Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!!!

Miss Hayden 'Hartley" Willis' first Christmas! Merry Christmas Ya'll!!!

QUICK AND EASY Shrimp Dinner

A really quick and easy (and very yummy dinner) is a shrimp and rice dish. I gathered the ingredients above.

Easy Shrimp and Rice Dinner

1/2 to 1 pounds shrimp (you can vary this depending on how many you are serving or if you like LOTS of shrimp), peeled and deveined. I leave the tails on; however, you could remove them. Once you have the shrimp peeled, marinate in 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1 clove garlic (minced), salt and pepper (to your taste). Marinate for at least two hours.

Grill shrimp.

Use two pouches Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Original flavor - heat for 90 seconds in the microwave.

Stir in 2-3 tablespoons of bought Pesto (I use Classico brand)

Place on platter, cover with shrimp, add one roma tomato, seeded and chopped on top of shrimp.


I love my stove top grill!

Dinner is served! It is simple and quick, but nice enough for company. Serve with a salad.

Outdoor Table

Jeff made us a new outdoor table...we had been using an old coffee table, which was really too low to eat on. The dogs had a field day if anyone had to step away from their plate (yes, I know, they are not well mannered when it comes to food!!). Anyway the new table is great - he recycled lumber from an old gate to make the table top and the legs are from some pecan trees we had to remove to build the house. This is the first time he used the lathe...on the table legs to make the decorations/grooves.

You can tell it was a rainy, chilly day...I can't wait to use it in the spring! I think he did a great job...I love the rustic feel of the wood.


He also made our dining room table (I'll show you later) and the sofa table the larger snowmen are setting on (previous post). He has several projects he is working on like a new storage piece for the dining room. We purchased some old doors at Round Top and he will build a cabinet around them.


Stay warm and have a great day!!

Merry Christmas!

A few of our Christmas decorations...we had the Christmas Party for our associates this past Saturday night...it was a fun party. We have the event catered by our neighbor, Heidi, who has a great local catering business called "An Adequate Snack". Check out her web site for the story of the name (www.anadequatesnack.com). I bought this bench years ago and it is very rustic, originally from Mexico. It was used for many years in San Antonio at a local store.

Part of my snowman collection...
The niche with some festive decoration...each year at the party we have a theme and this year it was seafood...
Our tree...each ornament is unique. The oldest one is from 1979!

Picture Frame

In yesterday's post, you may have noticed the picture in the background. We found this picture by D.L. Lawrence in a gallery in Taos, New Mexico. It is on canvas, but did not have a frame. Jeff made this frame using a picture in a decorating book as inspiration. It is made from pecan wood (from one of the trees we had to knock down when we built the house...more on that later). Notice the three stars at the top. I found 10 at a garage sale earlier in the year. He spray painted them and they are the perfect finishing touch!

Jeff and I saw this church once when we were exploring between Santa Fe and Espaniola. The picture is made right at sunrise, you can see the mountain in the background. The photographer is now deceased. He had such a great eye for pictures mostly celebrating the southwest. I am glad that we have one.

Wedding Gift

Back in May, my dear friend Anne-Marie's, daughter, Emily had her wedding reception at our house. Since both Emily and Tom are from the Northeast (but wanted to marry in Texas), I thought a Texas gift would be appropriate. First I purchased a picnic backpack, which included plates, flatware, fabric napkins and wine glasses. I replaced the plastic glasses with glass ones.


Then I went to a local store that specializes in Texas items and added...a bottle of Texas wine, snack mix, jelly, salsa, BBQ sauce, a magazine on the Texas Hill Country, Texas vintage post cards, a pencil with a Texas shape at the top, and a Texas ornament.


Wrapped everything up in cellophane and tied with ribbons. They loved it and it was a nice reminder of the wedding and reception!