Sunny days

According to weather.com, the next ten days are filled with sunshine, with just a couple of "partly cloudys" thrown in.  Lots of highs near fifty degrees, no precipitation in sight.  So far I don't see it getting warm enough for a wintertime motorcycle ride, but it could happen.  A lot of bikers try to sneak in a ride on New Year's Day, just to get the year started off right.  I think we'll pass.    
After the past two winters, I'm fine with no snow.  It's pretty, but we've had our share.  An open winter would be nice.  
We've had loved ones in and out of the house for the past two days, snacking and chatting.  Unexpected presents have shown up.  People we care about are keeping their heads above water, which is sometimes hard to do at this time of year.  I'd say it's been a good holiday season for the family.  A good year, in fact.  
Our daughter has established a new family tradition the past couple of years, dispensing with the big Christmas dinner of the old days.  I have to say I like the change:  she and her family have sort of an open house all day, with seasonal snacks and treats contributed by anybody who wants to bring something, although a contribution isn't required.  It's low-key and informal and a perfect way to finish up with Christmas.  It fits our family just fine.  


I wish each of you, my readers, a lovely Christmas day that suits your style.  

Christmas fun (and my surprise gift from a reader)

Since we got out of the whole gift-trading thing, Christmas is very relaxed and enjoyable around here.  
Yesterday evening the daughter and her husband dropped by, right after grandson Arick and his girl friend, Heather, came over (with a nice little surprise for me, bless their little pea-pickin' hearts).  We thought Cliff was never going to join us; he had some Craigslist people outside, talking his leg off.  Unfortunately, they didn't buy anything, but that's OK, because Cliff got a lead on a local tractor club he plans to join.  
We all sampled the goodies I made, and had a wonderful visit.  
I opened my gift from New Jersey tonight, and of course I'll share it with you.  First, the note that was inside the Christmas card:

If I'm not mistaken, Vicki is the same person who sent me an egg beater that belonged to her mom.  I have used that egg beater three times in the past couple of days.  
Oh, the gift she sent me?  

This cute little item is made out of bird seeds, and I know there are going to be some happy birds around here when I hang it outside.  
I have had so many lovely comments lately on my entries, and I appreciate every one.  Nobody has a nicer bunch of readers than I do.  


Cliff was very happy the gifts I bought him.  
He and I were shopping a couple of weeks ago and he started looking for a certain kind of shirt.  "It's that kind of shirt Pat wears," he said.  
Pat is our brother-in-law, and I have never paid attention to what kind of shirts he wears, so I was no help.  Cliff didn't find what he was looking for that day.  However, Pat and Charlene were visiting last weekend, and I quizzed them about his shirts.
"Oh," he said, "you mean chamois shirts.  If you're going to buy one, be sure to get the nine-ounce chamois."  
He and Charlene named some places that carry that kind of shirt.  They warned me that they usually cost around $40 each.  
Sunday I did a Google search and found a great deal at Gander Mountain:  nine ounce chamois shirts that were normally $39 were marked down to $24.99, and there was no charge for shipping.  
I ordered two that evening.  Monday I got an email saying they had been shipped.  Wednesday morning the package arrived.  
Cliff unwrapped his package tonight, and he is a happy camper; he now has some nice, warm, snuggly shirts that will last for years, according to his sister.  
So far we are having a wonderful Christmas!  Tomorrow we'll spend some time at our daughter's house eating all kinds of snack foods.  It's gonna be a good day.

Christmas goodies

I haven't gotten a tree.  Yet.  I don't really plan on it, but if one should present itself to me, I'd probably grab it.  
One of Cliff's favorite Christmas treats is those pretzels dipped in melted almond bark; it's a goodie I had never made in my life, easy as it is; but this year, for the first time, I did it.  Then there's this:

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CRACKERS  from COOKS.COM 1 box Ritz or Wheat Thins 1 (12 oz.) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 pkg. almond bark 1 jar peanut butter Spread peanut butter on 1/2 box of crackers. Top with remaining crackers. Melt chips and almond bark over low heat. Dip crackers in chocolate/bark mixture. Let cool on waxed paper. Refrigerate.

