Today I’d like to share my first recipe of 2025. It’s an easy and quick treat for special occasions as well as everyday. Today’s recipe is a tasty shortbread with maple syrup, brown sugar, and pecan flavors. The shortbread is pressed into a parchment-lined 8″ x 8″ baking dish to bake. While the it’s baking, beat an egg in a mixing bowl along with 1/3 cup brown sugar, maple syrup, and pecans. Pour the pecan mixture over the hot crust, and return to the oven.
Read MoreTag: Christmas
Christmas is Different in Florida
I’d like to end this year with a post filled with whimsey and humor. I’ve collected some of my favorite Florida photos, jokes, and memes. I do not know the creators as they are shared on social media by many people. I hope you enjoy them.
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Christmas Lights at the Condo Building
Last week when I shared my Florida condo building’s holiday decorations, I promised to share night photos of the lights. I am not a great night photographer, and I apologize in advance. It’s really hard to capture the magic of lights at night. I have views of a few residents’ front doors or windows as well as the decorations in the common area.
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Christmas Decorations at My Condo Building
Last January I sold my house and closed on a condominium in Lakeland, Florida. (For those of you who are not familiar with the term: A condominium, or condo, is a residential property complex with multiple units that are individually owned, but where the owners also share ownership of common areas.)
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Merry Christmas from Florida!
Welcome to my home. I bought a new wreath for the front door of my condominium.
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Advent Acts of Kindness
Originally Published November 13, 2018. Updated November 18, 2024
Sunday, December 1st (2024) is the first Sunday of Advent. Many people around the world celebrate this time in preparation for Christmas. Celebrations can use an Advent calendar, an Advent wreath, and family prayers. I have printable free Advent calendars for download celebrating the 24 days prior to Christmas. If you want to simply celebrate Advent, make a wreath or calendar and add activities that enhance the season. Print and celebrate the days with family activities like gathering donations to charity, buying gifts for a Giving Tree, baking gifts for others, or reading about the story of Jesus in scripture. For more information on celebrating a simple Advent see my post, Simple Ways to Celebrate Advent: Wreaths, Calendars, & Activities . This simple Advent calendar is available for download there as well as possible scripture readings.
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The Murphy ‘Halls Are Officially Decked!’
Photos today are courtesy of my nephew James.
As many of you know, I am selling my house and buying a condo. I just have a few Christmas items in the living room to keep me happy, but I won’t be putting up a tree and doing all the decorating I normally do. Right now there are 2 stacks of packed boxes in the living room with more to come. Each stack is as tall as me. Same in the dining room. An inspector came last Monday at 12:45. Last Tuesday an appraisor came at noon. Sigh! I’ll be so happy when this is all over. I move to Lakeland on January 10th. Today’s photos are courtesy of my nephew James up in Michigan. Thank you James!
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Meadowbrook Hall’s Winter Wonderland For Christmas
Photos are courtesy of my nephew, James, and his wife, Heather.
Meadow Brook Hall is a Tudor revival style mansion located at 350 Estate Drive in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was built between 1926 and 1929 by the heiress to the Dodge automaker fortune, Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, lumber baron, Alfred Wilson. Each holiday season the mansion is decorated for Christmas. My nephew, James, and his wife, Heather, went to enjoy Meadowbrook’s Winter Wonderland last week. They enjoyed the inside late in the day and then explored the light displays outside. Thanks for sharing James and Heather!
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