It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Saturday morning we woke up to a Winter Wonderland. I went around outside before breakfast and tried to capture it. I got the snow, but not the light. Phone camera. :(


Friday night I had got a simmering potpourri recipe from a friend. Jay had to run to the hardware store on Saturday morning, so I asked him to stop at the bulk food store and pick up the ingredients for me. The recipe: 1tsp of whole cloves, 1 tsp of whole allspice, 2 bay leaves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 orange.
While he a was gone I cut out and baked two pans of sugar cookies. He and the girls frosted them while I made lunch. Sugar cookies aren't my favorite, but oh the enjoyment for kids! Later on I baked the rest of the batch and frosted them according to my specs. Not that they bear the mark of Martha or anything.






This morning Mom came over for coffee. And then we met her again at Shilah's after lunch. A social kind of day. A good winter, soon-before-Christmas day.
I feel the week closing in on me though. I have plans for Wednesday and Friday. That leaves tomorrow and Thursday to accomplish some more Christmas baking and some sewing. Olivia has had a runny nose and has complained of plugged ears for the last ten days. Time to take the home remedies to the next level. But what exactly. Oh, I know the system well. Last winter she had four rounds of antibiotic. I just wanted to not do that again!!!! But anyway, that will at least fill up tomorrow morning. And then I also have a personal commitment to practice my Christmas community choir songs everyday this week and next week. The concerts are in less than two weeks. Time to really learn those songs!




Today at Shilah's, I assembled the potpourri. I had put the oranges in the dehydrator last night. I had only three oranges; that means three batches. It looks pretty in the bag-Christmas gifts. I gave one to Shilah to simmer right away. It smelled like a most aromatic pumpkin pie! :-)
I'm looking for a large orange envelope in the mail. That'll be the Christmas cards. Toward the end of the week I am expecting packages from Amazon. Last week I spent nearly a whole day internet shopping. The mostfun I've ever had Christmas shopping. And the girls played happily and turned my housekeeping into shambles. But oh so worth it when compared to a day trying to shop with them at the stores! It will be fun to wrap gifts and ogle them for a week or so once those packages arrive!