Since I was playing around with almond bark anyhow, I also did this one.  I only made half a recipe, because my underwear is already getting tight, and Christmas isn't even here.  These things are REALLY good!  I know you can buy chocolate almond bark and simply use that, but the chocolate bark I've seen in the store is imitation, so I used the above recipe.  I always feel cheated when I get a taste of imitation chocolate.  
I intend to make a cheese ball tomorrow, and some cranberry bread.  That will probably be the end of my Christmas cooking.  This will, of course, be followed by our annual tradition of starting our New Year's diets, which will last, at best, until the Valentine candy shows up on the shelves at Walmart.  
You may recall that I wanted to get Cliff something to unwrap on Christmas Eve, since a stranger sent me a gift in the mail.  I ordered his gift on Sunday, it was shipped on Monday, and I received it yesterday, Wednesday.  And that's with FREE shipping!  It is wrapped and I placed it in the corner beside my gift.  Now we each have something to open.
Here's the bad part about gift-giving, and one of the reasons we dropped out of that scene:  I showed Cliff his package and said, "Now you have a present to unwrap."  
He said, "Oh great, now I have to go out and get you something."  


And that, my friends, is what's wrong with Christmas giving.  Once you feel obligated to get somebody a gift just because they gave you one, the whole spirit of the thing is ruined.  


But that's just my own humble opinion.    


You know, it just occurred to me:  What if that gift in the mail is from a stalker that actually HATES me?  What if it's a stink bomb or something AWFUL?  
Oh, wait, the person put her return address on the package.  I think I'm safe.  


Note:  Cliff read this post and said, "All right, I'm not gonna buy you a present then!"  
He got the message!


Now you can read an anonymous comment on this post where someone called Cliff a Scrooge.  Either that person isn't too familiar with my blog, they are pulling my chain, or they are as bad as me to "open mouth, insert foot".   My longtime readers know Cliff is all heart.  

Merry Christmas

I had the laziest day imaginable yesterday.  I broke down and made brown sugar fudge because it just isn't Christmas without it.  One bite of brown sugar fudge and I'm a kid again.  I also made cheese ball to take to my daughter's today, and made corn bread and beans for dinner.  That's the extent of my labors!  
I settled into my easy chair in the afternoon and watched an excellent tear-jerker of a movie, Life as a House.  I won't be soon forgetting that one.  
I haven't been able to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Christmas Story" on our DVD player because in our haste to send Dish Network their equipment, we evidently pulled the cord out of our DVD player and sent that to them, too.  I looked at our nearest Walmart, and I didn't find the cord I need.  However, "It's a Wonderful Life" was broadcast on TV, so I DVR'd it and Cliff and I watched it that way, zapping about two hours of commercials in the process.  
Cliff and I talked about how we wished we could go back, just for a few minutes, to an age where we believed in Santa.  
Granddaughter Amber spent the night and got up this morning wanting home-made cinnamon rolls; at first I brushed her off, telling her it would take four hours to make them.  
Then I got to thinking what a scrooge I was and started the dough.  After all, if I have a granddaughter in her twenties who comes to spend the night every once in awhile, she ought to be worth a little effort on my part.  I'm trying to hurry things along; I put the bowl with the dough inside a larger bowl containing warm water.  In the old days when gas ranges had pilot lights, the warmth of  the gas oven was just right for rushing the rising process.   

Dear friends and family

Cliff and I had the usual yearly discussion and decided we will not be sending Christmas cards or giving Christmas gifts this year.  We're getting ready for retirement, and now is as good a time as any to get realistic.  We've agreed it's just too hard to figure out what to give grandchildren once they get past four years old, unless you give them money; and in order for the money to do them any good, it would need to be a substantial amount.    
We're not trying to be Scrooges or Grinches here, we're just doing what seems sensible to us.  
We might, in the future, do a name-drawing gift exchange if the family wants to do it; that would be affordable for all, even with a $50 or so limit.  
As for the Christmas cards, I do love getting them, especially the ones with letters and notes enclosed.  However, with the price of stamps, it turns into a fairly expensive proposition. 
When we had this discussion, Cliff said, "So you're not getting anything for me and I'm not getting anything for you, right?"  
"Of course not," I answered.  "I already got my gift:  the Nook."  
For those who watched the last episode of Mike and Molly, Cliff is exactly like Mike when it comes to gifting.  He wants to get something great, but never knows what to get; any hints go right over his head.  I'm fine with us getting ourselves what we want.  We don't do gifts on birthdays or Valentine's Day either, although I use those occasions as an excuse to eat out.  So, we're not the last of the great romantics.  
I guess in this way we're a perfect match.  It's worked out for forty-four years, so far.
I did send something to City Union Mission; their donations are down, due to the economy.  That's the one-and-only Christmas gift Cliff and I are giving this year, and I hope to continue that, even if it's a lesser amount after he retires; every little bit helps.  Cliff always slips something into the Salvation Army kettles.  
You can check out many charities with Charity Navigator, although many religious organizations aren't listed there, due to the fact that they are exempt under the Internal Revenue Code from filing Form 990.  I don't like this, but that's how it is; I believe every charity should be accountable.  Salvation Army is not listed on Charity Navigator; City Union Mission is.  That's how I made my choice on which one to gift.    
Merry Christmas to all; may you make memories that will last throughout your lives.  I certainly enjoy my Christmas memories.

