Almost ready for the holidays

I can't believe Christmas will be here in 3 days. I'm not quite ready, but almost there. I've had the gift-giving ups and downs. Misplaced one of HTB's stocking stuffers, a men's manicure set (because I live in fear that he will cut one of his fingers off trimming his fingernails with a pocket knife), and just found it this morning when I was on the verge of tears. I bought him a movie because it was hard to find, and my aunt bought the same movie, and I threw away the reciept. Then I went to wrap the other movies I bought and realized I had bought him "Public Enemy" on Blu-ray, which we do not have. So those two have to go back to Walmart tonight for an exchange. Darn it! I've started baking cookies. Last night was chocolate chip. Finally . . . I've just been planning this for weeks and never had time, and the poor man doesn't ask for much. Tonight it's going to be oatmeal butterscotch cookies and cheesy rice krispie cookies (let's be honest, they're cheese straws), which HTB does not like. I'll buy him the big tin of Danish butter cookies, he can console himself with those. Tomorrow night will be honey crunch cookies (we have a lot of butterscotch morsels to use up), 7-layer cookies, and fudge, and then I'm done with baking.

We did finally get the Christmas tree decorated. I was stuck at Mom's this weekend because of the huge snowstorm that walloped the East Coast. 22 inches of snow in a day. I was supposed to work. I did not work. I shoveled my mother's walk, and got my car out, and shoveled out the dog yard 4 times so that the twins could refresh themselves. Robbie is not happy about this snow nonsense. I guess when you're tiny, and not too bright, and not used to snow, it's a bit overwhelming. He wants to be taken back to Texas. I told him this is his third winter in the North, and to take it like the wee man he is. Chance is, of course, non-plussed. I think she actually enjoyed romping with him at first. Having my girl happy is a joy.

Anyway, I got home Sunday evening. And we put the tree up. It was not easy. HTB lost some of his ornaments in one of the boxes. I asked him what they looked like. He said, "Fragile." He said someone stole them. I looked at him and said, "Yes, dear, they walked into the house, past the keys to the high-performance sportscar, past the electronic equipment, and took the ornament from when you were in 5th grade. Totally. Buying. That. One." I knew he had them somewhere--he is very thorough, he wouldn't have thrown them out or lost them. He was a happy camper when he found them. We ended up putting my stitched ornaments on the main tree. The little tree was ruined and not fixable, and I just didn't want to deal with it. We'll buy a new one. I think it looks good with the hand-stitched ornaments on it. The angel didn't actually make it to the top. She wouldn't have fit, and, because it's so big, and curved, neither of us could reach it without standing on the top step of the ladder, and, as we all know from childhood, good people don't stand on the top step because you could fall and crack your head open. And that just screws the holidays up for everyone. So we got her pretty close. Below her is the horse best friend Brea brought me from Nashville last week. I like tucking stufties into the tree.




I finished Fa La La right before we started the tree trimming process. I think it's cute. Not show-quality, but, if I spent my whole life waiting to make show-quality ornaments, I'd have none done ever. It looks good on our tree! The little cupcake above it is a new purchase from the little hardware store in my mom's hometown, a real treasure trove. Up to the left is one of the ornaments HTB was so convinced were gone. I love it--it's from elementary school and he has a bowl cut, LOL.


And a picture of the icicles that formed up and down the back porch. I love how they're curved in. It's a bit trippy, like an ice dragon is curled up underneath the snow, and these are his claws.


In case I'm not back before Christmas, I wish all of you a joyous holiday.