Will Announce the Santa Painting Winner Tomorrow!

 I have been plodding along with my Christmas decorating!

The den is the biggest room to do and I started on it last week....actually even before that since I put the Santa wall up earlier in November!

Still addressing Christmas cards!

I'm up to the M's now.

Things are beginning to come together now.

You should see the back yard - it is a mass of empty red and green tubs!

I have put up a lot of trees but have not decorated any of them yet.

That will be done at leisure and maybe my grands will help with that.

We have a table from Sam's that will go in front of the sofa.

I'll cover it with a plaid tablecloth and put out a Christmas puzzle!

I have a stack of cards to mail and three packages to mail.

After the drawing in the morning, I'm hoping to mail out the two Santas to the winners!

Tabitha and Samantha love all the decorating and are snooping around in the tubs and under the trees!

I have been watching Virgin River episodes catching up for the new ones that will air soon.

In the evenings, I find a football game for Louis Dean and I watch it with him while I do my journal entry or work on my cards.

It's a Win! WIN!!

I do so wish I could do more giveaways but two was all I could afford this year.

Just so you know - you can use Snap Fish and order a canvas print from your Christmas card.

Amber took the photo of this year's painting and I may be able to send you the photo she used to order my canvases. 

Well, Louis Dean is asleep in front of the TV and I am about to take my shower and go to bed.

Sherry is coming later to spend the night as she is working form the Irving office to morrow!

December is just hours away!

Tuesday Treasures With Brenda....

Brenda and I missed our Tuesday Thrifting last week and the week before that I forgot to post about about my treasures - but most of that was gifts so I wouldn't have taken pictures of them anyway.

But today we hit the jackpot! 

Or at least I did!!

It was a real treasure trove!

I love the set of three Christmas trees for $17.50 with the senior discount.

A beautiful runner....

A set of 6 Lenox placemats with the $10 price stickers still on them.

I scored on several brand new candles.

Love this one!

Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle!

A Rae Dunn sweat shirt and a new pair of Bombas socks, Oh Deer nightgown and - best of all -

A red Michael Kors purse!! With the discount - the purse was just $20.....

The JOY runner is brand new from Kirkland and the tablecloth is huge and came with 8 napkins!

2 more tablecloths!

All these candle are new and never lit!

Three of them are Yankee and all of them smell so good!

And last but not least - 12 salad plates of Tuxton 12 Days of Christmas.

4 of the second day

4 of the fifth day and

4 of the ninth day!

Last year Summer gave me The Twelve Days of Christmas napkins - 12 of them and only two had been used!

Brenda and I go to Chick Fil A for lunch and a good visit!

It was nice to get out today.

We came home on Thanksgiving afternoon and I hadn't left the house since except to drive Louis Dean up to Braums for milk and then the post office to drop a stack of cards in the mail.

So far I have 110 entries for the Santa Giveaway.

I will do the two drawings on December 1st. ...so I can get the canvases in the mail.

Do you get overwhelmed with decorating for Christmas?

I admit I do! I thought I could do it this year without trashing the whole house - but that didn't happen!

The den is the ONE clean room and I'm hoping to add the kitchen to the DONE list!

Those are the two hardest rooms what with bringing in all the Christmas plates, glasses and textiles.

The living room requires a lot of work as does the dining room and sewing room.

The easiest is Louis Dean's bathroom and the guest room.

I've worked a good bit in our bedroom but still have a ways to go.

When I get a little anxious, I stop and remind myself to stay in the moment and enjoy the process.

With Christmas music playing and candles lit - it adds the ambiance I need.

Our Beautiful November Weekend!

We have had such a lovely weekend!

We stayed home Friday, Saturday and Sunday leaving only once earlier tonight to run out and pick up milk and drop a stack of Christmas cards at the post office just up the street.

A friend gave us a turkey before Thanksgiving so I put that in to cook Friday night before we went to bed. When I got up, I checked it and the oven was off! I thought I had really messed up but when I opened the oven - it was still warm! I took the lid off the roaster and it had been turned!

I use Deanna's never fail 'recipe' from Creekside Cottage

where she turns the bird breast side DOWN to bake.

Now it was breast side UP and there was a big hunk out of the top!

It was perfectly done and delicious so I knew Louis Dean must have been up early, ate some and went back to bed.

I went on to have my coffee and quiet time and when he got up later that Saturday morning, I teased him saying someone came in during the night and flipped the turkey, ate a hunk out of it and put it back.

He said, "I did NOT do that!!!"

I had no idea he wouldn't remember - but perhaps I should have.

I finally told him that I must have done it and was sleep walking!

***Note to Self***

Don't tease him about that kind of thing again!

