Boxing Day

I have forgotten just what "Boxing Day" really means, but in this house today, it meant boxing up everything that was Christmas. All the Santas and angels are put away in the holiday closet, as well as the every other holiday decoration. The big tree is down and out on the curb, all the table-top trees are put away, even all the smaller trees....... every little Christmas thing is in that holiday closet till next year.

ShadowBaby woke me up this morning at 6:00 and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just figured I'd get up and start un-decorating. Our goal today was to just get the big tree in the living room taken down and out to the curb for trash pick-up. That tree had gotten so dry in the past couple of days... even hard to get the ornament hooks off of the branches without pinching my fingers. Once that was done, I just kept going... and going... and now it's 4:30 and the house looks like it did before the holidays. Kind of bare. Not a red ribbon in sight.

Oh well....... I will be decorating for Valentine's Day soon....... and I imagine we're having our usual Valentine's Charades party, so that will be the next busy-thing to get busy with. But not today. Now that I've sat down for a little bit here, I realize just how much I've done today. I even got all the outside lights taken down, and the two lighted deer that were in the front yard are now in the garage. I hadn't planned on doing that either, but it was a sunny day, and warm enough to take the lights down without wearing a jacket.

Miss C and her parents gave us a chimenea (I hope that's the correct spelling) for Christmas. They didn't know that my husband bought me the fire bowl for the lake cottage, and they knew I liked those large pottery chimeneas. Not a problem... first we thought we'd just take both up to the lake, but then I decided to leave the chimenea here on our backyard deck. So that's what we did. We put a large brick patio-stone underneath it, and I can see the chimenea from the kitchen and breakfast room windows. I've already started to put some broken branches and twigs in it, to discourage the cats from jumping into the front of it. (AngelBoy likes to hide in things and peek out.) We can enjoy the chimenea here and the fire bowl up at the lake.... I didn't see the sense in bringing both things up there.

Gorgeous day out today..... yesterday was cold and cloudy...... today would've been a prettier day for Christmas, but that's the way it goes.

The Party's Over....

It's 10:30 as I type... everyone got here at 2:30, and the dinner party broke up around nine o'clock. I've got the kitchen back to normal (two dishwasher loads, with all those glasses and place settings), and the dining room has returned to its usual look, with the leaf taken out of the table.

Everything went very smoothly... food was delicious, and it got to the table hot. We took our time between the courses, and no one was too full after the main course. Serving the soup in the teacups was a perfect idea... just enough soup without being too much, which would have happened if I used bowls.

After dinner, we opened gifts, which gave us a breather inbetween the meal and dessert. My husband had also printed out a Christmas trivia quiz, which everyone had fun with before we went from the dining room to the living room for the gifts. With the plum pudding, my husband always comes up with an innovative idea for the coins that are traditionally hidden in the baked pudding. This time, he took photos of all of us (that he had stored in his computer) and put Santa hats on our pictures....... he printed out the pictures, cut them into puzzle shapes, and young Miss C put the shapes together to find the scrambled clue which was "Look inside the Russian doll." That's where the gold coins were hidden... inside one of the little Russian nesting dolls that I had displayed underneath the aluminum Christmas tree. Everyone ooohed and aaahed over the gold coins, then popped open the Victorian Christmas "crackers" to find their gold crowns and riddles and the little prizes that are inside.

Nice Christmas for us all..... very leisurely.... we all took our time and just enjoyed the day, the company, the meal, and our holiday traditions. The table looked beautiful.... the food we all cooked was just perfect.... the day just couldn't have been better.

Christmas Morning

Woke up to a cloudy, drippy day this morning...... not warm either.... around 60 degrees or so. We had this same weather yesterday, but it was colder last night so I kept the cats in the house. Mickey Kitty and ShadowBaby in our bedroom (both of them sharing my pillow) and AngelBoy in the laundry room. I tried to keep ShadowBaby in the laundry room as well, but he doesn't like being in there and he kept banging his paws on the door. (Who said cats were easier than dogs?)

My husband and I opened our gifts last night and had a very nice Christmas Eve. I had bought him two jackets, a black leather and a brown suede. I couldn't make up my mind, so I bought them both and left the tags on. He loved the black leather, but the jury is still out on the brown suede. I'm hoping he'll keep both of them, but we'll see.

I also bought him "Super Scrabble." The board is bigger, there are 200 letter-tiles (instead of 100), and the board has quadruple-score squares. We love playing that game, so I figured this would be a good challenge. (Translation: he can win with more points.)

Also under the tree for him was a tool box, complete with some real tools, as opposed to just having a couple of cheap screwdrivers and a hammer in this house. I figured it was about time for him to have one of those, and I knew he wouldn't go out and get it himself. Plus, now we'll have the tools we really need to put the bicycles together for Elves & More next year.

My husband gave me a fire bowl for the lake house. We had seen those up in the Hill Country this summer and I've wanted one for the cottage. It's like an outdoor coffee table, only it's shaped like a large bowl.... you light a fire in the bowl and everyone sits around it and you can enjoy the moon and the stars and the lake. This one has a wrought-iron frame and legs, with a heavy metal bowl. Can't wait to set it up on the patio up at the cottage.

Also under the tree for me was a small-sized food processor..... I've been wanting one of those so we can make fresh pesto sauce. My husband also found me some beautiful blown-glass Christmas ornaments, made in Poland and beautifully painted. And, last but certainly not least... he added to my collection of Lenox Christmas china. I know we only use it in December, but it sure makes the dining room table look extra-special. We also gave each other smaller gifts, like books, and a lighthouse-shaped puzzle to do up at the cottage.

Time to get on with the day here.... I've got a list of last-minute things to do... then I have to get dressed. The rain has quit, and it's looking brighter out there. Maybe we'll have a sunny Christmas after all. Jingle bells, y'all.........

Christmas Eve

I've been in the kitchen and dining room for most of the day..... which isn't unusual for the day before a holiday.

The dining room table looks as if it should be in a magazine ad....... the center of the table has silver glitter-branches running down the center of it. Those branches also have silver glittered-berries on the branches... so pretty, from the Nutcracker Market that we had gone to last month.

I took the glass bird ornaments off of the Christmas tree.... eight of them, the kind with the little clips at their feet... and I clipped the birds to the silver branches. (Then I had to take some ornaments from the back of the tree and fill in the spots on the front of the tree where the birds were.) Around the branches and the birds, I used tea-light candles in short glass votives, making sure that when the candles are lighted, the silver branches and the feather-tails on the birds won't get into the flame. (Let's not put that thought out into the universe, as my dear friend Frankie would say.)

The Santa placecards look great.... small porcelain Santa buttons hot-glued onto each placecard. And then I have a blown-glass Santa ornament hanging from everyone's water glass...... the Santa faces on both the placecard and the ornament are very similar so they look perfect together.

The salmon/crabcakes are all done and in the fridge..... just have to bake them tomorrow... each cake is in the shape of a Christmas tree, thanks to the large tree cookie cutter (from Williams-Sonoma). And I did use the little green peas... I pushed them into the tree-shapes, so they look decorated. Just a few here and there, so they wouldn't look silly. I will keep everyone out of the kitchen while I'm fixing the plates, so no one will see the presentation till the plates go into the dining room. After we all sit down, the only ones in the kitchen are me and young C anyway.... I fix the plates and she brings them into the dining room.

Everything that I can possibly do today has been done........ I'll be busy tomorrow, doing last-minute things that just can't be done today. Like cooking the mussels in the pesto sauce. Come to think of it, I should take the big pan out of the cabinet and leave it on the stove, so I don't forget to cook them up. I have a list on the kitchen counter.... what to serve first, second, third.... I don't want to forget anything, which is easy to do when there's so much to be done and you're trying to keep things organized in the kitchen and enjoy your own dinner party.

Time for me to get dressed for Christmas Eve...... my husband and I will have a nice dinner tonight and open our gifts..... no time for that tomorrow morning because I'll be back in the kitchen again. Jingle bells indeed........

B & H's Christmas Party

Nine o'clock as I type...... we just got back from the Christmas party at B & H's fabulous house in the biggest and newest subdivision in this area. Gorgeous house, and I would bet it's one of the million-dollar homes that's offered in that particular subdivision.

Beautiful, large, open rooms, wide hallways, lots of cabinets in the kitchen, and their pantry was big enough to dance in. And Christmas decorations... a Santa or an angel wherever you looked, with miles and miles of lush, lighted garlands. Just a beautifully done, very tasteful home that was chock-full of Christmas. B had the island in her kitchen covered with trays of food, which was all eaten on Lenox china Christmas plates. V said that B has been collecting Lenox holiday dishes for years. There must have been thirty people at tonight's party, with Lenox china for all.

The party there was like one of our own parties.... lots of talking and laughing, with lots of "good energy," as my husband calls it. As everyone left, B did what I always do... she handed us all a little gift.... no one went out the door empty-handed. We drove there with V and S, and left early when they did.... V is now on her way to Kroger for last-minute groceries for Christmas day.

One of the guests at the party was Ron McNair's wife...... he was the astronaut who died in the Challenger tragedy. And right this moment (my apologies) I cannot think of her first name. (The hot apple cider from the party has melted some brain cells, I guess.)

