The Cordle Fam

Merry Christmas everybody! Although this had potential to be a sad occasion (…the last time we’ll celebrate in this house & all…), it turned into one of the best Christmases ever. This year it was easy to see that we don’t need any more “stuff”, and we were able to really focus on having a great time with the fam & celebrating the real reason for the holiday.

Yesterday we had a great brunch with the Tarpley family. It was sad the Garlington’s weren’t there, but we’ll get to see them this weekend. After lunch we visited an old neighbor, our 1st grade teacher, and some other friends. Later, we went to First Baptist’s Christmas Eve Service like we do every year. There are always some amazing singers, and this year was no different.

Once we got home, Mom assigned us the task of making this really good looking “Black Bottom Pecan Cheesecake Pie”. Due to a minor mathematical miscalculation it ended up more like a pudding, so we’ll just change its name & move on.

We then watched my personal favorite holiday movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Such a good movie…I catch something new every time we see it.

This morning we woke up, exchanged some gifts and had a devotion. We went to the Tarpley’s to see what Santa brought the 3 mini Tarpleys. Hung out with them for a while, then made our way up to Turner Field to volunteer for the first time ever with Hosea Feed the Hungry. We’d never really done anything like that before, so it was a great experience. I think we’re going to do something similar every year from now on. They gave us a great “beginner” job…we were in charge of manning the ‘volunteer gate’ & getting all the volunteers to sign a “don’t sue the Braves” waiver.

It really is amazing how many people they serve. We never got to see the meals they were serving, but I do know that almost every homeless person left with their very own 2-pack of whole cheesecakes & Monster energy drinks. So, if you’re planning on wandering the streets of Atlanta tonight, beware the hyper homeless.

Anyway, can’t wait to make our way over to Louisiana to see the Welch’s this weekend. Hope y’all’s Christmas was amazing!

After many requests, Mom wanted me to post this recipe from our Cordle Family Christmas last weekend. It originated from Shannon Garlington…thanks Lucy!

• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Flour
• 3 cups Chopped Onion
• 1.5 cups Celery
• 1.5 cups Green Pepper
• 2 cloves Garlic (minced)
• 1-2 cooked Chickens
• 5-10 Bay Leaves
• Cajun Spices
• Smoked Sausage (or meat of your choice…andouille or beef sausage works best)

Boil chicken in a large pot with 1 cup of the chopped onion, bay leaves, and cajun spices. Set aside to cool, then pull chicken.

Make roux by stirring flour and oil over medium heat until the color of chocolate syrup. Lower heat as the roux gets dark…stir continuously. This should take about 30 minutes. Add onions, garlic and celery and simmer over low heat about 10 minutes.

Add chicken broth 1 cup at a time and stir until smooth enough to pour all the broth in. Add couked meats of your choice and season to tase with Tony’s, hot sauce, etc. Simmer for a while.

A few notes: Lucy uses a rotisserie chicken from the grocery & 2 large cans of chicken broth. Debone chicken & add after broth. I also add all 3 c. onions after roux is cooked.

Enjoy!

Yesterday was the big annual Cordle Christmas. We had a pretty good crowd, despite the lack of a few of our cousins. Uncle Jimmy took the cake with the tackiest attire by robbing his Christmas tree of it’s skirt.

Everybody got really into the whole “Tacky Christmas” thing and we had a lot of fun. After a really good lunch of Gumbo & Fruit Soup we opened our White Elephant gifts Dirty Santa style. Mom got the mosquito head net she’d always wanted (“You could steal bees with that thing!” -Nee Nee) and Anna scored some sweet doilies.

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Ok…so mom’s found her camera (part 1), charged the batteries and cleared out the memory card. Now what? Here are a few things that’ll help you snap a few more keepers than you did last year. Ready?

1. Get Close
2. No More Blur
3. Just Pay Attention
4. Be Snap Happy

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Hey Folks- In conjunction with the new web site theme, we’ve set it up so you can now subscribe to the blog using email if you’d like. That way you’re guaranteed not to miss anything good.

It’s pretty easy…you just click on either this link or the one that says “Entries (Email)” on the sidebar on the right and then put in your email address. You won’t get a million messages a week or anything crazy…you’ll just get one message on days that we post. So if we post 6 times one week, but only on 4 different days, you’ll get 4 emails.

You can also subscribe to the “Comments” as well if you want to do that for some crazy reason. Anyway…Hope you enjoy!

Family Christmas gatherings are coming up super-quick, so I wanted to make sure that this is the best yet when it comes to picture-taking. Everybody & their uncle has a fancy camera now, and whether it’s the tiny one that fits in your pocket, or the huge one that uses its own suitcase, there’s no excuse for not taking good pictures.

There’s a photography site called PhotoJoJo that’s just too cool. They also put out a really good newsletter. Anyway, a while back they posted a guide on “How to Look Good in Pictures”. Among the tips…

• Stand Upright
• Don’t Shine
• Stretch Your Neck (my personal fav)

Be sure and check it out. Ok, and before we get to Part 2 in a few days, there are a few things you need to do to get ready. Go ahead and charge/buy batteries for your camera and clear our your memory cards so you can fit all the awesome pictures you’ll be taking.

Mom, a special tip for you. Find your camera. Let’s try and do it sooner rather than later so as not to get stressed or lectured by dad on Christmas. Ok…now stand by for Part 2…

Notice anything different? The goal for this site was to not crash & burn within 2 months. Although we’ve come close at times, I think that we’re still kicking 10 months later. So, I finally got around to changing our theme up a little. I’m not 100% in love with it, but it’s much better than the default theme we’ve been rocking for so long. What do you think?

Also, I’m hoping you’ll allow me to experiment a little bit with some ad links on the side bar. I’ll explain more about that stuff later, but for now just let me know if they get too annoying.

Thanks!

This is Hilarious
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ArfBdNssc1IhettK

This morning I had to get something out of my car so I walked outside. When I passed the big blue garbage can I noticed fur… I peeked in to see what it was thinking that some neighborhood cat has gotten in the garbage can and can’t get out. NOPE NOT A NEIGHBORHOOD CAT! IT WAS A POSSUM! THERE IS A POSSUM ASLEEP IN OUR GARBAGE CAN! I don’t know what to do. I guess that possums are nocturnal so he won’t leave until the night when he wakes. Is he going to be able to get out? I am scared that if I tip the garbage can over he will be disturbed in his sleep and get mad. He is sleeping so peacefully. I have recently seen Elf. You know the part in the movie where he meets up with a Possum (maybe it is a Raccoon) and he says “I think someone needs a hug” and Buddy the Elf bends down to give the rodent a hug and the rodent attacks him. I don’t want to be attacked! I have done a little research and I hear that they hiss at you! O Gosh! I guess I will just call one of my trusty guy friends over here and let him deal with this! Ok… back to studying… Here are some pictures that I have taken so all of yall can see this disgusting creature:

I love funny pictures.