Merry Christmas!

Today is my last day of work in 2009! I am really looking forward to some time off. As many of you know, I don’t have internet at home because I’m too cheap to pay for it when it is readily available for me to use all day long while at work. So, needless to say, there probably won’t be much blogging here on The Chronicles of Nat in the next week or so.

In the meantime, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Year’s! I hope Santa brings you lots of goodies and I hope that 2010 will be a blessing to you and your family! Thanks for reading along; I appreciate all your support!

I'm Back!

Well, I rejoined the land of the living today. I had grand plans of baking this past Saturday and for enjoying a dinner at Mikato with Tony, but that all came to a screeching halt when I woke up with a stomach virus on Saturday morning. I don’t think I have to go into any details there. Needless to say, this was one of the worse ones I have ever had and I ended up having to stay the weekend with my parents so that they could look after me. I thought I was going to die. But, 24 hours later my stomach was feeling a little better and I was able to go home late Sunday afternoon.


Yesterday I stayed home from work because my stomach still wasn’t feeling up to par and Lisa brought me some chicken soup she had made. It was yummy! Thanks, Lisa. Today my stomach still feels a little queasy, but I’m gonna try to tough it out here at work.

So, as a result of the weekend’s unplanned festivities, I have nothing interesting to write about. On my way in to work this morning, I was listening to Christmas songs and decided to write about that. I really love Christmas songs; and, surprisingly, I am not yet sick of them this season. My favorite album to listen to at Christmastime is by The Statler Brothers, called “Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters”. I think the original album was called “Christmas Card”. This is the album we listened to every Christmas growing up.

When we would travel to various places at Christmastime we would sing Christmas carols. Usually when we were in the car we would sing church hymns, but at Christmastime, the hymns were replaced with our favorite carols. One of the songs we would sing was “Winter Wonderland”. When it got to the part, “Later on, we’ll conspire as we dream by the fire,” I would sing, “Later on wilken spider…” Now, I had no idea why “wilken spider” was in this song nor did I know what a “wilken spider” was; but that’s what I sang and it was many, many years later before I knew what the correct words were.

I hope everyone has a nice Tuesday, and that you have all your Christmas shopping done. Only three shopping days left (including today)!

Christmas - A Week Away!

It’s one week until Christmas Day! Do you have your shopping done? I do; Tony doesn’t. This probably does not come as a surprise to you, the reader. Surprisingly, I am not yet sick of Christmas music and I still have many Christmas movies to watch.

This Saturday (the Saturday before Christmas) is supposedly the busiest shopping day of the year. So, if you don’t have a need to go to the mall, I would suggest you stay at home. I know that’s my plan. I have some grocery shopping to do; but, with any luck I will get that done this evening after work. I plan to bake some goodies this weekend. That is provided I can motivate myself to do the baking.

What kind of holiday traditions do you like best? One of my favorite things to do is go to the mall on Christmas Eve and people watch. It is so fun to watch all the last-minute shoppers run around in a panic – especially when the announcement comes that the store will soon be closing. If this is something you have never done, you must try it. You will not be disappointed. This year, Tony and I are doing something new which I hope will become a tradition for us – Christmas Crackers! Have you ever heard of them? If not, read up. It’s a British tradition and can be a lot of fun – who doesn’t love a surprise. Crackers are mentioned in the Harry Potter books; and I’m sure you’ve seen Brits wearing paper crowns in various Christmas movies.

I wish I had something fun and entertaining to tell you all; but, alas, I do not. I have no big plans except for watching the Survivor season finale on Sunday night. And I’m crossing my fingers that Tony will take me out to Mikato tomorrow night (Wouldn’t that be so nice of him?!) If he does, I may be a big dork and take my camera along. Why not? I’ll never see those folks again.

One last note; today is my friend Erika’s birthday! Happy Birthday Erika! I'm still waiting on you to have your roller skating party!

Recipe Cards Winner

Congrats to Melissa, winner of the recipe cards. Two folks entered and random.org once again selected entrant number one. So, congrats, girl. I have your address and I’ll send the cards your way as soon as I feel like braving the line at the post office.


I hope you all are having a better day than me! So far I left my phone at home and had to go back to get it because I am expecting a call today and then when I got to work I dropped my orange juice in the parking lot. So, I’m thirsty and have no cash. I think I’ll raid the boss’ fridge.

Christmas with My Other Family

Yes, I was wearing my glasses last night.

Last night I had Christmas with Jackie, Troy, Ashlyn, Tim and Jan. It was great. We really had a nice time. Jan prepared a wonderful meal of roast beef, black-eyed peas, salad (she made my favorite) and The Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes. I didn’t even know Jan knew who PW was!

This is the first time I have ever seen Jackie in an apron!

After dinner we had dessert. Jackie had been preparing the cake when I got there last night. It was a lemon rosemary cake. Well, the cake didn’t completely cool so I suggested she put it out in the garage or in the garage fridge to keep it cool. So, she did and after dinner she went to retrieve the cake, which she proceeded to drop on the garage floor. I didn’t witness this event, but the kids did and of course thought it to be hilarious. Somehow she managed to save most of the cake and we were able to eat some. It was also very good. I should have taken a picture of the disheveled cake, but didn’t think about it.

Troy is helping with dinner

Then we played a table topic game. Troy read the questions from the cards and we went around the table answering the questions. It was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see what everyone’s answers were.

The table - a lovely display and a good example fo my terrible photography!

Then it was time to open gifts – the most exciting part of the evening for the kids. They were, of course, ready to open gifts as soon as I had arrived.

