Well here we are with another Christmas behind us and a new year just a day away. Where did this year go?
Last week was a crazy wonderful Christmas week. We had our big family Christmas at my house. We had about twenty people here, and my house and heart were full. A couple of days later we had a smaller gathering at my sister’s house with food and more food and presents and laughing.
It always seems as if there will not be enough time to get everything done. Buying groceries, cooking, buying gifts, gift wrapping everything, trying to make sure everything is just right for everyone. You have to admit it is a bit exhausting.
But just like that it is all over and you are sitting at home alone thinking about taking down all the Christmas decorations. We always leave ours up until New Year’s Day. Sometimes the decorations don’t come down until a week or two after Christmas. This depends on my work schedule.
I had to go back to work the day after Christmas so I didn’t get a lot of extra time off.
Christmas at my house.We do a white elephant exchange and it is so much fun.
Presents at my sister’s house.
I love this snow globe that my sister has.
Me and my little nephew dog Cooper.
My nephew Caleb and his girlfriend Tiesha
Nephew Tyler. He brought us all Christmas gifts from London. A book for me about the history of London I love it.
So a great time was had. I love it when our family gets together. It seems like that doesn’t happen enough these days. My hubs and I had a quiet Christmas Day at home just us and the kitties. It was very nice.
I am ready to get back to a regular schedule and quit the indulging that has been going on the last couple of weeks. Another few days of this and I may not be able to fit into my clothes.
I hope your Christmas was wonderful. I would like to take a moment to say thank you for reading my blog. I feel like I have made so many new friends over the last few years. You all are wonderful and have become such a huge part of my life. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful happy New Year!!!!!
Mine started Friday night we had a birthday celebration for my nephew Tyler. I made a four layer dessert for his birthday. We also call it Mud Slide Pie. It has four yummy layers made up of: A pecan crust, cream cheese and powdered sugar and whipped topping, chocolate pudding and more whipped topping on top with added pecans. Very easy and quick and it disappeared quickly.
On Saturday I went to an estate sale in town. I love going to these, not only because of the treasures but seeing the homes too. I always like to imagine the way I would decorate each room. I am always interested in the person that lived there. The woman of this house liked sewing and painting portraits and flowers. She also loved baskets and some miniatures. I was hoping to find some sock darner eggs among the sewing treasures but I did not.
Here is what I bought. I know I know!!! I have been talking constantly about cleaning out the clutter from my home but some of these lovelies just had to come home with me. I don’t think you have to try and put out every item that you have at once. I like to switch things up. I keep these treasures stored until I do. Yes that is my story and I am sticking to it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, everything was 50% off on Saturday!!!!!
I kept going back to this candelabra. Whenever I do this at a sale it is a sure sign that I need to go back for it. What will I do with it? I’m not sure. I can just imagine it full of small or large candles and it will be beautiful.
I’m not sure yet where I will put this lamp. I am definitely replacing the shade. I just loved the design of the flowers.
I think this planter is beautiful. I seem to have an obsession with this type of planter. I have several that are animals and have the opening on the side or on the back. But I thought this one was especially nice for Christmas.
I love these vases. They are old and very delicate.
Some bottles for my bottle tree
I was fighting off a cold or sinus thing on Sunday so I stayed in all day and knitted and crocheted, the day away. A good day!!!! Have a wonderful week!!!
I had been wishing for colder temperatures and man have they arrived. I still love it though. The air feels so cold and crisp. Just the way it is supposed to feel this time of year. It’s so hard to believe that December is here and a new year is coming soon.
How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was very nice and quiet. My nephew and his girlfriend came for dinner as well as my sister in law. we had such a fun time. My entire family no longer gets together on Thanksgiving Day. It seems as though each family is having their own special day. That makes me sad. I think next year we may try to plan a day, close to Thanksgiving Day, and get together with all of us. Time together is so special and should be treasured.
My sister and I took off early Friday morning for Black Friday shopping. It’s just not the same as it used to be. The crowds are not the same. So many people are doing online shopping and it makes going into the stores unnecessary. Most of the stores started their sales on Monday before Thanksgiving. I guess as I get older I’m just not that interested in being in huge crowds. The fact that I work with the public and experience this almost every single day also has a lot to do with that. But I’m not quite ready to give it up yet.
I still love going out on Black Friday. My sister and I start out early. We check out a few sales but we mostly love it because it is always our kick-off to Christmas. This past Friday was no exception. We started out around 7:00 AM and returned home around 4:30 PM. We had a wonderful time just being together.
