December 31, 2020

We're late opening gifts again this year.  :)

I love making this season last as long as possible!
 

December 30, 2020

Pretty sure this is the favorite Christmas gift of the whole family this year.  :)
 

December 29, 2020

I had a hard time deciding which of these photos I liked better, 

so I decided not to decide.  :)

 

December 28, 2020

We had quite the surprise today!

A friend of Jed's from Colorado was vacationing on the Outer Banks for Christmas,

and she stopped by our house on their way back home.

I had no idea they were in the state,

she had the bear's head on when I opened the door,

her dad was talking from the van into a speaker in the costume,

and I am apparently an inherently suspicious person,

so I didn't know what to make of this.

I finally understood they were requesting Jed's presence on the porch,

so I ran to get him out of bed.

I'd be embarrassed to tell you what time it was,

but it was actually early for him to be getting up while on break.  :)

She did a dance for Jed while her dad chattered away on the speaker...

it was hilarious.
 Being the dufus I am, I thought I was recording this whole thing

while in fact I had only taken this photo.

Thankfully her dad recorded the entire thing from the van, 

with much better audio than we were hearing from the house,

and we laughed our heads off when we watched it later.

Jed thinks an awful lot of this young lady,

and I think an awful lot of her whole family for doing this.

December 27, 2020

My sweet friend from Maine 

(currently residing in TN but soon to return to her beloved home state) 

sent this little package to Jed for Christmas.  

I laughed out loud when I read the name on it.  

When Jed and Lori's oldest son were 4 or 5 years old, 

she took them bowling to celebrate her son's birthday.  

It was the first time she had had Jed alone,

and she was asking him questions to get to know him better.

One of them was, "What's your middle name?"

Apparently we hadn't discussed that with Jed yet,

and after giving this some consideration, 

his answer was "Idiah."

You know how when your parents were upset with you they used your full name?

Jed's full name - 

Jedidiah Nathanael Staley - 

was way too cumbersome to use in its entirety.

Jedidiah Staley was long enough on its own to be effective in conveying frustration.

I suppose he had heard that a time or two.  :)

He must have been familiar with the concept of parents using one's full name

and this was all he had to go on.  :D
 

December 26, 2020

I've been lighting candles a lot this month and enjoying their light immensely.

December 25, 2020

These two toys were in Jed's stocking and I think they might have been his favorite gifts.  :)  

This one is like a miniature version of a lava lamp, with two different colors!

This was was a hand boiler...as soon as you picked it up and placed it in the palm of your hand,

the liquid inside would immediately bubble up the tube and start "boiling."

Dad, this one's for you - 

our hash brown breakfast casserole!
 

December 24, 2020

Guess what I did today.  :)
 

December 23, 2020 - Part 3

Last up was our own neighborhood.

That's our tree on the left, and our next door neighbor's on the right.

From quite a distance, obviously.  :)
 

December 23, 2020 - Part 2

Our next destination was the tiny town of McAdenville, aka Christmas Town USA.

It  shows up on many online lists of festive Christmas towns....

here are a couple of mentions:

Now in its 62nd year, the tiny town of less than 700 people celebrate the season with an array of events, kicked off by a Christmas lighting ceremony that takes place on December 1st. Nearly 400 live trees ignite each night in decorations and lights through the 26th. Along with the tree lighting ceremony, there is a Yule log ceremony and an annual Christmas town festival. The Yule log is pulled through town on a sled by local children, with residents and visitors in tow. Once it reaches downtown, the log is set on fire as a commencement of the annual Christmas Town Festival.

 https://www.rd.com/list/best-small-towns-christmas-lights/

The map might say McAdenville, but to locals, this place is known as Christmas Town USA. For the past 63 years, this Charlotte suburb has put on an impressive holiday display, with 265 evergreen trees covered in 500,000 lights, plus more than 160 decorated houses. The best part? You can view everything for free.

 https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/g2829/best-christmas-towns-in-usa/

 

 

December 23, 2020 - Part 1

Jed and I went to look at Christmas lights tonight.  

Our first stop was a house that had set their lights up to flash in time with music on a radio station.

I wasn't a fan of the music but I'm fascinated with how this is done.

 

December 22, 2020

So happy with this sunrise pic from early this morning!
 

December 21, 2020

Miss Dune wrote us a thank you note for her birthday gift.  

I'm so glad Brad is teaching the children to express gratitude!

I'm also glad he interpreted at the bottom of the card.  :)

 

December 20, 2020

These beautiful pottery ornaments were left outside my doorstep by my Secret Santa.

