I’m WAY behind on the Xmas blogging.  Probably will never catch up entirely.  But I have to share that I think I’ve found the new smell of Christmas for our house.  Yes, on years when I’m really on the ball I plan on doing cookies and maybe peanut brittle and other delectable delights intended to increase people’s girth.  BUT!  My current plan is to ALWAYS (try to) make GRANOLA!  Oh BOY, does that stuff smell wonderful while it’s baking!  It makes me think of the mountains.  I can almost picture myself in a log cabin in the high country, with the wind and snow howling outside and a fire blazing inside….  A wolf calls to his pack.  A hungry bear sniffs at the door.  A cougar screams in the night….  But me and mine?  We’re fine.  Because we’ve got our granola!

Okay, maybe not really — well, maybe just a little.

Fresh from the oven, cooling on paper bags, with dried fruit just added.

Credit is due to my Aunt Mary (Mom’s sister) who has made this delight for years, and who gladly shared the recipe with me.

By the way, yes.  I am totally aware that this opens me up to all kinds of  ”granola/ flower child/ Boulder” jokes.  And for once — I. Don’t. Care.  My love of the granola cannot be tainted by the unfortunate fact that I grew up so close to a place known for its “fruits, nuts, and flakes.”

Today, the new FaceBook Privacy setting called “instant personalization” goes into effect.

The new setting shares your data with non-FaceBook sites and it is automatically set to ‘enabled.’

To fix this go to Account> Privacy settings> Apps and Websites> Instant Personalization> edit settings and UNCHECK “enable.”

Right when you click on Instant Personalization edit settings – a video pops up and looks like you are in the wrong spot, scroll down under it…

BTW,  if your friends don’t do this, they will be sharing info about you as well.

Even though I don’t “FB,” thanks to Simple Saving Savvy and A Thrifty Mom for mentioning it.

Good grief.

Lunch today was very “sophisticated.”  Ham and cheese on crackers.  Oranges.  Milk/ water.   The kids prefer their cracker sandwiches plain, but  I like a little spicy brown mustard.  (Tim had gone for a run, so he’s not part of this story.)

As I was doctoring up my crackers Caleb asked, “Mommy, do any peoples like mustard on their oranges?”

“Ummm… probably.  Probably some of the people on Food Network, but I think it does not sound very good.”

“I do!  I like it!”

“Really?  You want to try it?  Okay.”  My thought was: he likes oranges anyway, but why discourage his discovery of a possibly new yummy way to eat something healthy?  So I squirted a little puddle of it on his plate.

Verdict? LOVED IT!  Go figure.  So if you babysit the child, and he wants mustard w/ oranges… he’s not kidding.

Standing in the kitchen after sending the children upstairs to begin bedtime procedures I hear, “Mommeeee!  Ethan not being NORMAL!”

Oh dear.  We ambled up the stairs, curious about the “abnormality.”  Tim got there first and quickly shouted, “Catherine!  You gotta see this!”

What did I see?  Caleb and Ethan sword fighting in the hall with Ethan totally naked.  Yup.   Looked pretty “normal” to me.

From Tim last night:  ”Sometimes you can’t solve a problem.  You just endure it.”

Yup.  But not alone or in a static state (that’s not what he meant, by the way).

“qavah — (kuh-vaw’), Heb. — to look for, wait patiently with expectation, hope, expect, look eagerly”

Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

Psalm 130:5-6: “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning,”          This is comparing waiting on the Lord to the night guards of the city who watched time pass in anticipation of dawn when they would be released from duty. The coming of the dawn was certain, but not without the passage of time.