It's Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry here in TN!

It got down to 15 degrees F here last night...that's pretty cold for us! It got up to 45F and is "only" supposed to get down to 25F tonight...and there is supposed to be a warming trend till the next cold front comes through over the weekend...big warming trend since tomorrow is Friday! Tonight's picture is a red barn that I took on our trip back to TN from AZ. I have been playing (trying out) with some new software...this is one of the special effects.

Woody and I both got up early this morning. I got busy decorating the dining room. I made many trips up and down the step ladder putting angels on top of our china cabinet. It is finished AND the dining room table has been cleared off and is now decorated for Christmas. One more room marked off! The main thing left is the living room Christmas tree (I still have to do the shadow box in the kitchen.). Woody got up and immediately started in on making Vegetarian Chili...lots of chopping of veggies for that one. It also has a long cooking time...the longer the better...according to the recipe. We let it cook for four hours this time. After Woody got it to simmering, he took off on a walk to do some errands...leaving me with instructions to stir the chili while he was gone. He walked eight miles. This afternoon we went next door for a celebration dessert...yum!!!! Homemade Gingerbread Trifle...homemade gingerbread, fresh whipped cream, homemade custard and raspberries...very yummy and very pretty! It was very much enjoyed by all! A little while after we walked back to our house, we got a call that two little girls (Joy and Esther) wanted to come over and play with the Fisher Price Manger. I kept working on the dining room while they played in the living room. Eventually they turned into the animals that are a part of the manger scene (some zoo animals were acted out also)...coming through making the noise of an animal and having us guess what animal they were pretending to be. Later we played the music boxes throughout the house...often with more than one tune playing at once...sometimes the same tune..."sort of" like a round??!! After they went home, I finished cleaning up the leftover decorating mess in the dining room and taking the empty boxes upstairs. Woody has watched the news and has worked on a cross word puzzle and has read today. He is now addressing our Christmas cards...guess that means that we had better get busy and write our Christmas letter!