GoodMorningLoretta

As a child, I still remember the way it felt to load up in the car at 6 when my Dad got home from work and sit through the long ride to my Grandmother’s house in Tavares. They raised their kids attending that church, and it’s the same church that my grandmother was baptized at, married at, and attended up until she moved up here to Georgia a few months ago. In the past few years, the little town my Grandmother lived in has added walking paths and restaurants along the lake side and it makes for a really nice place to stay on a trip. and yes, I realize that “up here” in Georgia isn’t that cold for some of you, but for a Georgia girl, Florida sure is tempting!”)

Our lives have been busy lately. Boys growing, and my Grandmother passed away, which prompted a trip to Florida for the funeral. that I’ll share later this week, but I just wanted to do a quick update, and with it I’ll share these pictures my niece took after the funeral. The Spanish Moss in Florida makes me want to pack up and move there immediately!

Similar to Chinese New Year, it is spent celebrating the New Year and spending time with friends and family. Other fun things you could do to celebrate this day would be to color pictures of goldfish, buy goldfish bath toys and have your kiddos take a bath with them, deep clean your kitchen as a family, or buy Swedish Fish and make a cute Carp-looking dessert! For families who don’t want to buy a tree or can’t, you could still have fun incorporating this day by making origami (Yes, I know that’s not Vietnamese) trees or flowers, or by making a pyramid of Kumquats and eating them! They get boiled for 24 hours so the rice absorbs the flavor of the Banana leaves and given as New Year’s gifts to family and friends.

I’m going to share with you my secrets for throwing an awesome last-minute party with decor and awesome food from Tyson Foods®, (yum! ), which you can run out and purchase today at your local Kroger or Kroger family store. I headed to Kroger and picked up Tyson® Any’Tizers® Boneless Chicken Bites, Hillshire Farm® Lit’l Smokies® Beef Smoked Sausages (I was obsessed with these as a kid! ), Tyson® Crispy Chicken Strips, and State Fair® Corn Dogs. It’s a football party, so a football (no matter how worn out) is always going to be a great addition to the table. You could use balloons taped to the wall to make a goal post or the numbers of your favorite player, you could hang up some football jerseys and spirit wear on a line as the backdrop, or you could even grab some of your brother’s old football trophies—