A New Year's Eve Tradition

I guess you could say I have a split personality, lol!

{ Hot Pockets }

It seems ever since I can remember, since the kids were in elementary school, we've adopted a few traditions for New Year's Eve one of which is our homemade hot pockets. It starts with a package of frozen Rhodes rolls (dough). After they have thawed, they get a little dusting of flour, mixed with a little love.

Then rolled out out with some TLC....

We make our favorite fixings to put on top, and every year we seem to come up with new ways to fold them up. Brush them with either butter or olive oil and bake at about 400 for 7-10 minutes or until a nice golden brown. My favorite....is the dessert one. I dice up granny smith apples into small pieces, and in a cup layer butter, apple pieces, cinnamon and sugar and microwave for about a minute. After it has cooled, I dress it the same way and fold it up. Brush lightly with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake the same as the rest. Our homemade hot pockets are always a big hit when they have friends over. 

I think this year I may try a veggie one, and a chicken pot pie hot pocket sounds pretty good too.

This is another tradition we've been doing since the kids were young, something my husband stumbled across one year. It's called Los Anos Viejos, or The Old years. This is a South American tradition about bringing the old year to a proper ending to be ready for the new. The dolls can be 3-4 feet tall and represent the old year, some even wearing an article of their clothing. We just make our dolls out of paper, any paper, and write the things from the year that we want to say good riddance to....and then we burn them on the grill. And then at the stroke of midnight, we wake up any neighbor who might have gone to bed early with the beating of our pots and pans with wooden spoons while sipping Champagne and sparkling grape juice.

So many fun memories!!

What about you, what fun family traditions do you have when it comes to New Year's Eve?

Wishing you all a safe and fun night,

see you next year...

Love, Kim

linking with Texture Tuesday

It's Christmas time in the city . . .

Remember that time machine from a couple of weeks ago, well...

the great thing about a time machine is that there is no jet lag, and no expense.

One of my favorite festivals on Galveston Island is their "Dickens on the Strand,"

where when you walk through the white gates you are immediately transported back

to a 19th-century Victorian London.

And just maybe, you might hear the song "Silver Bells". . .

But mostly because that's the song this week for song-ography. (Cue the music)

City sidewalks busy sidewalks

Dressed in holiday style

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas

Children laughing

People passing

Meeting smile after smile

And on every street corner you'll hear...

Silver bells, silver bells

It's Christmas time in the city

Ring a ling, hear them sing

Soon it will be Christmas day.

String of street lights

Even stop lights, blink a bright red a green

(or maybe a 10 foot tall Christmas tree lady)

As the shoppers rush home with their treasures

. . . or watch the costume contest.

This was our third "Dickens" and by far the coldest. In Texas you just never know what it will be like this time of year. This year unlike years past, in shorts and a t-shirt, I couldn't bundle up enough and wished I had had ear muffs. I had to wear my hubby's barn jacket as I don't even have a winter coat anymore...normally there is no great need, but this year I could use one.

Unfortunately only three days later I came down very sick, and after a week was on the verge of pneumonia.

So, I'm on my second round of antibiotics, and finally after nearly 13 days I'm coming out on the other side.

Our tree only got put up a day a half ago, and I went shopping for the first time yesterday! Eeeek!

But, it's all good, or I keep telling myself that, lol!

Today, we are going to "deck" the tree, bake some cookies, and play some games.

It's a quiet Christmas just the four of us.

Wishing you a very joyful, merry and bright, Christmas!

Love, Kim

Oh Yes, P.S. - I have a little "jingle" over at Focusing on Life today for you...follow me there, {here}.

AND, if you would like to join me on my Facebook page you can "like it" here.  :) 

Sharing with Song-ography, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday

  

I stepped through a time machine . . .

. . . and found Queen Victoria and her royal entourage!

(And P.S. I will be back with more)

You can find me today musing over at Focusing on Life on our monthly theme of joy.

Hope to see you there.

Love, Kim

sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday

Being open . . .

"It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view."

- George Eliot, Middlemarch

Opening....open....opened.

This is our prompt for Photo Art Friday, any form of the word open. And to be honest, I thought of a lot of ways I could interpret the prompt this month.

I thought of things that could be open like doors, windows, or gates. I thought about how rooms open up to other rooms, open outdoor spaces like a patio, or even a wide open space like the beach. I entertained the idea of something that was cracked open, or left wide open . . . even something that might be a real eye-opener.

But there were so many choices that I couldn't decide, so I just started going through some old folders keeping my eyes open to new ideas. 

And this is what I found. This photo of three separate roses all in different stages of "open," that I had taken last April. And there it was sitting on my hard drive, unedited, waiting. I suppose something else had caught my eye and I never looked back.

So this is my interpretation of being open. Open to life, opportunities and most importantly to being open minded. Because really, open means not closed. It means being accessible and relatively free of obstruction.

And you know, isn't the act of having an open mind what keeps our work fresh? Isn't that what gives us new eyes every time we explore with our camera? 

So why would we be any different with people, with each other. We pick up books and going on only a small paragraph on what the book is about we read them anyway. Sometimes it's even necessary to read between the lines, what's not written, to fully understand the story. And it isn't until we reach the end of the book that we make the conclusion of whether or not we liked it or if it even resonated. And whether we liked the book or not is really beside the point isn't it. Because I believe we are better off, always, for having read the book, for stretching our mind.

Many, many times I have run into a brick wall a closed mind. I have a feeling you probably have too and it's not a fun place to be. But whether or not the story is liked, yours, mine or theirs, isn't nearly as important as the message we all get when we retain an open mind.

That message simply says, I see you.

Love, Kim

sharing with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Photo Art Friday

                   Friday Finds, Friday Photo Journal

Photo-heart Connection, November

{KK happy heart}

I have approached this month's photo-heart connection a little differently

and decided to put my thoughts into a poem.  

 Dragonfly Tears

I am part of an intricate

tapestry of life

and if only you would look

you would see it written on my wings

I am not like another

we are each made to be unique

but you can find beauty in the mystery

you need only listen closely for my sound

I soar above

a connection between earth and water

until all movement ceases

when tangled in your many strings

I am here

why can't you see me

I too was made in the face of our creator

and now the time has come; I'm leaving the battleground

©Kim Stevens

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving . . . I'm hoping that today I can start my

Christmas decorating . . . all those boxes of decorations are screaming  calling  my name. They have been sitting there since before Thanksgiving. 

Love, Kim

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Nature Notes

Texture Twist, Photo-Heart Connection Kat Eye Studio