Nice night....... nice company..... and the countdown to Christmas day continues.

In the kitchen.....

....... That's where I've been for most of the day. I've made the soup for Christmas Day, so it is sitting in the fridge and will have time to "get happy," as Emeril says. All I have to do is stir the crabmeat into the soup, but I won't do that till tomorrow night. The soup is the same Crab/Artichoke/Parmesean soup that I made last week. This one came out a little better than the first try, and when I put the crab into it, the soup will be excellent. In my humble opinion...

The soup will be the first course for dinner on Christmas day. I'm serving the soup in teacups, so everyone can enjoy it without getting filled up on a creamy soup. Then we'll have steamed mussels in pesto sauce... C's mom is making the garlic bread to go with the mussels. The main course will be my salmon cakes, mixed with some lump crabmeat. C's mom is making roasted potatoes with feta cheese to go with that, and our friends C & R will make the vegetables (I won't know what they decided on till they get here), and they're also making a fruit chutney to go with the salmon. I've decided to go over-the-top with the salmon cakes...... I'm using a large cookie-cutter in the shape of a Christmas tree to shape the cakes. That will give everyone a nice serving of salmon on their plate, in a festive tree-shape. I may even take some green peas and place a few on each of the little trees.... green-pea ornaments. I'm not sure about that.... I'll try it with one, but if it looks silly.... then no green-peas.

I cooked up the salmon today, and flaked it into a large bowl.... so all I have to do tomorrow is mix the salmon with the crabmeat, cooked onion, and all my usual crabcake ingredients, and they can sit in the fridge overnight so the salmon-Christmas trees can get happy as well.

Except to walk out to the mailbox and to walk Gracie around a couple of blocks, I haven't gone anywhere today. My husband offered to do the last-minute grocery shopping for me this morning, and I took him up on his offer. While he shopped, I cleaned the house, and when he got back, I started the cooking.

We're going to a Christmas party tonight... our friends V & S are picking us up and driving to their friends' house for the party. The people giving the party (B & H) are friends that we met a couple of weeks ago at V & S's house when she had her dinner party. B and H were supposed to go with us to the Christmas lunch at the Victorian Bed & Breakfast last weekend, but B had a cold and didn't feel well.

I guess I've got to get out of these "cooking clothes" and into party clothes. I've already showered, but I've got to do my hair. My nails are done..... I did that yesterday before we took the girls downtown to see the Rockettes, and I was careful not to mess them up while I was cleaning and cooking this morning. I'm wearing the same outfit tonight that I wore downtown yesterday so my clothes are ready.... black skirt, red sparkly top, black velvet jacket, red beaded purse.... festive and Christmas-y, and (as Aunt Dolly always says)--- you can't go wrong with a black skirt and a pretty top and a pair of dressy heels. Jingle bells to that........ it's 3:30.... I need to get ready.

Radio City Rockettes in Houston

It's 8:00 as I type.... we have just returned from bringing our two favorite teen-aged girls back to their homes after our trip downtown. The four of us went to see the Radio City Christmas Show at one of the downtown Houston theatres, followed by an early dinner at a local Chinese restaurant after we got through the rush-hour traffic coming back towards home.

Great show, and then some. The girls hadn't seen the Rockettes before, so it was a real treat for them. My husband and I have seen the Christmas shows at Radio City Music Hall when we were younger and lived up in NY, so it was a nostalgic trip down "memory lane" for us both. And, being true to my sentimental self, I had tears in my eyes during parts of this afternoon's matinee...... thinking of my dad taking me and my sister to see the Rockettes.

Beautiful costumes...... only 18 Rockettes in the line......... as compared to about 38 or 40 Rockettes when they perform at Radio City, which has a much larger stage than our theatre here. The Wortham Center has a larger stage than the Hobby Center, which makes me wonder why they chose the latter theatre for the Rockettes. Of course, when you see the Christmas show in NYC, Radio City Music Hall has a huge symphony orchestra down in that pit in front of the stage. Hobby Center doesn't have that, so the music was either recorded or the musicians were backstage.... no way of telling, because they didn't announce the musicians.

Still, it was a great show, much appreciated by the Houston audience, most of whom probably have never been to NY to see "the real thing." Both C and L seemed to enjoy every minute of it, and that was the best part. The gift shop in the lobby of the theatre had Christmas tree ornaments with three Rockettes kicking up their heels, so we bought one for each of the girls, and one for our own tree. A nice memento of the day's adventure.

I was going to get to Kroger tonight to do grocery shopping for Christmas day, but after such a busy afternoon and then the dinner out, I don't much feel like pushing a shopping cart around the supermarket tonight. Plan B: we'll go tomorrow morning..... early, I hope, before it gets too crowded with last-minute shoppers.

Christmas Lights

We drove around our subdivision last night to look at the outdoor Christmas light displays. We do this every year, and we both noticed that there aren't as many homes all decked-out for Christmas this year. We have no idea why this is, but there is surely a difference. Granted, there are no streets that have no lights, but there are many streets with just a few houses with lights.

The subdivision gives an award to the best-decorated house every year.... I don't exactly know what the award is.... it may be just a fancy stone plaque in front of their house, as they do with the "Yard of The Month" award. My husband and I picked out our own "best-decorated...." a two story home with white lights covering the lower bushes, white and red lighted balls hanging from the low branches of the trees, solid wood Nutcrackers (not the thin wood cut-outs) marching in the yard, and a beautiful ten-or-twelve-foot tree in the front yard, all decked out in silver ornaments and red bows. I've made the house sound simple in its decoration, but it really wasn't..... lots of lights, lots of tasteful ornaments.... nothing over-the-top, and none of those inflatable plastic things. I hate those tacky blow-up figures.... they're so out of proportion to everything else, and they just look like they should be sitting outside of a Wal-Mart instead of a family's home.

And, true to tradition, our neighbor up at our corner has added her yearly light display to our cul de sac's decoration....... she tossed out her one strand of multi-colored Christmas lights... just one strand on her front lawn-- wherever they land when she tosses them is where they stay till the day after Christmas. She has been doing this every year for the past 15 years, when the rest of the people on this cul de sac decided to use only white lights to decorate for Christmas. They were trying to win the "Best Street Decoration" from the community association, and they thought that hundreds of white lights would make this small street look elegant and festive. Well, the corner-lady decided that she would do something different, and that's when she started tossing out the single strand of multi-colored lights. For the most part, she doesn't bother much with anyone on the street, which is unusual for a community like this.

But.... to each their own.... and if that's how she wants to decorate for Christmas, then so be it. As our friend and around-the-corner-neighbor says: "If it doesn't bother her, why should it bother us?!"

The Calm Before the Holiday

My sister called me last night to gloat: "Just think.... there are hundreds of thousands of people running around now trying to get everything done before Christmas, and here we are, all finished with Chrismtas since before Halloween." Which is true, but a good percentage of the people with last-minute shopping and wrapping probably have to wait till they have the time and the money to get what they need for Christmas.

Yesterday was a relatively slow day, and that's how today is shaping up as well. I can't do the grocery shopping yet, because all I need is the seafood for Christmas day, and I'm waiting for the last minute for that. We've put one leaf into the dining room table, but I don't want to put on the good tablecloth and "dress" the table until I put all the cats out on the screen-porch, which will be tomorrow. Once I get started on the dining room, I don't let them in the house.... too many fragile things on the table, and it takes me a good while to get everything set just so.... and I don't want curious little kitty whiskers and paws near anything in the dining room where we all have to sit and eat. I love my cats, but.... I do have my limits when it comes to company coming over for dinner.

I took all the Christmas gifts out of the storage closet the day before yesterday, and "beribboned and adorned" them all (to use my sister's words). I do the ribbons and bows after I take them out of the closet, because I can't stack them one on top of the other if they have bows and ornaments on them. I recently bought the book "Presentations," by Carolyne Roehm.... and it inspired me to be more creative with wire-edged ribbons and small ornaments in the middle of the bows. The wire-edged ribbon is a lot easier to work with...... making bows is certainly easier.... and I've never liked those pre-made, pointed bows that come tumbled-up in a plastic bag.

My husband's mom used to fuss over packages..... lots of fancy bows (which she made) and beautiful wrapping papers. She taught me how to make bows, but mine never came out as full as hers. When I was a kid, it was Aunt Dolly who fussed over the packages more than anyone else. She could take the smallest gift and box it and wrap it and decorate it so much you didn't even want to unwrap it to see what was inside. But of course we all did... but we saved the ribbons and the package decorations..... which I still do today. I keep a hat box filled with bows and fancy ribbons, and anything that can be used to decorate the top of a gift box. Funny thing about that....... young Miss C is also doing the same thing now: she has a plastic box filled with bits of ribbons and bows, and little decorative things that can be used to dress up a package. I think that's the sweetest thing..... she calls it her "Arts & Crafts Box."

Lots of snow in Colorado these last couple of days. Our neighbors are up there skiing. They have a small condo there near one of the ski resorts and they go up as much as they can. Just the thought of all that snow makes me cold. I could never ski....... I'd be afraid of breaking a leg or an ankle, and I would have no patience for a cast. (How do you dress with a cast on your leg?) I am definitely a warm-weather girl, not a snow-bunny. Sometimes I wonder how I lived up north for so long when I feel as if I'm freezing down here when the temperature drops below 75 degrees.

