How can you pick just one ?

With so many gorgeous colors of Poinsettia available how can you possibly pick just one ! Beth and I took off up to Shawnee, Georgia to Rahn's greenhouses to see this years selections and we almost didn't have enough room to bring back all of the ones we choose .


Strawberries & Cream Sure caught my eye in a large quantity they were beautiful.



This light lime colored was so pretty



and the salmon colored ones in the right setting would be beautiful



and then the pretty speckled ones !



With several greenhouse full of all the different varieties of poinsettias it was really hard to decide what I wanted because I wanted at least one of each ..







and look what was sitting among all those pretty poinsettias the prettiest flower of all Beth's granddaughter Miss Addie .... doesn't she remind you of a Kewpie doll with those big blue eyes and Kewpie lips .. lol



This one came home with me




and so did some of those burgundy ones top left and a pink one as well as a few others. Do you use poinsettia in your Christmas decorating ? What colors do you like ? Do you stay more with the traditional Christmas reds or are you more adventurous ? It's Outdoor Wednesday come see what everyone is sharing over at Miss Susan's ~ A Southern Daydreamer ...hum mm time to get back to a baking & a wrapping .. Christmas hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Brown Sugar Apple Cider yum with Praline Drizzle

I have been playing with this recipe for years and this year they are purrrfect !

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of shortening
  
• 3 cups all- purpose flour * divided in half
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup apple cider infused Golden raisins ~ drained **
  
• 1 cup chopped pistachios
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chopped dried cranberries
  

Cream together butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds or till softened. Stir in about half of the flour. Add brown sugar, egg, buttermilk, vanilla, baking powder, soda & salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally.

*In a separate bowl toss together the cranberries, drained raisins & all the nuts with the remaining flour coating everything well then add fruit, nuts and remaining flour to your wet batter stir just till mixed .

Cover bowl with plastic wrap refrigerate for at least an hour.
preheat oven to 375 degrees bake for 8 ~ 10 minutes or till edges are firm. Cool on a wire rack. Once cookies are cooled place them on wax paper close together and drizzle with the warm praline.

I like to use a small cookie scoop to keep the cookies uniform in size but if you would like you can roll the dough into logs before refrigerating and then slice and bake.

** A few day's before you are going to mix these soak 1 cup of golden raisins in a good apple cider


Praline Drizzle

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
  
• 2 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1/4 cup light cream
• 1 1/3 cups sifted powder sugar
  

in a small saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, orange juice & cream.
Heat and stir over medium heat till mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Boil 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat whisk in powdered sugar till smooth but be quick it will start to harden quickly you can add a few more drops of orange juice if needed to make drizzle consistency.

The batter can be refrigerator for up to 3 days or wrapped well and put into the freezer for up to 3 months.

The original recipe is Praline brown sugar rounds from Better Homes & Gardens Old Fashioned Home Baking Cookbook which has a lot of wonderful recipes in it, so if you happen upon it, grab it... It's a good one..

I'm joining in on The Incredible Christmas Cookie Party over at Aly & Ash Where I have already seen some really great looking cookies...
I will also be joining All Things Merry & Bright over at All Things Heart and Home
Miss Robin has already shared her Oatmeal Dolce de Leche-Marshmallow Cookie Pies and they look out of this world yummy.. Now if you can't get enough cookies at these two parties come join us at Pleasant Home for more wonderful yummy goodness...



Christmas Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Flaunting Camellia's for Fertilizer Friday

A few more beauties shared by The Southeastern Camellia Society, Inc

An outstanding Hybrid from Hulyn called 'Delores Edwards'. This cross of Camellia saluenensis X Camellia japonica was introduced in 1989.

'Ville De Nantes'. This sport of 'Donckelarii' was introduced in France in 1910, and it is one of the most popular camellias in the world today.



'Lauren Tudor Pink' This is another outstanding camellia japonica from Hulyn. It is a sport of Hulyn's 'Lauren Tudor' which was introduced in 1999 and named after one of his daughters.



Hybrid from Hulyn called 'Ray Gentry'.

Beautiful Hybrid from Hulyn called 'Nedra Ann Mathis'. This variety is a cross of 'Suzanne Withers' X 'Jean Pursel', and it was introduced in 1996

you can CLICK HERE to see more of these beauties ..

Wish I had something of my own to Flaunt this week but we have been in the low 20's all week and everything looks pretty sad ....

It's Fertilizer Friday over at Tootsie Time come along to see what everyone is sharing..




Christmas Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Showing off the Christmas tree 2010

"Christmas 2010"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Thrifty Decor Chick and Hooked on Houses
are having Christmas Parties Come along and join us I promise if you want to be inspired these parties are the ones to attend there is yumminess everywhere you look...

