheese to the sauce.  Cook until cheese is melted and mixed in with the sauce.

Put cooked rice in a greased casserole and cover with the turkey sauce.  Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in a 350º oven for about 20 minutes.

**SOME NOTES:  

  1.    Instead of butter you can substitute ½ cup Olive Oil
  2.    For the “broth and milk” – if you have any turkey gravy left over, use that and top it off with milk to make the two cups.  If no broth or gravy, use chicken bouillon and milk.
  3.    This is really good over cooked thin spaghetti or Vermicelli (we like Angel Hair pasta the best).  We like the pasta better than rice.  We’ve not tried it over Couscous, but I think it would be good, as well.  Cook the Couscous in chicken bouillon.  I’ve also made it with egg noodles and that is good.
  4.    I like sliced mushrooms, but stems and pieces can be used as well.
  5.    I am usually more generous with the cheese – we like cheese!

Enjoy!!

Photo Credit by Google Search and Betty Crocker website

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Happy Thanksgiving

19 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I have many and varied memories of Thanksgivings throughout my lifetime – all of them happy times with family.  I don’t remember making my own turkey or dressing until Fred and I had been married for five or six years, and had moved to Wiesbaden, West Germany with the U.S. Air Force.  Then I was sort-of forced to try my hand at cooking a turkey, whether I wanted to or not!  I did find that it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be.  

I have to say here, that neither I nor my brother, Bill, can remember what kind of dressing (or stuffing) our mother made!  I suspect it was cornbread dressing, since Daddy grew up in Louisiana and that’s more likely what was made there.  I never tried to make cornbread dressing, as it isn’t Fred’s favorite.  However, his mother, who grew up in New England, taught me how to make bread dressing, New England style.  So that’s what I’ve made ever since.  It’s what our girls grew up eating, and they – and we – love it!  

All that to say that I do remember some things about Thanksgivings along the way.  I remember the cranberry/orange/pecan relish in gelatin that my mother made in small forms that were placed on leaves of lettuce.

1955 – Albuquerque – Granny, Daddy, Mother, Bill

Dessert time at the Lites Thanksgiving table

Mother’s cranberry relish dish on lettuce leaves on the table (red)

1956 – Albuquerque – Thanksgiving meal

DiVoran, Bill, Judy, David Bowers (DiVoran’s brother) Daddy, Granny, Dora Bowers (DiVoran and David’s mother) my Mother

I remember the sweet potato dish she made.  And of course there were always mashed white potatoes and lots of turkey gravy.  Pumpkin pies with whipped cream was the dessert.  I don’t remember any other kinds of desserts.

Since our girls are grown and gone to their own families for Thanksgivings now, Fred and I have fallen in the habit of going to Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving meal – usually lunch.  We can get a wonderful meal of turkey and ham, sweet potato casserole, another vegetable of our choice, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Along with pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.  All for one low price – and I don’t have to cook it or clean it up, either!! 

Photo Credit Google Search and Cracker Barrel website

However, this year will be different.  We have some very good friends in town that we have dinner with once each week – standing date.  Across the street from where they live is another couple that we are all very good friends with, as well.  We have a meal with them once each month.  Usually for Easter or close to Thanksgiving, they will have a meal for a bunch of people, and we  are invited.  Easter brings certain types of foods.  Thanksgiving brings the turkey and ham, etc., and I ALWAYS bring my bread dressing.  This year, they are holding the meal actually on Thanksgiving Day.  So we get to celebrate that wonderful time of family and friendship on the Day itself.  We are blest.  And my bread dressing will be on the table, with probably none left at the end of the meal.

Since we live in a community called Hunter’s Creek here in Orlando, we receive a monthly magazine called “Life at Hunter’s Creek.”  Last year, this was the cover of that magazine.  Since I like to bake and make cookies, this really caught my eye.  I would like to show it here to wish one and all a very

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

JUDY’S TURKEY STUFFING

For an 8 pound turkey:

   (Allow one cup stuffing for each pound poultry)

½ – ¾ cup chopped onion

½ – ¾ cup chopped celery

1 cup butter (or ½ cup butter and ½ cup olive oil)

2 quarts dry bread slices, torn into pieces

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper

1 Tbsp poultry seasoning

1 cup hot water.

Sauté onion and celery in butter.  Mix in salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.  Pour over dry bread pieces.

Add hot water and mix with your hands to get all the bread wet.  Be sure to get to the bottom of the pan.  If necessary, add more hot water and mix.  Don’t saturate the bread, or it will get too soggy.

Place stuffing in a covered dish in the oven, about 30 minutes.

I prefer the Durkee Poultry Seasoning combination, but use whatever seasoning you like.  

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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