It's Haulin' Out The Holly Time

Nineteen days until Christmas.

Eeeeeekkk!!!

How is this possible, when just a few weeks ago, we were still

harvesting tomatoes from our diehard and shriveled vines?

November, right after Halloween: 

(I suspect our tomato plants actually benefit from our benign neglect

of them, and become tougher and more productive out of sheer cussedness.)

Weird, eh?  Weather.

Mother Nature is a wicked practical joker.
The day before Thanksgiving, this:

...which piled up to 6 or 7 inches before it ended

Thursday morning, and it stuck around for 5 days.

Now the tomato vines look like this:

The Prison Yard looked like this, not all that long ago:

And today it looks like this, like some abandoned industrial site:

Collapsed annuals, weeds, and veggie plants,

gritty dirt from snow shoveling, and just that dreary look of winter.

It's time, my friends.  It is time.

Bring on the bling!

I think one of the strongest arguments for decking

your house with Christmas lights is that

it is so freaking dark in winter!

Even just a bit of light around the front door helps dispel that winter gloom.
Meanwhile, my house looks really spooky, doesn't it?  Hmmm....

Take heart.  In just a few more weeks we begin the

long slow climb back to the Summer Solstice.

Well, as Auntie Mame sang:

Haul out the holly

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again

Fill up the stocking

I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

For we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

Yes, we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

We need a little Christmas now

********************************
This weekend, Howard and I will get the Christmas storage boxes
up from the toasty boiler room, and they will take over the dining room.
Big time.

2011's chaos.  It's the same every year!

Plans? 
The chandelier gets poinsettias.

 The front stairs get garland and ribbons.

And there will be a Christmas tree in every room.
Well, every occupied room!

What are your plans for Christmas decorating?
Less than past years?  More?

And do you change styles year to year, or keep with
your own traditions for the holidays?

I'm so nosey!  -- Cass

PS  Howard already has lights on our side fence.  Show off.

Those Crazy Cut-Ups: Mother Nature and Father Christmas!

A Happy New Year to all!

I'm sure things have been hopping at your home, too,

as time slid into the New Year, and then the 12 days

of Christmas ushered in the season of Epiphany on January 6th.

Our fresh Sunroom tree, back on December 18th, freshly decorated.
You can still see ornament boxes stacked in the lower right corner!
This tree is a Canaan Fir, and took 4 Rubbermaid bins of ornaments,
1,800 colored lights, and one strand of white lights around the trunk.
Howard is a lighting wizard.

*********************************

How was your Christmas?

Ours was lovely,

with both of our daughters and our son-in-law under our roof.  

We had a big party on December 21st, but I took no pictures.

Too busy!

Christmas morning at That Old House: 

Josh and Alida made Monkey Bread for breakfast,

a tradition borrowed from his family.

So good, your brains could fall out!

Anne made her lighter-than-air waffles,

this year gluten-free!

Waffles, real maple syrup, and breakfast sausages.
We don't skimp on Christmas feasting!

 And then, it got cold. 

Really, really cold.

Brass Monkey alert cold.

Our fence, this week, with the Christmas lights still
festooning it, and the thermometer crying "Uncle!"

Our resident red-headed bombshell, Gilda,

is not bothered by the cold at all.

She wears a nice, thick fur coat.

All the time. 

 Dylan DiPoochy, whose coat is rather thin

in comparison, is less happy with the frigid outdoors.

We fenced in a play yard for the dogs; here's part of it,

as seen from the dining room windows:

 They haven't spent much time playing in it.

Gee, I wonder why?

Meanwhile, in the house, Christmas still holds sway

. . . in the front hall: 

. . . in the Parlor: 

. . . and in the Sunroom, where the Canaan Fir

still stands, still in good shape.

I really hate to take down a Christmas tree! 

Sunroom tree, on Tuesday morning, 1/7/14.

Gilda has started to yank ornaments off the tree

and put them on the floor.

I think perhaps she's pushing me into restoring

the house to a more normal state.  Gilda is a very opinionated lady.

She likes to sleep on pillows,

and often tips one over to make a bed for herself.

The other day she used her nose to push a pillow off a club chair

and into a basket of clean folded laundry.

Nice little nest, isn't it?

Happy Epiphany to all!

This season of the church year brings us to Lent, to Ash Wednesday.

How 'bout that?  Before we know it, we will be looking at Spring.

I promise.  -- Cass

******************************

Catching Up!

It's been more than a month since my last blog post.

I know!!!

Crazy, huh?   So what have you all been up to? 

We had a great Thanksgiving; 15 at table this year, which is probably about half what we usually have, but it made for a peaceful holiday, and a quicker cleanup!  As always, Howard wore his turkey shirt.  And for the first time ever, I forgot to get a picture of him in it.

Oh well.

At least I got this fellow, wandering the edge of a nearby road on the Sunday

before Thanksgiving.  Making his great escape, I guess.

We've had too much of this:

Anne, clearing ice off my van.

In the spirit of the season, Anne tried decking the dog with antlers.

Dylan decided to eat them instead.

But bigger brains prevailed.

Get that off, Mr. Smartypants.

After more than a year, the local birds discovered our window-hung

bird feeder.  They are not quick studies, our local birds.

Especially since the local squirrels discovered it at about the same time.

Our fresh tree, in the sunroom.

It's a winner this year -- and a species we have never heard of!

Canaan Fir.  It's wonderful.  If you can find one, grab it.

Do you like all the storage boxes and the white plastic around it?  Hahaha . . . we run a classy joint.

 This is me, singing at church.

OK.  That's a fib.

But what isn't a fib is that it has taken me all these weeks to get into 

the spirit of the season . . . and it's coming none too soon,

as our annual Christmas Grab Bag party is tomorrow.

Yikes.  I've got lots to do.  See you on the other side of Saturday!

-- Cass