I know, I know.... "freezing" is below 32, not below 75. (Details... details...)

Elves & More

My husband and I have just returned from downtown's Reliant Center.... we were there with the "Elves & More" organization. Each year, this group puts together bicycles for children of families who are living way below the poverty level. The man who started this group had a first year's total of 11 bicycles that he put together himself and distributed to children who had never owned a bike before. That was in the year 2000.

In 2001, the number of bikes given out was 23. The following year, 385 bikes were put together and distributed on Christmas Eve. The next year.... 8000 bikes. In 2004, the number was 20,800. For the year 2005, there were 13,000 bikes given out...... the lower number may have had something to do with Hurricane Rita & Hurricane Katrina. This year, they are giving out 20,000 bicycles. And seven of those were put together by myself and my husband.... he did the putting-together, I did the unboxing and unwrapping mostly, but I did put together the training-wheels on the little bikes, and I learned how to screw on the foot-pedals. Seven bikes may not seem like a lot, but it is to us, considering that we'd never done that before.

I also took three bags of Christmas gifts up there tonight.... story books, coloring books & crayons, and teddy bears. Before I helped my husband with the bikes, I wrapped up those gifts and put labels on them (boy or girl, and the age group). 19 gifts in all....... to add to the piles already there which will also be given out on the day before Christmas Eve. The volunteers start filling up the trucks early in the morning and head out to communities where children won't have much of a Christmas at all.

Twenty thousand bicycles. The number is staggering........ and when you walk into Reliant Center and see boxes upon boxes of bikes that need to be put together on one side of the building, and then look to the other side and see those that have already been assembled.... it just makes you melt. We put together a pink bike with training wheels, and two blue ones with training wheels.... then a green one that didn't need the extra wheels....... then larger blue bikes for the older kids.

I was amazed at all the people who were there to put those bikes together.... some were alone, some were in couples (like us), and there were also entire families there, setting up their own assembly lines to make the job go quicker. Just amazing.... there's no other word for it.... other than heart-warming. This has been going on at Reliant Center since Dec. 12th, and will continue until the 21st. They load the trucks on the 22nd, and deliver them on the 23rd. Everyone signs up on-line, and works in shifts... this way, they won't have too many people there on one day, and no one there on the next day.

As we were leaving, we stopped at the tables where they were selling things with the Elves & More logo, which brings more donation money to the organization. My husband bought himself a tee-shirt for $15 and we wrote out a check for $100 and told them to keep the change. We will definitely do this again next year.... but we'll wear sneakers next time, because the floor there is all concrete and awfully hard to stand up on for so many hours. And we'll bring a few different tools, to make the assembly go faster.... and I will bring a tiny scissors to cut through the bubble-wrap that the manufacturer wraps around the painted parts of the bikes. And who knows... maybe I will learn how to assemble more than the pedals and the training wheels. (But I was really great at tossing all the trash into the big dumpsters and flattening-out the packing boxes.... everyone has to toss out their own boxes and packing material, and keep the area around the assembly tables neat.)

Seven bikes for us this year.... next year, we will try to double that amount. What a great organization.... we kept saying that we felt like elves as we put those bicycles together. Jingle bells indeed.......!

Birthday Dinner for K

Last night's birthday/Christmas dinner with K and her mom was just perfect... they got here at 5:30 and didn't leave till after ten o'clock. K is always so surprised when we fuss over her the way we do, but she's just a very sweet girl and she fusses over us so much when we go to Babbo Bruno's.

We didn't expect K and her mom to bring holiday gifts here, and we were surprised when they did. I had gifts for them, but we're not on a tight budget like they are. K works and goes to school, and they have to put money aside to pay for K's college classes. They gave my husband a box of chocolate truffles and a gift card for Best Buy, and K and her mom picked out a beautiful black shawl for me (from SteinMart).... it's embroidered with a peacock, and fringed with black beads. K knows I love shawls and wraps because she sees them on me when we go to the restaurant.

K didn't open the Christmas gifts we gave her.... she's saving those for Christmas morning, as she always does. But she did open her birthday gifts, of course...... I bought her a pretty green handbag, one of the popular crocheted ones with little spangles on them.... all the young girls are using those down here. I also gave K a pair of earrings that I bought for myself up in NY, about 20 years ago. They look like one-carat diamond studs, but they're actually very good cubic zirconia stones, one carat each, set into sterling silver. I wore those for all these years, up until two years ago when I got real diamond studs in white gold. I kept the "old" ones, knowing that I would pass them along to someone who would like them, and K was just the perfect girl to give them to. Like our young Miss C, K is very sentimental about things like that. Last year, I gave K an antique black-beaded choker-necklace that I had found years ago at an antique shop. I wore that necklace a lot and loved it, but as you get older, chokers don't feel as comfortable as they once did. I gave it to K for Christmas last year, and with her long and slender neck, that necklace looks better than it ever did, and she wears it over and over and just loves it.

I gave K's mom a long necklace of glass beads, also from one of the local antique shops.... D loves long necklaces and they look great on her because she's tall. I also wrapped up a photo of Barry Manilow that I had gotten from the Manilow Fan Club. They send me a photo every couple of years, and each time, I pass it along to a Manilow fan because I already have two signed photos of Barry hanging up on the wall in my sitting room. Two years ago, I gave the photo to J (he's a Manilow fan also), and this year, D got the photo... which she said is going up on the wall in her bedroom. For both K and D, I wrapped up a Christmas cookie cookbook with a Christmas serving plate. I thought it would be a nice gift for the holidays, but I didn't realize that D loves to bake cookies for Christmas, and she just loved that cookbook. Perfect gift for her, so I was happy about that.

Anyway.... last night was just a very nice night, and we all enjoyed it. We had a simple Italian dinner.... baked chicken and spaghetti, with hot focaccia........ and for the first course we had the Crab/Artichoke/Parmesean soup that my husband brought back from the downtown Whole Foods Market the other day. (Just a small cup of that soup for each of us, because it's a thick, rich soup.) The highlight of the dinner, however, was dessert.... and it was so simple.

On one of the Food Channel's shows.... Semi-Homemade, with Sandra Lee.... she used flaked coconut to decorate the rim of martini glasses. Well, we don't serve drinks, but I used her idea with the coconut to trim the antique green glass sherbet cups for dessert. You dip the rims of the glass into honey, then you dip the glass into a bowl of shredded coconut. When you lift up the glass, the rim is covered with the coconut and looks so pretty--- especially with the dark green glass sherbet-cups that I had bought from J's antique shop a few weeks ago. All I served was ice cream in those cups, but with the flaked coconut around the rim, and a little pecan square on the plate underneath the cup, it looked like a gourmet dessert. Plus, I added a little candle on the top of K's ice cream (just as she does in the restaurant for us) so that made her serving even more over-the-top.

Those coconut-decorated glasses looked so festive on the table last night that I'm going to do the same thing for Christmas dinner. My husband has already made the plum pudding for Christmas, and we'll be serving that, but I will also have the coconut-glasses ready in the fridge and serve everyone just a little scoop of ice cream as well. It will be the perfect surprise at the end of Christmas dinner. I'm so glad I splurged on those green glass sherbet cups at J's shop.... I just knew I would use them again and again. Come to think of it, I can do the same thing for our St. Patty's Day lunch... the possibilities are endless.

The brass lantern that I found at the Alvin antique shop with V last weekend is going to get a lot of use in the center of our dining room table. Right now, it's decorated for Christmas with red Mardi Gras beads in the bottom of the glass, surrounding a glass votive holder, and there's a sheer red ribbon tied into a bow at its base. I had that in the very center of the table, and put some brass-colored Christmas angels around it. I can change the colors of the beads for St. Patty's Day... or use purple and pink for Easter.... once again, the possibilities are endless. I can even fill that glass globe of the lantern with red hearts for Valentine's Day. A great find for just six dollars.

Another cloudy day this morning.... seems like forever since we've woken up to sunshine. Still nice and warm outside, but we do miss seeing the sun first thing in the morning. I swear, for the past week or so, the early mornings have been more London-y than Texas-like.

Summer Sunday

Gorgeous day today... very warm, very summer-y...... my kind of "winter."

I spent most of the afternoon with young Miss C today.... she called and asked for some help with her homework, just minutes after my husband left to do his Christmas shopping. When she first asked me, I thought she needed help with geometry, which is my husband's forte, not mine. But it wasn't geometry this time, it was English and reading comprehension, which is like breathing to me, so she hopped on her bicycle and rode over here.

It didn't take long to figure out her homework assignment after I explained it to her. After she did a little research on my computer to look for some authors (I wasn't going to just give her the answers), she had the entire three pages completed in no time. I heard C's stomach growling just a little bit, so I asked her if she wanted some lunch, which of course she did.

