Bits and Bobs

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving here in the States and that those of you elsewhere had a nice weekend! Joe and I spent that day puttering around the house, watching the Macy's Parade in the morning (a tradition I've kept since I was a little girl) and then heading to my best friend's for dinner with him and his family who was visiting from New Jersey. We all ate far too much dinner and had a lot of laughs at the table and while digesting on the couch before going back for delicious deserts. Once we were stuffed to the gills and ready to take a nice long nap, Joe and I helped clean up and headed back to our home where we spent the evening on the couch with the the fur babies. Joe played the newest Assassin's Creed game while I read The Wind in the Willows. I dozed off several times before he shooed me and Luna Petunia to bed at 1am.

Mommy, get your ass in bed!

This was the first time in my 15 years of employment that I've had the day after Thanksgiving off and I took full advantage of it by... sleeping late. Of course I didn't go out shopping, don't be silly! Between working in retail for over a decade and for banks the rest of the time, I've had more than a lifetime's fill of that nonsense. In the early afternoon we ventured to the hardware store for a can of paint for my newly finished nightstand and then stopped at the little Christmas Tree place we've gone to every year since we bought the house. It's a small family run place and it's been fun to go every year and see their kids grow up and their business grow a little bigger.

We poked and touched and I may have hugged a few trees, until we found the perfect Yulemas tree; a little smaller than our previous ones but much, much fuller! Joe carried him over to the pay station while I paid. The man who works there asked Joe if he had carried the tree over himself and he pointed to the man's 6 year old son and said "Nope! Muscles here did it, all on his own." The boy just grinned and grinned. When they put it through the bagger, the man had forgotten his scissors and had to run to find some. Joe tried to stop him, but he didn't hear him, so he cut the netting with his pocket knife (have I ever mentioned that my husband is an Eagle Scout?) and winked at the boy and told him to tell his dad he'd chewed through the ropes. When dad got back and Joe and the boy were laughing, Joe told him his son had cut the net with his teeth and dad said "That's my little wolverine!" Gotta love a family with a good sense of humor. :) That's why we keep going back!

Poor Joe, I had us facing the sun so we'd have some light. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Unfortunately, our beautiful tree sat undecorated for a bit as I woke up Saturday morning with a Gods awful cold! Joe, Luna and the kitties have been taking very good care of me; the furs by laying on me to make sure I'm (too) warm and Joe's been keeping me full of hot tea and honey and set up my side of the bedroom with my nightstand and vaporizer so I can sleep better. I'm happy to report that I'm on the mend, still a little snuffly and now with the cough of the scratchy-healing throat, but I feel human again. Mostly.

I managed to feel well enough to go out and celebrate a friend's birthday at a low key party at a mutual friend's house, complete with cake and the trimming of their tree:

and I also felt well enough to supervise Luna and Joe putting the lights on our tree from my spot on the couch:

Luna is very particular, so I really didn't have to do very much. ;)

Once I'm fully free of germs, I have a list of Christmas gifts to get on making; fleece hats and wallet/pouches for our gazillion nieces (Ok, there are 8 of them but it feels like a million), jam to can and tuck in to gift baskets with ornaments and another special something or other for our parents, fudge to make and box up for our coworkers, collaborative projects between Joe and I for a few of the families we're friends with (we like the idea of a big thoughtful gift for the house that will be enjoyed as a family than a few puny things), paintings and a few people I haven't even thought of things to make for yet. So I've got my work cut out for me.

Oh! And cards. I need to get on those too. ;)

Busy, busy. Just the way I like it!