To be a kid again

Christmas really isn't much fun these days.  I know, lots of people absolutely live for Christmas.  Not me.  
My favorite thing about this season is the memories, and the magic that Christmas used to be.  
I want to be five years old again.  
Santa Claus was real.  He didn't always bring me every single thing I wanted, but I could count on him to deliver most of it.  The only time he really let me down was when he failed to deliver that pony, but of course he probably couldn't fit it in his sleigh.  
When he came bursting through the door at the back of the one-room schoolhouse at the end of our Christmas program, ringing a bell and saying "Ho ho ho", I had no doubt he was the real deal.  I never even noticed the bell he was ringing was the same one the teacher rang every day to signal the end of recess.  
I didn't know about calories.  I could eat all the brown sugar candy and nuts and fruit cake I desired without any guilt, and my mother provided plenty of goodies for my consumption.  Not only that, she let me eat all of it I wanted, at any time.  
Oh, I wish you could have seen the Christmas trees we had.  Artificial trees hadn't been invented yet, and the piney fragrance of our real Christmas trees affected me in the same way that catnip affects a cat.  I still demand a real Christmas tree, mainly for the memories.  The smell only seems to last a few days, but it's good while it lasts.  We don't have huge piles of presents like the old days, but we do have the tree.
I remember magazines people gave my mom for Christmas called "Christmas Ideals".  I could look at the pictures and stories in those magazines for hours.  A few years ago I got on Ebay and ordered a couple of the issues I remembered from my childhood.  For the memories.  
There was a special magic about the simple Christmas programs in country churches, so that when little kids wearing their mom's bathrobes walked down the aisle toward the front, I saw them as real shepherds and wise men.  And that doll in the manger?  I almost expected him to cry. 
I wish I could be five years old again, young enough to sit on my momma's lap and enjoy it, back before I developed that attitude that drove a wedge between the two of us for most of the rest of our lives.
I want to wake up Christmas morning and see my stocking stuffed with all kinds of fun stuff, an orange bulging in its toe.  
When you're five years old there are no worries, because you're perfectly taken care of.  You don't know about politics or wars or "these tough economic times".  
Momma and Daddy will take care of all that.  
And what they don't provide, Santa will.
    

My weekend so far

My daughter had a really busy week, since it was the grand climax of her company's busy season. To celebrate the end of all that work, I made one of her favorite comfort dishes, potato soup... with corn bread on the side, of course. Her mother-in-law and nephew came visiting from Carthage, so they joined us for dinner (that's the noon meal around here).

Cliff's youngest sister and her husband came Friday night, in order to be in the area for his family Christmas gathering yesterday. They brought their dog, Mindy, and she stayed with us while they went to their gift exchange. She's a well-behaved dog, and she and Sadie, being of similar size, love to frolic and wrestle around the house. Since both dogs are prolific shedders, I shudder to think how much hair we've consumed in our food this weekend... but that's just fiber, right?

Cliff's oldest sister lives next door in our old house. She's working twelve-hour days all weekend, and her mini-Dachshund, Angel, gets lonely; so we bring her over here for two or three hours, a couple times a day.

Then yesterday my oldest granddaughter, Amber, called and asked if was OK to come out and spend the night. She knows she'll get more computer time here than she would at home sharing Internet hours with her mom. She brought her mini-pin, Sophie, who presented me with a Yule log on the floor as soon as she came in the house. It's nice to know that even a dog can get in the spirit of the season. We enjoy our granddaughter and our granddog too, in spite of the occasional accident.

I honestly planned to fix some sort of healthy, low-fat meals today, to make up for the cream in the potato soup yesterday (Cliff's older sister finished off the soup when she got home from her long workday). Unfortunately, I have such a stiff neck I can't turn my head without great pain, so I'm going to plan B: Great Northern Beans cooked with a remnant of our Thanksgiving ham and plenty of onion. With, you guessed it, corn bread on the side.

I'd cook our usual oatmeal or cream-of-wheat for breakfast, but granddaughter Amber really loves pancakes, so I'll cater to her. To go with the pancakes, I have some totally unhealthy, salt-laden sausage ready to cook.

I'll make sure Cliff takes his Lipitor; it's all I can do for his heart in times like these. That, and limit his portions.

