Sunday, December 29, 2019

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!!

13 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Glad to see you are continuing to have fun! Brenda's home is really beautiful, and so fancy, yet comfy looking! I have not been out shopping yet,must go before all the sales are over!!

Deb J. in Utah said...

What a really lovely Christmas. After Christmas sales - so fun - but I have cut way, way back on after Christmas buying from years back. LED lights would be good though. It has been such a fun week for you and your family and that comfy black dress is just beautiful! Have a Happy New Year!

Natalia said...

Wow, those pictures are incredibly beautiful and full of joy! The pillow is the prettiest thing I have ever seen, incredible idea. Happy New Year ☺

Arlene G said...

I want to see Knives Out as well. I love a good mystery. What a fun holdiay you have had Linda.....parties and special times with family. o are a blessed lady.

Changes in the wind said...

Did you do good at all the sales! You will indeed use the little twinkle lights. You squeezed a lot of fun, family and friends in and made lots of memories.

Vee said...

Lovely home tour! Looks as if you will be prepared this year when a string of lights goes out. I have avoided the after Christmas sales like the plague. I have concluded that I can not handle looking through bins or unkempt displays. Yup. A regular hot-house flower I am. I have a post in the can for tomorrow, if I get to it. I prefer reading blog posts over writing them. 😁 Your holiday season has been full and festive. Way to go...now keep sparkling!

Susie said...

Linda, Having a day with your kids is nice. I know you love going to the movies with them. I loved Brenda's memory pillow. I have a Teddy bear made from my children's father's shirt. We all have one of those. Wishing all of you a wonderful new year. Blessings to all, love you, xoxo, Susie

MadSnapper said...

I love the granddaugthers bedroom, I could live very happily in it..beautiful home... I like her framed cards you painted. so happy you found her place with you magic WAVE. ha ha… enjoy de-decorating your home.. Happy new year

Carole said...

Just lovely. Happy New Year

Chatty Crone said...

Nothing spicy for this girl unfortunately.
Gosh Brenda's home is GORGEOUS!
Be back soon!
Happy 2020 to you!
sandie

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Hard to believe it is almost 2020 now. It's been good food and family now for 5 days here with my family for Christmas. I love it ! ! can see why you all are such good friends, she likes to decorate almost as much as you do. The only thing Christmssy in my bathroom is a small basket of Christmas flowers.It's so nice to enjoy all the days of Christmas which for me won't end until January 11th when I return home again. That's when the undecoration will begin for me.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

As always, Linda, I enjoyed sharing the holidays with you and your friends. We also saw the Knives Out movie when it first came out, around Thanksgiving, and we enjoyed it. Hope they make more like it. The decorations in your friend’s home look lovely and how nice that she framed all your cards🙂 Happy New Year to you and Louis Dean. Thanks for your visits and comments on my blog posts and also for the Christmas card with your painint. I plan to save it as I did with last year’s.

Debbie said...

i love peeking in to everyone's home, to see how they decorate it, especially at christmas time. i want a christmas tree in our bedroom, next year i am going to cry until i get it!!!

we just got netflix and we really like it...plus we have voice commands on our remote. technology sure has come a long way!!!

you look so beautiful linda!!!