Weird Christmas Cards Photos

It all started when I met Kayle.

He seemed normal enough. In fact, he seemed much cooler than me. He played in a band, owned a house, had tattoos and rode a motorcycle.

As we all know, first impressions can be deceiving. After a few months of dating this cool guy, I began to get to know the real him. Here are a couple of weird things about my seemingly perfect man:

I found out he toots during ab workouts.
And he cannot be interrupted when eating cereal.
He has no ‘favorites’; as in favorite movies, candy, or food.
He folds down his socks when he wants to be ‘casual’.
Often, he gets distracted during conversation and begins to count the number of letters in the words you are saying. For example, his favorite word(s) to count is Family Restaurant. ‘Why’, you may ask? Because there are 16 letters in this phrase and that makes 4 beats of 4. Get it? Neither do I….

At any rate, all these eccentricities pointed to the fact that he was indeed weirder than me. But it is still a close race on who reigns in the weirdness department.

And when two weirdos join forces, this is what happens.

Christmas 2001. 

A little funny, but not overboard. We started off innocently enough. Also, we made the firm decision that everyone we know gets a card and a picture, no exceptions. This includes but is not limited to: our friends, relatives, accountants, pastors, boss’, etc.

Sometimes, I regret this decision.
Like pretty much every year.

And then, Christmas 2002.

We were in Boston on tour with Hubby’s band. We had to make do with what we had, and this is what we chose. It’s pretty cute, I think.
Man, I loved those mittens.

Christmas 2003.

By far our most normal picture to date. We took this at the Flea Market in Tulsa where we get our ornament for the year. Subsequently, I broke this ornament in 2009. Geesh….I am such a clutz sometimes.

However….Life really can take some twists and turns, can’t it?

Christmas 2004 was a tough one. No card or picture was sent out that we can recall. We were more concerned with the small explosion that happened at the end of 2004.

To commemorate the explosion, we sent this picture out for Christmas 2005.  As you can see, our house blew up. It was a miracle not a soul was hurt, but that is a whole other story.
And we knew our lives and the expectations on our Christmas card pictures would never be the same.

Christmas 2006. 

A missions moment with the Greiman’s.

Christmas 2007. 
How do I explain why we decided to do this? I can’t and won’t.

Bananas in hammocks for Christmas 2008. 
I wouldn’t recommend trying to drive around in one of these costumes.

Christmas 2009.
Merry Poop-mas. My pastor didn’t say a word about receiving his card this year.

Christmas 2010.I have never felt more beautiful in all my life…And crazy.

Christmas 2011. We explored our Germanic roots.

What’s better than giving Satan a wedgie? Nothing, that’s what. Christmas 2012-full of heavenly humor.

2013 Christmas Card Photo. The year of the dork.
 

Beautiful Banana Bread

I love this recipe-it’s taken me years to get it just right and it’s so dang easy. I have inadvertently discovered a secret to making your banana bread super moist-causing demand from neighbor’s and Grandmother’s everywhere.

Yum. Grab your wooden spoon and apron.
It’s time to bake.

Here’s what you’ll need:

5 1/2 Bananas
1/2 Cup Sweet Cream Stick Butter (I use unsalted butter)
2 Beaten Eggs
2 Cups Bread Flour (you can use all purpose, too)
1 Cup + 2 Tbs Organic Sugar (I prefer this, because it browns nicely)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt (or omit if using salted butter)
1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon*
1/8 tsp ground Nutmeg*

*Grinding your own cinnamon and nutmeg really sends this banana bread over the top. But, if you don’t have them on hand-don’t worry your pretty little head about it. Just use the store bought spice and no one will be the wiser.

Preheat your oven to 350 first and foremost.
Next, peel your naners and mash the puddin’ out of them with a potato masher.

Melt the 1/2 Cup of butter in the microwave. Add the two eggs to your melted and beat thoroughly with a fork.

Pour the butter and eggs into your banana bowl. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

In a separate bowl, add the 2 Cups of flour.

And the 1 Cup + 2 Tbs of sugar.

Next, add the 1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder and the 1/2 tsp Baking Soda.

If you are using salted butter, do not add the salt. If you are a purist like me and buy unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp salt.

If you are using fresh nutmeg and cinnamon-it’s time to get your ‘grate on’. Add either the fresh 1/8 tsp of Nutmeg and the 1/4 tsp cinnamon or the store bought kind to the dry ingredients.
Stir the dry ingredients with a fork thoroughly and then make a well in the center.

Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients all at once.

Stir with a wooden spoon just until the batter is moist. There will be lumps-and that’s ok. Sometimes, life gives you lumps…

Grease the sides and bottom of a 9” x 5” loaf pan. If you use another sizes of loaf pan, just decrease the amount of time the bread is in the oven. Fill the pan 2/3 full.
Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in pan for ten minutes on a wire rack or trivet. Run a knife along the sides of the pan to release the bread. Flip the pan over onto a wire rack, tapping the bottom of the pan to remove the bread.

Make one for Poppa Bear, Momma Bear and Baby Bear.
Cool on a wire rack for ten more minutes. Now, here comes the secret part. Thoroughly wrap the bread in saran wrap-while it is still warm and let it sit overnight. You can go a step further and place the bread inside of a ziplock bag. This traps the moisture in the bread and makes it sooooo moist.

If you absolutely cannot wait until the next day to eat it-which usually happens around here if Biceps has anything to say about it-at least let it sit for an hour or two inside of the saran wrap.

Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

Sparkly, Silver, Vintage Christmas Decor

From the music to the decorating…our Christmas is pretty vintagy. Anything sparkly and old typically catches my eye. And anything cheap typically catches Biceps’ eye. This year, I pumped up the sparkly, adding vintage accents here and there.

We found our snazzy aluminum tree for dirt cheap years ago-and it came with blue and silver ornaments to boot.
Our living room has become a sparkly, shimmery wonderland. Rebekah likey.

We’ve collected vintage ornaments over the years-with a hard and fast rule of never paying more than a dollar for each one. I don’t know why we have this rule-probably because we are cheap.

This lucite tree was a gift from Grandma’s stash ‘o Christmas goodies last year. I Christmas-fy the tree with dainty green ornaments during the holidays. And yes, ‘Christmas-fy’ is a word.

This centerpiece on my dining room table spreads its cutesy flair during dinner.

I created this four foot silver twiggy tree for our breakfast nook. I just can’t seem to get enough of the twigs, lately.

Trust me, there’s more to share-but I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much sparkly.
I heard too much exposure to ‘sparkly’ can be bad for the brain…Check back soon to see what else I have up my sparkly sleeve.

He’s just not that into baths

He’s just not that into baths….
It’s very typical to have a cat that doesn’t like water. I know you’ve heard it before.

But this giant fur ball was brought down to size by the strong hand of a bath and the pictures are worth sharing.

The unsuspecting kitty.

Little does Cowboy Cat know that he needs a bath…and needs it bad.

A visiting kitty (who will remain nameless) brought fleas to our giant fur ball.

Cowboy Cat investigates his arch nemesis.

The fur ball’s worst fear is realized. Lather, rinse, repeat.