A Kid-Filled Christmas

 Good morning, all o' youse! 

Or, as Missy would say "all y'all"!!!!!

Lena and Jeter, snuggle time!

It's no secret that my life tends to revolve around kids. A whole bunch of kids. A riotous bunch of the little darlings and it's also probably no surprise that I was voted most likely to be a kindergarten teacher in my senior year in high school... 

WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN OFFICIALLY!!!!

I got married at 19 and we had six kids in twelve years, so it was very preschool friendly. Eventually, once my kids were older, I left my job as a teacher's aide and opened an in home daycare with amazing families... and wrote in the middle of the night.

I was so blessed! Sprinkles, glitter and glue, oh my! :)

So being a grandmother, making messes, cleaning up messes comes naturally.  We can't do our traditional "Make a Memory Day" because of the virus, so instead of having all the families here at once, we're dividing and conquering. It means Grammy travels a bit, but Have Grammy, Will Travel!

Last Sunday we did Gingerbread House Day.... I put the houses together early in the day so the kids didn't get frustrated with waiting for royal icing to dry... So they gathered for the fun!

I bought some forms and then built others from graham crackers.  Here's the royal icing:

3 egg whites

4 cups confectioners/powdered sugar

Beat the eggs until frothy, then add sugar one cup at a time. Beat until mixed. When all sugar is mixed in, beat at high speed until frosting is thick and glossy and holds it's shape. If you need to thin it, add bits of water carefully.

GRAHAM CRACKER HOUSES!  These are fun and reasonably priced. You can make six from one box of graham crackers, so six houses for around $2.50.... I did them in various sizes and roof pitches so they wouldn't all look the same, but they came out so cute! 

I cut the triangle ends from a square part of the cracker.  I used the pizza cutter for separating crackers on the line and a sharp knife for cutting the triangles.  I made the square into an isosceles triangles by cutting from the center point of the top of the cracker, diagonally down to each corner. That left two right angle triangles, perfect for eating! :)

To make it easy for the kids to decorate, I glued the houses to the Christmas plates with a bead of frosting shaped like the bottom of their particular house.

Mary Ruth.... diving in before everyone else got here, a quiet moment. Also a rarity!

The troops have arrived....

Mary Ruth also opened the candy and put it out in pretty bowls so the kids wouldn't have to stick their grimy little hands into the bags. WIN!!!!

And here are four of the finished works of art!!!!!

So just in case you think I'm like Joe Expert at everything.... Here's a shot of my Thanksgiving turkey.

Yep.  That's the bottom....  The top/breast is on the platter.

OH MY STARS, I've rarely gotten a turkey just right so now it's just a family joke.

Yep.

#PINTERESTFAIL

Random box of books? No... We did a massive giveaway over the weekend. So many people are shut in nursing homes, care facilities, apartments for seniors, senior complexes, etc. and some of the folks are afraid to go out because of Covid. Some are afraid to keep living... so with Beth Jamison's help we boxed up a gazillion books (61 books in and there were some serious promo copies upstairs, even with all the promos I do for my books. Crazy and crazy fun! 

We had folks drive in... we loaded boxes into their cars... and they drove off.

Contactless act of kindness! 

It was so nice to see folks' reactions. We made sure that each box had some Love Inspireds, some indies and some of my trade paperbacks (Wishing Bridge, Double S Ranch, etc.) and I think folks were thrilled. And that made us happy because giving is always the best way to get happy, isn't it?

Now we're moving full speed ahead with a very different holiday profile... no big Herne party, no large group on Christmas Eve.... And it's not that I'm worried about myself. I'm in great health and fairly solid shape, but what if we unwittingly pass this on to one of the older family members who isn't in that kind of shape or circumstance?

I don't know if I could really forgive myself.

Out in the open, all fall, we had a gazillion people here, but that was outside and over several acres.

Inside in the winter is a germ spreader in WNY. 

So we're being cautious because we need to be. 

Although there's the stubborn Irish side of me that wants to shrug off the virus and do things my way.... but with an average of 600 positives/day, we have to be prudent.

Which means more chocolate for me and my pants are already too tight. YIKES!!!! :)

We'll get by... all of us. We always do. With His help and a dose of patience.

Multi-published, bestselling inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne is living her dream of being a published author... with over 60 published novels and novellas, Ruthy sneaks around the house in the dead of night, writing sweet heartwarming stories on the Q.T. because her family is noisy and somewhat intrusive.... but they're hers, so what's she gonna do? :) Friend Ruthy on Facebook, email her at loganherne@gmail.com or stop by her website ruthloganherne.com... she'd love to meet you! 

Pesky Leftover Chicken & What To Do About It!

When I did that wonderful chicken stew last week, I cooked extra chicken breasts.

Then I had to figure out what to do with them.

I didn't have ingredients for some of my faves... the Stove Top chicken bakes or quesadillas, and I didn't have the right kind of bread for paninis, but I got an online idea and voila!

Chicken deliciousness!

It was a one-pot idea, but I don't like overcooked pasta and I didn't want the sauce runny (fussy, fussy, fussy) so I used (GASP!!!) two pots and cooked rotini on the side...

And did the chicken with a tomato base on the other side.

Super simple:
2 cans diced tomatoes

Put that into large frying pan or saucepan. Add chopped sweet onion (about 1/4 large onion) and simmer until onion is tender. Add about a tablespoon of each of these:

Parsley
Garlic
Sugar

And about a 1/2 tablespoon of these:
Black pepper
Basil

When onion is cooked, stir in cut up cooked or roasted chicken and half-a-stick of chopped pepperoni.

Serve over pasta.

The pepperoni gave it a nice Italian kick and the whole flavor blend was wonderful.

And that made me happy. :)

Because so many of us got sick with something over the holidays, we had a kid gathering last Saturday to make gingerbread houses.

I bought KITS. :)

There are some things I don't need to do myself, LOL!

And Beth and Mandy put the kits together under protest.

Their protest was that if they wanted to be Pinterest parents, they wouldn't be related to me and therefore it was my job because I actually like working with hordes of small children and messy items, but they did it and they were cute and fairly good natured about the whole thing.

:)

And we had fun!!!!

More on that next week, but here's a glimpse:

Did you know that with proper marshmallow placement, you can balance a spoon horizontally on a cup rim????   NOW WE KNOW!!!!

French Toast triangles and brown-and-serve sausage for lunch... and goofy kids!

This was a day for making memories... houses... and family.  We are so blessed!

Quiet and demure (okay, that is not true), bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne makes her home in a woodlands not far from a great and shining water with the rest of the dryads and fairies. On a clear day, one might find her making up stories about sweet small towns, nebulous friendships, old hurts and new beginnings... That's just about her favorite thing to do.

Friend her on facebook, follow her on the very unhospitable Twitter, visit her website ruthloganherne.com or email her at loganherne@gmail.com. She'd love to hear from you and possibly share fairy and unicorn stories. You never know.