I was going to suggest driving to one of the local gift shops after we finished lunch, but the phone rang and it was our friend K from the Italian restaurant. I had invited her and her mom over for dinner tomorrow, to celebrate Christmas, as well as K's 22nd birthday. She was calling to confirm, and to ask what time we wanted them to be here. Instead of going out to the stores, Miss C helped me get the dining room all ready for tomorrow... Christmas china, fancy glassware and flatware, and we put together a centerpiece with a brass lantern and some brass-colored Christmas angels. (C always likes to help gather things from around the house to arrange in the center of the dining room table.) She also helped me pick out the designs for the placecards, and she set out the birthday and holidays gifts for K and her mom. All I will have to do tomorrow is get the dinner going in the afternoon.

And, speaking of gifts.... my husband came home with more than I expected. One box in particular is huge.... square-shaped, about three feet in diameter, and much too heavy for me to pick up. He even managed to wrap that entire heavy box in holiday paper. I haven't a clue as to what it is..... did I ask for something that big? And will it go here? Or in the cottage? Must be something good, because my husband hasn't stopped grinning since he got home, so I know he's pleased with what he bought. (I asked for a little food-processor.... but it's way too big for that.)

C and I were surprised that my husband had been gone so long.... I thought he got caught up in holiday traffic at the local mall, but he drove all the way downtown this afternoon. While he was down there, he stopped in at the Whole Foods Market and brought home two large containers of their homemade Crab/Artichoke/Parmesean soup. We had part of one with dinner tonight, and I will use some of that soup as a first course for tomorrow's night dinner, instead of a tossed salad. It will be a nice surprise for K, having a nice dinner served to her, after all the dinners she has served to us over the past three years at Babbo Bruno's.

But.... just what is in that large box?

Saturday Adventures

Busy day.... we went out for lunch today with V & S, and their friends who were at V's Christmas dinner-party last weekend. V had found a Bed & Breakfast over in Seabrook, a beautiful vintage-looking Victorian house that you would think is 100 years old, but was built less than ten years ago.

"The Palm Lodge" is filled with antique stained-glass windows, carved woodwork, old wood floors, Victorian furniture.... no matter where you look, there is something beautiful to see. My husband took a look around and whispered to me: "Well, finally.... you have met your match!" The B&B is owned by a husband and wife, with the wife's sister helping out with meals and entertaining. Very nice people, all three of them, and you can see how much they love what they do just by looking at all the unique accessories they've found for the house.

Lunch was fine.... nothing way over the top, but just the atmosphere of the Victorian house made the meal delicious. First course was fresh fruit salad served in a martini glass (the rim of which had been dipped in sugar). Main course was chicken in cranberry-vinegar sauce, wild rice with nuts, and fresh green beans with yellow peppers. (I'm not a fan of chicken, but at $38.00 per person (which is extremely high for this area), I ate three-quarters of that piece of chicken.) They also had delicious hot bread with the main course... a very soft pastry-type of bread. For dessert... squares of Italian cream cake with butter-cream frosting, each serving topped with a chocolate-dipped strawberry. Everything was very elegantly served.... and the table had a beautiful centerpiece.... but as I said--- for that money, I think we all expected more than chicken for the main course. We all agreed that we were paying more for the ambiance than for the meal. (One of the men said "But you can't eat ambiance.")

V and I kept pointing out different items and decorating ideas while we were in the house, and V kept saying: "You will see that again." Such as the centerpiece on the coffee table in the sitting room of the house.... they took four or five wooden Santas and stood them up in a very large old wooden bowl, then surrounded them with pine cones and gold glass tree ornaments. It was simple, and simply beautiful. V and I will both do that, since we both collect Santas.... and my husband has already come home with a bag of pine cones-- he picked them up while he was walking Gracie this afternoon. (What a guy!)

For the napkin rings... they took wire-edged ribbon (Christmas design, of course) and just wrapped each of the napkins up in the ribbon and tied it in a simple bow--- looked like a little gift at each place setting. V was ready to keep her ribbon (she saves every bit of pretty ribbon, just as I do).... but they collected the ribbons after we had the fruit cups. (I guess they've had other guests taking the ribbons before.)

On the way back from the lunch, V asked me to go out to Alvin with her, to pick up a wood mantel that she was buying at one of the antique shops out there. So off we went, after she went home to check on her dog, and I came back here to check on the cats. (The guys stayed home... each at their respective computers.)

I thought we were going to just pick up V's mantel, but as soon as we got into the antique mall out there, V said we really needed to look around some, being that we drove all the way out there. We both found some Christmas bargains.... I bought two more small Santas to add to my collection, and V bought a set of glasses to go with her Christmas china, and she found amber glass goblets at just one dollar each, to use for her Thanksgiving dinners.

Before leaving Alvin, we stopped at Joe's Barbeque for some take-out ribs.... I'm not a beef rib fan either, but my husband likes them, so I came home with two to-go orders. Saves me from cooking for a couple of days... and it was a nice "thank-you" to him for getting me that bag of pine cones.

As I said... a busy day, but a very nice one. The weather is still warm and summery, as it should be. And the fire trucks are driving around the communities.... the trucks all decked-out in lights, and one of the firemen dressed up as Santa. Jingle Bells! And right now... I'm about to put together a centerpiece with Santas and pine cones.

"Little Women" & "What Not To Wear"

On the advice of my friend F, I watched Little Women last night... the 1949 version (not the one with Katherine Hepburn). In this film, the girls were played by Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O'Brien, June Allyson, and Janet Leigh. Peter Lawford and (surprise!) Rossano Brazzi were also in this film.

After trying three or four times over the years to read that book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the movie. (And watching it on one of the cable channels, without commercials, was a big plus.) I guess I just didn't like the writing style of the book...... I can't really say, and I hate to even say that, being that it's such a beloved classic.

The movie was beautifully done, though.... gorgeous costumes, beautiful homes, and a wonderful story. Elizabeth Taylor was absolutely beautiful.... very delicate-looking in her earlier years. I've seen her in a lot of older movies throughout the years, but it's been a while since I've watched an "old movie," and I'd forgotten just how pretty she was.


I went through my closet (again) yesterday.... trying on slacks and tops and even shoes.... and filling up yet another bag to give to one of the local charities when they call for donations. I don't know how some of those clothes got in there in the first place. I swear.... I must have been shopping with my eyes closed for some of those things. Or maybe it was a sale.... with prices that were too low to resist. While I was taking things out of my closet, I kept thinking of that show on the TLC network called "What Not To Wear." I can happily say that the clothes now in the donation bag wouldn't have passed inspection by Stacy and Clinton (the "WNTW" fashion police).

Speaking of that.... while I was watching an episode of "What Not To Wear" last week, the girl on the show whose clothing was being judged had a pair of black slacks from SteinMart that are identical to ones that I had bought.... black silk slacks with tiny martini glasses embroidered on them. I had bought those in SteinMart, thinking they'd be fun to wear for one of our Charades parties. (Martini glasses, of all things--- and I don't even drink.) And there they were on the television, being held up by Stacy who was saying that the designer of those slacks "should be shot."

As I watched that show, I was hoping that my sister wasn't watching also, because I had spoken to her after that trip to SteinMart and I told her about those slacks. (She didn't approve.) Not ten minutes later, during a commerical break, my cell-phone rang and it was my sister.... laughing so hard that she could barely speak. Without waiting for her to say anything, I told her that I was watching the show, and yes, I had seen the martini-slacks, and yes, I still had them in my closet.

Maybe that's what prompted me yesterday afternoon to go through my closet..... and the martini slacks are now in the donation bag. There's a lot more room in my closet at the moment.

Christmas Soup

Today was the day for me to try making a new soup that we plan to serve with Christmas dinner..... Crab Artichoke Parmesean Bisque. My husband and I bought containers of that homemade soup in the downtown "Whole Foods Market" a couple of weeks ago. Delicious soup, and it was a cold and rainy day when we had that for lunch (right in the market) so it tasted especially good.

So here we are, two weeks later, with sunny 80-degree temperatures, and I'm making soup. Which is fine with me.... I love soup, especially ones that don't come out of a can. I figured that the soup shouldn't be too hard to make, being that we knew the three main ingredients-- crabmeat, artichoke hearts, parmesean cheese.

I started by making my basic soup base, the same as I use for the crawfish bisque (that I started making after we had it in one of the local seafood restaurants). You take diced onion and let it get lightly brown in a little bit of butter.... then I added about 1/4 cup of finely diced carrots (they had carrots in the Crab Artichoke Parmesean bisque)...... after those got all nice and happy, I added a bit more butter (which I hate to use, but there's no substitute for the real thing), then I added three spoons of flour and let that cook for a couple of seconds. Then I poured in the "new" milk that we've been buying: Organic Fat Free 1% milk (delicious). I can't even tell you how much milk I used.... I just know how full my soup pot should be after I pour in the milk.

The milk has to come to a slow boil, then it thickens, with those onions and carrots in there. To make this soup extra-thick (which is how it was in the Whole Foods Market), I let a small red bliss potato cook in the microwave, then I took off the skin, mashed up the potato, and added it to the soup.... along with about 1/3 cup of grated parmesean cheese. I didn't even add salt and pepper because the cheese has salt, and the artichoke hearts have spices already added.

Now for the good parts.... I didn't have crabmeat in the fridge, so I used a can of whole baby clams.... I cut them up into teeny pieces. Then I took about six artichoke halves (the kind that comes in those small jars with oil)..... I drained those and chopped those up into teeny bits and into the soup they went. I let the soup cook slowly for less than half an hour... and taaa-daaaah! Delicious........ really a nice, thick, Christmas-day-worthy bisque.

