Category Archives: Our Country Bungalow

Applesauce Spice Cake

 

Applesauce Spice Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. 4 serving size jello instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all-spice (optional)
1/2 raisins finely chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl of electric mixer and blend then beat at medium for 4 minutes. Pour into well greased and floured 10 inch tube or fluted tube pan. (I’ve used a bundt cake pan and angel food cake pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. DO NOT UNDERBAKE. Cool in pan for 15 min. remove and cool on rack. When the cake has cooled and before I serve it I give it a dusting of powdered sugar.

This goes really well with whipped cream or a good vanilla ice cream, too. This has become a favorite in my house and is requested for birthday cakes very often.

We are going to celebrate four birthdays on Saturday evening, our December girl and our January boys and girl. We will have 4 individual mini cakes for the event. Two of this Spice cake, a lemon cake and a Chocolate cake. I’ll have lots of photos and posts in the coming weeks of all our Christmas time and beyond celebrations!!

I hope Jesus was at the center of all the Christmas festivities with your family and friends!

My Talented Helpers

These kitchen helpers took over and whew after a few hours things got done.

Addy has mastered the art of kneading. She says it’s because she helps her mom make tortillas often.

After chopping nuts, JJ decided it was more fun to wash the dishes. He said it is fun to wash dishes the ‘old fashioned way’.

We had to wait for a couple hours for this dough ball to double in size. In the meantime we also managed to get one tray of Russian Tea Cookies done. I did not have a resident photo taker available and sticky hands did not help for me to take photos. My helpers went home for lunch and we went out for Chinese giving the dough time to rise.

When we got home from lunch the dough was ready. The finished product will be delicious but both loaves cracked. I think I rolled the dough too thin before rolling it up and baking it with the nut filling.

 

I need to make these more than once a year so I can master the method.

Today is Christmas Eve Day. The main celebrations start tonight into tomorrow. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Nativities

…the occasion of a person’s birth. A picture carving or model representing Jesus Christ’s birth.

Even though the Wise men from the East did not appear on the scene till months after the birth of Jesus they are depicted in many traditional Nativity scenes. I like to try to put them far off as if they are still traveling.

“My Christ he is the Lord of lords,

He is the King of kings

He is the Sun of righteousness

With healing in his wings.

My Christ, he is the heaven of heaven

My Christ what shall I call?

My Christ is first, my Christ is last,

My Christ is All in All.”

I had to wait till dark to get a good shot of the nativity set we like to put above our front door.

When JJ was here last Monday afternoon, he set this Little People Nativity on the window ledge.

‘Welcome to our wondering sight,

Eternity within a span!

Summer in winter! Day in night!

Heaven in earth! And God in man!

Great little One, whose glorious birth

Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.’

Quotes taken from Christ’s Glorious Achievements, What Jesus Has Done for You. by C. H. Spurgeon

Here are the last few sentences from this book:

“I hope that among those who have read these pages there will be many whom the Lord Jesus has specially redeemed with his most precious blood, and I trust he will appear at once to them, and say, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ By grace omnipotent may you be  made to yield to the Lord with the cheerful consent of your conquered wills, and accept that glorious grace which will bring you to praise the seeking and saving Saviour in heaven.”

May the miracle of Christmas and the redemptive, saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross lead you to repentance with belief and new life in Him. He alone gives us grace and peace.

A Few Favorite Things

Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la

’Tis the season to be jolly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la

Here are a few Christmas treasures scattered here and there around our home.

 

On Monday, I’ll share our nativities.

Hopefully I’ll get some baking done next week. These are on my list.

imgp1231_zpsbvbpjag4

These “melt in your mouth”. There is no other way to express it.

Russian Tea Cookies

1 C. butter
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup nuts, finely chopped

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, flour, salt and nuts. Mix well. Form into small balls and flatten a bit. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 F  10-14 minutes. While still warm roll in powdered sugar. After cool, roll again in powdered sugar. Yields 3-4 dozen.

What is on your list for Christmas baking, if anything?

