White Christmas

I guess all those years of watching "White Christmas" finally paid off! We had a beautiful white Christmas this year! Luckily the snow didn't start falling until the afternoon, so we were able to see Mom safely home and then come back safely to our home! The picture above is from last night, off of our back deck.

This was the view from our front door. You can hardly tell that's a Moravian star hanging there to the left! I think we got somewhere between three to six inches - it is up for debate in our house!

I was hoping to get a picture of the steps, but I wasn't willing to hang myself out there that much! I don't think we've gotten above freezing today and I am officially freezing in this house! The kids are going out there to walk around and take in the sights, but I am content to sit on the couch and watch them take in the sights!

Here's a really lousy picture of the 'Divine Miss M's' quilt. I gave it to her on Christmas eve. I don't know if she liked it or not. It's really hard for a two year old to get hyped up over a quilt, but especially when she's trying to wake up from her nap. Plus she was really counting on a roller coaster - I know, I know, it was as big a surprise to me as it was to her parents! I don't see one in the back yard. Santa must have thought twice about it!

I hope everybody had a nice Christmas. We had a very nice, low key day. I was a little leery of how it would all turn out. We, like everybody else in the world, were short on extra cash for Christmas spending. This year has been quite busy and thinking of Christmas gifts or making Christmas gifts were put off until it was almost too late. Then with both of the kids getting the flu, it was difficult to get anything done around here. Luckily, the kids were very careful selecting what they wanted for Christmas and provided some excellent lists for Santa. They also did an excellent job with what little money they had to get gifts for RL and me. I was so proud of them. I think we all had a wonderful day and enjoyed everything we received, especially since so much thought went into it. In the next few days I'll try to post some pictures of the beautiful handmade gifts I've received from my on-line buddies. I was so surprised and pleased to even be thought of let alone receive the beautiful gifts they put time into. Thank you! In the meantime, enjoy your time off work and Happy New Year!

T'was The Week Before Christmas.....

... and the little ones were full of hope.

See, Ginger doesn't always look like she hates us!

Most of the time, yes, but on that rare occasion.....

My children are ill. Both of them - hit right upside the head by the flu. First L fell and fell hard. We weren't sure if it was a cold or strep. I took him to the doctor when he said he felt horrible. L doesn't complain a whole lot and when he does you really have to listen. So, off we went to the doctor to hear he had the flu and a temperature. He kind of went into hibernation mode, nursing a bottle of Gatorade. He still sounds like he could cough a lung up, but he is getting better every single day. I think I detected a wee bit of cabin fever yesterday. It's been a little over a week now, so I am glad to see little signs of improvement every single day. R was going to stay well. We got her going on Vitamin C and lots and lots of hopes and prayers that she wouldn't fall next. Boy, did she ever fall - and hard! That kid has been knocked on her butt! We have found NyQuil and DayQuil and sing praises! She slept last night for the first time without coughing all night long.

Before she fell, she made these beautiful snowflakes. They are hanging now in the living room from the ceiling. Ginger had NO idea what to think when she first saw them twirling around. They are nice. A little understated than the paper chains we had last year, but understated is a good thing! A very good thing!

Before both of them fell, RL had a party at work and volunteered cupcakes. I don't know what he had in mind, but I had seen some cupcakes online somewhere that looked good. I couldn't find the red and white striped cupcake cups they had used in the original picture I saw, so I settled for these.
We made chocolate cupcakes and iced them with our regular homemade icing with just a touch of peppermint. Then R came into the kitchen and suggested we add a little bit of pink in the icing bag so the icing would come out looking sort of airbrushed. I think it turned out very nice! We then crushed candy canes and sprinkled that on top.

They were very good and refreshing. How do I know? Do you think I'm going to let something that looks this good go out the door without trying it? You know me better than that!

Since everybody is feeling puny, we have decided to wait on fixing all the Christmas goodies until they actually feel up to eating them. Sore throats are getting in the way of that right now. I think fudge without nuts would be fairly easy to get down, don't you?

In the meantime - you better be good because Santa's watching you! Or maybe some of his elves are....you just never know!

Ready or Not - Here it Comes!!!!

