2009

Silent Night, Holy Night

new cookie

This has been a nice relaxing day, actually. This evening I decided to make a new cookie recipe. Wasn't going to do cookies this year, but I read this recipe the other day and decided to give it a try. Slightly rich - but yep, pretty yummy! As you can see from the picture, I left a couple plain ones so I could have them. And excuse the picture presentation - I'm not so creative. Probably sans newspaper would have looked better - but that caught all the extra peanuts! :)

brrrr.....

winter wonderland update

When I got up 1/2 hour ago the temp was 7 - now it is 6.3 - the windchill is in the minus category! The wind started about 4:00 a.m. and I was almost afraid to stay in bed - wasn't sure if it was ice or trees falling on the roof. Guess it was a little of both. Fred even got up and went in to Todd's room to make sure nothing had gone through the roof because it sure sounded like it did! The lights are flickering and our fingers are crossed that they stay on! The Winter Wonderland was nice for a couple of days - but it can stop now!

Ohio's winter wonderland

Hmmmmm.....there is a little difference between Atascadero's Winter Wonderland and Ohio's Winter Wonderland! In Ohio there is an inch or two of snow covering the ground AND lots and lots of sparkling ice. Maybe an inch thick on the trees and as we drove towards town we saw a lot of limbs in yards, on roofs, and in the streets. The new evergreen tree line across from Anthony Wayne had most of the trees bent over in half - they looked sad. :( As we kept driving we saw a lot of electrical lines that had been brought down by the falling limbs. The traffic light at Chief was out - just a little dangerous going through that intersection without a light! We are thinking the neighbors across the street do not have electricity because we could see lots of trees and lines down in everyones' back yards. So, as long as everyone is safe and warm - I am happy with Ohio's Winter Wonderland!

tis the season

Fred had his first Christmas party last Friday - his guy party. But, tonight we had our first 'together' party. It was at the house of the Defiance College president and it was so nice. The house is beautiful - very simple, plain, and elegant. The president and his wife are such nice, nice people. We found Vince and Donna Polce right off the bat - so we had someone familiar to talk to. There was a beautiful grand piano in the living room and one of the education profs sat down and started playing Christmas Carol's and people joined in. It was nice - tis the season!

speaking of cakes

December

Wow! Here it is - December 5. We always used to put our tree up on December 6 (Happy Birthday Kami!). Fred would set it up and put the lights on. When Fred would leave for his annual stockholders meeting, that seemed to always be on that night, the kids and I would decorate it. We would start by winding the popcorn/cranberry garland, that we had all strung, around the tree. It had to be perfect - with just the right draping! Then we would put on the ornaments. The kids each had their favorites they wanted to put on the tree.
Things are a little different now, especially this year. The tree was put up a week ago and stood bare until Wednesday night. I put the lights on (it saves a lot of arguing!) and the bow on top with the streamers down the sides. Last year was the first year for no popcorn/cranberries and for some reason we think we are too busy to do that anymore. Maybe in another year or two we will do it again - I miss it. But, the bow looks pretty for now. Anyway - there still aren't any decorations on the tree and probably won't be for a few more days. Maybe I don't like decorating the tree by myself, so I am procrastinating. But, that's okay.
Tomorrow my friend and I are having a get away day. We are leaving here in the morning and heading to Auburn to check out a new shop. Will eat lunch some where and probably come back through Edon and stop to fix Grandma's computer. We should get back to Defiance just in time to do the Christmas Walk.