Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Reason for the Season


We are preparing to head to church Christmas Eve service soon... wanted to post once more before the big day -- who knows how busy we'll be the next few days. Tonight we read the Nativity story from Luke 2 and then "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." We open one gift each on Christmas Eve and the rest in the morning. Ally usually has us sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. A small reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. How awesome that a Savior was sent into the world just for us! And what a shame not to recognize that fact!

The girls got robes to open Christmas Eve.

Saw this truck at church last weekend... so cute!

I worked today finishing up payroll, paying bills, backing up the computer and so on, and I won't be back until next year... I can hear the angels singing Alleluia now! Then I met Amy over at Parkway Plaza at the new Bob's Big Boy that just opened. The mall traffic was bad, but I've seen worse. I grabbed the first parking space I saw! It's been a little hectic the last few days, I actually ran a load of laundry and forgot to put the clothes in... ha! Shopping is finished, the last two packages we were expecting arrived yesterday, wrapping is finished... now Santa just needs to come.

Oh and my Bible will not be here in time for Christmas. Family Bible Bookstore forgot to order it, then a storm delay, then realized they had it the entire time but was engraved with the wrong name, then realized it had thumb indents in it and mine wasn't supposed to... anyway, it's being re-ordered and I am asking for half off.

My candy thermometer broke -- at least I had made several batches of toffee lately so I knew what toffee looks like just after it reaches hard crack temperature, so I did okay. Did not know not to eat it if you have crowns... later my tooth started bothering me and my friend told me I should not be eating it. It's actually okay if the toffee is crunchy, but I undercooked one batch slighty and it was really chewy after the crunch... a big no, no. Gave candy away left and right from my work neighbors, to the Starbucks workers, to the mail man. God Bless Us, Everyone! I tried snickers bars for the first time, they turned out really good, or so I heard... I'm not a big fan. Made white rice crunch candies, some were tree shaped with peppermint crunchies, several batches of toffee, caramel peanut clusters, peanut butter filled cups and bon-bons, and chocolate covered pretzels. We have been getting candy and food for gifts too, and I think I gained five pounds this week.

We're off to Sedona early Saturday morning as long as there is not ice in the mountains... if there is, we'll leave a little later after it melts. Chris is off work on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve... that hasn't happened in 10 years! He always works at least Christmas or New Year's.

Happy Holidays!



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Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Hustle... and Bustle


Been awhile since my last post... soooo busy! I've made lots of candy and even shipped two boxes... one to Illinois and one to Colorado. I lucked out and hit the post office when there was no line. The postal worker told me the line had been out both doors earlier that day. Don't know how the shipped candies will fare, but figured we are past the melting season. However it was in the 80's here today... so nice! I made toffee for the first time... was crunchy at first but later was a little chewy, think I need to heat it to 305 or 310 degrees next time. It was soooo good though, I think I ate half a plate! Made lime and raspberry hard candies. Even made Ally some chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie dough bites. They were so rich, though... couldn't eat too many of them at once. Also made some peanut butter and peppermint fillings.


Almost finished shopping, just have a couple stocking stuffers left to get. Got a handy dandy bonus at work today and already spent it. Will post more on the gifts after Christmas! Also found out my new Bible was never even ordered... so it's on rush order now at the Family Bible Bookstore. Hope it makes it for Christmas.

We held Bethlehem Boulevard at our church. It rained though, so we had to move everything inside. No bounce house, so Ally and I worked at the make-a-craft tables... the one thing Ally said she didn't want to do! There was music, smores, hot drinks, photos with a camel, sleigh and santa photos, and all kinds of food. Very fun.

Went to see the Christmas lights... wanted to do that before the weekend. Love that tradition.

We all four went to see New Moon. The girls for the second time. Had to see it again since we missed parts of the movie at the opening midnight showing due to loud teenage girls... fun! Then Chris and I went to see Blind Side and loved that... it's about time Hollywood portrays Christianity in a positive light. Heard Sandra Bullock was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. Definitely recommend this movie!

Chris has been using up leave left and right since he had about two week of "use it or lose it" leave left. Ally's off school until next year. I am super busy at work... but not too busy to take off here and there to shop! Oh, and $200.00 arrived in the mail today from Santa... how thoughtful.



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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

Well, all the Christmas decorations, including the tree, are now up -- and not without some drama. We have a pre-lit tree, mainly due to the cats trying to eat the real trees, and one section would not light. Ally and I spent a couple hours checking every fuse and every bulb in those sections and could not fix anything. I ended up running to the store at the last minute and buying one string of white lights for $3 to fill in those branches... fortunately I found the hardware store two blocks from our house was open as I was driving by and was able to get the lights there.


I have some ornaments from when I was a kid. One special one is a letter I wrote to Santa that was published in the paper when I was nine years old. My dad cut it out and put it in a clear glass bulb for me. I asked for a barbie camper, a maxi dress, and go-go boots. HA! I'm pretty sure I got them all. That's a long way from the cameras, ipods, and laptops the kids are asking for these days!

