Christmas is in the air and it's the time of the year to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm glad that we're here in my native land so hubby and I will celebrate this Christmas with my family and loved ones. We had already decorated our house with Christmas decorations as early as last month. But I can't help myself reminiscing our Christmas decorations the other year in our house in Texas. Hubby was the one who put the Christmas lights in front of our house and I was the one who put the Christmas ornaments. Then I asked hubby to take photos in our front porch. I just want to capture in picture the Christmas decorations that we put. The pics didn't really turn out that good. It's kinda blurry but still I wanted to post it here. The batteries of my digicam were exhausted that's why. Anyway, here are the pics taken 2 years ago.

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I just wanna post here my experience in eating lunch at Cracker Barrel restaurant sometime last year. My hubby had 2 gift cards from this restaurant worth $10 each which was given to him as Christmas present from the parents of the kids in their school. We used it for that day to pay our lunch. It was my first time to eat at the said restaurant. When we went in, the place was packed and we had to wait for 5 minutes to be seated. My hubby ordered his favorite chicken steak with fried okra and french fries on the side and I ordered chicken and dumplings with mashed potatoes and coleslaw on the side. I haven't eaten chicken and dumplings yet so I was curious how does it taste. To my dismay, it doesn't taste good to me, even their mashed potatoes. I will never order it again and I told hubby I will not try to cook chicken and dumplings because I don't like it. It's a good thing they gave us dinner rolls and corn bread while waiting on our orders so that filled me up. I just asked for a box and took home my order. My hubby ate it for supper. The foods at Cracker Barrel didn't meet my expectation and I doubt I will ever eat there again.

This is what I ordered, chicken and dumplings and mashed potatoes and it was not as good as I thought.

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Last year, I had a health issue regarding the ringing in my ears called tinnitus. The ringing was so loud that I wasn't able to sleep and later on I developed anxiety and depression. I asked my hubby to take me to the park one Saturday afternoon to walk and unwind. I've been feelin' low and stressed due to lack of sleep so I decided to go out walking and feel the fresh air and sunshine. Lucy Park is just 5 minutes drive from our house. I like that park, it's so nice, clean, peaceful and serene. I went walking while my hubby waited on me in the van. He doesn't like to walk because he said his callous in his feet hurt. I took photos of the trees and the scenery around while walking. I love nature and whenever I'm at Lucy Park, I feel that I'm so close to the Creator with the beauty of nature that surrounds me. There were some people at the park and I saw a couple who was having their wedding pictorial near the pond. The park was a good place for wedding photos with all the green scenery and the ducks in the pond. After I was done walking, I called my hubby to come with me and sit at the swing. We sat there for maybe an hour just talking, looking at the trees and people who were there at the park. We talked about God, how He created that magnificent park with all the trees, birds and ducks. I love the feeling just being with my hubby out in the park, sitting on the swing and just appreciating the beauty of God's wonderful creation.

More than a year later, I still have a ringing in my ears but it's not as bad as before. Maybe I just got used to it that I don't think about it that much now. I just notice the ringing when it's so quiet at night and sometimes when I think about it, I suddenly hear it. So Lisa, don't think about it, okay?

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During our weekend getaway October last year, we had the chance to see the pumpkin patch in Denison. I've seen some photos of pumpkin patch before but that was my first time to actually see it for real. I was just curious to see the different kinds of pumpkins that they have there. Well, they have different varieties of pumpkins there and maybe it would be good in making a pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie but I don't know know how to make it from scratch. I use the canned pumpkins from the store whenever I make one. At the pumpkin patch, they have the hayride there but I didn't want to ride because that's not new to me. We have those in the Philippines. We call it "kuliglig". Here are some photos taken there.

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I had a huge garden at the back of our house in Texas. For the past 3 years I planted different kinds of veggies and I harvested a lot too. For now, I'm going to post the string beans and my bitter gourd from my garden last year. My veggies yielded a lot so what I did, I cut the string beans and blanched it. After that I put it in a ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. It lasted a few months. I didn't do that it with the bitter gourd though. I like to cook it fresh from the garden so it won't taste so biter. Whenever I pick some I cooked it right away with ground beef, tomatoes and eggs. My American husband love it. He said it tasted so good.

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Last year, hubby and I went to eat at Grandy's on different locations three times. When we were on our way to Alvarado June last year, hubby and I stopped at Highway 287 to have lunch. We wanted to go to Dairy Queen but it was on the other side of the road so we opted to go to Grandy's. I've seen in their menu that they have a country steak meal and it was their special for that day. Special means the price is discounted. So hubby and I ordered 2 steak meals with 2 side dishes each. I ordered fried rice and coleslaw for my side dish and hubby ordered macaroni and cheese and French fries. I tell you, that was the cheapest lunch we had in a long time in a restaurant. We only paid $7.98 for 2 meals. Their steak was good and they even gave us 2 dinner rolls each. I was so full after that. It was my first time to eat at Grandy's and I like it there. The next day, we went to eat again at Grandy's in Alvarado and I ordered the same menu. But it was not the special of the day so we paid more. Besides, the prices in Grandy's Alvarado are higher than in Hwy 287.

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