Pecan Harvest and our Christmas Kitchen!

Louis Dean is the very BEST pecan picker ever!

I worked in the laundry room all day dressing it up for Christmas while he went out to the driveway about 4:00 and started working on the pecans. 

I made a beef stew for dinner AND....

a pecan pie!!

Louis Dean is a happy man!!!

Ilene came down for a visit and a glass of peach wine - and he continued to crack and shell.....

She and I went in to sit in the den to continue our visit and finish our wine....

At 8:00 he was still out there!

He got plenty of sunshine and fresh air!

We start and finish our days outside.

The kitchen deck in the mornings with our coffee and Bible reading.....

the evenings with wine on the driveway.

Louis Dean got an early start on his pecan picking!

The wind picked up after our reading time and the pecans started falling right and left!

They hit me hard enough to say OUCH more than once!

LD told me to get back on the upper deck so I wouldn't get hurt then he went over to hang something for me on the outside wall. He had just leaned in when a dead pointed branch fell down right where he was just standing!

Bruno will be trimming our pecan trees in another week or two.

I'm selfish in wanting the harvest first.

As I worked in the kitchen, Louis Dean continued to do the pecans!

He shelled enough for another pie - I'll make it for Thanksgiving Day when we go to the Cumby's - AND enough for a fresh batch of fruitcake cookie dough! It takes two pounds

He worked outside and I worked inside.

I pretty much finished the laundry room on Tuesday but I did some more 'fluffing'  in there.

I decorate literally EVERY single room for Christmas!

Still working on this tree....

Countdown to Christmas!

It is officially 41 days to Christmas as I write - but I've already changed the chalkboard to 40!

No one will notice this but I am parting with me stereo system and unplugged the speaker that has sat under that red baking mit!

I'm loving the Christmas magic in the kitchen!

I know it's a little much and so 'busy' - but that's the way I do things!!

I took the rugs out since Louis Dean is tripping on them now.

He's not as stable as he was and I am trying to make the house 'friendlier' for him.

It's a Merry Christmas kitchen!

Can you spy the huge cantaloupe in the sink?

I cut it up a few minutes ago and put the rinds out for the possums.

It filled a BIG Tupperware container.

Dinner tonight will be a second round of the stew and the cantaloupe!

I'll be decorating for the rest of the month and will start my Christmas baking in December!

I do love my kitchen!

My Christmas cards and printed canvasses have arrived!

The addressing has begun!

I close tonight's journal entry with this pic of June and me this time last year......

June was such an important part of my life!

She loved me and all of my children and we all loved her!

The Chapman Christmas Den is DONE!!!

 Summer headed back to Arkansas Friday morning!

She was such a blessing to us while she was here - getting the truck inspected on the down low - this is a sensitive thing since LD doesn't drive anymore and she just saved us a lot of anxiety by getting this done while I was with Louis Dean at his eye doctor - whom Summer knows and recommended!

She and I had a great time together watching Christmas movies and talking and catching up!

I love my daughter and she is so special to me....I guess your first born child always is AND she and I are both Baby Boomers! I was born in 1948 and she in 1965 - we are just 15 years apart! We still connect in an unique way - saying the same thing at the same time and even our mannerisms.

On her way out of town - Summer did one last thing for us.

She took our Spectrum equipment back and closed our account.

We went back to Frontier and will stay! They ran all new lines and set up and we are loving it!

I'm painting a little bit every day when possible - trying to finish the Santas for my grandsons.

I want to gift them by Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter.

How cool is that - my grands asked for paintings????

I went with my collection of Santa ornaments and I think that was the right decision.

I've been working in the den for over a week but I do believe it is DONE!

Or mostly, anyway!

Nita is always in my heart and on my mind.

Decorating for me - or for any season - is like basing in the canvas - and then putting in all the details.

Saturday was a beautiful one and we were out in the front yard picking up pecans - praising God for a harvest after the last three years of nothing!

We had a few helpers from next door!

Stephanie and Mark and their adorable grands all pitched in to help us!

Sunday morning I woke up just in time to watch Fellowship Church online before getting ready to go watch the Bell grand girls play hockey!

Louis Dean was out picking up more pecans when I was leaving.

He is such a sweetheart!

LD loves shelling pecans and I love baking with them!

Tomorrow I will be making him not one but TWO pecan pies!

One to serve Louis Dean and one for the freezer!

The two grandmas dressed up for the game!

Mike's mom and me!

Just look at these girls and their mom!

The game was so fun and all THREE girls scored goals!!

I was thinking about meals on my way home. 

LD has not been impressed with the last couple of menus but I remembered he mentioned we hadn't had Subway in awhile.

I fixed that!!

We ate and watched football - I'll say no more about that!

Then I took a nap and got up to put the finishing touches on the den.

It's roomier since I took out the game table chairs and added two smaller scale ones.

More Santas will be going here on the baby grand - as soon as I can find them!

I still need to decorate this fifth tree in the den!

Maybe in small red bulbs?

I'm loving this room!

Hallmark Christmas movies are always playing when I'm in here.

Comfy and cozy!

This one room is such a blessing to me.

The rest of the house is trashed - you have no idea!

Tomorrow I will get up and finish the kitchen!

When I get tired I will take a break in my Christmas den and rest.

Decorating for fall and Christmas/winter is a huge undertaking and at 76 years of age - I am grateful I can still do this.

I am using the changing of the seaons to sort, purge and simplify things.

Summer will be here in a couple of weeks to pick up several tubs of Christmas 'debris!'

I'm parting with all my western themed decorations and most of my snowmen collection.

I am not using the handpainted ornaments I have made this year.

For some reason I am feeling the need for change.

My Knight in Shining Overalls is amazing.

He is always there to do whatever I need him to do.

Did you know it's 44 days to Christmas??

My  Christmas cards and canvasses have been shipped and should be here on Tuesday! Then the addressing shall begin!!

An early Merry Christmas greeting!

The Den is Looking Christmasy!!

 Today we had Frontier out to put in our new Internet!

Our Spectrum was so slow - the modem was in the sewing room and the signal was weak by the time it reached the den that it was hard to stay connected in order to watch a program.

Summer stayed here while  I went to work at the Book Fair and I really appreciate her help.

She told them we really needed the modem in the den since that's where we use the Internet most.

They agreed - even though the construction crew had already put cable in the back yard!

Thanks to Summer, plans changed and I am loving the new service!!

I got home at 4:00 and went right to bed for a nap before going out to the den to work.

 

It's still a work in progress and I keep changing things.....

Cleaning the mirrors really does make a difference!

Summer restrung the tree lights on this one.

I haven't decided how to decorate this one yet...all red or hang the Santa ornaments I've collected over the years?

Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime!

Internet works like a charm!

So far I have worked in the den and the kitchen and will be finishing both rooms by the end of the weekend.

Then I'll move on to the foyer and living room and since I already have angels in the foyer - I may focus on that theme and use the nativity collections in there.

Step by step! Room by room!!

We had another fire log tonight and that will be the last one untill it is truly fireplace weather!

Dinner was Caesar salad....

and pasta with pumpkin sauce from Trader Joe's.

I used a pound of ground turkey instead of beef and it was pretty good!

It's not yet midnight so I am going to close and finish watching The Professionals with Louis Dean.

Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance and Ralph Bellamy all star in this 1966 western!