I dropped one orament at the fireplace and it busted into a zillion pieces. It was only a filler ornament for my hurricane lamp (see pic below). I saw this idea for my lamp last year in a magazine, so I bought the bulbs and ribbon for a couple bucks after Christmas last year.


I collect glass candy, and I put it out at Christmas each year. I also have about eight glass candy ornaments that hang from the fireplace. Tigger is very happy we have fired up the fireplace!



Santa ordered my Christmas present at the Family Bible Bookstore so I would get exactly what I wanted. He ordered the Zondervan Study Bible in New American Standard version, in quality burgundy leather. Thanks, Santa! Santa also had a coupon and gift cards, so the cost was cut WAY down:) So thrifty! I also saw a coffee cup ornament into Starbucks that was so cute... I'm a pretty easy person to buy gifts for... candles and Starbucks and I'm happy.

We had a big storm blow through here, and another is on the way for Thursday. It rained and blew SO MUCH! We broke the record for rainfall for yesterday in San Diego. One and three-fourths inch. That's a lot for us. Floods and branches everywhere. And, of course, this is the one day my boss asks me to run some primer over to some workers on the base in Coronado. I saw three accidents, and I skidded twice on the road on the way there. Then on the way home from work, I decided not to take the freeway and as I'm going straight instead, the car I would have been had I gotten in the freeway line got rear-ended really hard. SOMEONE was watching over me. Always listen to that Still Small Voice!

I love California... how is possible that "hypotehtically" two employees get in a fist fight, one breaks his hand, and workman's comp pays for everything, including surgery. That is MESSED UP, hypothetically speaking of course.

I made these fancy chocolates for our Pastor who returned from duty in Kosovo last week. I used Chris' label maker to label the types (green/peanut butter etc.) inside the lid -- fun. Also made some white chocolate covered pretzels with peppermint crunch... didn't sound that good to me -- but they were!



Here's a pic I finally got of the medal Ally won at the race I missed this year. She's with her friend Amanda on one side and the boy she likes, Jack, on the other.


Lost internet access again at work. Curse AT&T and all routers and modems. Got fed up for the last time and called Cox Communications. They are coming tomorrow to hook-up internet and cable in my office. I get to have a TV in my office. Ah, love my job and my boss and the perks!

Yesterday was the four year anniversary of the death of my best friend who died unexpectedly from a stroke. Can't believe it's been four years! I miss the gab sessions and the movies! I'll see you again "P"!


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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

'Tis the Season!


It's time to decorate the tree and put up the decorations... unfortunately since I've been out of town, all this won't happen until next weekend.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I made a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, scalloped corn, rolls, and a double layer pumpkin pie. A couple things were store bought, but I'm not saying which ones. I did make the pie...


Tigger has a few snacks that day, too -- what a contented cat. I also discovered this week not only can he open drawers and doors to get clothes out, he knows how to unzip my gym bag!


We had our neighbor, David, over for dinner and he brought three pies, also. Amy got together with her friends later in the day, and everyone was bringing leftovers, so that took care of some of the food! I made butter molded into my turkey candy molds for the rolls. Had a little trouble getting them out, then read I should have sprayed the molds with butter spray. I also watched the Macy's parade.

Ally and I went to Frankenmuth for a long weekend. We flew to Detroit on Friday and back on Monday. It was cold, around 40 degrees all weekend. We were so glad to get back to San Diego -- it was 65 degrees, and we rolled the windows down just to enjoy it. Saw lots of family and shopped at the world's largest Christmas store, Bronners. It is as big as three football fields. I spent a couple hours there and probably only saw half of the things. I did buy some Christmas things and some ornaments. We also spent time playing miniature golf, the kids swam, and we did more shopping. We had great flights, the only negative thing that happened was the Grinder Switch in the room across the hall. We were too noisy for her, and she let us know it, even though half the time it was other people running up and down the halls and making a ruckus.




I got to see my friend Sherry from high school and, in fact, spent my last night there at her house. We did lots of eating at places we miss out here like Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans, and Bob's Big Boy. Founds some Mallo Cups, too. Missed Starbucks and picked one up at Chicago airport on the way back. I can't describe everything we saw and did, but I'll post a slideshow at the end of this page.

Of all things, we had a huge rain in San Diego while we were gone. We missed it, but heard we had one to two inches and some snow in the higher elevations around here.

Pastor Steve is back from his year long deployment in Kosovo. I wasn't here for the weekend, so did not get to see the surprise tree lighting he did at the church, but Chris was there and with his eagle eyes, saw Steve somewhere before the actual lighting. I can take off my prayer bracelet now that he has returned safely -- wore that thing for a year and even have a slight tan line where it rests on my arm.

The downstairs is totally clean and ready to be decorated... now to work on cleaning the upstairs...


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