Christmas stuff

OK, so I'm showing you a picture of my rather tacky tree. It's the sort of tree I love, though. I would like to have a nicer angel or star for the top, and I'm in need of a stable for Baby Jesus. I've had a talk with Cliff about that, and he's pondering on it.

This is probably the largest tree we've ever had, because we never had enough room for such a big one before. Oh, and the grocery store where we bought it only had one size... six to seven feet tall.

Cliff's youngest sister gave us the Santa on the left. The nativity scene came from my mom and Walmart. When Mother was selling Avon, a customer of hers named Brenda Tuttle (I wrote the name on the underneath of a camel so I'd remember) was into ceramics, and gave her the Holy Family for Christmas one year. The next year Brenda gave her two camels. That was the extent of it until I happened to be in Walmart a few years ago and found wise men, a shepherd, a donkey and a cow that seemed to be the same scale as the figures I had at home.


These are the Avon Christmas plates I have in my computer room. Sorry about the poor lighting, but I tend to blog in the wee hours of the morning when there's only artificial light.


I moved the toy horses that usually stay up above the television so I could put some plates there.


These plates are in the guest room. I know, I know, they're uneven. But I'm an uneven sort of person. I may fix that later. Or not.

I have more plates to hang. I may put some in the hallway; there's room for at least four.

The Christmas cups are in the cupboard!

I haven't been doing anything Christmas-y for a couple of years, so I totally forgot to get my Christmas cups out for Thanksgiving. But they're on the shelf now! I put all my regular cups away, and we'll be using my vast assortment of holiday mugs through New Year's Day.

I picked most of my fifteen holiday mugs up at garage sales. One of them, I'm not sure which any more, was a Christmas gift from the oldest grandson when he was just a little guy. I used to hate my two California Raisins cups (they aren't that pretty), but now I like the fact that they're dated on the bottom (1988) and they bring back memories of some old commercials that were popular when my children were teens. There must have been a lot of those made, because they don't bring much on Ebay.





I intend to get into the spirit of this Christmas season by hook or by crook!

While I'm on the subject of mugs, look what Lois-on-the-web found? A mug-warmer that works off a USB port!

Christmas stuff

Cliff and I started putting on weight around Thanksgiving, like everybody does. The past couple of years we've done fairly well getting through the holidays, knowing that we need to take care of Cliff's heart and keep weight off my compromised knees.

This year, I'm sorry to say, we haven't done so well. I haven't even gotten on the scales lately, nor has Cliff; because we know the news won't be good.

Where he works, they had their "goodie day" yesterday, where everybody takes finger food and sets it out for all to consume. Normally I tell him I don't want to see any of it, because it isn't good for us. For some reason, I told him to bring some goodies home this year.

Well, you should see it. Chips, and plates of summer sausage and cheese. Candy and cookies.

Luckily two granddaughters will be here this evening to help consume the spoils. Also luckily, I'm sure their parents will be glad to take some of this stuff off our hands. If the grandson shows up, I know he'll assist. Although sometimes we don't see him on weekends, even though he lives here.

I sure do dread getting on those scales, but at some point after Tuesday, it has to happen.

We're going to go visit my filly, Libby, at the trainer's today; I'll take my camera.

Although I linked to my favorite Christmas post on my other journal, I'll put it here also for my strictly Blogger friends; it was done three years ago on AOL: Click HERE.

I've had a copy of that movie on VHS for years, but last week I bought it on DVD as a gift for myself; now I go right to my favorite scenes and watch them, any time I'm feeling down.

Because it truly is a wonderful life; sometimes I just need to be reminded.

A Christmas meme

Cliff's cousin Edna sent me this in e-mail, and I decided to make a journal entry of it.

Welcome to the 2007 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! You know the drill. Don't be a scrooge! Fill it out, pass it on and send it back to me. I would love to hear your answers.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? eggnog

2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa used to just put them under the tree; if they were wrapped, then they were from us, not Santa.

3. Colored or white lights? colored

4. Do you hang mistletoe? no

5. When do you put your decorations up? Never, these days. Back when we did do decorations, it was usually a couple of weeks before Christmas.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? The cranberry salad my mom always made. And my mom's brown sugar fudge. And my mom's fruitcake. Part of the reason the fun has gone out of Christmas for me is that we can't have that stuff around any more. If somebody told me I only had a month to live, I would spend the whole month eating unhealthy stuff! Don't suggest I just have "a little", because I have no self-control. If I make it, I'll eat it ALL.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Family get-togethers

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Just guessing, I'd say I was 8 years old. How? I believe I just figured it out on my own.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When our kids were still at home we always let them open one on Christmas Eve. We don't do gifts now.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? We don't have a Christmas tree. The year we bought a fake tree, the fun went out of it for me. I always preferred to let the kids and grandkids decorate the tree, back when we had one. I hate a picture-perfect tree that looks like some artist created it. Christmas is for kids!

