I saw these in a blog post this morning and just had to share. I’m sure Fat Chick and her flock of friends would approve of the art involved, but disapprove of the inevitable eating of these chocolate chickens. Bon appetite!
Flockin’ around the Christmas Tree December 2, 2008
The office chicken choir is heard preparing for Christmas. You can follow along below:
Flockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
(slightly rewritten by Fat Chick, Henrietta, Gregory Pecked and their new little friend, Miss Hennypenny)
Flockin’ around the Christmas Tree,
As we squawk and doodle de doo.
Making merry as we open our beaks,
To sing this song for you.
Flockin’ around the Christmas Tree,
Let the Christmas spirit ring.
Later we’ll have some extra feed,
And we’ll do some caroling.
You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear,
Chickens singing, “It’s great weather,
Deck the halls with lots of feathers.”
Flockin’ around the Christmas tree,
Have a happy holiday.
Everyone cluckin’ merrily,
The good old chicken way!
Favorite Christmas movies of all time December 1, 2008
I love Christmas movies and enjoy nothing more than digging out all my old favorites to watch all through the holiday season. As I write this, I’m watching the Miracle on 34th Street (the newer remake). It made me think about all the holiday movies that I absolutely MUST SEE each year and their order of importance for me. Here’s my list of personal favorites and I’d love to know what yours are.
1. It’s A Wonderful Life
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carey version)
3. Miracle on 34th Street (original edition with Natalie Wood)
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1994 remake)
5. Elf
6. Polar Express
7. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
8. The Bishop’s Wife
9. A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version)
10. Home Alone 1 & 2
I also like the holiday TV specials like Charlie Brown Christmas and Frosty the Snowman. Reminds me of my childhood. I remember my Mom looking forward to the evenings when the Bing Crosby and Perry Como Christmas specials were on. Now I wish we had such fabulous music to look forward to. Remember the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet of the Little Drummer Boy? Priceless.
Christmas cheer in the office November 24, 2008
I’m definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving and will be exceedingly grateful for a good many things. Mostly, I’ll be glad that a couple of big projects will be finally moved out the door and the team can take a breath and get caught up. December will be a month of just that. Catching up and getting ready for all those things to come in 2009.
We’re already beginning to chat about decorating the offices. That’s the nice thing about working with a bunch of fun and creative people. Someone always comes up with really cute ideas and provides inspiration for the rest of us.
There are a bunch of great cooks in the office and they’ll all be doing their best to spread the Christmas calories around. Hope there’s plenty of chocolate to be had!
I’m sure there will be plenty of music. There’s ALWAYS plenty of music in our office. In fact, I heard Handel’s Messiah in Jason and Josh’s office today and Jason was singing along. (Very well, too, I might add!)
It’s been a long time since I’ve paid much attention to writing in the old blog. Maybe the chickens will even have time to make a holiday appearance in the next few weeks!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Getting revved up for the holidays! November 10, 2008
Now that the election is over, the leaves have fallen and the weather’s cooling, it’s time to turn my attention to the upcoming holidays. There is no shortage of tradition to keep me adequately busy, but, I always like to try a little something new to keep life interesting.
Thanksgiving is coming up first and we’ll be having it at our house. Although several of our children will be with other family that day, we still have plenty of family coming to eat the turkey dinner we have planned. The only break with tradition we’ll have on that day will be that Mark and I will be sharing the cooking duties. My sweetie has become a fine cook and a tremendous help in the kitchen. Obviously, the now famous butterhorn rolls will be on the menu!
I’m getting things ready for Christmas and am asking for all of the wish lists and doing a bunch of online shopping. The cantata music being delivered and we’ll start practicing in choir this week. We’ve adopted our families and are making our plans for how to share our blessings with others.
I’m determined to take the time to really enjoy the holidays with my family, my work family and my church family this year. Each day should be something special to look forward to, not for the gifts, but for the closeness and the memories we can make.
So, get ready for the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. I can hardly wait!
Appreciating our pastor with fried chicken November 8, 2008
Last month was Pastor Appreciation Month. We take that pretty seriously at our church and encouraged members of our congregation to show their pastor and his family, in their own way, how much they appreciate their service and care about them.
So, guess what? In our family, we show we care by preparing a feast in honor of that person. This evening we enjoyed the company of our pastor and his family and fed them well. It was especially enjoyable because Mark and I did this together (I’m really starting to like this whole kitchen sharing thing)!
Bro. Steve has always said his favorite thing is fried chicken, so of course that’s what we served. A whole mountain of it, along with mashed “taters” and gravy, corn, cole slaw, cinnamon applesauce and Mark’s homemade butterhorn rolls (those are perfect and just like his Mom’s, by the way). For dessert, homemade blackberry pie.
I think he feels pretty appreciated. Not to mention probably having indigestion! 
My husband’s quest for the perfect butterhorn roll November 3, 2008
Bread baking is an honored Croy family tradition. My husband’s mom makes the most incredible butterhorn rolls. I have tried, but, I just don’t seem to have the same knack. Mine are always pretty, but, they’re drier and denser and heavier than hers. Grandma Croy’s rolls are soft and fluffy and melt in your mouth. Ahhh, they’re SOOOO yummy!
