Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!
The bread is baking in the oven. The Christmas tree is lit. The kids are outside raking leaves. What's up with that!!

My parents are visiting and decided to embark on clearing the front yard of leaves. So I kicked the kids out and told them to help their grandparents in this endeavor. There are a LOT of leaves out there. Mostly from the neighbors' trees!

We sack the leaves in brown paper bags that are for organic recycling. Our city has once-a-week pick up for organic materials.

Earlier this morning, I went through the package that Barbara from Ooodle and oodles had mailed me. I thought my parents would enjoy seeing the fun things that she shared. The shiny brites are items they are happy to remember from their childhood.



The book came in yesterday! All so awesome! Many, many thanks to Barbara for such a fun giveaway! I absolutely am thrilled.

I had scooted the red Macy's bag to the back of the pic for a red backdrop and to hide the patio furniture you can see thru the window. My husband, who had slept in, came to the kitchen and yelled "oh man!", grabbed the bag and went to hide it. Apparently it has one of my gifts inside, unwrapped. That's funny!

I'm not nosy at Christmas. I can wait. What is the fun in peeking?

I remember, once, as a child, my brother and I went peeking in the parents' closet and we saw the Star Wars toy that was there: An X-wing fighter.

Growing up, we only got one toy at Christmas so on Christmas morning, that one toy gift was opened, and that was that. Absolutely no fun! I never went peeking again!

So do you peek? Or do you wait?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

December Bloom

It's December 15 and I have this bloom--not totally unharmed by the recent hard freeze, but still looking very lovely.



Austin, Golden Celebration. And there's two more buds behind this bloom. Maybe they'll come out before Christmas. If the weather turns colder, then those two buds might need to come indoors. It's very pretty to see at the front of the house.

Today I also won a lovely prize over at Oodles and oodles. I won a book that looks like an warm and interesting read and a goodie bag. Barbara has many lovely things in her shop and I enjoy perusing it at leisure. She has many lovely vintage items and she writes about her home and shopping adventures on her blog. Thank you, Barbara!