Saturday Before Christmas!

I am loving these last few days before Christmas. It's a relaxed peaceful feeling to putter around and put the finishing touches on things. The last gifts are wrapped and lined up on the baby grand piano in the den.

 Louis Dean took a basket of cinnamon rolls up to the Geek Squad along with his computer. They were all over those rolls and fixed his computer right then and there. It wasn't a hard fix - he needed the CD/DVD thing to work. The new laptops don't have one so he uses his desktop for those.

I took a lovely nap this afternoon and then went for a nice long walk through the neighborhood....

this time before dark. Then I spent a couple of hours preparing vegetables for Christmas Eve.

I scraped and cut up 4 pounds of carrots! Some for Christmas Eve, some carrot sticks to go with the celery I cut up to use as appetizers, and some for candied carrots which I am making for Sunday dinner tomorrow.

On Christmas Eve I normally serve pretty much the same menu every year but this time I am doing something  different. Instead of ham or turkey, I'm making a huge batch of Vegetable Beef Stew. A garden salad, a fruit salad, Louis Dean's homemade rolls with real butter, and desserts! I'm thinking pumpkin pies and a cake. And sugarplums! You know what? I didn't make cookies! Maybe I will bake up some fruitcake cookies - the dough's already made.

We will be attending a candlelight service at 3:00 Christmas Eve so I found a recipe for the stew using a crock pot.
There will be a table of snacks for as soon as we get in from church - veggies and dips, little Smokey sausages cooked with grape jelly and BBQ sauce, an assortment of olives to go with a platter of cheese and crackers.

I already have the tables set - there will be two tables full!
The silverware, stemware and napkins are all in place.
I'm smiling as I am writing this tonight.....as a mother and grandmother with children and grandchildren to be gathered around soon....this anticipation is special and one of the pleasures of Christmas.

I walked around the house this evening admiring all the beautiful Christmas cards that we have received. Every single one has been carefully read and displayed.

I stapled them to a ribbon in the foyer......

and put the photo ones beside the front door.

Nita keeps all the photo Christmas cards and displays them in her living room.

You can see children grow up right in front of your eyes as you gaze from one year's card to the next.

It took both sides of the doorway to hold them all.

This one from Melba I set beside one of my manger scenes.

And this one from Mary Jo is beside another one.

I love all my cards!

I think I have every single one Sharon has ever made and sent me.

They become part of my decorations.

Such beautiful art work.

This card included a photo of my friend's neighborhood.

And I love how the red pops right out on this card.

Looks like Wyoming or Idaho to me....thank you, Mary G.

Such beautiful cards.....from such beautiful people......thank you, Joni....

I would love to walk up to this house! I can imagine the fragrance of the Christmas tree as I come in stamping the snow off my feet and taking off my coat and scarf. I bet there's coffee and hot chocolate waiting for me and a plate of Christmas cookies!

This card is special!

From Phyllis on the Oregon coast!

Remember that amazing home right there on the Pacific Ocean?

They are having some wild weather up there lately.

Christmas cards have such happy scenes and they seem to urge us to remember our own happy memories.

Every card is special.

I have had this one for a couple of years now and it gets displayed by my cardinal tree.

Thank you, Arlene!

Another card I have had for a few years.

It's a Hallmark from my brother and his wife.

Last year the Walters sent us this one and it has become part of my Christmas decorating.

Another one of Sharon's hand made cards that I have kept for years!

I love looking at this one.

This year's card from Nita and Mike.

It's another one I would love to walk into.....

maybe even live here!

A new friend sent this one to me and it will be part of my Snowman collection.

These little guys will come out to play every Christmas from now on!

Sometime in January I take all my cards down and put them in a prayer folder.

Then each day, after Louis Dean and I have done our Bible reading, I take the top one out and reread it before praying for the one who sent it. Then it goes to the back of the folder until all have been prayed for - and then I start all over!

I've always been an avid reader - all my life, really!

But from time to time Life takes over and reading becomes less important and gets pushed to the back burner. I don't know what happened to make this a big priority for me again but last week I started a Fern Michaels novel and devoured it within a couple of days.

I roamed the house looking for my next read. 

I have books stacked up in so many places but I can't compare to my friend, Dawn down in Florida.

She has the most beautiful home where books are a major decorating feature. She also reads extremely fast while I am just average speed.

I chose this one by Elizabeth George which I bought at the Dollar store for $3.

I thought surely I have read some of her books before but perhaps not.

At any rate, this is one in her Inspector Lynley series. I see the first 11 in the series were adapted by the BBC for television as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. I must check that out!

Believing the Lie is #17 in the 18 books she's written in this series.

*Facebook*

So I am going to bed with my book to read for an hour or so before turning out the light.

If you are wondering, I will be in England having just left London for Cumbria area and am knee deep in this wonderful mystery set in an amazing location.

I'm only 55 pages in and already loving this read!