I did a little housework, a little cooking - making dressing to go with the turkey, and some Christmas decorating! 

 

I settled down to address Christmas cards and watched Daniel Craig (my very most favorite 007) in Casino Royale......

I'm going to rewatch all his Bond movies in sequence.

So what was Louis Dean doing all Saturday afternoon???

'Peeling' pecans in his music room.

I bought a 5 pound bag of Georgia pecans and I picked up 3 pounds from Brenda's tree the day before Thanksgiving.

He shelled ALL 8 pounds!

And it took him over 4 hours!

He has the patience of Job!

We meant to go to church in person today but Louis Dean was sleeping so well that I didn't want to wake him up so we watched Fellowship Church online.

Nice and cozy in the den with a good fire burning.

It's cold here in Texas - not COLD cold but cold for Texas kind of cold.

As in the 40's.

This was Louis Dean's face when he joined me to watch church - Tabitha was sitting in his chair and didn't show any inclination to give up her seat.

She got the idea he wanted to sit down and moved up to the top of the sofa.

Just a guy and his cats!

I finished the cards from A-C and will now start on the D's.

This was a wonderful movie to watch.

Hope y'all are enjoying the whole 'preparing for Christmas' season.

I'm loving every single aspect of preparation and hope to have the house all dressed up by this time next week.

Thanksgiving With the Cumby's

 In 2009 Nita and Mike began hosting Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Morning in their home in Fort Worth. Louis Dean and I were there every year except in 2012 when Amber had the quadruplets - Trystan, Kailey, Harrison and Logan. Nita went home to heaven in July 2022 and Deanie and Charlie hosted Thanksgiving that year with the understanding that our Fort Worth tradition was coming to an end. 

We slowly learned to continue Life without our beloved Nita and, even so, our hearts will never be the same until we join her in Heaven.

Since this is the first Thanksgiving in 14 years that we didn't have a family gathering, my dear Brenda invited us to spend the holiday with her and Billy and their family.

It was a beautiful day and a true blessing to have somewhere to go where we were wanted and loved.

The Cumby's have two sweet dog babies - although they are 'senior' babies now!

This is Sissy and she seems to love me as much as I love her!

Here is Louis Dean with Charlie - the boy baby dog.

I love them both - Sissy and Charlie!

Meet Brenda's granddaughter!

She is in college and her major is education - and special education at that - and LD's beloved Ellen was a special ed teacher so they had some good conversation!

The food was amazing with Brenda's cousin, Patty, bringing a big bowl of broccoli rice!

Billy's mom and sister brought some seriously good desserts and we all had a wonderful time gathered around the dining room table!

Brenda and Billy have a beautiful home and is so very much a reflection of their personalities.

Warm and inviting!

She will start the transformation from Fall to Christmas in the next few days and I hope to visit here during December.

Billy is enclosing the covered back 'porch' into a room that is all but finished!

I am looking forward to see how Brenda decorates it!

We came home with several containers of Thanksgiving food which we have enjoyed today!

No cooking for me on this Friday!

We start and end our days on the kitchen deck.

Kimmy gave us this 'coffee cup' which LD filled with birdseed.

The doves love it!

I spent the day taking more fall down and adding some 'Christmas' to the den.

Louis Dean made us a fire in the outdoor pit which I bought in 2004 as a gift to myself after I was divorced!

After darkness fell and it got a bit TOO chilly, 

we came in and watched a movie.

Really good!!!

Since Louis Dean has been such a good sport today in shaping up Christmas trees and listening to Christmas music on YouTube where you have a crackling fireplace on the screen - we have now moved on to recorded football games!

I'm now up to 77 entries for the Santa painting printed canvases!

80 Dinner Rolls! My Santa Cards and Canvasses Arrived!

It's Thanksgiving Eve as I write my journal entry and we just got Tabitha back in the house!

She slipped out as I was taking Fall out the French doors in the sewing room this afternoon and enjoyed several hours of freedom.

Yesterday was Baking Day for Louis Dean!

He had full charge of the kitchen for the entire afternoon!

This man loves to bake and he had a really good time.

He made TWO double batches of dinner rolls.

It's a messy business making bread!

But it sure does smell good!

I'm glad he enjoys making bread as much as he does.

80 rolls!

He proofed two pans and baked them while proofing the other two.

Delicious!!

While he was working in the kitchen, I was watching for a delivery!

My canvasses and Christmas card ordered arrived!

I wanted to have these on hand for the giveaways and gifts.

Starting tomorrow I will be addressing cards every night beginning in alphabetical order.

Every other year I start with the ABC.... and then reverse the order the next year.

I close tonight with this card from my friend, Rhonda......

Happy Thanksgiving!!!