As I said I wasn’t really looking for anything particular. I did buy a few Christmas presents and got some of that out of the way. But on our very last stop, which was as at Marshall’s, I found the best gift of all. It was for me but still.
While I was digging through some throw rugs I found a cat rug. It’s purrfect. Sorry I had to do that. It was my best find of the day.
Isn’t it cute??
I put the rug at my front door and Gus is already in love with it.
I guess he thinks I bought it just for him.
My nephew lives in Smithville and it is about two and a half hours from us. He had to work on Thanksgiving and didn’t get to enjoy any of his favorites with the family. On Saturday my sister and I met him about halfway to his house and had dinner with him. I made him a pumpkin pie, and his all time favorite, Butterfinger Cake. I didn’t get a picture of the cake or the pie. We got home late on Saturday. But it was totally worth it getting to spend some time together.
On Sunday I stayed home and relaxed. We did put up our Christmas tree. We still haven’t added all the decorations yet. I also finished my socks I was knitting.
I think they turned out pretty well. Most of the stripes match. I had just a little different coloring on one toe.
Even though our outside kitties come into the garage at night it can still get really chilly. We have a little heated house for them. They all love to pile up in that small house. It is the cutest thing ever. I am leaving you with a picture of Izzy poking her head out of the house. She secretly thinks the house is all hers and she is only sharing it with the others.
It was back to work for me this week. A full week ahead and a lot of things going on. I love Christmas and all the fun things that go along with it. But it can be so tiring. Remember to take care of you during this time. I think as women we tend to try and do it all and be all for everyone. Sometimes that is just not possible.
Have a wonderful week. Stay warm if you are in this area.
Hello and happy Monday!!! How was your week and your weekend? I have been a bit under the weather. I am not sure what is going on. I think it is just that I haven’t been getting enough rest. Also a change in the temperature always gives me some sinus issues. I am feeling better today and I honestly think it was just the fact that I returned from my Wisconsin/Minnesota trip and went right back to work. We had a big week at work last week. We had some filming done for commercial and promotional footage and it was a lot to prepare for. It was a bit exhausting.
It was exciting to see our cave lit up like this. I can’t wait to see all the footage. They even took a drone inside the cave.
Last Saturday we celebrated my brother and sister-in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary. It was very nice. My two nieces planned everything and had it at my nieces’ church in the sanctuary. It was supposed to be a surprise but I think they sort of figured it out when they drove them to the church instead of out to eat. We had a great time catching up with friends and family. I was supposed to make the wedding cake but I realized a few weeks ago that the anniversary party fell the day after I returned from my Wisconsin trip. I knew I just couldn’t put a huge cake together in less than a day. They bought one somewhere else and it was yummy. They did a great job with everything.
It’s hard to believe these two have been married for 50 years. I think ii was in Jr Hi when they got married.
Yesterday we celebrated my nephew’s, well my great nephew actually, 21st Birthday. A milestone birthday so we had to celebrate although, who am I kidding we celebrate anything. We had the party at my sister’s house. My nephew Chris did most of the cooking on the grill. We brought some sides and had a feast. My sister just got a new dog baby and he is precious. He only weighs three pounds and will only be about seven our eight pounds when he is full grown. His name is Cooper, and I will admit I tried to smuggle him out of the house in my purse. It was such a fun day.
Birthday Boy, Caleb holding his sweatshirt I got him when I went through Chicago last week.
Sorry about the blurry picture but this guy would not stop wiggling. He loves people and wants to be in the middle of everything.
Today I felt much better when I went to work. Work has slowed down a tiny bit. The weather is cooler and so nice, especially early mornings and late afternoon. the leaves are changing colors but not a lot and not very fast. The weather here had been fairly dry until a few weeks ago and the leaves need more moisture to turn those beautiful colors.
The trees with yellow leaves are my favorite.
We also had our first frost last week. It was beautiful.
So that has been me for the last week. I have been listening to a great audio book. Olive Kitteridge written by Elizabeth Strout. I just finished it and found the second one, Olive Again, there is also a mini series on Max. Olive Kitteridge. The mini series follows the book and I am hoping for a second season. Only four episodes in the first season. Olive lives in Crosby Maine. The books are Almost like short stories but all of them weave Olive into them. I have loved them and now I am almost finished with the second one. At first I didn’t like Olive but now I love her. She is outspoken and tough but she can be so kind and she believes in treating everyone equally.
So other than work, housework, taking care of hubs and the kitties that is what I have been doing. Thankfully my traveling is over for a few months. That makes me very happy.
What have you been up to? I am sorry if I have neglected your blog posts. I love reading all of them and can’t wait to catch up.
Southern Patches 