Young Miss C was here this afternoon (she had just half a day of school today) so she tasted it and loved it also. My husband has meetings this afternoon, so I'm anxious to see what he thinks about it. For Christmas, I will make sure to have real crabmeat in the fridge, because that will give it a richer flavor than the baby clams.

We're having a seafood menu for Christmas dinner..... mussels with pesto sauce, then the crab/artichoke/parmesean bisque, then crab/salmon cakes. C's mom is making garlic bread to go with the mussels, and potatoes with feta cheese & artichoke hearts to go with the crab/salmon cakes. R is making a vegetable casserole to go with the main course, and she's also making a fruit chutney for the crab/salmon cakes. My husband will make his plum pudding for dessert, and I'll bake a pumpkin pie (or I may bake Greek cookies, if I have the time).

Speaking of Greek cookies.... my Greek-cookie-friend F up in New York reminded me how upset I was when our local supermarket had decided not to stock frozen phyllo dough. How right she was. I promised F that I would have a better attitude when I go grocery shopping. I promise not to say "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it." I promise not to complain that there are hundreds of varieties of cheese and thousands of kinds of breakfast cereal.

But do I really have to stop complaining that it takes 54,357 steps to get from one side of a Kroger to the other?

Yesterday and Today

What a difference a day makes..... yesterday was pouring rain, today was sunny and summery.

I drove to SteinMart yesterday.... just drizzling when I left the house, but pouring when I was driving home. I went to that store in search of Christmas presents for my husband. I had been looking around other stores and not finding what I wanted, then I thought I'd give SteinMart a try. They had a better selection that I expected, considering that the SteinMart store is much smaller than the other department stores in this area. But I found just what I was looking for... two of them, so I bought both. He can either choose which one he likes best, or keep them both, since they're not identical. I can't write down what I bought, because I never know when my husband reads these entries.

Of course, while I was in SteinMart, I found things that I didn't know I needed till I saw them. For next Thanksgiving, I found beautiful flowers made of caramel-colored silk and amber beads-- perfect autumn colors. I plan to put one of them by each place setting for next Thanksgiving. They were also having sales on Christmas things, so I found a few gifts for my sister, which are now in her Christmas box for next year. (My Christmas shopping for next year has now officially begun.)

Heaven forbid I go to SteinMart without looking at the clothes, so of course I did that too.... and found a perfect black dress skirt. I have about six or seven black skirts already, but the one I bought yesterday is different.... a straight skirt, but it flares out a little bit at the hem, which is just at knee-length. Perfect fit, perfect length, gorgeous fabric. And, according to my Aunt Dolly, you can never have too many black skirts. I can still hear her telling me: "You can go just about anywhere in a nice black skirt and a pretty sweater or blouse."

It rained for most of yesterday, but today was bright and sunny and warm... a gorgeous summery day. (Now this is the December weather we're supposed to get.) And what did we do on this pretty day? My husband and I went grocery shopping. (I hate, hate, hate grocery shopping.) I couldn't put it off another day... my list was getting longer and I was running out of too many things. In fact, my list was so long that I was thrilled when my husband asked me if I wanted him to go with me..... we took his car, which was great because all of the stuff we bought wouldn't have fit into my little car.

All of that food shopping this afternoon.... and then we went out for dinner tonight. We had planned tonight out anyway, being that today is my husband's real birthday, not to be confused with the surprise birthday dinner I arranged for him ten days ago. So back we went to Babbo Bruno's for a nice dinner out.

My sister called tonight.... and I told her about the grocery shopping, again saying how much I hate doing that chore. She told me that she doesn't mind shopping for groceries, simply because she knows that she can go in a store and buy whatever she wants. In her words: "Just think.... you can be living in Russia and go into a store and find empty shelves.... we live here and the shelves are never empty and anything you want is right there."

Well, that's another way to look at grocery shopping, so maybe I'll try that. I've already told my husband that when he retires, I plan to retire from grocery shopping. Since he likes to go to the supermarket, I've told him that he can take over that job. Until then, I'm happy when he comes to the store with me when he has the time. But just wait... the day after he retires, I'm handing him my Kroger card and I may just never walk into a supermarket again, no matter how full the shelves are.

Morning Rain

Stupid weather........ it's raining this morning. Not a pouring rain, but just enough to be annoying. But on the bright side, it's warm out there, so at least that's an improvement.

Last night's dinner with J, L, and B went very well...... the table looked great, the food was delicious (if I do say so myself), and we had a really nice night. J made Italian pastries for dessert.... little cupcake-shaped pastry filled with chocolate cream. I know the Italian name for them but I don't know how to spell it. J surprised us with his baking... we knew he could cook, but I had no idea he could bake as well. He brought the pastries on a very pretty Christmas china plate, which he gave to us as a gift.

We had gifts for everyone as well....... we gave B a jar of the Donne di Domani spaghetti sauce (which will give him a great dinner without having to fuss too much, since he lives alone); for L, I had her favorite hand cream all wrapped up, along with a scented jar-candle (she likes to burn those in the shop while she's working); and for J-- a mini slot machine that is decorated with photos of Barry Manilow. The Manilow store in Las Vegas sells those, and I knew J would love it because he loves to play the slots..... instead of cherries and oranges and numbers coming up in the wheel when you pull the handle down, they have all things Barry in the little windows. J is lucky with the slots..... within half a dozen pulls on the handle, the slot machine was ringing its bell and lighting up. When my husband and I were "testing out" that little machine with pennies, we worked at it for nearly twenty minutes before we were winners.

"The Amazing Race"........ I got to see the show late last night, after everyone left. My husband had set the VCR for me, so after the last dish was put away, I took a break and sat down to watch it. The two guys won, which I kind of thought they would, even though my fingers were crossed for the two girls from Alabama. It was an exciting last episode..... my husband watched it also, even though he's usually not interested in it. He said that if he and I were a team, he'd be afraid that I'd be pulling out of the race when the tasks were too impossible. Well, of course.... my sister and I say that all the time. Neither my sister nor I would be wanting to swim in water over our heads, or scale down the side of a building or mountain on a rope, or eat some god-awful fried bugs or camel meat. Maybe that's why my sister and I enjoy the show... it lets us see just how much we would try to accomplish without actually having to do it and get our hands dirty. (Or, in my case, break a nail.)

"Little Women"........ my friend F up in New York sent me an eMail to let me know that one of the cable networks is showing the movie on Friday of this week. Not the version with Katherine Hepburn (which I have seen) but the one with June Allyson (which I've never seen). I looked in our television guide and found it in the listings, so I will watch it on Friday night. I used to watch all the "old movies" with my Aunt Dolly when I was a kid. After everyone else in my grandmother's house went up to bed, my aunt and I would stay up late to watch "The Million Dollar Movie" on the television in the living room. Just she and I..... we'd have hot tea and cookies in the winter-time, or a little dish of ice cream in the summer. I think I was the only kid on my block who could identify all the Hollywood stars of the 1930s and 1940s.

I'm sure my Aunt Dolly is still watching late-night movies these days. I just spoke to her last week...... she still sounds as young and as vibrant as ever, although she does have back pains these days. She will be 94 on her birthday next June. If anyone in my dad's generation can live to be 100, it will be my Aunt Dolly, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. And my dad....... if he were living back in Queens instead of in New Jersey, I'd be betting he could live to be 100 as well. But New Jersey is taking the life out of him, one breath at a time.

Sunday Dinner

Taking a break from my kitchen........ I've been in there for hours now. We invited our antique-shop-owner friend J for dinner tonight, along with L, the lady who works with him, and our around-the-corner neighbor B. Just the five of us, for an Italian dinner, to soothe J's heartbroken holiday feelings because my husband and I aren't "doing Christmas" this year. That's the phrase J has been using for the past couple of weeks. Translation: We're not hosting our usual Christmas Open House. Poor J.... I've been telling him he's got to get out more, if all he'd been looking forward to all month was coming to our Open House party.

His answer to that: "Well, it's the next best thing, considering that Barry Manilow isn't coming to Houston anytime soon for a concert." J is the biggest Manilow fan I've ever seen.... that man is just insane at a Manilow concert.... standing up at his seat and singing all the words to all of the songs, right along with Barry. He came to a concert with us the last time Barry came to Houston, and J was a sight to behold.

Anyway... the table is set.... and taking a cue from one of the decorating shows, I walked around my house and gathered a few things to make a pretty centerpiece for the dining room table--- one of my little Christmas trees, and some of the Christmas angels. I put some tiny votive candles around the angels.... I've got vintage Christmas postcards for placecards.... green and white china, and two of my green glass sherbets to hold grated cheese.... the table looks great.

I was inspired by our neighbor V last night, so I tried something different with chicken cutlets for tonight's dinner. I dipped them in egg and breaded them, then cooked them in a tiny bit of olive oil. Then I arranged them in a baking pan, on top of some of the spaghetti sauce.... and on top of each chicken cutlet, I sprinkled some smoked baby clams, then topped it all with grated cheese. I had a very teeny-tiny cutlet that I cut into three bites.... I tasted one bite and gave my husband the other two. My impromptu recipe came out pretty good, and should taste even better once it bakes in the oven for about twenty minutes. I don't eat much chicken, and I've already had my one bite, but everyone else will enjoy the cutlets along with the spaghetti. (Who needs a cookbook.... just open up your pantry and see what starts whispering to you.)

