How was Christmas?

Christmas has come and we enjoyed every moment! How was your Christmas? I hope everything was wonderful for you all! I can say we all have full tummy's, have our strength, were safe and sound, and that in itself is a Christmas blessing. Did I take my Christmas decorations down? NO! 

We always keep everything up till the end of the first week of January. I have to say this because it is really funny....in a way. My sister, two brothers, my sister in law, my mom, myself, and my husband were all in attendance. Out of all of us siblings we did not buy anything for any of us! We all bought for the kids only! Everyone is on a strict budget and the kids only got gifts. We all hugged, ate, looked at my chickens, had dessert, and stood around the fire and talked....that was our Christmas gift to each other, our time and company. Is there anyone else who had a Christmas where kids only got gifts? I am not embarrassed or ashamed by not being able to buy everyone gifts and neither were my siblings. We all felt good that we were all in the same boat! I think in this global bad economy we are all in the same boat. Hidyho! We have to make the best out of these kinds of situations. When we are all hitting rock bottom the only thing to do is to go up!

 

Mom and I cooked up a storm in the kitchen. We made green and red enchiladas, potato salad, Mexican rice, and refried beans. The dessert was wonderful. We had pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, cherry pie, and carrot cake. I have to be honest I did not like the cherry pie I made. I will be on a quest for the perfect cherry pie recipe and when I find one I will definitely share it here on a post. My most favorite dessert was the carrot cake! The carrot cake is to die for! I will have to share the recipe at the end and will give credit to the owner of that recipe. Let's just say the cake is worth every calorie! Go ahead and whip up the recipe! 

My family and I sat down at the big dining table in the diningroom. One of my brothers sat at one end of the head table. We were talking about the old white house my mom just had to have when my mom and dad were house hunting. I did tell my mom..."out of all the houses you and dad looked at, you picked that ugly house mom!" My mother said she and my dad had plans to fix up the ole fixer upper and I just shook my head no! That house needed everything new inside and out. My brother mentioned about the fireplace. The fireplace in the ole house was in the livingroom. I do have to say that fire place was beauty and it was wood burning. My brother said he remebers my dad would put lighter wood first to start the fire and boy it would start the fire so quick! 

He remembered it would get cold in that house and I chimed in and said," I remeber the wood floors had no insulation under it and you had to put socks on because the floors were so cold." My brother laughed and said, " ya that's right! The chimney would be burning all night and we would fall asleep in the livingroom because it was warm." I told my brother, " I cannot believe I forgot about that!" The house was sitting up off the ground. Uhhh I hated that house. We talked about all subjects and laughed and ate so much! My sister brought up stories of my two baby brothers and she and I were laughing. My brother Isaiah and baby brother Samuel were about 6 and 5 years old at the time of this particular story. My brother Isaiah would run and yell behind him,"The green eyed goose is there in the room." My little brother Samuel would start running scared straight out of the room! I looked a my baby brother Samuel and asked him, " did you not know what a goose was at that time?" My brother Samuel says, " no I had no idea what a green eyed goose was!" Boy did we laugh! 

Has anyone got around to new years resolutions? Do we even want to set a goal for new years resolutions? Are we being lazy this year about new years resolutions or are we just setting them as we go or are we just going and not setting? Who cares! I say set those resolutions and if we get around to them then we do and if we don't then we don't! Honestly, I have been pondering some goals I need to set and would like to get going. One, getting into some kind of shape....not skinny, but get healthy. Two, sharpening my baking skills and finding the best recipes. Three, being a more attentive mommy. Four, finding a church to attend. Five, getting my husband across the finish line with his business....we're actually wrapping this up soon! Six, have courage to write a children's book series....I have honestly been putting this off. Seven, having courage to pick up my spiritual sword again and getting up to fight for the Lord in my own life. Eight, continuing to make time to see my siblings. Nine, plant sunflowers again this summer. Ten, continuing to stay away from toxic people. Those are my resolutions and goals! Honestly, I just want to thrive. That's all! 

Now! Farm setting....for goals are: one, get forty more chickens. Two, get a pig. Three, get 3 geese. Four, get two goats....one for milking. Five, raise some turkeys. Six, get a German Shepard to raise from a puppy to help with farm animals. Seven, be exhausted from all the farm animals. Quiet an outlook for life! What do yall think? I know there is so much diseases going around and it seems to be never ending! We only live once. So let's live! Set your goals and resolutions! 

Christmas was wonderful and life was so hard this year. I embraced my loved ones and we had fun. We did not have a lot of gifts but we have each other. Eat and be merry! Thank you Lord for your mercy and grace. Blessings to each of you and be safe out there! I will be following up soon with preparations for New years. May God keep us all. 

Risen Acres,

Sonya

*the recipe for the carrot cake can be found at this tiktok account: 

@grandbabycakes 

Her recipe can be found at: http://grandbaby-cakes.com and search for carrot cake...you will not regret making this!