How was your weekend? Did the Easter Bunny come to visit? This little guy had to find someone else to pull his wagon I’m pretty sure.

We had the opportunity to host the family dinner at our house- it was alot of fun as you will see. I have SO enjoyed Pintrest lately and seeing all of the beautiful Easter/Springtime decorations inspired me to do some projects with the kids.

This is what I was aiming for…

This is how it turned out including gummie worms, peeps, twizzlers and jelly beans. : ) The containers will be turned into terrariums later this week!

The kids and their cousin made some sweet tissue paper poufs to hang from the light fixtures for our family dinner. The children’s table looked very happy and inviting we thought.

After an early morning spent searching for Easter baskets, eating chocolate, breakfast and more chocolate we attended a beautiful service at Grace Chapel and came home to hunt Easter eggs. The dogs only ate 2, we think, although 2 others are still missing…

I love cooking for a crowd! Everything about it, coming up with the menu, the table settings, the smells, the noise and laughter of a house full of people and the memories that it creates for my kids. Farmboy made the most amazing Snickers Cheesecake Saturday night AFTER working all day at the farm. He is such a Renaissance man. The recipe for the cheesecake came from a recent dinner club featuring a “Seinfeld Theme”. Who knew there were so many food references on Seinfeld!? I’ll try to post it soon!

Here is the Easter Dinner menu for this year.

Appetizers

Banana Pepper Dip
Fresh Veggies and Dip
Deviled Eggs

Main Course

Whiskey and Cola Basted Ham
Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Sides

Blanched Fresh Asparagus w/Lemon
Pennies From Heaven Carrots
Cheese Souffle
German Potato Salad
Red Quinoa and Avocado Salad

Desserts

Snickers Cheesecake with Oreo Crust
Strawberry & Raspberry Trifle
Strawberry Pie

 At the end of a long, glorious day I looked at beautiful family pics on Facebook that friends had posted from their weekend and something that my high-school English teacher (Don’t you love that about Facebook!?) put up made the most sense for me to share at Easter… because I KNOW grace, forgiveness and mercy and the beauty of those actions make a profound difference in this world and in the lives of other people.  : )

“”I serve a risen Savior-he’s in the world today-I know that He is living, no matter what men may say”. It’s simple, your wrongs are forgiven. Today, in honor of His sacrifice, forgive someone.”

It is the essence of Easter.

What a wonderful holiday it has been! Christmas Eve was a highlight for me. Three generations sitting around the candlelit dinner table talking about their Christmas memories. It was such a treat to have both sets of grandparents and their aunt there for the children to hear. We laughed over Farmer Russ always wanting a bicycle when he was a boy and never getting one. He took matters into his own hands and bought himself a motorcycle when he was just 15! Whaaat? What is wrong with THAT picture.

Junebug’s (my mom) favorite present was an Indian outfit complete with a bow and arrow. To everyone surprise Poppa Frank’s favorite present was his Roy Rogers outfit complete with holsters and chaps! What a pair they would make and make now!

I had been obsessing over the menu for a week or two because… I just love to! Here’s what was served:

Asparagus Soup
(a family tradition)

Pear and Gorgonzola Green Salad with Walnuts
(my sister-in-law sent us the most wonderful pears from Harry & David)

Grilled Whole Beef Tenderloin with Green Peppercorn Cream Sauce
(Junebug and Poppa bring one every year… yum!)

Wild Rice Pilaf

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
(fresh from the garden!!! who knew!)

Pennies From Heaven ( a great carrot side)

 After basking in the warm candlelight glow from the table we all said our goodbyes and headed to the candlelight service at church. A beautiful service. So glad that my sister was there. My heart was touched as LaLa asked Ryder if she could put her head in his lap and he played with her hair and scratched her back as she rested. So sweet. Their gentle hands passed the flame from one candle carefully to the other. The sanctuary was aglow as we sang Silent Night.

Christmas morning was fun, EARLY and full of yummy goodness. Here’s what was on the menu:

Quiche Lorraine
(a family tradition: recipe from River Road Recipes- Baton Rouge Jr League cookbook)

Crustless Spinach Quiche
(a new recipe that I wanted to try… I think I prefer Quiche with a crust)

Fruit Salad

Lunch at my sister-in-laws with the extended family was fun and scrumptious. I managed to “win” a roll of toilet paper in the Bad Santa game.  I was hoping for a five dollar bill rolled up in there. No such luck.

The past week has been relaxing, pretty quiet besides the “school is out” sleepovers and “that’s not a word” Scrabble shouting matches. Farmboy even made a delicious Chicken Marsala dinner one night. He is such a Rennissance man! I have been in my pajamas much too much to admit to you. It’s 4:30… we have a party to attend at 7pm. Think I’d better go get changed… NOT that I could possibly still be in my pjs at this hour!

The smell of Black-eyed Peas is in the air. We are taking a DUO (I watch too much Ironchef) of Blackeyed Pea appetizers to the party tonight for double the prosperity for the coming year. Texas Caviar… a great alternative to salsa for chips and a warm BEP dip. Here are the recipes:

Texas Caviar

Zannie’s Black Eyed Pea Dip

When Ryder was getting his hair cut yesterday the stylist asked him what we were doing for New Years and his answer was simply “Eating black-eyed peas”. Made me laugh… we are such an exciting bunch. ; )

Next week Michelle Masters Studio will be back open for business and we will be gearing up for the 2012 Philadelphia Flower Show. There are new greeting card designs on the way as well as some fun new products. Fifteen pounds of french lavender buds is on its way for heavenly scented sachets and I will soon be ordering framing for some new paintings. Yay!

Thank you for stopping by- for reading, for your comments over the last year and for your encouragement and support of my little niche in the world. I am so honored. I wish you JOY, PEACE, PROSPERITY & GRACE for the coming year. May it shine in your lives and illuminate all those around you. : )

Oh my poor little lonely blog. I have neglected you so.

Tis that time of year- filling orders (thank you!), shipping, shopping, designing, painting, cooking, decorating. My lists go on and on. Items checked off one day- twice as many added the next.

That being said there is much to write, much to be thankful for this holiday season and my heart is full. I’m hitting a creative burst so be sure to stop by and see what all of the bursting is about. Until then I thought you might enjoy a snapshot from our Thanksgiving morning.

Our family watches the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade faithfully and here at the Masters’ house the “stands” are filled for the parade as well. All of the cuddlebugs, beanie babies and webkinz are present… lined up in one of my card displays as the parade files by. One day maybe we will go. La-La said that she wanted to be there in person but I have always thought that the best seats were at home where the audio, video and lip-syncing goodness could be heard… not to mention the delicious smells of turkey wafting through the air!

But… there may come a day when I NEED to see that gigantic Super Grover in person. The child inside me would faint from all of that high-flying, blue, super Muppetness. : )

This has to be my favorite time of the year. My senses are estatic. The music, the smells, the snow, the lights. What joy. I go back and forth between the present and the past Christmas’ of my childhood. It’s really all good. I had an ideal childhood… until the my parents’ divorce. Apparently it wasn’t that ideal. But, life… it is what it is. And I’m glad. I know that I have been blessed. Perfection and imperfection. It’s okay with me. At least it is today.

I have a strong desire to give my children a healthy investment of tradition, memories, smells, tastes and sounds to fill their present as well as their past when they are old enough to look back. I wonder what shape it will take for them. Hmmm. I hope they remember that they are loved with an everlasting love and that their parents are absolutely crazy about each other. That would make me happy.