I went first. Tim and Jan gave me a cake pan from the Cake Pan Lady. Jan had seen these on The Pioneer Woman’s blog and she got one for both me and Jackie. I had also seen them on The Pioneer Woman’s site and had even “favorited” the site so I could order myself one sometime. Now there’s no need! A great gift! They also gave me a gift certificate to the movies and a lovely pair of earrings. From Jackie and the kids I received a framed photo of the three of them. It’s a great picture and I look forward to displaying it in my home. They also gave me a gift certificate to get a pedicure, which I am so thankful for because I recently wanted to get one, but didn’t want to spend the money. All the gifts were awesome and I am so thankful to have received them.

The top of my cake pan!

It says' from Natasha J's Kitchen

The kids went next. I got Troy an Electronic Hyperslide and a Harry Potter sticker book and Ashlyn got a Strawberry Shortcake play set and sticker book. I think they both liked their gifts; at least I hope so! I gave Jackie a combo birthday/Christmas gift earlier this year; but, I wanted her to have something to open so she received a personalized Christmas ornament from me.

Ashlyn and her sticker book

Ashlyn plays with her Strawberry Shortcake assortment

Troy opens a gift

Do you remember last week when I met The Pioneer Woman? Well, one of the cookbooks I had signed was for Jan. So, I was very happy that she knew who The Pioneer Woman was! She was very surprised and I think she really enjoyed the book. I gave Tim a gift card to Red Lobster since he takes the family there so often. If it were up to Troy, Tim would spend his life savings at Red Lobster. I also got a gift for Jackie's dog, Belle, only to find out that Belle no longer resides at Jackie's home. Well, that made The Tide happy!

Jan is perusing the PW Cookbook

So, that was my first Christmas exchange for the season. It was a fun time and for the first time this holiday season, I felt “Christmassy.” I really appreciate Tim and Jan and all they have done for me throughout my life. They are truly like a second set of parents to me and I love them very much! Jackie has been a great friend over the years and I am thankful to have her as my “sister.” Love you too, girl!

Christmas - 17 years ago!

And here we are in 2009 - I should have worn the Christmas bow in my hair last night!

Christmas Movies

Guess what my loyal readers? Yesterday’s post was the 100th on this blog. Very exciting indeed and I didn’t even realize it until today. I’m so observant.


Monday night was rather boring and I once again have no pictures to share with you – my apologies. I did eat at Olive Garden with church folks last night, which is always good for filling up your insides and making you feel as though you are going to bust at the seems, but hey, it’s the holidays!

After dinner I came home and watched Meet Me in St. Louis. Have you ever seen it? I bought it last year sometime after Christmas, but last night was actually the first time I had ever watched it. Jackie will probably poke fun of me. You see, she finds it crazy that I haven’t seen a lot of the older movies that she has seen. I guess my parents’ weren’t big movie watchers when I was growing up. Since I’ve gotten older, I watch movies as often as I can, but still haven’t seen some of the old classics. So last night it was Meet Me in St. Louis, and it was delightful.

For the past couple of weeks I have been making plans to watch Christmas movies and it seems every time I plan to watch one something else comes up and I don’t get to watch. So, I’m happy to say that for two nights in a row now I have been able to watch something “Christmassy”. I have also been watching bits of Elf before I go to bed at night. I absolutely love that movie. It makes me laugh every year!

I also like the Home Alone movies, as well as The Family Stone, Love Actually, and a couple of my all time favorites are How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the old cartoon version) and the old version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I always looked forward to these coming on TV when I was a kid.

How about you? What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

Unadventurous Weekend

Christmas – it’s only 10 days away! Can you believe it? I know I can’t. It seems that this month has really flown by! Have you finished your Christmas shopping? I have two more gift cards to purchase and then I am officially done. I had most of my shopping done before Thanksgiving this year.


Well, I had a rather unadventurous weekend; which means no pictures were taken to share with you. Try not to cry. It will get better, I promise. Friday night, I had an assignment for The Huntsville Times. If you care to read it, you can go here.

On Saturday I took The Tide to the vet for her annual shots. How it is I ended up with a dog that gets $150 worth of shots in December I will never know. I should have planned that better. I also made my Christmas cards on Saturday and got those ready for mailing; and cleaned house, my Saturday ritual. Saturday evening I headed out to the big city of Arab for a work Christmas party. I went solo since Tony is still on his man trip. Two other folks from my group showed up with their spouses. It was an interesting evening to say the least and I was more than happy when I was able to leave and head back home.

Sunday was spent attending church and napping. I also watched Four Christmases. I had never seen it before and it wasn’t too bad.

So, as you can see it was a rather uneventful weekend, which is nice from time to time. I added a Christmas Countdown at the bottom of the post and the bottom of the blog. I was going to put it to the side, but half of it got cut off; so I put it at the bottom. Hope it doesn’t freak you out when you realize you don’t have much time to finish up your shopping.

Since it’s Monday and I don’t have anything fascinating to write about (like teenagers having sex in a movie theater bathroom), let’s have a giveaway! I purchased some Christmas colored recipe cards recently to give away here on the blog. They are super cute. I should have taken a picture, but the camera is still recovering from all the PW photo taking from last Tuesday night. If I remember correctly, they are trimmed in red with white polka dots and they may have some green on them too. I don’t know for sure. Just take it from me, they are cute. If you want to enter the contest, just leave a comment on here and tell us what you love to bake at Christmas time. Good luck to both all the folks who enter! The contest will end Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m.

Have a good week!