Adorning

Our Christmas tree was finally adorned with ornaments old and new. We do not do ‘designer’ Christmas here. We do a more traditional look, using old and new touches, vintage and modern. As you can see, the presents under the tree are a mish mosh of bags and boxes and wrapping paper. Not much matching going on.

The angel topper has been with us for many years and I’m sorry to say I’m not sure who made it for us and the first year it became our topper.

The ornaments on the tree have no overall theme. Some are from travels to Great Britain.

Beatrix Potter’s characters are represented.

The first Christmas ornament we were gifted as a wedding gift and some early family ornaments represent these special times in our history.

Josh and Dan’s sport photo ornaments have gone to live at their homes.

I’m not sure which one of our 3 kids created this walnut half ornament in Sunday School years ago.

This one above has been around for many of our 51 years of Christmases. The one below is newer but has still been around for years!

Our ‘Grands’ have a representation on the tree, too.

This was our very first Christmas tree at our apartment in West Los Angeles. That is our niece Jenna. We had only been married for 20 days. The fern next to our tree was from our wedding. We had two ferns at the altar for our wedding flowers. After finding these old photos it dawned on me that in our first month of marriage we had both sides of our family over to our apartment for a meal/gathering, including Greg’s paternal grandmother and my maternal grandmother!

This was our Christmas tree in the first home we purchased in 1975 and our second Christmas as a married couple.

Has your tree been adorned?

Embracing the Days…

Catching up with some events from the last week. The super moon lit up the sky and our acres. So bright, it was almost as if we had street lights.

Addy’s last basketball game of the short season was on Saturday morning, the 6th of December.

As usual she played hard and well.

After the game all the ladies and JJ took in the Lady Lion’s craft fair in Kettle Falls. When we saw all we wanted to see we met up for lunch at TJ’s in Kettle Falls. Addy and JJ sat across the table from me and I took this shot of them.

Before the rains came and while the snow was still good enough for sledding, our Colville kids searched out their Christmas tree for 2025.

On Sunday while on greeting duty, I took this photo of the entry at our church. The Joy is real.

Our son planned a very special weekend in Nashville to celebrate Laura’s birthday. When they arrived an unexpected surprise for Laura was that cousins David and Kristin joined them for the celebration. It was an epic weekend for the four of them.

This is Nashville, not Iceland. Ice at Gaylord Opryland Resort.

All four of them described this weekend as unforgettable.

Monday was cheesecake baking day here at our country bungalow. I made two for our annual Staff/Deacon Christmas dinner which will be on Tuesday the 9th. While I mixed and baked our Christmas CDs were playing. While I was finishing up we got these two photos of our grands helping their Great Grandmother decorate her little corner tree.

This was our comp dessert at our anniversary getaway last week that I wanted to remember. It is a cotton candy sundae and it was delicious and unique.

In other news, I’m happy to report that our Christmas cards were mailed on Monday. This always comes with a sigh of relief and a smile of satisfaction.

Hopefully, I’ll remember to take photos at our dinner party tonight along with the finished cheesecakes.

