Boxing Day and the Day After......Thursday and Friday

Boxing Day.....Thursday

I spent a few hours Thursday afternoon shopping the after Christmas sales.

My first stop was Home Depot.......I use white lights all year round and Louis Dean requested I buy as many LED ones as I could. I also bought two new wreathes for the den. I'm not going to use them at Christmas but will hang them up when we take the red poinsettia ones down.

My next stop - Walmart!

That's where I scored on all the 100 count lights plus garland and a few other things.

My last stop was Hobby Lobby in Dallas!

The clearance prices here were the best of all.

I bought some new tablecloths and place mats to use this winter.

The black and white one will be for the dining room and the red and black ones will go to the ranch.

I went on over to Amber's and we met up with Benjamin to see a movie.

My timing was perfect!

After my fiasco with Ghost Peppers recently, I shocked myself when I ordered a spicy margarita!

Amber and I saw a movie last summer at The Cut - Cinamark's newest theater in the Dallas area - and I had a Ghost Margarita. It.was.so.good.

It uses ghost pepper infused tequila and I loved it.

Spicy but not hot hot.

I always order a glass of water as well so when I finished that margarita, I poured the water over the ice, lime and pepper slices. and PRESTO! I had another drink! I remember I took the cup home with me and made another drink with flavored water. I really got my money's worth out of that one!

So when I was ordering, Amber told them I really liked the one at The Cut.

While they couldn't make that - she did make one that had peppers and it was good.

Not AS good but good. I did the same thing with it as I had with the other one.

I guess I am a pepper lover! Who knew??

I love that my kids like for me to go to the movies with them.

Amber, Benjamin and I are all Daniel Craig fans.

It was nearly 9:00 when I got home that night.

Louis Dean had been busy while I was gone.

This time he cooked steak! And he partially cleaned up!

The Day After.....Friday

The holidays are winding down and I spent the day putting the house back together.

I'm not undecorating until Monday and when I do I'm going room by room starting with the living room. That big tree is overwhelming once Christmas is over. One year Stephanie came over and helped me. The next year I didn't even put it up!  I'm going to tackle that tree first this time!

We had plans for Friday night with Brenda and Billy so I stopped working in time to clean up.

I've worn this black velvet dress several times this season and it's so comfortable I could sleep in it!

Summer gave me the beautiful bee pin for Christmas and I hung it on a gold chain as a pendant.

We planned to arrive at their house no later than 7:00 but we were late.....

It was already dark when we left but I knew exactly where we were going.....

except it was dark and I got lost. I kept thinking I would recognize a street - and I did but they were not streets near where I needed to be - so after driving around for half an hour - I pulled over and called Brenda! I got her street # and put it in WAZE. We were less than 2 miles away! 

I was so glad to finally get there!

Brenda has such a lovely home but I have never seen it all dressed up for Christmas.

Brenda lost her mother 2 years ago and her father this year.

The tree beside us was her mom's and all the ornaments on it were hers.

Brenda decorated it in her honor this year not adding anything to it that was not her mom's.

At the upper left is a close up of one of the shirts she had made after her father died.

She gifted her sons and others with pillows made up from her dad's shirts and with a special poem.

This is Brenda's granddaughter's bedroom.

So pretty!

The master bedroom is beautiful and you can see the pillow over there on the chair.

What a special memory pillow!

Brenda has a tree in just about every room!

She even decorates her bathrooms.

I smiled when I saw the three Christmas cards all framed and displayed.

The blue sledding Santa hanging on that gorgeous wallpaper is one I painted for her birthday one year.

We all went out to dinner and then came back here for dessert - an Italian Cream Cake that was scrumptious! 

I just love her house! 

We were visiting and got to talking about TV programs and NCIS.....

and Billy says that the best episode was Season 2: Episode 7!

So he did his magic and we watched it!

We don't have Net Flicks or anything other than Direct TV and DVDs so I was impressed!

It was such a relaxing evening and it was late when we left.

I assured them I knew how to get home!

And I did!

It was an amazingly calm and peaceful evening spent with good friends and no stress or pressure.

Brenda and I have decided we need to do this every month! 

We already have lunch together once a month so now we will add the guys and have dinner.

Tomorrow night's journal entry should get me all caught up!

The New Year is COMING!!