...a Christmas Pageant...

...Our Church puts on a fairly elaborate Christmas Pageant for the community...

...this year it was 'The Bethlehem Project'...a musical...Scout was Joseph...here he is with his very pregnant wife Mary...this is actually the first time I've seen a visibly pregnant Mary in a Christmas play...so that was kinda funny...I mean...we all know she's pregnant before she has the baby...she's just never...er...uhm...'padded' that way...

...they bought a special pregnant tummy off Ebay for the play...and the teenager playing Mary said she didn't like it...because she 'couldn't see her feet when she walked'...so funny...

...anywhoo...there was a phenomenal stage built all up and around the chancel area...lots of shepherds...and angels...

...and live (yes LIVE) sheep...

...and a really sweet little baby...Joseph and Mary had spent several weeks getting accustomed to holding her and getting her used to their voices...

...it was such a sweet play...

~Have a lovely day!

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...delicious Vegan Navets Persillés were consumed Chez Affectioknit...I'm thinking that making Mrs. Brown's cookies over the weekend got me thinking about her turnips as well...

...all the details are at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...the final Christmas Concert...

...another one of our Senior Year Lasts...

...Scout's final Christmas Band Concert...

...they started out in front of the stage with a rather long warm up session where each group...brass...woodwind...etc. gave us a little sort of solo...

...then up on the stage for the concert...from 'Rest'...by Samuel Hazo...

...Joy to the World...of course...

...and the finale...Sleigh Ride...by Leroy Anderson...

...it was another wonderful concert...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...Mrs. Brown's Refrigerator Cookies...

...Most of y'all probably know that when I was in college I cooked for an elderly couple in Asheville's Historic Montford Avenue District...three times a week...

...they were so proud of their old Victorian home...and proudly displayed the plaque they'd gotten from the President...

...It helped them of course...but it really helped me to gain a lot of confidence in the kitchen...

...I just cooked simple meals from a menu card painstakingly written by Mrs. Brown (she had arthritis)...and the kitchen in their big old house was white and airy and old fashioned...with a big free standing sink...I went every Tuesday and Thursday and cooked a big supper and then put all the leftovers into the fridge for them to have the next day...Mr. Brown did all the shopping and everything was all laid out on the table for me when I got there...

...and on Saturdays...I cooked a huge meal that had to serve as their Sunday dinner...and have leftovers for Monday...

...and also on Saturdays I made some desserts for them to have during the week...

...Mrs. Brown would come and sit at the table in the kitchen and we'd have nice long chats...about how she used to live on the wrong side of the tracks and Mr. Brown was such a gentleman and would come over and get her and take her to the pictures...I love to hear old people talk about their own young love...I'm going to do that one day...when I'm old...

...and she would share her recipes with me too...one thing she loved was turnips...and her recipe for turnips is almost exactly like Julia's...and the one I'm sharing with you today...for refrigerator cookies...I'd make these and roll them up in waxed paper...and they could just slice and bake however many they wanted and have fresh baked cookies through the week...

...I use coconut oil for the shortening in the recipe...It's denser than shortening so only 3/4 cup...it's underneath...not sure you can see it in this photo...

...then flax seed goo for the eggs...about 1/3 cup...

...and you mix it all up with your hands...it says so in the recipe...

...it's a little bit messy...

...shape the dough into 2 logs...

...wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate overnight...or longer...

...then when you're ready to bake some...just unroll...

...and slice off as many cookies as you want...

...you can put a lot on a sheet...as they don't spread very much...

...bake about 10 minutes...just until the bottoms are golden brown...

...don't overbake...they're very tender and crisp...almost like shortbread...

...the original recipe...

Mrs. Brown's Vegan Refrigerator Cookies

3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
equivalent to 2 eggs - I used flax seed goo
2 3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 to 3 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Lemon extract

Mix with hands and press into a log 2 1/2" in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate overnight.

400° F oven. Bake 6-8 minutes.

Other additions:
Walnuts
date/nut
orange/almond
chocolate 1/2 and 1/2...these are neat and fun to make...you take half the dough and add chocolate...and leave the other half plain...(i.e., no cinnamon and lemon)...then you make the log half white and half chocolate...

What's your favorite old recipe?

~Have a lovely day!

...Parsonage...

...by day...

...and by night...

~Have a lovely day!

...Last year's Christmas Present...

...Last year we gave the Man an air compressor...what a thoughtful and romantic gift...right?...