The weather has gotten a little warmer since yesterday, which is a good thing. Still is cloudy out there, though, and we haven't seen a drop of sunlight since the day before yesterday. What on earth (pardon the pun) is happening to the weather these last couple of years? I remember the first few years we lived here... my "winter coat" was a blazer or a very light jacket. Now I go out to walk Gracie in a lined coat down to my knees, with a sweater and scarf under that, and with the hood pulled up. We're in mid-December, in southeast Texas.... we should be having Spring-like weather here, for goodness sake.

I'm not complaining, mind you.... just telling it like it is. And speaking of telling it like it is.... I told my sister that I had invited our friends for dinner tonight and she exploded into the phone: "You what?! Sunday night is the last episode of The Amazing Race! What is wrong with you?!" Well, pardon me, but I forgot. My sister suggested that I tell everyone to eat fast, then say I had a dreadful headache so they'd all go home. Of course, she was kidding. (At least I think she was.) Not to worry, though...... my husband has already put a tape into the VCR so the machine can record the show while our friends are here. And I told my sister not to call me and tell me who won until I call her after I've watched the tape. I'm hoping that the Alabama team wins.... but if it comes down to a foot-race, then the two male models are going to beat Alabama. But we'll see.... it's not over till Phil sings out which team has won.

Christmas Dinner Party with V and S

It's 11:30 as I type..... we just got back from our around-the-corner neighbors' house.... V and S had invited us tonight for "a little holiday fun," as V had told us when she asked us to save tonight for her. We thought she would have just a few of the neighbors over to her house.

My husband and I were truly surprised..... we were the only neighbors there..... the rest of the guests (four other couples) have been friends of theirs for nearly twenty years. And V had cooked up a sit-down dinner..... chicken, ham, cornbread dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes, cornbread, garlic bread. Bottles of wine, and chocolate-almond torte for dessert. V's dining room table was set with her holiday china and glassware..... and of course her house was filled with just about every ornament that Christopher Radko has made over the years.

What a nice group of people... the energy around that dining room table was amazing, and we just sat and talked and no one got up from the table except to get more water or wine. Funny stories, family stories, local topics..... lots of good things to talk about the entire evening. V & S and their friends are going next weekend for a holiday luncheon at one of the waterfront bed and breakfast homes. They invited us to go with them, and of course we said yes.

One of the funny parts of the evening.... after dinner and before dessert, V went into the kitchen and came back with a small glass vase filled two-thirds of the way up with pennies. She asked each couple to guess the amount of pennies....... V looked at me, I looked at her...... there was a twinkle in her eye....... she was doing what I do here at all of our Charades parties--- have everyone guess the amount of something in a jar or glass or whatever.

One of the other couples had the right amount of pennies, and they got a special Christmas ornament, and then V gave all the other couples a little package of silver ornaments. Again, I got that little twinkle from V as she looked at me. I just smiled at her and didn't say a word, but of course I was very flattered.

When my husband and I were walking home from her house, I told him that all of those couples would make great additions to our Charades parties. What a nice night.....

Little elves on bicycles....

Our young friend C rode over here on her bicycle this morning, along with her best friend L. Both girls were wearing Santa hats as they rode up our driveway towards our back door. Too cute........ and they were so cold. They had sweaters and zip-up jackets on, but they still weren't dressed warm enough for this morning's cold weather.

I'm not saying that it was "freezing," since my friend F up in New York has recently reminded me that freezing means temperatures below 32 degrees. We weren't exactly below 32 degrees this morning... more like 50 degrees, which is close enough to that frigid mark, in my opinion. So let's just say that this part of Texas was sun-deprived and temperature-challenged this morning. (Translation: freezing.)

We made the girls hot chocolate when they came in...... then my husband asked them if they were hungry. Silly question--- for two petite little girls, they seem to have bottomless pits in their bodies. We had leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge (one of C's favorite foods) so my husband heated the potatoes for the girls. They were still hungry... my husband made them grilled cheese sandwiches. First one, which they split. Then another, which they also split. Then my husband made one for himself, but ended up giving that to the girls as well. One more into the pan for him, but the girls split that as well. Mind you, the bread he was using was the extra-then Pepperidge Farm slices, but still...... that's a lot of cheese and bread that's going into their size-two little bodies. Where do they put it? And how do they work all that off?

While the girls were here, I gave them the Christmas necklaces that we had bought for them at the downtown Nutcracker Market last month. The necklaces have tiny Christmas lights on them which light up-- there's a tiny watch battery at the back of the necklace. The girls thought they were very cool..... in C's words: "Sweeeeeet nugget!" (Which I guess is the latest way to say that's cool.)

I also gave the girls the invitations I made up for them, for the NYC Rockettes' Christmas Show at one of our downtown theatres. We had already spoken to their parents, but I asked them to keep the surprise till I could give the girls the invitations at the same time. Both C and L were really surprised, and they're excited to be going with us. I told the girls it would be a dress-up night.... no jeans, no sneakers, no corduroys..... either nice slacks or skirts or a dress.

Actually, I'm excited to be seeing the Radio City Rockettes' show myself...... I haven't seen that Christmas show in the longest time, and I used to love going there with my dad. And let me just stop typing right now, before I get all sappy with holiday memories.

Stupid computers.... stupid weather.....

It is positively freezing outside today..... as it was last night. Too cold to let the cats sleep on the screen-porch, so all three were inside last night. Let's see.... AngelBoy woke me up at 3:30, Mickey Kitty woke me at 4:30, and last but not least, ShadowBaby woke me at 5:45. So much for a good night's sleep. I had a female calico cat for years and years when I lived in NY... never once did she wake me up in the middle of the night. Proof positive: male cats are high maintenance.

As for computers.... I switched over to the "new and improved" blog format this morning. I was crossing my fingers as I filled in the little boxes and hoped that the Google site wouldn't lose everything I've written for the past couple of years. I don't completely understand why they're changing the format, or the website, or whatever they're doing, but according to the blogspot page, it has to be done before the end of January. Seems to be working just fine, and The Blog Powers That Be have sworn that the service will be better. I'm hoping that everyone who was keeping up with Sprinkles will be able to still get to it.

So cold today that I haven't been out..... except to go into the yard to let Gracie out there. AngelBoy and ShadowBaby also went out for a little while, but it's so cold outside that they didn't stay but ten minutes or so, and then they were both on the deck waiting by the screen-door so I could let them back in. And where are the cats now? Sound asleep, of course, so they'll be wide awake between 3:30 and 5:30 in the morning....

Our around-the-corner neighbor V is coming by this afternoon, to give our tree a look-see. We're going to her Christmas party this weekend, and she's busy getting ready for that, but she wanted to see our tree on her way out to do some last-minute before-the-party errands. V's big tree in her living room is filled with Christopher Radko ornaments, all of them bought at after-Christmas sales or given to her as gifts. She has so many Radko ornaments in her house that she has begun filling clear glass vases and bowls with them. V also has lots of little trees around her house, which display the smaller Radko ornaments. And Santas... V has the largest collection of black Santas that I've ever seen.

V and her husband gave a small Christmas party last year as well, the week after we had our huge Open House party. My husband and I were invited to that party, and I felt badly that I hadn't invited them to ours the week before. We just didn't know they were so into Christmas. We're careful who we send invitations to.... we don't send Christmas party invitations to people unless we know that they "do" Christmas, and we don't send Charades invitations out to people if we know they wouldn't be comfortable at that kind of a party. We have been inviting V and her husband S to all of our Charades parties since we found out they enjoy any kind of party, so I guess I've made up for not asking them to our previous Christmas parties.

I tried (once again) to read Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" this week...... for whatever reason, I just can't get interested in that book. I know it's a classic, and I know it's been very popular for over a hundred years, and it's probably never gone out of print, but I just can't get into it. This was my last try........ I had bought that book at a yard sale for just a quarter.... it's a vintage hardcover which I've even tried to sell on eBay. Now that book is on my give-away pile... it will end up being chosen by one of our party guests, or I will donate it to the local library. Sorry, Louisa, but I'm just not that into you.

Here goes.... this is the first entry that I will post to the new system. I hope it gets from here to there without getting lost along the way.

"You're not doing Christmas?"

That's what our friend J said to me yesterday when I drove into League City to his antique shop: What do you mean you're not doing Christmas? You're breaking tradition!

Indeed we are...... we've had that Open House Christmas party every year since 1997. No matter how I explained it to J, he was just so disappointed. Like a little kid, I swear that man is. He told me I could just whip up a party in no time flat. Well, I probably could, but it wouldn't be anything like the mega-parties that we have here. And who wants a half-baked party? If I can't do it right, then I'd rather not do it at all. And in order to do it right, the preparations for that kind of a party needed to be started before October. I reminded J that I had the flu for six weeks back then, but he kept telling me that I didn't have the flu now. (Men.....)