I have come to terms with it. Christmas is coming whether I am ready or not. Christmas cards are slowly trickling out. We had great plans to make our own only to have other things get in the way and have to resort to store bought cards. Maybe next year we'll have it all together. It could happen. The house will never be clean enough to suit me, so I am trying to step over the 'little stuff' and move the 'bigger stuff' until I get some Christmas things finished. I've got to check the stocking stuffers to make sure we are 'even'. Don't want uneven stocking stuffers between the kids! Orders are slowly trickling in. We're still waiting for one. Wouldn't you know, it's one that needs some further work!

We never did make it to the dentist on Wednesday. We had a sick boy, so I called and cancelled. He continued to get sicker so I called our doctor who said he could see him the next morning. Thank goodness! What started out as a sore throat and a slight cough, turned into a 102 temp and more coughing. He has the flu. I knew I should have taken him in for his shot. Bummer. We just couldn't get him to a 'good spot' to take him and now he has to suffer. Poor kid. I think he's feeling a little better now that his fever has broken and he's chugging gatorade like there's no tomorrow. It's also given him a chance to watch all the DVDs of 'Firefly' that he's been wanting to see again. Add to that a native Floridian who has NO FREAKIN' IDEA how to drive in ice and had to drive in ice yesterday to get to the doctor and you'll have an idea how our week is going!

I also need to properly thank some people for some wonderful gifts that have come my way. I haven't forgotten and I will thank you! I have really been blessed with some thoughtful and talented friends. I'll take pictures soon and post them so you can see just how talented they are.

Oh - I made the Divine Miss M a rag quilt for Christmas and I need to take pictures of that too. She used to be Little Miss M, but she started REALLY developing a personality, so the kids now refer to her as the Divine Miss M. Somehow it is more fitting!

Happy Holiday Crafting!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

With a windchill in the teens today, I figured it was a good time to clean the house and update the old blog. The house will never be clean, so I took a blog break! That's at least something I can accomplish!

The Christmas elf has been baking! The cookies in the above picture were GREAT! They had peanut butter in the middle and chocolate on the outside. They made a small batch and that was probably a good thing!

These are also fabulous cookies that the Christmas Cookie Elf makes. I sure hope Santa brings jeans in a bigger size this year!

Our Christmas parade was this weekend. It was such a dreary day! I thought nobody would show. We normally have a huge parade, but this year it was kind of sparse. We live close to the parade route and have gotten there so early in years past to just stand and freeze. This year we decided to leave a little later and missed some of it! Bummer! I guess the marchers were cold and wanted to get the show on the road! The sun did peek out for a short while and made the parade bearable.

We had a little something for everybody.

Big old flashy cars with flames!

Tiny new cars with three wheels.

Sheep! Perfect for the knitter!

Jeeps for the Army and WWII buffs.

That reminded us to go by the memorial at the park before we headed for home.

The town puts wreaths on the tributes. Makes it even more special than usual.

And then, on the walk home, the Christmas cookie elf/photographer/knitter got a little distracted and wanted to follow the sheep home. What am I going to do with that girl????

Thanks for your input regarding our dental dilemma. L has a post-op appointment on Wednesday. That will be his last visit with that dentist.

Gross, Isn't It?

What fun we have had this week! We were going along okay - nothing exciting, but nothing dull. Then L tells me Wednesday that his jaw is bothering him. I asked him if it was the same jaw his wisdom tooth was removed from last November. Yes. Hmmm. I told him to let me know in the morning how he was feeling. The next morning he was really complaining. He could hardly open his mouth and it appeared he had a small opening in the gum area where his wisdom tooth had been removed. We have an interesting dentist. He works Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He closes on Thursday at 2:00. I called him at 1:20 to see if they could possibly see L because he wasn't in any shape to get through the weekend. We rushed like idiots to the office. We got there and they took him back right away. Turns out he had a build up of infection in that area. Then the dentist comes out and tells me that a 'fragment' of either bone or tooth was caught in that area and he had to open it up and take it out. He filed down the jaw a little and then stitched it up. Okay. I understand that sometimes happens. Then I got a lecture about how if I had brought him in for his yearly cleaning they might have been able to catch it sooner. Okay, okay. I'll take my scolding. Then I went back to pay for it. $300. Hmmm, really? The dentist left the area and L tells me he has a souvenir to show me. He asked the assistant if he could keep the 'fragment' and she told him he could. That little 'fragment' you see in the picture was what was in his jaw. Can you believe it? No wonder he was in pain! The dentist left that in his jaw during his wisdom tooth extraction! It was trying to work it's way back out and that's where the infection, pain and hole all came from! Needless to say, we will be looking for a new dentist - SOON!