Tree Decorating Can Commence!

A little before 7pm, I put the last branch on the tree.  Another decorating goal met—to have the tree together before I blogged this evening. Now I am going to have to leave it alone as I must finalize tomorrow's Sunday School lesson. I have had a busy day doing a little of everything,,,or so it seems at this point in the day.  With decorating comes cleaning...so the vacuum is out...vacuumed this morning so the place where the tree would stand would be clean.  Now I need to vacuum as there are tree "needles" on the floor near where I sat to shape the branches.  Then there were just everyday cleaning jobs...bathrooms, a couple of loads of laundry.  I have also been taking pictures of what I have decorated to this point.  Like I said...a little bit of everything.  Interspersed was looking up things for tomorrow's Sunday School lesson...now to get my thoughts gathered together and some notes down on paper!

Woody made his weekly trek to the public library.  After coming home from the libaray he has stayed in and kept busy reading some of his new books and watching football on TV.  At the moment he is "resting his eyes!"

Almost Tree Time

Angels on High

As of about fifteen minutes ago, I cleared the last item off the dining room table, removed the table pad, and placed the Christmas center piece on the table.  Took the last of th decoration boxes upstairs to the hallway to await being put back in the Christmas closet till after Christmas (till whenever I get the energy to put away Christmas).  The last box on the couch in the living room is also upstairs again.  The only boxes that remain downstairs are the ones that have Christmas tree ornaments in them.  That means that it is time to start carrying down the branches for the tree.  I no longer drag the box downstairs as the box has seen better days and if I drag it too much it will just fall apart.  Leaving it in the Chiristmas closet works best and just taking the tree downstairs several pieces at a time works, too.  It is quite a it of climbing up and down the stairs, but I'll take the extra steps for the tree...about the favorite for me of all our decorations.  I have really enjoyed decorating this year...maybe because I didn't decorate last year?  It's good to see all my "old friends" (the decorations) once again!

Besides working on getting things packed away, I did some cooking.  I made Woody's salad dressing and also made him cookies, a recipe that I hadn't made before, pineapple cookies.  They have a small can of crushed pineapple in them.  I also put away groceries when WoodyngotWoody back from doing our weekly shopping.

Woody got our groceries at Kroger, brought them home, and then headed off to run errands with his friend who has no transportation.  I think that Woody said that they went to five stores today.  I know that he was gone for more than three hours.  This evening he has been watching his Friday evening news shows.

The kitchen is cleaned up except for rinsing off the cookie sheets and since I used parchment paper there isn't much cleaning for those...just wiping them off really...they may just sit there till the morning.  I'm rather tired this evening.  I'm not even sure that I have the energy to start the tree limb trek...though it would be nice to have the branches all sorted and awaiting to be put in the "trunk" in the morning.  But I think that I may need to be fresh for those up and down treks.  I might even be able to get some help with taking them down if I wait till tomorrow.  The kids make a pretty good tree brigade and enjoy sorting out the sizes of branches.  In the past I have shaped the branch and they had dropped them in their places until they can't reach any note.  We'll see if this year is a solo effort or a group affair!  "Tis the season!"

Still Whistling a Decorating Tune!

Tonight, I think, that it is safe to say that what remains of the current decorating progress is to put away the rest of the everyday decorating times in the boxes from which I took out Christmas decorations.  Now...that isn't to say that the decorating is totally finished...I, of course, still have the tree...a major job ahead of me still.  And, I will be doing a little more in the family room as it gets closer to the Sunday School party day.  Since the family room is pretty much Woody's room these days, I won't subject to him to too much on bathroom counters and his desk tops till closer to company coming!  All I am doing at the moment in the family room is the fireplace end of the room...tonight's first picture and the shadow box.  I will put a picture of the shadow box at the end of the blog.  I am pleased with my progress.  If I have enough energy once I am finished with the blog and wash a few dishes by hand after I blog, then I will continue to pack things up and clear off the dining room table and get the box off the living room couch.  Once those things are packed up and taken up to the upstairs hallway then I will be ready to start bringing down the tree.


Woody has mainly done his usual daily routine today.  He did go out for a little while to run a couple of errands.  He went to the Credit Union and got gas.  Two things to mark off his list of errands tomorrow.  We haven't decided, but I may do part of the grocery shopping tomorrow.  I have a couple of cooking items that I need that Woody may be challenged to find and/or know what I am wanting!  I am supposed to put ingredients on our grocery list for the pies that I am going to make for Thanksgiving...trying to start gathering in for our family feast so the shopping task prior to Thanksgiving won't be so daunting!  He found all the ingredients for our Autumn Salad (gelatin salad) last week.  It can sometimes be hard to find the canned dark sweet cherries for this salad, but he was successful as well as finding the two flavors of jello that I need. A good start to finding ingredients! I also want to put the ingredients on the list for the yeast bread that I make to use in our dressing/stuffing.