Plus, my husband and I have been invited to two parties.... and the weekends are winding down and before you know it, Christmas will be here. I told J that we would invite him over for dinner, along with L, the lady who works with him..... they both come to all of our Charades party. In fact, when I told L that we wouldn't be having the Christmas party, she said Good for you! Take a break and just enjoy the holiday! And then she said: But you're still going to do the Valentine's party, right? (Well, of course we are..... that's like the Halloween party--- we just have to do it!..... We can't be breaking too many traditions.)

In fact, while I was in J's shop yesterday, I found something for the Valentine's party..... a tall champagne goblet, clear glass, with a red glass heart design at the very bottom of the stem. Just the one, so I bought it---- I will fill it with red M&Ms and wrap it up in cellophane, and that can be one of the guessing games at the Valentine's party.

I also found some vintage dark green sherbet glasses at the shop..... I already had four of them, and I found six more that are nearly identical to mine. I will use them at Christmas, and again for our St. Patty's Day lunch. Right now, I've got them up on the shelves of our coffee-bar and those glass shelves look very Christmas-y, between the red goblets that I had, and now all those pretty green sherbets.

In L's space at J's shop, I found a tiny little Christmas tree, just about 16" high...... then I found this pretty little turquoise and gold teacup that the base of the tree fit into perfectly. (Just the teacup... no saucer, but I didn't need it for the tree.) So there I was last night at ten o'clock, gluing beads and vintage buttons to that little tree. For the tree-top, I used a costume-jewelry cameo pin. Such a pretty little tree..... it's sitting on the sofa table in the living room, and I put some gold angels around it. Mickey Kitty went to investigate all of that, of course, but he wasn't too much interested, which is fine with me.

I've been paging through Carolyne Roehm's decorating and entertaining books...... lots of great ideas in there for pretty ways to dress up dining room tables. Our dining room table this year will be a mix of silver and red..... with the Santa ornaments at each place setting, and green-trimmed china, and I think I'll buy a cherry or strawberry gelato to serve in the green sherbet glasses. What I need to do is start making a list..... and we still haven't decided on what to serve for dinner yet, so we've got to get going on that because our friends are going to be calling to ask what we'd like them to bring.

While I was in League City yesterday, I went into Nana's Attic and found more Christmas gifts for my sister, and even a couple of birthday gifts for her. So I bought those and put them into the closet for her. They have such great things in that little shop... things you don't see at the other local stores.... the two sisters who own the shop have been in business for over 18 years now. It was one of the first shops that I discovered when we moved down here in 1993 and I've been going there ever since.

The weather has warmed up some...... so much so that the cats slept out on the screen-porch last night. (So nice to not get up at three or four o'clock in the morning....) There was a twenty-five degree difference in the temperature between yesterday and the day before. All that cold weather came from the Chicago area... and I hope they keep it up there where it belongs. I don't know how they manage up there........ the Illinois winters seem even worse than those I remember from New York.

Today's temperature is around 65 degrees..... and I'm sitting here with jeans, a camisole underneath my sweater, and I've got a poncho on top of the sweater. Unless the temperature is 80 or above, I'm just plain cold.

New Neighbor J

We had a visit last night from a neighbor who lives a couple of streets away from ours. My husband met this nice lady while walking Gracie....... J was also walking her own dog, which is a tiny Yorkie named Babe. Cute little dog, and not one of those nervous, yappy little Yorkies that I've met in the past. J is a very calm and serene lady, so I'm sure what they say is true-- that pets take on some aspects of their owner's personality.

J came over after dinner-time, at the invitation of my husband, to see our tree and the vintage Christmas lights that he collects. She had seen the bubble-lights before, but wasn't familiar with the figural lights. She really enjoyed all the trees here, and was excited to find a few vintage ornaments on our tree that were similar to some she had inherited from her grandmother.

Last night was the first time I'd met J, other than seeing her outside one time as she walked Babe. She's older than we are, and I would guess that J is older than our friend Frankie was. While Frankie was a "party girl," even in her 70s, J is more quiet and proper. (Frankie once had a comment on being proper: she told me that someone had asked her if she were "a proper woman," and Frankie had replied "Darlin', I am a properly extraordinary woman.")

We had hot apple cider and plum pudding (from the Whole Foods Market) after J ooohed and aaahed over our Christmas decorations. She found a little blue and silver glass bell on our big tree that she just loved, because her own angel tree also has the same color blue ornaments on it. I have three other blue glass bells on our tree (I found all four of them at a yard sale), so I took off the blue and silver bell that she admired and wrapped it up for her to take home for her own tree.

While J was here, she also looked through the watercolor and oil paintings that my husband's mom had painted over the years. J is a painter also, and my husband thought she might like to see his mom's work. J was totally impressed with Audrey's paintings, and was surprised that she didn't paint professionally. We were so comfortable with J, and it felt like we had known her for ages and ages. (At the end of the night, I asked my husband if he thought she might like our Charades parties, and we intend to ask her to the next one.)

When we were finished here with decorations and artwork, J drove us to her house to see her little angel tree, and to look at her paintings. The style of her work is totally different than my husband's mom's..... but J's paintings were very pretty, very interesting, and her dog portraits were just outstanding. She manages to capture the personality of the dog in the paintings, and I would imagine that's not an easy thing to do. J's little Christmas tree is filled with very small angels..... some antique, some new, but all very pretty and precious. I will have to keep my eyes open in my shopping travels, and maybe I can find some small sweet-faced angels for her. With her tree, J says "the smaller and sweeter, the better."


This afternoon, I did some shopping here in town, after a couple of errands to the bank and the post office. (The holiday rush at the post office has begun, and I'm hoping I don't have to go back there till after the first of the year.)

I drove to the local dollar store, which is where I find all the pretty paper napkins that I use for the holidays. You can buy them in Hallmark and pay full price, or you can buy last year's Hallmark designs in the Dollar Store and pay a quarter of the price. I prefer to give my money to the Dollar Store.

After that, I popped into Palais Royal, which is a small department store in the same little shopping center. They usually have a lot of things on sale in there, and that's what I went looking for. In their costume jewelry section, they had the Halloween bracelets marked half-price, so I bought a few of the nicer ones to use for Best Costume prizes for the ladies at next year's Halloween party. They also had sales on their Christmas items, and I found beautiful gold reindeer ornaments at just $3.00 each.... I bought ten of them, and I've already put them away for next year...... I intend to use a reindeer at each place setting for next year's Christmas dinner. (I've learned that when you see something you can use, especially at a sale price, buy it and put it away till you're ready to use it. Otherwise, you could look and look when things aren't on sale, and not find what you're looking for.)

The temperature is a little warmer today than yesterday. It was freezing last night--- sure was a cold walk home from J's house, even though it was just two streets. I let the cats sleep in the house again last night.... all three of them were curled up on our bed. They're getting so spoiled... when the weather gets back to being warmer, they're not going to want to sleep on the screen-porch, no matter what kind of comfy furniture is out there for them.

The reality of the cold nights is that I don't get to sleep through the night. The cats wake up during the night, and they wake me up, and that's that. I can't even ignore them during the night, because they are relentless. AngelBoy woke me up at 3:30 last night because he had used the litter box in our bathroom. He wakes me up so it can be cleaned out. Honest. It sounds so silly, but that's what he does. That cat cannot stand for a litter box to be soiled. An hour after he woke me up, ShadowBaby was up...... seems that he was hungry and didn't want the dry food that was in the kitchen for him.... he wanted the canned food. Well, I'm not starting with that in the middle of the night.

Mickey Kitty slept straight through last night, but that's probably because he was up four times the night before--- I was up four times also, pulling him out from the branches of the big tree in the living room. He has been so good with that tree, not even sleeping underneath it...... but the night before last, he decided to try and climb it. And he's still little enough to get inbetween the branches and spiral himself up the tree, walking around the branches near the trunk. As tired as I was, he just looked so darn cute with his little head sticking out of the tree that I couldn't even scold him. (You can't scold a cat anyway... it never works because they don't ever think they've done anything wrong.)

Again--- just who was it that said having cats lowers a person's blood pressure. Well, it may lower your blood pressure, but having cats in the house also decreases your sleeping hours.

Lunch for the Secretaries

It's nearly 3:00 as I type..... I've been busy all day with a Christmas lunch for the three secretaries in my husband's offices. We did this the year before last-- had the three ladies over here for a holiday lunch. I don't know why we didn't do it last year, but we didn't, and they seemed to be disappointed when my husband brought in gifts for them instead of inviting them for lunch.

So today we did both.... lunch here, plus a gift bag for each of them. They didn't seem to want to leave, but by two o'clock my husband had to drive them all back to the offices because he had a meeting. I'll have to remember to do this for them every year.

I made a tortellini and vegetable casserole in pesto sauce, plus a tossed salad. Then I took those Pillsbury crescent rolls and instead of separating them into triangles, I laid the dough flat, sprinkled some shredded cheese on them and rolled them up....... then you cut them into one-inch pieces and lay them flat on the baking sheet. They puff up into little pinwheel shapes and look really cute.

