The First ’13 Storm

Here it is folks! We’ve gotten a couple slight dustings so far but nothing amounting to much but we had a lovely, slushy mess of sleet, rain, and snow all day yesterday. The temps are supposed to be in the 40s today with more snow/rain, but I’m expecting the warmth to clear up the roads. The side roads by our house are rarely plowed and get packed down and slick. Tomorrow – we’re plummeting into the teens for high temps. Yikes!!

We have our tree decorated now. I didn’t want to waste too much time since the season is so short this year. Actually, today we’re just three weeks from Christmas! Why does it go so fast?

No decorating effort would be complete without eggnog…

One of the things we’ve been searching for is a large fake tree to add some greenery to the family room. Usually the ones I see are between $250 and $500. No thank you. On Black Friday I spied a tree for the rock-bottom price of $40. I got in the very, very, very long line and called Ben to have him come and meet me (the tree would not have fit in my car). By the time he arrived, I was still in line. Hate the crowds but love it when I find the deals – so I guess I’m just as nuts as everyone else. 🙂 The tree may not be the most realistic but at that price, I’m A-OK. I found some of the clip-on poinsettia I bought last year and the tree is all ready for the season. I’m thinking I may even wrap a strand of lights around it…

Isn’t it adorable? It’s ironic that I bought the tree for the family room but with the re-arranging we just did, there’s no room for it now. Luckily it looks great in the living room. The changes are making me itch to get new living room furniture sooner rather than later.

Tree is up, new lamps make the room cozy and warm, and my poinsettia tree is adding a oomph of color and character. Love it all!

Up close picture of the lamp. Don’t know if I’m loving the little decorations though. I still think I need something darker to stand 0ut.

We had a delicious dinner of steak, roasted broccoli, and sweet potato casserole. I had some sweet pots left over from Thanksgiving and whipped up a small batch. Delicious!!

And we snacked on the pieces of apple pie we were sent home with. Mmm

I love food. I’ve missed sweets. I need to be very, very careful. 🙂

Alrighty – time to trek to work. Fingers crossed the roads aren’t too bad. Nothing like white-knuckling the steering wheel!!

Warm and Icy

Christmastime is here folks! It never seems to fail that we get some kind of snow accumulation on my older brother Dan’s birthday. Two years ago we got so much so that the entire city was shut down for a day! That NEVER happens around here.

I am happy to say we FINALLY have our tree decorated!! It’s been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving but I haven’t had any time to dress it up. Plus, I like to do it with Ben so it’s more of an event. Plus, Ben is tall. 🙂

We had bought lights and ornaments for our tiny tree last year but when we found this beauty on an after-Christmas clearance, I went back and bought another box of ornaments. Ben ended up needing to run to the store for 2 extra strands of lights too.

I blared the 24 hour Christmas radio station and we got the tree trimmed in quick fashion. Last year the radio station switched to a new format and it wasn’t all Christmas tunes over the Holiday season. I am *so* thankful they switched back. There are hardly any commercials and I can turn it on and get my music fix whenever I want. 🙂

Please note the fashionable bulb earring – I did that for you folks! 🙂 Ha Ha

We realized that even with the extra box of bulbs the tree still looks a little bare… But still pretty and twinkly.

The snow started around 11am yesterday when Ben and I were running around doing our usual Sunday errands: breakfast, grocery shopping, and then some various places looking for Christmas ideas. We stopped to get a few boxes of silver bulbs (our pack had green, red, and gold) but they were out of ornament hangers!!! With a trunk full of groceries we decided I’d just go out later and grab them.

The temps were hovering around the low / mid 30s all day so the snowfall was the thick, heavy, wet kind. As I surveyed the snowfall I decided I’d better get going right away before the roads got too messy.

I backed out of the driveway, drove down the driveway, slipped around a bit, decided my life wasn’t worth a pack of ornament hangers, turned around, and drove back into the garage.

Instead we settled in to watch some football. The Packers had the late game and it was a nailbiter until the 4th quarter so I sat glued until I was convinced we were going to win. I tried tackling a bit of snow shoveling but quickly decided the thick stuff could wait until morning!!

Ben’s driving me into work today because I’m a wimp driving in the snow. I guess that means it’s time for me to get the snow tires put on my car. Tis the season!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!!!