Wild Kingdom

Went to Cabela's tonight to look for Chris a good, warm,

winter coat.  President Mendenhall wants to take him ice fishing.

I've never been in a Cabela's before.  Fascinating!

There were more stuffed animals in there, than

there were on my bed as a child growing up.

Polar bears, black bears and

moose.   Great big, huge, moose.

Quite the sight to see and behold.

Candy Cane Lane

We took one last stroll (car ride) down "candy cane lane"

We'll have to start one of our own back home, if we are ever

going to see something like this again.  

The lights were fun, 

some had themes,

others did not.

There were religious ones, wintery ones and Santa ones.

Some houses sang and the lights danced to the music.

This house came complete with a giant stocking and gifts.

Even though we went after Christmas was over, it was still a thrill.

Full Moon

I was out shopping one afternoon,  when I looked up and spotted

this gorgeous full moon.  I really couldn't capture it on film.

But it was soooo breathtaking, I just had to take a shot.

The moon looks huge when it first comes up.  It deserves to

be in the words of a song, or something.

Candies, Goodies and Treats, Oh My!

We were given so many yummy and wonderful treats

this year for Christmas.

The crispy tree came from the Orr's, so clever,

I actually bought the bark, couldn't resist, I usually

can't, my bad.

Mom sent her wonderful cookies, peanut clusters, peanut brittle 

and caramels.  She sent two kinds of cookies, but Chris finished 

the one bag off within two days of the package arriving.  Yes, that's

 right and I didn't even get one.  That's ok, they are his favorites.

I found some gingerbread cookies for Courtney and a gingerbread

 house kit, too bad we ran out of time to make and decorate it.

Mom also sent Idle Isle's chocolates on the left, yum.

I bought some cookies that turned out to be not so good,

but I did get some fancy cookies as a white elephant gift and

Elaine gave us an entire bag of her delightful crispy, 

caramel marshmallows.  Courtney loves them.

So many treats, so little time, too many added pounds.

Boxing Day

We took Courtney to West Ed Mall to spend her 

Christmas money, 

big mistake, it was even more crazy than last year.

There were line ups to go into almost every store.  They have 

people line up outside the store and then they only let in people

as other people leave the store.  Crowd control, I guess.

Where's the fun in that?

Courtney picked out these boots, but she's out of

room in her suitcase.  Maybe next time.

And this is poor Dad, he hung in there for the first

few hours, but then we found him staring vacantly

at these swirling, twirling "spinners", in a complete daze.

Courtney and I laughed and laughed.

We were all exhausted and ready to go home.

Traditions

These are a few of my favorite things . . . 

enough so, to bring them to Canada with us.

*Christmas morning bread braid, topped with white creamy frosting

*Eggs benedict for Christmas morning breakfast

*Putting out cookies and milk for Santa, note:  I found out years 

ago that Santa prefers chocolate chip cookies over sugar cookies

*Placing our empty stockings in our "corner", so Santa knows 

where to put what

*Christmas music, could listen to it for a month before and a 

month after December, easily

Christmas Morning

My corner,

I know because Santa used a very special wrapping paper,

purchased just for me and my gifts.  And Santa even wrapped them 

himself, that right there is a gift in itself.

Chris' corner, Santa loves him too!

And Boo's corner.  It's still fun to watch our children 

open their gifts on Christmas morning.  Even though 

they're not little and they don't want fun toys anymore.

She just wants clothes,

and more clothes,

food,

and more food.

That's about as clever as we get.

Oh yeah, and she really likes the paper stuff.

Then she can go to the mall and buy her own clothes

 and food.

Christmas Cookies

Oh, to have small children again, to look at everything you do with

wonder and excitement. 

My favorite part of Christmas is the Christmas cookie making, baking

and decorating.

I love the smell of the dough and of course the sampling of the dough

to make sure that it's just right.

I enjoy rolling the dough out,

digging in the back of the cupboard to retrieve all the special Christmas

cookie cutters.

The same shapes my mom used to use, the diamond, bell, spade, club,

star and heart. (don't ask me why, guess mom was a gambler)

Then I've added my own favorites since I've been married and have had 

 children of my own, a candy cane, snowflake, holly leaf, gingerbread man.

Then I frost them, generously add sprinkles and enjoy a few along the way,

that's the real payoff.  And of course, I do this all on my own.  The

kids haven't been interested or helped in years.  They'll each decorate 

one or two cookies,  just to make me happy.

So, it's Christmas eve once again, and I've made the dough, cut them

out, baked them, frosted and decorated them, all by myself.

I made Courtney put some out for Santa, and this is what I got.

One cookie, a cracker because she heard Santa is on a diet and

a Lindt truffle, whatever!

I can bring back all the fun and magic when I have grandchildren, right?

The Stockings Were Hung . . . .

Mrs. Santa called on me to help with the stockings this year.

You know how busy she can get?  And it's fun to pick up little things

that I think Courtney might enjoy, the Nutella is a no brainer.

Toys, treats, gum, glow sticks, earrings, even a paparazzi camera.

More candy, a contact case, a Canadian hand warmer and more candy.

Courtney's stocking was chuck full.

Couldn't fit another thing in it.  Good thing, because she has to get

it all home, on the plane.  Too fun.