Countdown to Christmas

Went to the Honey Baked Ham store this afternoon to pick up a small spiral ham for Christmas dinner. The line was right to the door.... and it will only get longer as the days get closer to the weekend. So I just wrapped up the ham nice and tight and it'll sit in the fridge till it needs to be re-heated on Christmas day. The hams are so good from that store...... I couldn't make it any better, so it's easier just to buy it from there. I don't eat ham, but I've tasted just a bite of those spiral hams and I know they're delicious.

I'll enjoy the salads and vegetables on Christmas day. I plan to make a corn pudding, and the spinach/pear/pine nut salad that I made on Thanksgiving...... I'll add some dried cranberries to the salad to give it a little Christmas color. C's mom is making her baked spinach and cheese, and her cranberry apple salad, and our friend J will be bringing another vegetable dish. My husband will be busy cooking a Greek stuffing later on in the week..... gyro meat, feta cheese and pistachio nuts.... that man makes wonderful stuffings. (So I think I'll keep him!)

Before I went into the Baked Ham shop, I popped into one of the other stores in the shopping center there. Believe it or not, they had a display of Valentine items, all of which were marked down 30%. Now, how could I not have a look-see at those? I bought a bunch of Valentine items, all ready to be wrapped up for our Valentine party in February. Nothing makes giving a party easier than starting way ahead of the party-day. (And the Valentine party is certainly getting a real early start.)

I also found a hand-carved Santa in the gift shop today. This Santa is holding a golden-striped cat, so I couldn't very well leave him sitting on the shelf in the store. I've added him to my own collection of Santas and he seems to be very content.

Speaking of Santas.... one of our neighbors invited us to her home last night... we popped in after we brought the girls home after having dinner out after "The Nutcracker." V & S's house was all decked-out for Christmas, and I do mean decked-out. Christmas trees filled with ornaments, a huge collection of Black Santas...... beautifully carved Santas, all of them....... antiques all over the house, Christmas packages piled up high underneath their big tree in the family room, blown-glass ornaments piled high in silver bowls, displayed on table-top wrought-iron trees..... V is into Christmas big-time.

That was the first time I'd been into her home, and after seeing her love of Christmas, I was sorry that we hadn't invited her and her husband to our Christmas party last week. Well, they'll be on our party list from now on, let me tell you. I swear, I've never seen such a collection of Christmas items....... her mantel was just beautiful with all those Santas. And you could see they were carefully arranged, not just lined up haphazardly without thought. V and S are coming over to our house on Wed. night, to see our tree and have some cake and coffee.

V has been collecting vintage Christmas cards, so I went through my own collection of turn-of-the-century holiday postcards, and I'm giving her a bunch that I know I can't use for placecards. V will make tree ornaments out of them, and I know she'll enjoy them.

And a small-world story....... V and I got to talking about the local antique shops, and it turns out that she knows our friend J, who owns the antique shop where I used to rent space for my own little shop. She's been shopping there forever, and when I spoke to J today, he said he's known her for years, but didn't realize she lived around the corner from us. V's house is jam-packed with antique furniture, most of it bought at the local shops and country flea-markets. All these years that I've been talking to V.... mostly around the neighborhood while we're walking our dogs.... I had no idea that she and I shared a love of both Christmas and antiques. You learn something new every day.

Less than a week till Christmas......