Christmas Shopping

We did a little Christmas shopping yesterday.  My husband and I have two very different Christmas shopping styles.  I like to spread the shopping out over the year, effectively avoiding the Christmas shopping hubba-ballo.  He loves to do the main shopping somewhere between December 23^rd and 24^th, right in the midst of the Christmas chaos.  The stores were not as busy as I thought they would be.  We managed to find a couple of great deals.  I was surprised to see gift bags, wrapping paper and bows already at 50% off!  We stopped for lunch at a great little pub and grill where we enjoyed garlic butter jumbo chicken wings.  They were quite tasty.  Then we finished up the shopping and headed back to get dinner on.  The house sure smelled delicious with the pot roast cooking for the rest of the afternoon.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

'Tis the Season

'Tis the Season

December 11, 2010

'Tis the season for all the pretty baubles and balls on brightly decorated trees.  Some keep their trees quite simple while others go all out.  For the past few years we have had a fiber optic tree with only small red bows.  The kids don't like it so we are going back to a real tree.  It will be nice sharing the history behind some of our treasured baubles and balls with the Grandkids.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

The Countdown

Purple Martin House
December 16, 2007

Snowy days give lots of photo opportunities so I like keeping the camera handy. The snow coming over the water provided a lovely backdrop for the snow laden cedars. The Purple Martin house was an added bonus to the gardens. It needs a few minor repairs. Unfortunately, this bird house has been taken over by sparrows but I didn't have the heart to clean it out before the weather turned cold. This will be a job in the spring to get the bird house in condition for attracting Purple Martins.

We are on the countdown for holiday prep work today. I finished up my baking yesterday so while the oven was cleaning I started the spit & shine process. This afternoon we are going to an extended family event for a short time then my husband and I are taking a breather. We are eating out and will be enjoying a concert by one of my favourite performers this evening. A couple of the kids and grandbaby will be here when we get home tonight. Another couple will be arriving in the morning. The morning will be quite busy as we finish the prep for a large family get together we are hosting in the afternoon. Several will still be here after the main event leading to a smaller get together for dinner and visiting. Monday will be quite busy with last minute prep for our family Christmas meal. Normally we have it Christmas day but a couple of our kids has to be at three events that day so I suggested holding our dinner the night before so we can eat out Christmas meal as a family. Christmas Eve will be spent visiting with our kids after dinner and taking in Midnight Mass. All the kids will be here Christmas morning with most staying for the day so that will mean another large meal for dinner but also Christmas breakfast. I love Christmas breakfast and we go all out so I'll write more on that later. We will still have a full house for a few days after Christmas with family but we also have those that just stop in for a visit so it is a rather laid back time. So I think things are pretty much ready to meet the seasonal demands. Now the fun starts :)

Christmas Shopping

The Field
December 5, 2007

It's that time of year when there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. We are still working on getting all the Christmas lights and decorations up. This is proving to be a bit of a challenge because we really don't know what we want for this house for Christmas decorating. Lights and decorations that worked at the last house just aren't working here so we have to come up with a new plan. The weather has turned cold with bouts of freezing rain making outdoor decorating rather unpleasant. Even the indoor Christmas lights and decorations don't seem to fit here. Then there is the beautiful fieldstone fireplace with stone mantle that is begging to have stockings hanging but I haven't figured out a way to hang them.

I am not a shopper even at the best of times but this time of year, I really hate shopping! So I tend to put it off as long as possible. Any number of excuses will work for me just as long as I can avoid the stores. Yesterday I was frustrated with the Christmas decorating progress so went shopping. The day before I had broke a dinner plate so needed to pick up a setting for 8 and since I'm getting bored with the ones I have now it provided a bit of an incentive. On my list of things to by were Christmas stockings, extension cords, dishes, LED Christmas lights, a long grocery list and a few gifts. My husband dropped me off at my first stop intending to meet me at my second stop then go grocery shopping. I finished shopping at the first stop with a lot of goodies then stopped to say hello to friends next door. I was shocked to hear the news that he was recovering from a recent stroke! We had not heard the news. After a short visit with assurances he was on the mend I walked to the next destination. That shopping went well and I was in the process of ordering grandbaby's birthday cake when my husband caught up with me. Yes I know I should make the cake myself but the party is going to be a large one two days before Christmas and I'm already tuckered out. It was getting late so we decided to fore go grocery shopping as I could do it today. Wrong, it's lightly snowing and it's cold so I'm staying indoors other than filling the bird feeders.

Inevitable

The inevitable time has of year has arrived where procrastinating Christmas shopping is quickly coming to an end. Last year this time we had long finished shopping, all the gifts were wrapped and tucked under the tree in anticipation of Christmas morning. What a difference a year makes! Most of the homemade gifts are finished and we've at least started the shopping. The hustle and bustle of shopping this time of year combined with irritable shoppers is not all that appealing. We had planned on spending most of this weekend shopping but took yesterday as a lazy home day. Today was grey and drizzling, not exactly a nice day for shopping so we stayed in again. We really needed these home days because we are both exhausted. We'll be doing two or three shorter shopping trips this week and have everything finished up by Saturday providing the stork co-operates. The countdown until our first grandbaby makes her début is now officially anytime now!