This afternoon besides putting the last touches on some of the decorating, I stopped long enough to make a couple meatloaves (one for supper and one for the freezer for future supper).  And, made a squash dish that Woody likes.  Most of the dishes are in the dishwasher but there are still a couple of things that I need to wash by hand so I will go do that and then see where my energy level is after that.  Here is the family room shadow box...I only have one shadow box to decorate this Christmas as I didn't put the other one back in the kitchen after the remodel.

Same Song Another Verse

I have gotten a lot done today toward decorating.  Dealt most of the day with angels, trees, and snowmen!  Tonight's photo shows the Town Carolers gathering at the church before they go out to sing carols around town!  I am getting close to being finished with the general decorating of tables, mantels, shelves, counters, China cabinets, etc.  I am hoping that by the weekend I will be ready to work on the tree.  So far most of the mess is in the upstairs hallway and on the dining room table.  I do have a couple of boxes on the couch and loves seat in the living room.  I'm going through those boxes to see what I need to get out of them finish up.  I finally got to do more on top of the china cabinet as I had been waiting till I found the really tall angel that goes way in the back.  I didn't want to have many angels in the front that I would probably knock over in the process of getting her positioned.  I finally unearthed her just a little while ago so she is in place and I can finish up placing the other angels now.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Woody got busy in the kitchen...oh, my!  He decided to make pumpkin pudding for the neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and family).  Of course, he no longer knows where a lot of things are in the kitchen!  I helped him find things to keep him from rifling through drawers too much!  This was the first time that he made pumpkin pudding when Joseph could eat it.  He seems to be getting over his egg and milk allergies.  Joy brought the dishes back today and said that it was really good.  They hadn't had Goosey's (Woody's) speciality in quite a while.

Today Woody had to go to the oncology office here in town for labs.  They had to check because they had changed the strength of his anemia shot.  After he got that done, he headed off to pick up his friend to take him to the doctor.  So it was a "going-to-the-doctor" morning for Woody.

It wasn't exactly the day that one wanted to head out early.  It was very cold...in the teens.  It's not supposed to get as cold tonight.  I made one trip out today.  Donna and I worked in the library for s while today...mainly maintenance which included straightening the books on the shelves.  We did that and called it quits. I made a book order the other day so we will have some new books to work with shortly.  But it is getting that time of the year that we will be skipping work days because of the approaching holidays.

I will publish tonight's blog and then head downstairs and clean up the kitchen from supper preparation and then maybe place a few more angels, snowmen, or trees before I call it a night.  Woody is reading and perhaps watching TV...typical evening activities in our household.

Fall Met Winter!

Well, we did get "some" snow in the night.  I looked out one time and it was really coming down.  We ended up with a dusting.  When I snapped this picture out our bedroom window this morning, I didn't realize that I got a little munchkin from next door in the photo.  I guess he was out checking out the "snow."  Pretty cold!

Today I had a usual day of school.  Elijah had his long time and he requested that we make him another machine embroidered bookmark as he had lost the one he made some time back.  We have been doing a study of volcanoes, but set that aside for this week.  Since he got me going on the sewing machine, I ended up making another Christmae ornament this afternoon rather than doing much decorating.  I let the children add to the decorations today. They came over this afternoon.  The crowd for putting out the Fisher Price nativity has dwindled!  Only four of the neighbor seven set it
up this time.  Esther came over, but she decided to do some of her work in her school art class which she needed paints for.  So Joy was the leader of the Nativity crew this year.  They set it up differently than they have before.  And, so far no camels in the trees!  I'm sure it will be rearranged many times over the Christmas season.  Woody and I just tried to stay warm today and stayed inside as much as possible.  I did have to go out to take the trash can to the road...got the mail that trip and other than that we didn't open the door ourselves, though children did come and go!  'Tis the season!

Decorating, cont.

The Carolers and I are on the same wave length!  They are decorating and so am I!  They are having a tree decorating party, I'm just a party of one decorating!  I feel like I am coming right along.  One side of the Christmad closet is emptied except for two boxes of tree ornaments and the tree.  That is a lot of boxes that I have gotten out and gone through.  Today I worked on the kitchen and the family room mantel and the top of the china cabinet.  I have also packed away some of the everyday items so the dining room table isn't quite as covered...though there's still a lot to box up to store till after Christmas.

I had a usual Monday morning for school.  Esther painted during her long time.  Today she painted a neat picture of a flamingo.  She looks through ideas that I have saved on Pinterest that are stored in a folder for her for watercolor ideas.  Sometimes she watches videos on "how-to" paint something and other times she just looks at a picture of a painting and then creates her own take on what she sees.  She's quite a good little artist.  Over the weekend she had her first experience with the Civil Air Patrol in flight.  She got to make three flights in a glider plane!  She said that the first two were at 2000 feet and the third was at 4000 feet.  She told me that she likes flying!  She got to control the plane part of the time, though her instructor landed all three times.  She said on the last flight her instructor asked her if she wanted to go on a roller coaster ride.  She was game and she said that they went way up high and then came way down low.  She also said that he banked the plane way over on its side!  I'm glad that it was Esther and not me...there is just no daredevil in me!!

Woody did his usual in the morning...worked at the computer, did his crossword puzzles, read and watched some TV.  A little after lunch he headed off to take his friend to a doctor appointment.  This time the appointment was here in town, but it still took quite a while.  After supper, Woody headed off to church for the Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer Meeting.  He is now home.

Sounds like the rain has gotten to us.  We have a big weather change coming with this rain.  It is supposed to make a big drop tonight and then not get very far out of the freezing range tomorrow.  Then overnight tomorrow, it is supposed to drop into the teens...not sure that I am ready!  I've heard that before this over we could get a frozen mixture of precipitation...but I'm sure no accumulation...perhaps it will be seen on cold surfaces...leaves, etc. But shouldn't bring about hazardous driving.  Staying in tomorrow so whatever it brings I will be okay with it!  Plan to stay in and attempt to keep warm...and hopefully get even farther with the decorating!  'Tis the Season!

The Carolers Gather Once Again!

I was determined to unearth all the
Byers' Carolers prior to writing the blog tonight and I successfully met that goal just a few minutes ago.  One box eluded me, but I found it about the time that I was going to give up.  Tonight's photo shows all my Williamsburg Carolers.  They have gathered outside some of the Williamsburg homes (one of my Williamsburg photos hangs behind them as a backdrop).  The shopper on the candle stand hasn't quite made it to the group!  She's got the goose for Christmas dinner along with a cone of sugar, candles, bread and other wrapped items that I'm sure she got at Tarpley's dry-goods store.  More Caroler scenes to come in future blogs.  The shelf in the bookcase under the Carolers will have Williamsburg books and other memorabilia before I am finished.

Once again, I have done a variety of things from steam cleaning one of the ovens after I cooked a turkey breast.  There is a load of wash that needs to be taken out of the drier and put away.  I have read a little and done a lot of climbing up and down the stairs and rifling through the Christmas closet.  Boxes are stacking up...both empty and still full ones. The angels are starting to show up along with the snowmen.  Nathan helped me get my grandfather's USS Constitution model upstairs to a safe spot till after Chritmas.  That is a two person job and I felt that it was probably one that Woody didn't need to do.  Getting the ship off the mantel let me clear it to get ready to turn it into a forest for snowmen.  I dusted the top of the china cabinet grtting it ready for the angels on high.  I also found all the boxes of the Fisher Price Nativity that goes on the coffee table along with the special fitted cloth that goes on the coffee table.  So that is ready for the children to get it out and set it up.  Usually we do it on Thanksgiving but I think that I will let them do it earlier this time.  I imagine that it will be mainly the younger ones who are interested in setting it up, but we will see!  I know that Erin and Alex won't mind their Dorrell cousins setting it up.  I'm anxious to get the tree up.  I missed having it up last year.  I found boxes and boxes and boxes and...of ornaments that are stacking up awaiting me unearthing the tree in the Christmas closet.  It is on the very bottom of one side of the closet.  It will be a while before I get to it.  I usually do the tree last after everything else is decorated.  The spot is ready for it whenever I get it ready to assemble and  decorate it.

Woody went to the public library this morning and has been reading and watching football...most of the time the footage game was on mute and he just kept up with it by looking at scores on the screen.

We are both settled in for the night.  I'm going to look over the Sunday School lesson that I am teaching tomorrow morning.  I think that I am through with the decorating for the night.  Woody must be reading as he has the TV off...so it is quiet around here.  Today was the first time that I turned on Christmas carols,,,I needed to get in the mood to decorate!  'Tis the Season!