For dessert, we had vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries.... very Christmas-y looking.... then I had boxed chocolate cookie dough ... little pre-cut squares that I put into the oven while I was getting the ice cream ready--- hot cookies to put on the little plate underneath the glass ice cream cups. The placecards had resin angels hot-glued onto them, and the secretaries all wanted to take them home, which of course I knew they would (and why not?)..... and I used candy canes and red-wrapped chocolate truffles by each place-setting. The table looked very festive.

Tonight we get to do it again, but on a smaller scale.... one of our neighbors is coming over to see our tree and all my husband's vintage Christmas tree lights. We'll have hot apple cider and hot cookies again.... and I still have some of those strawberries left over if anyone wants ice cream. I let the ice cream sit out on the counter before serving it, and the strawberries were warm, so it didn't feel like we were eating a cold dessert after lunch this afternoon.

Cold outside again today.... while the secretaries were here, I kept the cats in our bedroom with the door closed. Nice and sunny outside, but just too cold for my southern-born cats out there today. Stupid weather.... I absolutely hate it when it gets like this. You get so spoiled when you don't have to worry about heavy clothing and bulky coats....

Galveston for "Dickens On The Strand"

My husband and I drove out to Galveston today, for their annual "Dickens On The Strand" Christmas celebration. Yesterday was warmer and less windy, and I talked my husband out of going-- only because of last night's surprise birthday dinner for him. He knew we'd be going out for dinner last night, and I suggested that after walking around Galveston all afternoon and eating the different foods at the vendors' booths, neither of us would want to go out for and Italian dinner afterwards. And how could we disappoint our friends K and B?

When we got to the restaurant and my husband saw three tables of friends there last night, he was glad that we hadn't gone out to Galveston Island after all. So off we went today, just the two of us. C and her friend L had Girl Scout meetings today, so they weren't able to go, as they did last year. And it was just as well. Turns out that the Sunday "Dickens" celebration isn't as popular or as ornate as the Saturday events. Maybe it's not as popular because it's not as ornate.

There were less crowds, which made for shorter lines at the food vendors, which was a good thing. But the smaller crowd made it seem like the celebration wasn't as energy-filled as it usually is. I also thought there were fewer sales booths there this afternoon. We've always gone to "Dickens" on a Saturday in the past, and seeing what we did today, I doubt very much we'd go back on a Sunday again. The event is held for just the two days, the first weekend of December.

We walked around a couple of antique shops while waiting for the parade to begin at three o'clock. The antique shops were nice and warm, and the wind out on The Island was just awful today. Plus, if you were on the shady side of the street, you froze.... so of course we tried to stay in the sun as much as we could.

The Queen's Parade, which usually lasts nearly an hour, was over in about ten minutes this afternoon. There were no school bands, no Budweiser Clydesdales, no jugglers, no miniature ponies, no cowboys on horses.... and where was Santa today? Doesn't he work on a Sunday? Sad to say, even the parade was a disappointment.

But on the bright side.... we had a good time, as long as we were in the sun and out of the wind. I dressed up in my long black velvet skirt, high western boots, and three layers of thin sweaters underneath a pretty black and green velvet cape. I even brought black velvet gloves with me to keep my hands warm. Dressing up Victorian-style is part of the charm of the "Dickens on The Strand" celebration. There were women there with very elaborate Victorian-era gowns, complete with bustles and hoop-skirts. How do you sit down while wearing a hoop-skirt?

I'm hoping the weather starts to warm up again. Yesterday was warmer than today, so I thought today would be warmer still. The weather gods are playing with us.

Surprise Birthday Dinner

It's nearly 11:30 as I type..... and it's been a special day...... We went out for dinner tonight at Babbo Bruno's. My husband thought we were meeting our friends K and B for a quiet dinner for the four of us, to get together with them before they leave for their month-long vacation to India. They take their vacation every year at this time, so we always celebrate Christmas with them way before Dec. 25th.

My husband didn't have a clue that I'd been planning tonight's dinner since way before Thanksgiving. I had invited some of our closest friends for a surprise birthday dinner-party for him. When we got to the restaurant, our usual table in the corner was empty and we had three tables joined together for a party of nine. My husband was totally overwhelmed and surprised.

K and B had stopped here before the restaurant, so we could open Christmas presents as well as birthday presents for K and my husband (K's birthday was just after Thanksgiving). They also gave us a homemade pecan pie, which they've baked for us every Christmas for the past three years now. This year's pie is the best ever, with twice as many pecans, half the sugar, and a couple of eggs beaten into the mixture which gave the inside of the pie a custard-y texture. (As Rachel Ray says--- Yum-O.)

Then off to the restaurant we went, K and B taking their own car so they wouldn't have to back-track here afterwards, and we followed in ours. Thankfully, they got there and into Babbo Bruno's first, and our friends J and S were already there, as well as L and S and C. As we walked towards the back of the restaurant, my husband thinking we were going to our usual corner table, he saw our friends and they all started singing Happy Birthday to him. I saw the tears in his eyes.... he was totally surprised.

Dinner was, as always, totally delicious.... we splurged with a bottle of wine and appetizers before dinner, and instead of individual desserts, they fixed up a sampler platter of three of their best dessert dishes, so each of us got to taste all three. Our friend K was there to take care of our table, and she made the dinner special with her usual extra attention. I remembered Oprah's recent show about giving money to unsuspecting people who deserve a little help..... I paid for the dinner with my credit card but I left K a whopping big cash tip.... and I saw the tears in her eyes when she thanked me for it.

It was a fantastic night.... I don't know what I'll do for his birthday next year---- I know I couldn't surprise my husband two years in a row with a birthday party. So I guess I will have to think of something totally different.

Yesterday's news....

I typed the following paragraphs yesterday.... between the time I started to write and the time I finished, the cable company here had a major glitch which lasted till this morning (Saturday). No computer for all of yesterday afternoon and last night, and no cable service for the television either. Not a problem.... we burned some wood in the fireplace and made believe we were up at the lake. The cable company has now fixed their problems....


I drove up to Hancock Fabrics this morning, after a trip to the post office with a bunch of eBay packages to mail. The post office wasn't as crowded today as I thought it would be, but I'm sure that will change as we get deeper into December here.

I've always found neat things at the fabric store, and what I was looking for today was some silky red ribbon. My Christmas dinner placecards have porcelain Santa-face buttons on them, and I bought a box of eight Santa-face blown glass ornaments at Marshall's the other day. I thought the Santa ornaments would make a nice table-gift, one at each place-setting for Christmas Day. But they needed a little ribbon bow attached to the little hook at the top, and I found the perfect ribbon at the fabric store. Right now, all eight Santas are sitting in the box, all tied with little red ribbons and waiting for Christmas dinner.

They had lots of Christmas sales at the fabric store today, and not just on fabric. All of their scrapbooking accessories were 40% off, and they had lots of Christmas things to pick from---- so of course I bought a bunch of them. If you don't get them on sale, those little things get to be expensive. And they had such pretty ones, with shiny papers and glitter. I now have enough cute little Christmas stick-ons to make holiday placecards for the next five years. (I am not into scrapbooking, but I do use all of those 3-D stickers and scrapbook things for my placecards.)

I also looked through the fabric remnants, because you can get such great fabric-ends for next to nothing. This past Halloween, I wrapped up the best-costume prizes in Halloween fabrics that I had bought during the summer--- each half-yard piece costing just fifty cents. This morning, I found a leopard-print plush fabric, two yards of it, for under $2.00...... I will use that as a bed for Gracie up in our bedroom at the cottage. All I have to do is put an old towel or two underneath the fabric to make it even more comfy, and she'll feel right at home. She has a similar doggie-bed here, which is in the corner near my husband's side of the bed, so I'll do the same thing up at Mayberry for her. (No, our pets are not spoiled.)

Another little fabric remnant that I bought this morning is a two-toned brown velvet, with swirls of gold glitter on the front of the material. Gorgeous piece of fabric, wide enough and long enough to be a scarf, which is what I'm going to use it for. The ends of the fabric are seamed up and look finished, but the sides aren't finished but you can barely tell because of the velvet two-tone and the glitter, so I'm going to just leave it as it is. I don't have a sewing machine, and wouldn't know how to use one if I did. I could put a hem on it, which I know how to do, but that would take too long for something that no one would notice. Best to just leave it as it is..... and that beautiful piece of glittery fabric cost less than a dollar.

It was freezing last night, so all three cats were in the house, and all three slept on our bed. As always, ShadowBaby's little kitty-clock woke him at at 4:30, so the other two got up as well. I put them all on the screen-porch for a little while, to remind them how cold it was out there, and they all used the litter boxes while they were in there. When they came back in, they munched on a little dry food and then they all went back to sleep.

The sun is out today and it's warming up a bit.... it will continue to get warmer during the next five or six days.... we won't be back up to 85 degrees, but the high temperature during the day will be around 70. Sweater weather. But at least it won't be freezing. I was outside in the front garden today when the sun was at its warmest.... I brought the lighted deer out front and secured them into the flowerbeds, and then I strung tiny white lights all over the little bushes. I forget the name of those bushes that the gardener planted a few months ago. They sure are slow-growing. I miss the look of the larger shrubs that the gardener pulled up. Oh well, in a few more years, I guess these little bushes will be bigger and fuller. But for right now, the deer look like dinosaurs in a miniature garden.