Boiled Dinner

Ed and I we're complaining to my Mom that we didn't know what to do with the leftover ham bone from Christmas except make split pea soup which takes a lot of time and Ed doesn't like it. Mom told me to make Boiled Dinner like her mom used to make. Throw into a pot the ham bone, any leftover ham chunks, chicken or vegetable stock and/or water and whatever vegetables you've got in the fridge like potatoes, celery, carrots, peas, corn, onion, garlic, whatever. Boil it together until the veggies are done and remove the ham bone. Ha! It was delicious! I love a simple recipe, even better when it's handed down from through the generations.

Mom and Me.

The Infant Of Prague

My mother was talking to me about our Czechoslovakian heritage over Christmas (her father was completely Czech) and The Infant Of Prague came up. She said they always had a statue of The Infant Of Prague while going up. I looked it up and the imagery is beautiful. A adore this Novena and it's spell like qualities. I'm on the look out now for either a statue or picture for the house. I wouldn't mind a trip to Prague either! :) Krásný!

Novena to The Infant of Prague
(This Novena is to be said at the same time every hour for Nine consecutive hours in just one day).

O Jesus, Who hast said,
ask and you shall receive,
seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be opened to you,
through the intercession of Mary,
Thy Most Holy Mother,
I knock, I seek,
I ask that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who hast said,
all that you ask of the Father in My Name,
He will grant you.
Through the intercession of Mary,
Thy most Holy Mother,
I humbly and urgently ask Thy Father
in Thy Name that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who hast said,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away
but My word shall not pass",
through the intercession of Mary,
Thy Most Holy Mother,
I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

5 Things I Love Right Now

• The will-o'-the-wisp.

• Lauren Bacall movies from the 40's, like "How to Marry a Millionaire" and "The Big Sleep".

• Sam Worthington. yummy.

• The Infant of Prague.

• The Worst Day Since Yesterday by Flogging Molly.

Cookie Monster Jar

Isn't he the cutest thing you ever did see?

Christmas Highlights

Christmas was wonderful chaos as usual. I hope Santa was good to you all!

Merry Christmas from The Howards!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sweet Ruby

Ed and I are the proud parents of a new baby today! A couple weeks ago we found sweet Ruby on Adopt-a-Pet, and we've been working with the rescue group the last week or so to adopt her for Christmas! Ruby is 3 years old and her breed is German ShortHaired Pointer. We are smitten to say the least! Angelus is over the moon! We told him Santa dropped her off as an early present. You should have seen his face...oh wait, you can! I recorded it :)

Here is a quick look back at the last doggie we adopted, also a German ShortHaired Pointer, her name was Shoalin and she passed away in 2006 of cancer. We loved her very much, but I'm sure Shoalin is happy we found a new dog to spoil.

Adoption is the loving option... consider adoption before buying a dog from a dog breeder or pet store. Cat & Dog Adoption Fast Facts - 25% of pet dogs put to sleep in animal shelters are purebred. - Approximately 4 million pet dogs and cats are put to sleep each year due to overpopulation. - Adopting a dog or cat from a humane society, an animal shelter, an SPCA, or a dog rescue or cat rescue group saves a life! Adopt-a-Pet

Robin's Egg Blues

This is my Christmas Wish - to win this giveaway from Robin's Egg Blues. I've never posted about a giveaway before and I've never won any giveaway - I really really want this one! It's so beautiful!!!!!

For The Birds

This basket full of treats is a gift idea for a wild bird lover. You'll need bird seed, peanut butter, bagels, "O" shaped cereal, string and pine cones. Everything is made to be hung up in an outdoor tree. The cereal is lined up on the string to be weaved into tree branches. The bagels and pine cones are smothered in peanut butter and pressed into the bird seed. Use string to loop through the bagel hole/top of the cone, creating a hanger for the tree branches.

Yule

Merry Yule and Happy Solstice! Today I cast out something I no longer want in my life by writing it down on a piece of parchment and then I burn it. This year I cast out guilt and obsession of what other people think. Annoyingly bad habit, ya know? :)

Then I light the Yule long to burn during the long first winters night.

What did you do for Yule? Hope it was special!

Gift Idea: Cookie Log

You can use most any cookie recipe, I used my Mixed Company Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, which made three logs.

Take about 3 cups of your repaired cookie dough and place it on floured parchment paper.

