...the Third Annual Neighborhood Christmas Party...

...the invitations were sent...

...and things were made ready...inside...

...and outside...

...it's so much fun to fill your home with guests at Christmas...

...Do you host or attend a neighborhood party?

~Have a lovely day!

...an easy way to hang a picture on a wall...

...we have this neat Christmas wall hanging...

...but we've never actually hung it on the wall...we always thought it'd be too much trouble to hang...

...because of the little holes on the back for hanging it...

...but then I had a brainwave...to use some toothpaste to mark the wall exactly where the screws need to go...

...just put a dab of toothpaste on the little narrow part of the hanging hole...

...then hold the picture up level on the wall...and press against the wall...

...you'll be left with a little dot of toothpaste...

...just put your screw in the middle of the dab of toothpaste and screw it into the wall...

...then wipe away the toothpaste...

...and hang your picture...

~Have a lovely day!

...Chick'n and Waffles...

...we had heard a lot about Chicken and Waffles...

...and our northern friends thought that it was a 'southern' dish...it was on the 100 foods list they are trying to complete...

...and because I'm just about the most 'southern' person they know they asked about it...and were surprised when I told them that I'd never heard of it...

...the article describes it as soul food...not really southern...and states that it's most popular in Maryland...which is not exactly a southern state...

...but of course we gave it the old vegan try...and it was such a quick and easy meal...Boca Chick Patties...and some vegan frozen waffles...perfect for a busy Wednesday night...

...and it's pretty delicious...

...have you tried Vegan Chick'n and Waffles yet?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Make your own Advent Candles...

...out of stuff you (probably) already have on hand...

...when I realized that Advent was already upon us...and I didn't have any candles for the wreath...I thought...hmmmnnn...I think I have everything I need to make some...

...so that's just what we did...

...last year's candles...burned down to nubs...

...so I took just a plain dinner candle...

...and wrapped it in wax paper...

...just rolled it up nice and snug...it's about 4 layers thick rolled this way...

...taped the side seam...

...made a mark for how full to fill it with molten wax...

...and slipped the candle out...

...then I took some plain white candles...

...and sorted through Scout's old tin of crayons...

...and found several purple ones and a couple of pink ones...

...I washed out a used tin can...and formed a little spout...

...broke up some crayons in the tin...

...and set it and one of the white candles in the tin in a pot of water on the stove...

...and then I discovered that the melting occurs a lot faster if you break up the candle too...

...just be careful not to break the wick...we're going to re-use that...

...after the wax has melted...fish the wick out of the molten wax...and straighten it out...it will harden up quickly...but it will be too short to reach the top of the wax paper mold...

...but that's ok...because we're going to make a little extension for it...just thread a sewing needle with any old thread...and take a stitch in the bottom of the wick...then leave the thread loose...

...slide the stiff wick into the mold...making sure that the wick extends beyond the thin end...so you can light it later...

...pinch and twist the wax paper around the wick...

...and tape it closed...

...then you need to stand the form up...we found that empty water bottles worked perfectly for this...

...and the wick needs to be centered in the form...so pierce the form with a toothpick and tie the ends of your thread (from the stitch you took at the end of the wick) around the toothpick so that the wick stays upright in the center of the form...

...then carefully pour your molten wax into the form...

...and then repeat the procedure for the other candles...

...and then just leave them to set up...

...I wish I had made a note of how long this took...but I didn't...we were just busy doing something else...and when we came back to this project they were set...

...so...a couple of hours later...we just peeled off the wax paper form...

...and lit the candles...

...they burn perfectly...

~Have a lovely day!

...Marinade #3 over at The Vegan Version...

...a perfect Thanksgiving meal...hop over to The Vegan Version for all of the particulars...

~Have a lovely day!

...Christmas Tree #2...

...not really part of the Christmas Tree story...but a friend got us this huge piece of Mistletoe...very impressive...I've never seen one this large, intact, and with this many berries surviving the fall...

...anywhoo...

...so we got tree # 2 loaded up in the rain...

...got it home in the dry and Scout sawed the end off...

...shook it out...stood it up...and got it leveled in its base...

...then we carried it upstairs...it's pretty perfect we think...and it smells so good...

...we put all white lights on this tree...I've always wanted to do a tree with all white lights... but we never did because we had the old fashioned multi coloured bulbs...but if you're doing two trees you can have both...

...then ornaments...of course...

...and finally Scout places the topper...

~Have a lovely day!