fun

I met my goal. I posted at least 4 times in December. Nothing mind blowing, interesting or exciting, but I met my goal. Baby steps!

Day 31 of "capturing December" is FUN. Seeing as how my idea of fun this New Year's Eve is curling up with a good book and homemade carne guisada, I don't have much to photograph. Instead, just take a second to reminisce on a particularly fun moment in your own life..... Take that mental picture and insert it here:

(This is what fun is!)

Thanks 2012.  You weren't the best of times, but you weren't the worst either. Cheers to 2013! May it be filled with faith, family, friends, and plenty of fun.

oh. christmas tree

Notice what I did there?  I didn't say "Oh Christmas Tree!"  I said "Oh.  Christmas Tree."  As in, "don't bring it up."

The past few years, Larry and I were trying to start our own little tradition.  We went out to the Christmas Tree farm and chopped our own tree.  It was really fun and festive.  However, cutting down a fresh tree (sap and all) poses a problem when you have allergies.  We usually spent about 3 weeks sniffling, sneezing, nursing a sore throat and itchy eyes.  (But MAN did our tree look good!)  Last year, we almost bit the bullet and bought a fake tree.  In fact, we did buy a fake tree.... but we started putting it together and it was so lame that we returned it and decided we would go through another year of allergies.

Well, this year, I found a really pretty artificial tree.  Pricey, but pretty.  It averaged out to about 3 years worth of cutting down our own real tree.  I figured it would last at least that long, so I bought it.  7.5 feet, pre-lit, 3 pieces, easy to assemble.  It took me almost 2 hours to fluff all the branches, but by the time I was done, I was really impressed.  The tips of all the branches were plastic and looked real.  I was very pleased. 

And then I plugged it in.

And there were 4 branches that wouldn't light up.

It really didn't look that bad, but since I had spent so much money on it and it was brand new, I decided that it really should work properly for at least one year.  So I spent another hour taking it down and getting it back into the box so I could take it back.

Little did I know that pre-lit 7.5 artificial trees are a hot commodity.  There isn't another to be found in 25 miles. Sooooo....... we decided that I would get one 50% off after Christmas.  I didn't need to spend that much on a fake tree anyway.  But I couldn't go totally without a tree, right?  Fortunately, Martha Stewart produces this 4 foot tree:

 

Tiny and lame, I know.  But I added my twinkly lights  and it really isn't all that bad.  It isn't all that good, but I'll make it work.  I'm all about finding the silver lining.  The tree isn't what it's all about anyway, right?  Plus, it sits on top of the end table where Blossom's bed is hidden, so I guess it all works out.

Pssssh.  Who am I kidding.  You better believe we are stocking up on Zyrtec and cutting our own tree next year.  This baby will be decorating the front porch. (but if you happen to see a GE 7.5ft Pre-Lit Frasier Fir on sale after Christmas, let me know!)

family...

Is there a way to upload pictures from an iPad? I took a screenshot of a sweet family anecdote and wanted to use it for day 13. But I can't figure out how to load it. So you just have to pretend you're seeing it!

My brother and sister in law have 2 precious girls, Molly and Ellie. The other day, she posted this to my Facebook wall:

"The girls are playing family in their room and I just overheard them fighting about who would play Aunt Bee!" 

I do love being Aunt Bee.

bright

It is almost 9:30pm and it is still 61 degrees outside.  We have not had a day below 76 in like 10 months.  But a cold front is on it's way and it is supposed it hit 32 on Monday.

So Larry is "practicing" to make sure his fire skills are up to the challenge.

So for today, here my "bright" item:

Do you see all the red hot coals at the bottom?  This is like a mid-February fire.  I am burning up, but it is good to know that we'll be warm come Monday.

68

I needed a midday break so I peeked at what today's prompt was.... and it doesn't get much easier than this!

5.  Today's temperature:

Another beautiful day.  Scratch that..... beautiful is overused in conjunction with the weather.  Instead, I'll say that it is the type of day that makes you want to open your windows and take a long, deep inhale of the crisp fresh air.  (Sounds nice in theory, but since the mold allergy count is also really high, my windows will have to remain closed.)

I'm pretty sure that 68 degrees could be considered the perfect temperature.  Not too cold, not too hot.  I'll take it.

capturing december

How convenient.... I was just saying that I wanted to blog more when I came across this picture on Pinterest:

 (Looks like this is the source.)

So - I'm not making any promises to do all 31 days (it would be kind of fun though, so I might try) but I'll at least start with the first 2 days!

1.  My view today: 

 I finally finished my Advent calendar.  This particular calendar has a history... it is a replica of the one we used when I was a kid.  Here it is behind littlest siblings Jessica and Joe in 1985.

 A couple of Christmases ago, my mom sewed one of these for each of us.  She included a note with it, saying:  "When we first began with the calendar, we filled every pocket with candy (you can also insert a scripture verse or a 'good deed' slip of paper.)  However, we soon discovered that little fingers pilfered a piece or two here and there throughout the first week....so the Advent Angel had to remember to slip the treats in the night before instead of filling every pocket.  The older kids took turns lighting the candle and distributing that day's treat, as well as reading a short prayer..."  We had "morning prayer" every school morning as a child, and I have to admit that Advent was probably my favorite time!  I guess I've always had a sweet tooth.

She left all the pockets blank but included scraps of felt so that we could create our own pictures.  I'd been saving it, thinking it might be more meaningful to do it as a project with my nieces and nephews or something like that.  But the "control freak" side of me beat out the "sentimental" side of me, and I decided I wanted to be in charge of the pictures.  So last night, I finally finished cutting out all the tiny bird wings and holly leaves and got everything glued on.  I'm really happy with how it turned out - it is like a little piece of my childhood all wrapped up in a piece of felt.

Instead of candy, I decided to do the scripture verse.... AND an exercise in each pocket. I found this nifty calendar and decided it was easy enough to accomplish this Advent:

Whew.  I was a little long-winded with the day 1 prompt, so I'll keep it short for Day 2...

2 - My favorite holiday movie is "It's a Wonderful Life."  Not very original, I know.... but I make it a point to watch ol' George Bailey every year.