Chocolate Traditions

It just isn't Christmas around here without The Chocolate Angel Pie that my mother in law handed down to us.

Meringue crust with a whipped cream and German Chocolate filling.

Some strong coffee in with the chocolate and cream.

Ginka's Pie

Crust Meringue

1/2 Cup finely chopped Pecans or Walnuts nuts are optional here.

3 egg whites room temperature.

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 Cup sugar

butter a 9 inch pie pan bottom only.

heat oven to 450 degrees

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Then add sugar a little at a time as you continue to beat.  At the end mix in the vanilla and fold in the nuts. Spoon into pie pan making a nest shape. Put in oven and turn off oven heat. Leave pie  meringue  in oven at least 3 hours or overnight as oven cools meringue will cook.

Filling

1 bar German Sweet chocolate. 

1 Cup heavy cream whipped to stiff peaks with 1/8th cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.

2 tbsp strong black coffee

Melt chocolate stir in the coffee.  Cool slightly. Gently fold into the whipped cream. Stirring as little as possible.  Pile into cooled pie crust.

Chill at least 2 hours. 

That says Merry Christmas by the forkful.

Anne~

Daughter Amy started a new tradition by making a 1905 salad from the Columbia Restaurant. 

gifts and paper everywhere

Sammy unwrapping

Brennan with.....?

cousins loving the bounce house Fire Truck

Fire trucks by the score.

Uncles giving advise.

Happiness

PJ's on Christmas Eve

Getting on all the protective gear for skate boarding!

Nothing better than holding a cute baby !

Grampa  with Mya

A little egg scrambling!

We always cook too much!

It was bedlam and we ate so much!

Josh got us a magnificent prime rib and Amy got a huge Honey Ham

We cooked a huge amount of goodies.  

Daughter in law made a fabulous Pineapple souffle. I wish I got a picture of it.  

I am stuffed and full of memories. 

Family time is treasured. We live so far apart. Daughter had to leave before dinner to get to work so she will get lots of left overs tomorrow. 

Every moment of connection with each other a midst the hustle and bustle, the wrappings, the work schedules, shopping, phone calls, and endless interruptions of busy life is a blessing. The older I get the more I realize that life's memories are the string of pearls we make from these little moments in time when we are sharing our lives with each other. Time passes so quickly. We are all so busy and blessings come with the gift of time we spend with each other. 

Thank you to God for all our many blessings and Happy Birthday to our Lord and Savior Jesus. 

Having The Best Time of My Life

Spending time with grandchildren.

Fun in the sun.

Wrapping Packages Etsy Style

I have been struggling to create a style for my very eclectic vintage shop Wee Lambie Vintage .
One singular identity from start to finish or as they say in the mega land of commercial advertising "Branding".
It is coming along but progress has been slow. 
I have my shop banner. Made for me by my Etsy friend Deb from the The Inspired Trader

Deb knows a lot about graphics and design and how to make them on the computer.  She also is excellent at creating an image or brand.

Cattle Brand

No not this kind of brand! The kind of brand that shows your vision, your identity, your logo.  

I settled on this photo for my logo.

Wee Lambie Vintage

Yup, that's me.  My Dad took the picture.  I love it. It expresses how I feel about my vintage shop.  To me vintage brings back memories, sweetness, nostalgia, a time long ago, a feeling you want to remember.  I never want to forget the little girl in this photo or the thrill of holding a newborn lamb in spring. A spring moment 58 years ago.
The tricky part is to marry all these together so that they are cohesive and quickly make my shop look like.... well my brand.
I went to Moo.com with my little lamb photo and had some cards and stickers made.

Moo.Com's Minicards.

I love these little cards.  Moo.com you are fabulous!  Look at the great little blue and white box they came in.  Moo obviously knows how to make things stand out and be identified.
I played around with tying them to packages.

I write my thank you on the back of the little card, but I didn't really like punching that big hole in it.  Now I am experimenting with just tucking it under the ribbon.
Then I had to have stickers.  I want the outside of my boxes to have the same look.

WeeLambieVintage Stickers

I want to stick these everywhere!
There is a lot more to do in my shop to get this whole brand thing finished.  
I am thinking my tissue wrapping paper should be all one color. This is a labor of love and as I said progress is slow. The little changes I have made are feeling good and I am pondering the future ones. 
Anne :)
aka weelambie.

Weeds in December and Our Early Christmas Present

While the rest of the country is caked in ice we are weeding the garden.
It rained so much this summer we gave up trying to keep up with them.  Faced with family coming and a new septic drain field being installed we decided it was time to tackle the front garden.

The temperatures were in the high 80's and we drank gallons of water.

Weeds as high as the palm fronds

Making progress.

That rock was totally hidden.

My gardening buddy! 

Not his idea of a good time!

Cleared of most of the weeds.

Today the drain field!

These young men  make nice lawn ornaments .... don't you agree?

Wish the grandsons could have seen the big yellow digger~
We have a lot of work ahead of us.  It's okay after almost a year of having to watch every drop of water that goes down our drains and having to empty the washing machine hose out into the backyard with every load of laundry (thanks Skip) having a new septic drain field is the best Christmas gift we could give each other!
I don't have to wrap this one either!
Thanks be to God we have this chance to fix our home and be good stewards of our garden.

Anne

Dropped

Dropped a stitch...

this is what happens when you knit in the middle of the night.

pulled it all the way back up to the top.

Back in business!
and
Thanksgiving was...

My Cape Cod Sunrise

Apple Pie

Happy Gramma with her babies

The table not covered with knitting and vintage Etsy finds

Adorable Brennan

Mya saying no more pictures Gramma

 wonderful. Full of blessings. 

I Love Etsy Yarn Mail

Top Cat

Wandering Cat Yarns at Etsy has a sale going on.  My gorgeous  Sunnyside Up Top Cat arrived in the mail today. I can't wait to start working with it. I have a 4 day weekend and I know what I will be casting on.
Check out this amazing shop. Support small business and help out a cat.  The sale not only gets you a great deal on homespun and colored fabulous yarns, but will provide the funds for the shop owner's own 'Top Cat '   named Tux to get some urgent surgery.
I am thankful for the cats that grace my life and the wonderful family and friends that fill my life.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Anne

Sock Season

I've waited for you so long...
Misti....
It's always sock season, but I don't always have this stuff.
I can't wait any longer.

It took one show of NCIS Los Angeles to wind. It is so soft!

So Pretty.

Her Unfinished Projects

My friend Amy on Etsy @ Provencal Market made this fabulously creative treasury tonight. 
I can't help but think it is the story of my life! I imagine many of us feel the same way. It is also chock full of wonderful Etsy treasure. Thanks Amy for a great treasury feature and a chuckle at myself.
Anne

Harmony

Knit Picks Harmony Interchangeable Knitting Needles arrived in the mail.
Oh happy day! Knit Picks

Knitting Mail The Best Mail!

I cannot begin to tell you the night and day difference. The knitting is STAYING ON THE NEEDLES.

and the points ARE ABLE TO PICK UP LITTLE STITCHES.

I know I am the last person to learn this about good knitting equipment.

My Shade Loving Shawl Ravelry  just might get finished now.