December 24, 2012
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year….
Hmmm..my last post was from Thanksgiving! yikes…my bad!
Here is a quick catch up of my month of December…
We usually (the last many years..) have used an artificial Christmas tree, but this year we decided we would get a real tree & actually go to a tree farm to get it!
a glimpse around the house….
I made ornaments this year using wine corks! It was so much fun.
Baking! only a few pictures of some of the goodies I made up. The peppermint hearts were a first this year. I found the idea on Pinterest! Loved them. First you lay 2 mini candy canes to form a heart, then drizzle a thin layer of white chocolate, then a layer of chocolate, then sprinkles! So cute & so easy. I did some alternate ones too, starting with the dark chocolate & ended with the white chocolate on top. they look so cute in the goody baskets that I make up. The middle picture is the M&M bark & the 3rd picture are the rum cakes…mmmm…to die for!
December 9th, we finally got snow!
We ended up with about 18″
This was the next day…a beautiful start to the day… well, except for hubby who had to get out & plow the driveway, which ended up taking close to 3 hours!
It made for some fun photo ops!
Friday night, 12/14 was date night for hubby & I. We went out to one of our favorite restaurants & then afterwards drove through my favorite park that has a Christmas light display…
These next 2 are my fun with lights “artsy” shots!
1 of our 3 cats, Big Red ended up starting to lose a lot of weight & was having trouble breathing. I took him in to the vet at the end of November. First diagnosis was Diabetes. We had to give him insulin shots twice a day & then was suppose to bring him back in 7-10 days to see about readjusting his insulin. Daughter & I brought him back in on 12/10. He was actually acting strange that morning. They ended up having to put him on oxygen at the vet & we also found out that he was full of cancer. He only had 1 small portion of 1 lung that was not affected, which was why he was having so much trouble breathing. The doctor told us he wouldn’t make it long at all once the oxygen was taken off. He suggested that we put him to sleep. Me, hubby & daughter all met up at the clinic that afternoon & said our goodbyes. He literally died in daughters arms with me & hubby on each side.
It was so hard & so sad for all of us. He was 14 1/2 years old. We had him from day 1… we bottle fed him. He was a part of our family. He is greatly missed.
I received my photo back from the Chippewa County Tourism department. This was one that won & was in the 2012 tourism magazine & hung throughout the area. They had it matted & framed. It made a nice Christmas present for the family who I photographed!
This next one was an honorable mention & was also in the magazine, but didn’t get matted & framed. I did end up buying a frame for it.
I also had 2 photos that were finalists in a new restaurant that opened in Eau Claire. They wanted entries for people & places in the area. I got 2 $25.00 gift cards for those! Fun!!
my parents sent us this yummy gift basket & also another gift box with sausages & cheese.
Gifts from my brother & his family…Twilight Woods lotion & bubble bath, a really neat necklace & earrings, a gorgeous tri wrap watch, a beautiful glass bottle stopper & 3 yummy smelling candles from Bath & Body Works. Loved them all!!!
Lobster Gram! OMG…what a great gift! It included 2 live Maine Lobsters, 2 lbs. of fresh littleneck clams, New England Clam Chowder,oyster crackers, 2 servings of new potatoes & corn on the cob. Even had a lemon, clarified butter, 2 shell crackers & seafood forks, lobster bibs & moist towelettes! How fun & how delicious!!! A vendor that hubby does business with sent this to us. I will definitely keep them in mind for future gifts. This dinner for 2 was only $99.95..not sure how much the shipping was.
Daughter had my old 2000 Taurus. It was in & out of the shop & had well over 100,000 miles on it. Hubby decided he wanted to one more big thing for his baby girl….
So he bought her a 2012 Mazda 3! Nice! She of course, was thrilled to death. Best Christmas present ever!
We went to her boyfriend’s “end of the world/30th birthday party” this past Friday night 12/21/12…it was fun. They went to Green Bay for the weekend. They got to go to the Packers game yesterday! *jealous*!
They are going to his mother’s today & his dad’s tomorrow, so hubby & I are spending the holidays with just each other. Enjoying some quiet time together. Daughter has to work on Wed. so we will celebrate Christmas with them on Thursday evening. I remember those days when we would have to travel to all of the relative’s houses. Even though we are missing our family right now, it is also nice to be able to just relax & enjoy the quiet!
Wishing you all a safe & Merry Christmas.
Comments (4)
what a wonderful representation of your Holiday season
Love the Christmas park!
I was so sorry to hear about Big Red
I know you all will miss him dearly
Your Photos are always Awesome…it is nice they recognized that.
I think it is kewl you gave the family the photo:)
Oh My Goodness I am drooling over that Lobster!!!!!!!!
Loved seeing all the gifts:)
Oh and Hubby is such a sweetie getting Daughter the car wooooooooo hoooooooo!!!
I didn’t say anything but Christmas Eve you will be getting a lil something in the mail:)
Love ya Gal<3
oh i’m sooo glad you wrote all about what’s been going on! that’s why you must not quit xanga! i think that’s great you guys got a real tree this year! how cool! you just go out and you can choose anyone, huh? cool! i’ve never had a real one. hubby usually did have a real one but we have our little fake one from tokyo which he put up finally on sunday. hehe isla was ooo excited about it and loved putting on the decorations. i showed her all your pictures particularly of big red. so sad. it must’ve been so difficult to say good bye. i think it’s great that your photo was chosen and i think the honorable mention was great too! where is that? did the family ask you to take the pic? or what was the scenario? i just about died looking at that lobster gram! i read it to hubby and he said that’s pretty good for $99.95! that’s awesome! what a great gift!!! and your gifts look great! since it stinks that all our family live in america, it’s tough to send lots to each other. we still haven’t received stuff from 3 relatives so…it’ll be fun to open the stuff later. it stinks that we can’t live in the states (due to medical reasons) so it’s gonna continue to be this way. anyway what a lucky duck lori is! so sweet that you two bought her that awesome car. she’s a good girl. we went to church for christmas eve and it is just a beautiful crib service! i’ll post pictures later. belated merry christmas and have a lovely quiet restful time with hubby!
angela
@angelahappydot - The photo of the family is of friends of ours & yes, they asked me to do a photo shoot for them, it just so happened that this particular photo contest needed entries from places in the area & since it was shot in the park there, I thought I would enter it! The other is a place not too far from where we live that is also a park & I just happened to catch those Kayakers putting in & thought it made a pretty picture! Yeah, I thought that price on the Lobster gram was excellent for a huge,special dinner for 2! I am sure it is hard living abroad at times, especially when your family is in the states. I will be anxious to see your pictures!
@Luvthewaves - a “lil” something my foot! lol..Thank you again Kel!