...it gets used more than you'd think...our car notifies us with a little light if one of our tires gets low...and if you have an air compressor...it's just a matter of minutes to set things right...

...what did you get for Christmas last year that you're still using?...I got a Sky Scarf kit...and I 'use' it every day...HA!

~Have a lovely day!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...I've always loved these white crocheted snowflakes...but I'd never made any before...they're fun to make and easier than they look...

Do you have any crocheted snowflakes on your tree?

~Have a lovely day!

...Caroling without snow...

...after Church Sunday, the Youth and a few choir members got together to visit our shut-ins and bring them some Christmas cheer...

...the weather was crazy warm...like 70 degrees...in December...

...we were all in shirt sleeves...and yes...Scout was wearing shorts and flip-flops...

...we all had a lot of fun...

...Joy to the World...

~Have a lovely day...

...the very last Christmas Parade...

...Saturday was Scout's final Christmas Parade...

...we got there early...the police had just blocked the road...

...so we parked and walked up the street...there was already quite a crowd waiting for the parade to start...

...just your typical small town Christmas Parade...with firetrucks...

...floats...

...and lots and lots of old cars...

...and then finally the main attraction...not Santa...the Band...

...their regular uniforms...and blue Santa hats...

...and a couple of video clips...

~Have a lovely day!

...Homemade Applesauce...

Good Morning...today is Scout's final Christmas Parade...and we're all sort of YAY!...and Boo-Hoo about it at the same time...next week will be the final Christmas Concert...that's just the way Senior years go...isn't it?...

...the meet time at the school wasn't until 10...so we had time for a somewhat leisurely breakfast...

...with fluffy southern style biscuits...(Vegan Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe)...

...and I had 'overbought' (is that a word?) apples this week...and they were starting to get a little bit wrinkly in the fruit bowl...and I know from experience that no one in this family is going to eat them like that...

...so...although they are 'eatin' apples not cooking ones...3 Fuji and 2 Red Delicious...I decided to peel them and make applesauce with them...just so they wouldn't go to waste...

...just roughly diced and put in a pot...with a tiny bit of water...

...while I was making the biscuits...I'd give them a little stir...

...and they just kept getting softer and softer...until they were done...and we had applesauce...

...and the neat thing about using these sweet apples was that they required no added sugar at all...

~Have a lovely day!

...Nativity...

...by day...

...and by night...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

...Garter Ridge Baby Blanket***FREE PATTERN***

I should probably note here that this pattern has not been tested...so please if you make it...let me know if you have any problems...as I just jotted it down sort of after the fact...

Cast on 115 stitches.
Row 1: Knit 10, Place Marker (PM), Knit 95, PM, Knit 10
Work in garter stitch for 15 rows, slipping markers (SM) as you come to them.

Pattern 1:
Row 1: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 2: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 3: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 4: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 5: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 6: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 7: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 8: Knit 10, SM, Knit 7, YO, K2tog, *Knit 9, YO, K2tog, repeat from * to last 8 sts, Knit 8, SM, Knit 10
Row 9: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 10: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 11: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 12: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 13: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 14: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 15: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 16: Knit across slipping markers.

Garter Ridge Row: Knit across slipping markers.

Pattern 2:
Row 1: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 2: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 3: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 4: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 5: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 6: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 7: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 8: Knit 10, SM, Purl 13, YO, P2tog, *Purl 9, YO, P2tog, repeat from * to last 12 sts, Purl 12, SM, Knit 10
Row 9: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 10: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 11: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 12: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 13: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 14: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10
Row 15: Knit across slipping markers.
Row 16: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10

Garter Ridge Row 2: Knit 10, SM, Purl 95, SM, Knit 10

Repeat Patterns 1 and 2 four (4) more times, then repeat Pattern 1 through Row 16 once more removing Markers on last row. You will have 10 ridges.

Work in garter stitch for 15 rows and cast off loosely.

~Have a lovely day!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...Baby Neice Blanket...

...so...I can finally show you the little pink blanket that I made for my great-niece...

...all of my patterns start with a sketch...this ones a little bit hard to see...sorry...

...I'll write up the pattern soon...I think I'm going to call it the 'Garter Ridge Baby Blanket...

...this photo of the finished blanket is a bit off-color...but you can see the ridges and lace...

...I also knit a simple little hat with a bow to go with it...

...baby hats are so simple and quick...

...and another photo of the finished blanket a little bit truer to colour...

...Pattern tomorrow...I promise...

~Have a lovely day!