A White Christmas

It hasn't happened in years. We had snow on the ground before Christmas and here we are four days later with additional snow and very little melting. We have had four measurable snows and one significant ice storm so far this winter. Very unusual.

Christmas Morning

This was Christmas morning at our house. That isn't all the presents as there were other grandparent's houses to go to and some had been done the weekend before and some wouldn't be opened until later. So all in all I guess this isn't too obscene as far as gift giving goes as this accumulation is for in the neighborhood of twenty people. The grandkids got things like yoga videos, exercise mats, and outdoor play equipment. Books were big also.






Now this is the story of the year. Grandchildren, almost 2 and almost 4. Pumpkin pie on a dresser in a back bedroom not being heated so I could store such extra goodies as pie, cookies, candies, etc. Very quiet grandchildren who like pumpkin pie. The little one comes to daddy and wants her hands washed. Oh no, where is the four year old? On a footstool pushed up to the dresser eating pie. We had to laugh and take pictures as it was just too funny. Those tracks in the pie go all the way to the bottom crust. We even kept the pie around for a couple of days for the laughs.

The baking

Notice I don't say The Knitting? There isn't much of that going on. I also didn't say The Wrapping. There is still lots of that to do. That is also what college age daughters are for. She has her instructions for tomorrow while I am at work. She will have the assistance of the almost teenage granddaughter who just blew in from Utah. The Utah family drove through some awful weather and we are very thankful they are here safely. The girls are watching the Polar Express, the men are playing poker and I am making lists, checking them twice and then making some more lists. The menu was set and the shopping was done, that is until I found out this evening I will have four more than I expected for Christmas morning breakfast. No problem, a new list for my man to take to the grocery store in the morning while I am at work. Notice the theme here, I am at work, everyone else is at home. This will be the biggest Christmas morning since we joined our two families five years ago. I can hardly wait. We will be having the main meal for this bunch tomorrow night before everyone moves on to various spouses families Christmas celebrations after breakfast Christmas morning. (I am not going to guess how to properly punctuate that sentence.) The men will be preparing the turkey and the ham, while I am at work. We will also have sweet potato casserole, fancy corn, hot rolls, fruit salad, pumpkin and pecan pie and anything that any roving relatives add to the mix.















The pictures I want to share with you are of my biscotti. The CD's included in the pictures are of the Christmas music playing at the time. The poor oven was on from 10 this a.m. until 6 p.m. I baked the four pies mentioned above, two batches of biscotti, two loaves of banana bread, biscuits and at least two other things but they have probably already eaten it. This doesn't include the big pot of soup that simmered along all day.

Back to the biscotti. I got this recipe last year from Giada De Laurentiis on HGTV. She is my man's favorite cooking show hostess but I don't think he can tell you anything she makes. Anyway, we all love this biscotti. My inherited-son was so impressed that I had made it and I won't be telling him how easy it is.
I must now get back to my lists so that I can sneak off to work in the morning knowing everything will be ready when I get home.

I can dream can't I?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Ho, Ho, Ho. It's snowing again. Fourth weekend in a row for some kind of winter weather. I love the snow so won't complain a bit. I had some last minute errands to run this a.m. and except for watching out for the other guy it was fun to run around in the snow.
The first picture is from last weekend. Does it look familiar? It is the same view as our first snow picture back in November. Since it looks like we will actually get some snow this year I am going to take the same picture with each snow.






I did finish decorating but did it in shifts. After the Grinch (see previous post) finished repairing the lights without cursing too much the tree sat for several days because I had a nasty infection and by the time I got home in the evenings I was too tired to think about anything. My son was home on the 14th so he added his 21 years of accumulated ornaments. My daughter and I finished on Sunday and as always we think it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had. Of course with it being artificial the shape is the same but the ornaments are better placed, or something. The tree topper is not on in any of the pictures. It is an angel bear I made years ago and she needed a little reworking this year also.







Today we start getting family from out of town. There is more food in this house right now than probably since last year. I have both a ham and a turkey thawing for our dinner on Christmas Eve with Jerry's family. We will be home Christmas morning with who ever is spending the night in addition to my children. Christmas afternoon we go to my mom's for Christmas with my extended family. Between now and then I have to wrap every present I have purchases, fill stockings and cook. I love this part and with extra family coming I will put them to work as well.
Yes, it is certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....



God Bless Us Everyone.

Still decorating

The tree is having some technical difficulties so Santa aka The Grinch has taken it back to his workshop to fix the light that won't light on one side.
I think everything else is done though. I will finish the tree when that pesky string of lights gets fixed. It doesn't look bad just the way it is. Enjoy a few of my other decorations. I am off to stir the chili we are having later for supper. Can't wait, it smells so good.

The decorating begins

Decorating for Christmas. Tune in later for hopefully more Christmas looking pictures. See the corner with no tree below. It is waiting in the car to fill up that corner.

Twenty-two years ago today

Twenty-two years ago today I was pregnant with my first child. Only I knew and I would keep my secret until Christmas morning.
Twenty-two years ago today my parents lost their third child, their second son. The son who was too tiny and too sick at birth but fought and survived to graduate, work and marry the light of his life. Three months later he was taken away from us.
How different would our lives be today if he had lived?
I love you and miss you.

Let It Snow

It is already December 7. How did that happen? I wish someone would slow the world down just a little bit. I'm not concerned about being ready for Christmas, I will be. I'm not concerned about daughter's surgery, it will be fine. I simply don't understand how we got to December already.















In turning over calendars to December it seems each one has a lovely snow picture. I have not yet shown you the first snow of the year for us. It came early the morning of November 24. It was pretty much gone by noon but it was a lovely snow. A friend tells me that means we will have 24 snows this winter. Another friend claims it will be a total of 24" of snow this year. We shall see.















December 6 we got more precipitation in the form of freezing rain and sleet. I refused to take pictures of it. I heard that it actually snowed for a few minutes but I saw no indication of that so it doesn't count toward the number of snows count or accumulation totals. All it did was increase the amount of *&%# that had to be scrapped off of windshields in order to get everyone home after work.