Christmas Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Yummy, yummy an entire hotel lobby filled with Gingerbread

Oh Baby it's REALLY, REALLY cold in Savannah .. it has been a 2 pair of socks kinda week around here !

The Savannah Harbor Foundations Tenth Annual Gingerbread Village is going on now through Christmas at the The Westin Savannah Harbor .. My niece Dianne and I took little Mr. Kaiden to see it and she and I were the ones acting like children ... it's an entire lobby of sugar.. we wanted to touch everything.



The Olde Pink House Restaurant



love this one



They are all done by local chefs, students and community groups.



I loved the little church



there was a lot of really cute entries they have the larger village set up in the main lobby and then a smaller one in an adjacent lobby



The boats were awesome



The little veggie garden was really cute



as was this barn with the horse and the chicken looking out the door & window



The Gulfstream jet was much bigger than it looks



the hedge around this house was made out of rice crispy treats. I love the roof line of this house it's typical of downtown Savannah.



There was a train track all the way around the large village



and my little guy Kaiden tried really, really hard to get his hands on it. If you get the opportunity to go see the village go it will bring out the kid in ya ... I have been thinking about gum drops and ginger snaps ever since ..lol

Happy Wednesday everyone
Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Camellia's for Mosaic Monday

here's a few from my yard this morning



and the rest of these are from The Southeastern Camellia Society, Inc.












This is just a few of the gorgeous species you will see on their Facebook page if you would like to see more you can click here The Southeastern Camellia Society, Inc. ...
The weather over the Thanksgiving holiday was perfect. Thursday was in the 80's so hubby and I took off to spend the day at Tybee .. nothing like sunshine & sand to make our hearts happy..



Friday I finally finished planting all of my cabbage, dusty miller and pansies. Then we got some much needed rain Friday night which brought a chilly & frosty Saturday morning.



and today is cloudy with more rain moving in which means it's going to be a great day to pull out all the Christmas decorations and try really hard to at least get the lights on the tree which is my least favorite part ... Maybe with a little help from some warm spiked cider, evergreen scented candles and Kenny G ..... I will succeed .. lol
Come join me & all the other wonderful bloggers for Mosaic Monday over at The Little Red House lots of beautiful things being shared today... click here to see them all

Happy Mosaic Monday and big hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Happy Thanksgiving ya'll

a split second later



Outta here !

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone
Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Looking Marvelous on this Beautiful Friday

Recently I walked into a local bakery's it was one of those day's that I just couldn't get my stuff together so I decided I needed some serious sugar and grease with a little cinnamon on top.. While there I walked into the ladies room and started giggling ... it was so dang cute !



and being the girl I am out came the camera .. I stayed entirely too long in this cute little room, when I opened the door there was a line of cross-legged ladies waiting to go in. I just smiled and told them to enjoy.. Hope once they were inside they understood ..
A little sugar, cinnamon and being told you look marvelous makes for a really good day and yes I really wanted to try on that coconut top ...

Have a beautiful Friday everyone, a fun weekend and remember you are MARVELOUS!..

Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

Going Home

It has taken me over a week to write this post. I have tried to write it from many different angles only to toss them all away because they just didn't feel right. I didn't want to come across as sad & sorrowful because this giant of a man my father in law would not want it that a way. My father in law was a Firefighter for 33 years if you have ever had the pleasure of being around firemen you know they are very compassionate, they love living life to the fullest, they have very big ego's, they stick together no matter what and they put no thought to jumping in when ordinary people would turn and run and I haven't met one yet that doesn't have a sense of humor. My father in law was all this and so much more even though he was retired he was still a firefighter at heart. He was taken from us unexpectedly and left us with so many questions... Why ..

As I sit and listen to all the wonderful stories being shared by those that loved him the why doesn't seem to matter anymore. I know he loved us with all his heart, he loved his friends, he loved life. He would want us to rejoice in our memories, to be thankful for each day that God blesses us with and he would want us to continue on this path that life is leading us down for he knew each day was a gift just waiting on us to go enjoy..

The Hymn Going Home was played by a bagpiper during his Memorial Service the lyrics are beautiful and comforting ...

Going home, going home,
I'm just going home.
Quiet-like, slip away-
I'll be going home.
It's not far, just close by;
Jesus is the Door;
Work all done, laid aside,
Fear and grief no more.
Friends are there, waiting now.
He is waiting, too.
See His smile! See His hand!
He will lead me through.

Morning Star lights the way;
Restless dream all done;
Shadows gone, break of day,
Life has just begun.
Every tear wiped away,
Pain and sickness gone;
Wide awake there with Him!
Peace goes on and on!
Going home, going home,
I'll be going home.
See the Light! See the Sun!
I'm just going home.

Words are by William Arms Fisher and Ken Bible.


Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry