New Year's Eve......

 

The snowmen have already started to celebrate the New Year's Eve. I like how they hang out with the red cardinals and have such friendly smiles. They have been away in a drawer for eleven months.  I ran across them in a drawer and realized I could put them out for Christmas.

 

Things do glow under the tree as the last days of Christmas wind down. The decorations stay up for a long time at our house as we do one tree at a time and drag it all out for a couple of weeks.

 

 

Our snow on the ground was slight but it did not go away.  It in fact turned into ice.  More snow is on the way but 4 degrees F. is to be happening in the morning.

I have had this decoration for a lot of years but just this year dug it out since we moved here at the new place.

Six different figures come with the drum and hey play tunes with their bells. The batteries keep falling out and I need to fix it with some duct tape. One Santa and five band members play joyful bell Christmas songs. 

It has been a rough year with us loosing so many people. It has been a good year as I have recouped from a lot of health problems.  I am looking forward to the next year with optimism as I keep healing from the past.  I am stronger and can do so many more things than I did a year and a half ago.  I don't set so many goals as much as I want to hit the road each day with a positive attitude.  Thanks for stopping by my spot today and have a great New Year.

 

Thursday's Cold.....

 New gift to us is the creche made from wood.  It is special because it is made from scrap olive tree wood from the Bethlehem area.  We were at the shop two years ago where it was sold.  It was located just down the hill from the Birth of Christ site. 

A gift to my wife is this menorah.  It is made of gold and silver metals. The symbolism is one of the six days of God's creating of the earth and the seventh day of rest. I ordered it online from Israel a few months ago and I was thinking I wouldn't probably get it by Christmas.  It was an amazing sound of the knock on the door, the day before Christmas, and there the box lay on the steps. The post office must have been doing their final clearing out of all of their boxes and they were delivering during the day just packages, not a part of the normal mail route.

Angels were removed from under the tree and placed on this shelf. The company would not cause problems but they are young and stepping on them was possible. The actually look good all placed on the book shelf.

A good memory we will have is of the three kids coming upstairs in the morning.  They hung out around the television and slowly woke up.  It was nice that they made themselves at home and we were so glad to have them for two days. 

We went out for pancakes this morning.  The place will be closed later this week and winter storms are predicted.  We stopped afterwards at the grocery store to stock up things for two or three days of hibernation.  I needed to pick up a med that was ready for pick up.  There was a line at the covid shot counter which I was glad to see.  Young and old were in the line.  We have our booster so we have done all we can do for that.  I didn't mention that it is so cold out there and we are home now trying to get rid of the chills.  I get cold even going out to the garage to get birdseed.  It is officially winter in Iowa now with snow on the ground and storms predicted for more.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Visitors.....

 Our son and his three kids lined up on the couch.  It was so great to have the company.  We had a great time getting to know our kids again after a very long time. The oldest grands on is tall and the little girl is so quiet and sweet.  Middle guy is full of lots of smiles and happiness.

Last night's cloud bank was beautiful.  We are now getting snow today.  It was forecasted earlier than when it actually started to happen. 

Our mornings were so fun as the three of them trailed upstairs to sit down and watch television.  The little girl, Ella,  was bashful with us as we last saw here when she was just a small baby. She did warm up to us and we did get hugs good bye when they left. 

I was concerned that the antique toys would be bothered that were under the antique ornament tree.  Instead the middle boy decided to make toys with his dad's Legos to add to the collection. 

Teddy would make different people and name them.  The two are ones that he proudly named grandpa and grandma.  I am not sure I will take these down for a long time.  It makes us smile to see all those creations lined up on the chest of drawers.

He will be six in a few months.  Lots of creativity and likes us to play with him.  He ate all of his pancakes and toast so he got to play with a game afterwards.

Our eight year old, AJ, is tall like his dad. We had seen pictures of him growing but to see him this tall was amazing.  A serious young boy now and makes lots of things in Legos. 

The cactus bloomed in late October and now the back side bloomed again.  They do bloom for long times but this new start was a surprise.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Reboot and Start Blogging Again.....

 

 

 

 

The grand kids and their parents left this morning.  It is too quiet.  We had such a great time getting to catch up on everything after being away from each other for two years plus.  The leftovers can be eaten and the time to rest is here.  Great to have company and three kids, ages 8, 5, and almost 3, who are all so different from each other.  We have a grand daughter who is so special and two energetic grand sons.  

I fit in a doctor's appointment this morning during an icey period.  I tried to fall down on the iced parking ramp. Made it fine though and am home being happy with my visit.  I am back blogging now and it is good to be back.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

 

Sunday.....

 

 

 Christmas guests are fun.  It has been a busy two days.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Christmas Eve....

 

Indent ornaments were the rage in my childhood.  We had maybe six of them when I was a kid and one was always being broken each season and eventually there were none.  

 A photo of the past of the old unfinished chest of drawers supporting the glass jars. It is last years photo at Christmas time.  Having the chest now refinished and glued back together, it now proudly holds a smaller Christmas tree on top of it and the chest is a main piece of furniture in our house.

 Inages of many things can remind us of Christmas.  As we ready things for company we find the Christmas plates and buy foods that usually you only buy at this time.  Cookies and rice crispie treats for the grnad kids and pies for the adults.  My eating of sugar is so limited but I can work around some of the things that are out there. Good times with family, sparkling ornaments, and gifts are all a part of it.  The most important is to remember that Christ child who gave us all the greatest of gifts.  I wish you all a Merry Christmas season.

Dah Moon and Christmas Stuff....

 

 They look like they are all lined up at a feeding trough. The sit in a tree and watch.  Then they all swoop in and feed.

I have seed there that should have brought in some cardinals.  But no that doesn't seem to be happening. 

It is a busy time of the year.  We ventured out to get the last of the groceries. It was somewhat combative with the grocery carts and yet people did seem to all want to talk about all the problems being in the store. One lady said there weren't any shopping carts when she came in.  Three people stood in awe when only one cart was brought inside. She was so happy to talk to someone that she wished me a Merry Christmas.

We are having company after Christmas so we can still return to buy anything we want before or guests arrive.  It will be so good to have family here. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

I Missed a Few Days......

 Wednesday mornings clouds were looking like this. The earth is so tilted that the sun is in the far right of the photo.

So I can step out on the front door step to see the sun. The sky filled with clouds with a little bit different patterned sky.  It was cold out there.

This time of the year is so busy. We did get the last of our shopping done and things are needing to be wrapped.  We will have company the day after Christmas so there are things that need to get done for the visitors.  We are not use to having visitors even though we have had sons visit one at a different time the past two years.  A group of two adults and three kids will be fun.  We haven't seen them for two and a half years. 

Santa's sleigh seems to be empty.  I guess I could put wrapped candy in it for a treat for others.  I guess I could put my sugar free wrapped candy in it but I am not sure anybody but me would like it.  I see that our day will warm up to 40 degrees F. today. The wind was so cold out there yesterday but we have very little wind today.  

I guess I missed blogging on here for two days but I have been busy or distracted.  I thank you for stopping by today.

Sunday Afternoon....

 

As I dig through the toys that we moved to the new place I find some pretty historic toys.  The oldest son is 46 years old so you can date the airplane. Fisher-Price is the name of the game.

 

 

The cars of time are looking more like a mini-junk yard. Some were in the sandpile so they are pretty worn and weathered.  As I pull out toys for the grand kids that are going to visit I won't bring this one out.  I don't think that they need to be spread all over the floors. 

So many things to do before Christmas but we will pace ourselves. Maybe some list making and shopping each day for a while to get it all done.  Our kids in Maine have their presents in the mail.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunny Cold Day.....

 

 

One more box can't hurt to add to the many decorations that I have. The shiny brites are replicas of what they use to make back in the 60's.  The Chinese make them as the box says and I bet these made it in before the boats got congested. 

 

 

I have all the shapes except but one. They did add a new one that is not totally round as can be seen in the bottom left square and the top left square. I did see on the box that Rhadko is the company that commissions their creation.

 

 

I didn't treat my yard this year nor did I hire anyone to treat it so here is a dandy lion  peaking through. I was out picking up my neighbors garbage out of my back yard.  It was blown there with the drecho winds.  I found Captain Crunch boxes and macaroni boxe.  The one box had an address on it saying it was from 2006 and we live on 2009.  Stray empty pop cans were blown into the area also.  It was very cold out there as I picked up the yard.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Random Things......

 

 The morning sunrise was accented with an overhead layer of clouds.  The morning is very cold with frost everywhere. Our storm was reclassified as a derecho.  We had one of those just two summers ago with lots of damage.  This one did reach way south of us and further north as it moved with high winds. Thunderstorms were at the front face of it then the high winds remained until three in the morning. 

My wife's teddy bear tree has more other things than teddy bears. The collection grew as once a small tree was purchased for them.  

The angel tree does sparkle with the white lights and glass-like ornaments.  A few angels on the tree are wooden ornaments or shiny metal ones. 

The selection for village houses was minimal.  I am sure there are many of them sitting in the harbors on ships waiting to be unloaded and trucked. My wife picked this out last linght and it is installed already. More photos will follow of it set up in the village.

We both are having health effects from our booster shots.  It isn't horrible but we do not feel vry strong yet.  We will be better soon as we are going to outlive that shot.    We do have the bulk of our Christmas cards done now.  We will send to those who may send to us late.  Some people have just stop sending out cards.   Thanks for stopping by today.