Everyday Images #76

November/December Prompts – Everyday Images #76
I’ll be linking up with Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee for the latest photo prompts.
~~~~~
Here are the prompts this time around.

Current season (quarterly)

We’ve had our first and our second snowfall.

Together

Together around the table to enjoy Greg’s Swedish pancakes. This is a family favorite!

Lights

We enjoyed some Christmas lights at the Coeur d’Alene Lake Resort

Silver

Our silver and gold Christmas wreath.

Vintage

Christmas Angels from Greg’s mother Verna’s Christmas stash.

Neighborhood spot (quarterly)

Barmans on Main Street in Colville all decorated for Christmas with a Santa Sleigh, too.
I’m in the process of decorating for Christmas here at our Country Bungalow. Trying to get inspired to write our Christmas letter and get going on our Christmas cards!
How are you getting along with Christmas readiness?

Thanksgiving 2025

Hello December! Before we go full speed ahead we’ll catch up with our long Thanksgiving weekend festivities!

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we had a quiet start to the day as we waited for Andrew and Katie to arrive. Our Thanksgiving meal was slated for 5pm at our Colville kids’ home. Our only responsibility was making sweet potatoes with marshmallows toasted on top. Katie and Andrew arrived safely mid afternoon. We drove together to Bayles Mountain for our Thanksgiving meal.

What fun to get photos from both sides of the mountain and see that both of our sons decided to try to spatchcock a turkey this year. On this side of the mountains besides the spatchcock, Dan and Jamie cooked a traditional turkey with stuffing. Spatchcock was a huge success. Another favorite this year was Jamie’s homemade cranberry sauce with added raspberry, so delicious!

Addy and JJ both enjoyed having Andrew and Katie to help them with some projects while we waited for our meal.

Friday morning dawned beautifully as we waited to hear that Josh and Laura were on the road to our home.

We got the ‘on the road selfie’ and we counted down the hours for their arrival.

JJ was  pleased to see they brought the vintage G.I. Joe sleeping bag from the 80’s!

Very few photos were taken on Friday. Gramps made his tomato rice soup for us to enjoy and we added BLT’s to the menu.

After dinner we enjoyed some rounds of Skyjo.

Saturday morning found us eating together again!

Greg was on cooking duty again for his Swedish Pancakes and we all love to gather to eat them!

The agenda for Saturday included shopping ‘small business’ for the girls and for the guys chopping wood and preparing for Saturday meals including a birthday celebration for Auntie Lolo!

More about Saturday will come in a separate post.

Our Westside kids made it home safely on Sunday and we are thankful always for traveling mercies!

December is coming in hot with something on the calendar for each day this week! Whew!  I’m going to have to be intentional about pausing in the midst of this busy schedule to enjoy this Advent season.

 

Blue Room Upgrade

We are in the midst of our Thanksgiving family time here in Colville. This post was prepared ahead of time to publish until I gather the current family photos from activities we are enjoying in real time.

A ‘before’ photo of the queen size bed and accessories in the ‘Blue Room’. We sold this bed complete to my cousin who lives here in Colville.

We have two guest bedrooms in our Country Bungalow. We call this room the ‘Blue Room’. The other guest room we call the ‘Play Room’ because that is where any toys and books are stored for our Grands.

The Blue room was ready for an upgrade with a new king bed set-up. It was fun to pick wall art and linens for a new look. Most of the wall art came from Hobby Lobby on a week when they were all 50% off. It wasn’t as much fun for Greg to assemble the platform for the mattress. It also was a complete clown-show for Greg and me when we took off the wrapping on the mattress that came in a box, rolled up tight. It pretty much explodes into it’s flat king size shape. We were tossed about until we gained control of it and slid it on to it’s platform! Whew!

Andrew and Katie arrived here on Thanksgiving and got to enjoy the ‘new look’.

Here’s a recent photo of Katie with her latest hair coloring. By now we have taken many family photos while celebrating the Thanksgiving extended weekend together. I’ll be sharing those soon.

And in other news we had our first wee snowfall of the season.

We hired a couple of young men from our church to come and clear our planters for winter. Little did we know when we scheduled that we’d have snow to deal with. Thankfully it was just an inch of snow that melted quickly. The guys persevered with freezing fingers and did a great job for us. I’m so thankful to have this task behind us in time for Winter.

Everyday Images ~ November

It’s time to link up again with Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee for some photo prompts.

 

November Prompts – Everyday Images #75

~~~~~

layers

We enjoy the layers of mountains here in Colville and beyond.

remember

This is a fun time to remember when all three of these guys laughed till they cried.

texture

Lots of textures in this photo op at our Mother’s Day event at church.

at home (monthly)

At home in November with our Thanksgiving and Fall decor.

prepare

Preparing to toast slices of baguette to go with a salad.

Time to start thinking of all the traditional dishes we are going to prepare for our Thanksgiving meal.

cozy

A flashback to our daughter Katie sitting cozy with her Dzeda (Grandfather) many years ago.

~~~~~

We were in Spokane yesterday for most of the day so I’m a little behind in visiting. We made 8 stops and managed to find everything on our lists! Woohoo.

Hope your Thursday is spectacular!