Oh Christmas Tree

Well here I am again attempting to catch up with this blog.  I am not sure why I struggle so with keeping it updated but for whatever reason I just seem to be so bad at it! 

My last post was August 25 and now I am fast approaching December 25th, where does the time go?  Christmas is right around the corner and that means that I am in the kitchen baking like a crazy woman.  I love to bake, it is my therapy.  I do believe that my husband enjoys my "therapy sessions" as much as I do.  Christmas cookies are one of the things that bring back many happy memories for me.  It is not just eating them that brings back memories it is the actual baking.  Is there anything better than the aroma of fresh baked cookies and brownies when it fills the house?  Not to mention the added benefit of warming up the house with the non stop usage of the oven.  My momma was a baker and as I have said in past posts she could always seem to make SOMETHING out of NOTHING.  I remember well those fabulous little pineapple cookies that she would bake and while I have often tried to imitate them I have never figured out exactly how to keep them soft in the middle and crunchy on the edges.  I think she must have sprinkled them with a little "magic" to get them to come out so perfectly.   Smell is something that always triggers those special memories for me.
The Christmas season has already taken us to the Christmas tree farm where Byron and I found the perfect 10 foot tall Frasier fir tree to bring home to stand tall and beautiful in our family room.   It was a little different this year as it was just the two of us choosing a tree.  Ashley and Tony were not able to be here for Thanksgiving and Lena had to go back to school so the selection process was left entirely up to us.  I think we chose wisely.  In honor of my dad the tree is decorated in blue and silver.  Dad LOVED a blue and silver tree and for years those have been my color choices.  For years the girls have said they can't wait to decorate their own trees and for Ashley the time has come.  I carefully boxed up all the ornaments that her Grandma Tiede had purchased over the years and sent them to her.  She was excited to go through them and I know she is excited to put up her very own Christmas tree.  It is with some certainty that I say, I doubt she chooses blue and silver as the colors!