Happy Festivus

If you're a fan of The Seinfeld Show, then you know that December 23rd is "Festivus... a holiday for the rest of us."

My husband never forgets to wish me a Happy Festivus on the 23rd of each December, and believe it or not, we've often thought of having a party to celebrate Festivus. However, we would have to limit the guests to the Seinfeld watchers, and we'd have very few friends coming to "celebrate" because mostly everyone we know is running around with last-minute things to get done before the 25th.

I'll say one thing for getting an early start with Christmas--- it lets you enjoy your holiday. And that's what we're doing. A couple of our neighbors are coming over tonight to see our tree and have some snacks and hot cider. I've got the cider simmering, and the oven is on low so I can pop in the tray of filled biscuits when the doorbell rings. I'm using my favorite stand-by.... Pillsbury crescent rolls which I've cut in half to make them bite-size, filled with whatever combination of things I have in the fridge or the pantry. No matter what you put in those little rolls, they always taste good.

We also have enough cookies and candy in the house, so I didn't bother baking anything. For the second year in a row, we forgot to make Christmas cookies with the metal cookie gun that we bought three years ago. Oh well..... I will have to make a note of that for next year. Either that, or I may just bake some for my birthday next month.

Today was an outstandingly beautiful day. Sunny and very warm, with a tropical wind stirring the air with just the perfect amount of breeze. Now.... to whom do I speak to so I can order 365 of these days for next year?

My husband went to the supermarket this morning for groceries for his Greek stuffing, and I started cleaning the house. Everything is done except the kitchen, which I will do tomorrow when he finishes cooking. Then everything will be set for Christmas Day.

We both drove up to Kroger this afternoon, to get just a couple of items that the larger supermarket didn't have. I wanted to look at the five-foot wooden Nutcracker that Kroger has for sale. They have two of them, priced at $100 each, and they've been standing in different places in the store since Thanksgiving. I thought they would've been marked down by now, to half the original price, but they still had the $100 price tag on them. We asked an employee to call a manager, and they gave us a price of $79. Now is that a Scrooge discount or what? All the other area stores have Christmas items marked down to half-price or lower.

We said thank you, but no thank you. I'm planning on going back to the store tomorrow and asking the manager if he'll take $49 for the Nutcracker. Otherwise, he'll be packing both of them up and saving them for next year.... or whatever they do with un-sold nutcrackers. Sure is a pretty one, and it would look wonderful next to the fireplace. But for $49, not $79 or $100......

That's been the day....... busy and beautiful and warm.... and just two more days till Christmas.