11. Snow: Love it or hate it? I love snow. We haven't had enough snow to suit me in years. I still like to get out and tramp around in it when I'm able. I could do without all the ice we're getting right now, though.

12. Can you ice skate? Ha! I'm doing good just to walk!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I got a sled when I was six or so, and it snowed right after I got it. So I really enjoyed that gift. I had fun with the Kodak Brownie camera I got at age 13, too.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? happy memories

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? All of them, but I guess I'll choose pecan pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I'm Scrooge, remember? I've given up holiday traditions! I do like having a big family meal, though. I even vaguely remember a time when I enjoyed cooking it all.

17. What is on top of your tree ? When we had a tree, it was an angel.

18. Which do you like best: giving or receiving? We jumped out of the giving-receiving rat race a couple of years ago.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? White Christmas as sung by Bing Crosby.

20. Do you like candy canes? not much

21. Snowman or Snow Angel?? Snowman. But I like both.

Feel free to do this as a meme in your journal or copy and paste to e-mail and enter your own answers. Or not. Bah, Humbug.

Tags: meme, Christmas

Christmas will soon be over

I have written before about the fact that I'm pretty much ignoring Christmas this year: No tree, no cards, no Christmas letter (although I have a "Jesus is the reason for the season" sign out in the front yard). I had, at one point, decided to write a Christmas letter telling family and friends about Cliff's heart surgery, and expressing our gratitude to God for his full recovery... then my printer quit working. Perhaps when I get another printer, I'll send out a New Year's letter. Or not. At the request of two grandchildren, I agreed to cook a Christmas dinner for the family; that will be tomorrow, and I'm preparing what I can today. As I get older, cooking a big dinner wears me out. Who knows, maybe as I devil eggs and make pumpkin pie and Oreo Delight, a bit of Christmas spirit will creep into these old bones.

I've had people express concern at my holiday funk, and ask why. Gee, if I knew, I'd gladly tell them. It just happens, that's all.

Seasonal depression is not new for me, and I patiently wait it out, knowing it's temporary. Every year on New Year's Day, my attitude takes a turn for the better. New beginnings, taxes paid, propane-buying season half over.

Resolutions form, and usually about a quarter of mine actually work out. One of them always has to do with weight loss, and this year is no exception: The only difference now is that I have five pounds to lose, instead of the usual 20 or 40 or whatever. Evening snacking and my new TV-watching habits (thanks a bunch, Joanna) have taken a toll, but not such a huge one after all.

God bless us, every one.

No Christmas spirit this year

I've battled wintertime depression ever since I became an adult; not clinical, suicidal depression, just a vague feeling of sadness. And it always seems to peak around Christmas.

In the past, I have made efforts to mask the feeling. After all, I have grandchildren. There were years when I'd tell Cliff I didn't want to bother with a tree, and he'd talk me into putting it up "just for the grandkids".

This year we haven't even discussed it. I think the straw that broke the camel's back was the cheap-o fake tree we bought last year at Hobby Lobby. When Christmas was over, I hauled the whole thing upstairs still decorated and set it back in a corner. It was the first-ever phony Christmas tree I've had, and I hate it. Besides, one of the few things I liked about Christmas was decorating the tree, or watching kids do it. If the tree stays decorated from one year to the next, what's the point?

Because Cliff and I watch our weight now, and neither of us withstand temptation well, I haven't gotten into the baking frenzy (brown sugar fudge, Mother's fruitcake, sugar cookies) that used to lift my spirits a bit and bring back happy memories of childhood.

I haven't put a single candle in a window, nor bought one gift for anyone. I've told the grandchildren they're getting cash, and not all that much of that.

I'm not sending cards. I'm not writing a Christmas letter, although I should, since this past year was a momentous one... Cliff having had a quad-heart bypass in April. I have every reason in the world to be thankful, and I ought to be glad for an excuse to tell people about his remarkable recovery.

I haven't watched my favorite movie, "It's A Wonderful Life" at all. (Maybe I should; it might help.)

It was easier to get in the spirit when the children, and then the grandchildren, were babies: it takes so little to satisfy small children. Once they get past kindergarten age, though, kids become harder to please. Everything they want is expensive, and if you deviate at all from their list of space-age toys, they don't like what you buy for them. Let's not even talk about trying to buy clothes for them.

So, I've dropped out. I'm not playing any more.

I'm not mad at Jesus. I'm not mad at anybody.

It just isn't fun any more. So there's no Christmas at my house this year.