My husband is home recuperating from knee surgery and is pretty bored. The idea occurred to him that maybe he should try his hand at baking bread. Out came the butterhorn recipe and the experimentation began. I must say, he did a great job. Although there are things that will improve with practice, the rolls were yummy good. I think he needs to buy some fresh yeast and he’ll have better luck getting them to rise to the look and feel of Grandma Croy’s rolls, but, I think that the bread making skills have passed from mother to son.
It’s really nice to have a husband who tries new things and takes an interest in the kitchen. What a fun thing to do together! (It’s also nice to come home and have supper ready…)
My random musings about Cloris Leachman dancing… October 27, 2008
I’m watching Dancing With the Stars and am both awed and amazed that Cloris Leachman is still in the competition. My random musings:
- I guess you have to have a lot of personal moxie to wear those costumes when you’re over 80.
- It’s sort of cute that she turns her “senior moments” during the dances into comic relief.
- Wow, I thought poor Corky Ballas was gonna drop her when did the little death spin thingy…
- When she got to the end of the dance she was just in hysterical giggles!
- Bruno says she’s got to be the only person in the world that can sell such nonsense as dance, and get people to actually buy it!
- Michael Flatley wouldn’t say anything bad about her because his Dad told him not to…
- I can’t imagine doing anything close to those dances in my mid-forties. Kudos to the old gal for giving it a shot.
- Corky Ballas, her partner, has to have the patience of a saint. Cloris won’t pay attention, won’t cooperate and it has to be hard for him. Hope he gets paid well!
- What do you think, is this her week to be voted off or will another actual contender be sacrificed by the senior support base? Ah well, that’s why we call it entertainment, right?
- At least her costume this week didn’t cause her top half to be exposed. Phew, there’s only so much an audience can take, right?
- I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone over 80 still able to get their leg up like a Rockette. Amazing!
- What in the world will Tom Bergeron joke about if Cloris is voted off?
- Oh my goodness, now they’re referring to her as the “Hip Hop Granny!” Yikes!
It’s not everyday you attend a 95th birthday party! October 26, 2008
Rev. C.F. Croy celebrates his 95th birthday
This weekend Mark and I traveled to south Missouri to attend a celebration in honor of his uncle’s 95th birthday. Comodore F. Croy, commonly known as Rev. C.F. Croy, has been a central figure in the Croy clan. The eldest of 8 children, he has enjoyed a long and very active life. Starting with humble beginnings in the little Missouri town of Bucklin, he eventually became a Holiness Church minister and owned and operated Croy Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning in Denver.
I’m so glad we took the time to make the trip. Mark was able to be with members of his family he hadn’t seen for a long timeS—some as long as twenty or more years! I got to enjoy many stories of the antics of a bunch of young boys from the Rocky Mountain Bible School. I also got to put some of the faces, names and family connections together after being a member of the Croy family for almost 17 years. Trust me, it’s a BIG family and they’re scattered all over the United States. Interesting that when I booked my trip to speak at a conference next week in Seattle, I didn’t realize I had family there! Who knew?
One of the most amazing stories that came out of the weekend was that one of Mark’s older cousins had married a man who was also from the Fulton area. Come to find out, my 85 year old Sunday School teacher was his first grade teacher back in the forties. What an incredibly small world it is!
Happy birthday Uncle Comodore. What amazing things you must have seen and done in a 95 year life!
I wanted to be a WOO, but… October 15, 2008
As a part of my job, my colleagues and I were asked to take a StrengthsQuest test that helps us determine what our areas of strengths are and how that effects what we do, how we do it and how we work with others. I learned about this first from my friend and colleague Ana. At her job interview, she described herself as a WOO which stands for Winning Others Over. Basically, the description says you enjoy meeting new people and winning them over, making them like you. After meeting Ana, I definitely wanted to be a WOO. She was charming and engaging and, well, who WOULDN’T like Ana?
So, I took my test and, unfortunately, I am not a WOO. I’m not surprised. While I like to meet new people and I certainly want them to like me, I don’t possess the typical WOO personality. What amazed me is that a test with such simple questions seemed to identify me so well in less than 30 minutes. Kudos to the people who develop such tests, they’re very smart.
So, my top 5 Strengths (themes) were:
Individualization, Strategic, Activator, Connectedness, Learner
In a nutshell, here’s what that means about me:
Individualization means that I am “intrigued with the unique qualities of each person and have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.”
Strategic means that “given any scenario, I can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues and create alternative ways to proceed.”
Activator means that “I can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. It also means I am often impatient.”
Connectedness means that “I have faith in the links between all things. There are few coincidences and that almost everything has a reason.”
Learner means that “I have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites people like me.”
The report goes into a great deal of detail, all of which is interesting when you start thinking about how that assessment dovetails with your work, your actions and your relationships. Tomorrow we’ll meet as a leadership group and compare what we’ve learned and talk with an expert who will tell us how best we can use all this new knowledge about ourselves.
Sure am glad to know there’s a reason I’m bossy and impatient!
