Hi everyone, can you believe it – it’s meeeeeee.
I was made aware that a small number of you are missing my scribblings. Kathy from the Upwoods blog just sent a comment which brought me here today.
Sadly or maybe not so sad, I don’t have to be up in the mornings any longer. Which means that I don’t see what you want me to take pictures of too much anymore. After all, the boys are now 18 years old and can get up and drive themselves to school without me nagging them early in the morning about one thing or another.
Mike and I had a Christmas Cocktail party on December 10th and I managed to take a couple of pictures before the guests showed up…

I think we had 15 different kinds of Vodka all together. The only Martinis we made though, were Snowflake Martinis

yup, I baked - Apricot Window Stars, iced Shortbread candies, snowflakes and ornaments, Chocolate -Cherry-Pecan Rugelach squares, and Walnut cookies
To make things more interesting than just standing around eating and drinking too much, we had a White Elephant exchange which really was a whole lot of fun.
Here is a treat for you. I had posted it in another blog, but none of you could find it, when all you had to do was highlight the white space in the middle of the blog…
Snowflake Martini
Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
Creme de Cacao
Splash of Peppermint Schnaps
Vanilla Vodka
Shake, shake, shake until frothy and cold.
Dip the rim of the glass into some vodka and then into pulverized
candy cane or peppermint candies
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you
Stay healthy and have a wonderful and prosperous New Year
I promise to make an effort to get out of the house and shoot many pictures for you!
The house looks beautiful!
Hey toots, thank you 🙂
Merry Christmas to you all
Hi Pam, will you and Jim be in Michigan for the Holidays or somewhere warm?
The house really does look splendid!! Bear, Jinx, Screamer and I wish ALL of you a very very Merry Christmas!! xoxoxoxo
Ugggg, Deb – I had all the best intentions of sending you and Bear something good. I might still make it but the package won’t arrive until after Christmas 😦
xoxo
Lovely, just absolutely lovely. I really wanted to take a drive out and surprise you this year, and hopefully get a cookie decorating lesson. Perhaps next year? So glad to see you posting again. 🙂
Oh how I wish that you had done that.
How in the world did you make walnut cookies that look like walnuts???? bet you had a great party!!!
Merry Christmas to you, Mike and the boys!!!
Iris,
Everything looks so festive! And those cookies look yummy.Those walnuts are very cool.What’s in the center? I was hoping for a cookie workshop at Wayfarer. I guess I will be teaching myself how to do the piping on the snowflakes.Boo hoo, I wanted to learn from the best-YOU! Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!!
Next year we’ll do a cookie workshop if there is tiime. I promise.
Iris,
Very nice and festive. Merry Christmas to you, Mike and the boys.
Sharri, Don, Joey, John and Jimmy
Aww, hugs to all of you. Don’t forget to give Don a blanket when he’s cold 😉
Merry Christmas, Iris! I am glad you are blogging again. (Bet you have more than eight visitors!) Your house looks wonderful and I would love–do you hear LOVE–to have one of those Christmas martinis, if you could just pass it through the computer screen, thank you.)
Thanks so much, Kathy. Come and get your drink. I am ready to shake it up
So glad to see you’re back, Iris! I missed you! LOVED looking at your pre-cocktail party photos and pretending we were there 🙂
signed,
A One-time-hoping-to-return-someday-soon visitor
Thank you, Cindy. Come on back, what are you waiting for?
Happy holidays! Glad to see you on your blog again. Thought maybe you got lost in Never Never Land.
Hi Joyce, Thank you! I missed seeing you here this summer. I am happy to be back.
The place looks great! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 🙂
Thank you so much. I am happy that you came to visit the blog again 🙂
Hey Iris,
everything looks just scrumptious- I bet you had a good time!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and your family!
Hey Martina, I just saw this comment. How are things with you? Where are you, Michigan or down south? Happy New Year to you, Falk and Max!!!
Beautiful. Reminds me of scenes from my (now-vintage) Martha Stewart Christmas book.
I really like the colors you chose for your walls. You have made your home very beautiful. I remember how decorated we always had the house during the holiday season. It has never been the same since we moved away.
I think that is understandable, Jim. I fondly remember Christmases growing up. Things change.
That Snowflake Martini looks delicious!
How about pictures of snow around Benzie County, once Winter finally arrives in your area. We had our first “green” Christmas that I can remember, in fact the temps this week have been the mid-40s. Hopefully we’ll get some snow on Thursday.
Same here, Bill. No snow for Christmas. The sun is shining and we have been outside without coats on 😦
I have some interesting pics to post, problem is, I have misplaced my camera 😯