Smooth and roll the dough into a log shape.

Wrap the paper around the log and tuck in the sides.

Wrap in pretty paper and bows.

Attach a note card with baking instructions.

Early Christmas Gifts

My Cousin Helen handcrafted cards for me using her own photographs, how clever! The photos are beautiful. The ice covered buds picture is my favorite.

A co-worker gifted me one of his homemade bottles of wine! He's a sweet old Italian man, beautiful singing voice. He serenades us with Christmas songs each year. Buon Natale!


This is a little gift to myself, I found it while scrounging around a resale shop looking for Christmas ribbons and vintage doodads. Perfectly tattered and pale blue. It was love at first sight!



Finally, a gift from the Gods - Snow!!

What I've been up to...

I won this treasure at the Pagan Center Ornament exchange! (Thanks Raven!)


I went to see my Niece Emma and Nephew Scottie sing in their naivety play at Church.... No, don't be silly, of course I didn't melt upon crossing the threshold. :) Look under the arrow for my favorite little wisemen.


Wrapping Gifts.


Swapped 5 dozen cookies at the Pagan Center Cookie Exchange. Angelus samples Luna's sugar cookie while wearing Trinity's clothes. He got car sick on the way over and up-chucked all over himself in the car. Poor guy.


Enjoying another cup of coffee spiked with whip cream. My other favorite is Egg Nog spiked with rum!


Twilight wants to know why the Christmas Spirit threw up all over our table...

Marilyn

Ya know those times when you seem to be getting messages from the Universe by a strange sequence of events. The skeptic might call it coincidence, the witch would call them signs. Well, I'm having one of those days.

I awoke this morning after having a dream about stealing the Marilyn Monroe movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Shortly after getting up, I turn on the telly and what's playing?... Niagara, but it's after Marilyn's character is killed.

Now I'm in a Marilyn Monroe mood and attempt to watch my copy of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, that I really do own and it's missing. I can't find it anywhere, ugh.

To Quote Marilyn..."Ever notice how 'What the hell' is always the right answer?"

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when their right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust noone but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world."

"I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made."

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

"It's all make believe, isn't it?"

Still pondering my messages from the universe....

Christmas Entertainment Spots

Found this little charmer over at Brocante Home

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood." ~ Francis Pharcellus Church, New York's Sun Newspaper Sept. 21, 1897

Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen ad unseeable in the world. ~ Francis Pharcellus Church

Chocolate Macaroons

Our list of Christmas Balls would not be complete without the divine works of Nigella Lawson. An eloquent woman and domestic goddess, Nigella is a treasure to behold....

Chocolate Macaroons

2 egg whites
1 cup ground almonds
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment or preferably silicon pad.

Mix egg whites (unbeaten) with the ground almonds, cocoa and powdered sugar until you have a sticky but cohesive mixture.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and dip your hands in it to wet them before rolling the mixture into little balls the size of small walnuts. You will probably have to redunk your hands to keep wetting them as you go.

Arrange the macaroon-balls on the lined baking tray and put in the oven to bake for 11 minutes. It's hard to tell when they're ready, as they will seem squishy but they harden up a little as they cool, and anyway, they should be damp within; that's what makes them chewy, so don't worry that the macaroons look sticky underneath.

Christmas Playlist

Christmas Is All Around by Billy Mack (Bill Nighy)
River by Joni Mitchell
Yule Shoot Your Eye Out by Fall Out Boy
Mistletoe by Colbie Caillat
Where Are You Christmas by Faith Hill
Santa Baby by Marilyn Monroe
Baby It's Cold Outside by Doris Day & Dean Martin
Let It Snow by Ella Fitzgerald
Merry Christmas Baby by Christina Aguilera & B.B. King
All My Bells Are Ringing by Ringing Lenka
This Time of Year by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Last Christmas by Taylor Swift
Zat You Santa Claus by Louis Armstrong
Silver Bells by Harry Connick, Jr.
Hey Santa by Ashanti
Punk Rock Christmas by Sex Pistols
Winter Wonderland by Aretha Franklin

I ♥ Christmas Music

Spell Kit

My next homemade gift idea is by the Domestic Enchantress, Raven. Here is a spell kit she gifted to me at Samhain. The concept is a complete spell in a box (or bag) with written instructions.

"Spell To Increase Your Dark Powers"