The initials stamped on the back match the initials of one of my neighbors.

It pleases me immensely to think she might have made these.

 

December 19, 2020

The ladies in my neighborhood get together for a Christmas party every year,

but this year they decided to forgo the party and celebrate with Secret Santas instead.

We used a website to draw names and I drew the name of a woman I haven't met yet.

The only advice I was offered was she likes cats and she's British.

The mail is running so behind right now I didn't think I had time to order something for her cats - 

catnip from Dr. Pussum's in Maine is a big hit! - 

so I decided to concentrate on her nationality.

My favorite part of my ancestry is Scottish - 

we're from the Buchanan clan - 

and I decided to share a bit of Scotland with my neighbor.

I hope she has a sense of humor!  :)

That book is How the Scots Invented the Modern World.  :)
 

December 18, 2020

The sunset was breathtaking tonight.  

This is a very poor representation of the brilliance.

You may remember that several years ago I had the brilliant idea 

to spend days wrapping every branch of our tree with lights.

I thought it was brilliant because I could store the tree with the lights on it.

I can't tell you how excited I was at the thought of getting the tree out the next year and just plugging it in!

That worked exactly one year.

Then last year, perhaps because of the cross-country move,

at least 1/4 and more like 1/3 (at times) of the light strands weren't working.

Our next-door neighbor gave us a gun that zaps lights back on,

and it would work temporarily, but never permanently.

I finally gave up and tried not to mind.

This year I did the heartbreaking work of unwrapping every single branch

and throwing out 9 of 11 strands of lights.

It took forever, and the tree lost half its needles in the process,

and the new lights look awful because I just draped them across the branches,

but I finished it tonight and it was worth it!

Especially if I keep the room dark.  :)
 

December 17, 2020

More errands today on a very foggy morning - 

near lunch time!

 

December 16, 2020

My recent dental saga officially ended today 

and I'll be glad to not be seeing this scene again for a while!

Ran an errand out in the country afterwards.

It's Christmas time on the farm!
 

December 15, 2020

More errands this morning.  

And more cold temps and frost.

 

December 14, 2020

I woke up to a heavy rain this morning.  

That was unfortunate, because I had a couple of errands to run.

Fortunately, it had tapered off by the time I left,

and in between errands the sun actually started peeking out.

The reflections of the blue sky in the wet pavement and the hood of my car were striking.

Then the bottom dropped out again while I was inside at my last errand.

What a difference a few minutes can make!
 

December 13, 2020

A neighbor on the Next Door app recently asked for coconut pie recipes.  

Someone responded with a recipe for coconut-pineapple pie, 

which sounded intriguing,

so I copied it and tried making it today.  

We're in the South, so it's super sweet.

but the flavor and texture were great.

I'm going to try cutting down the sugar next time.

Does anyone know if that might ruin it?

The only ingredients are

butter

flour

eggs

crushed pineapple with juice

and

 shredded coconut

December 12, 2020

I have been so slow about getting the house ready for Christmas this year.  

Even inside the house, things feel a little weird, doesn't they?

This small tree is in the only front-facing room of this house, 

and I made a point of getting it up 

so at least the neighbors won't think we're grinches.  :)

It will hold our Jesse Tree ornaments when we get around to doing that,

though I'm enjoying the simplicity of the lights.

 

December 11, 2020

 

My oldest son Brad and his family built a house over the winter and moved into it 

right when everything started shutting down this spring. 

They rushed because of this, and the yard wasn't ready. 

North Carolina is known for its red dirt, 

and the kids' clothes were constantly covered in it, 

permanently stained, 

until they got part of the yard sodded.

There's still several acres of dirt to play in though,

so it's an ongoing issue.

Yesterday I stopped at a little roadside mountain shop and was tickled to find shirts for sale

that are prewashed in red dirt.

This is genius!

I bought each kid a shirt, 

and if they make this their permanent play shirt,

I think Grammy will be a hero to their parents.  :)

 

December 10, 2020

I went almost to Blowing Rock today for an errand.  

It's a nice drive and it was a nice day for it.  

Before I got to the mountains proper, 

I passed this church building tucked into the prettiest little shelter between two hills.
 

December 9, 2020

It was pretty cold this morning, 

with a frost that looked a little like snow if I squinted my eyes tight enough.  :)

 

December 8, 2020

The endodontist's office is 45 minutes away, 

but it's near Lake Norman, 

so I took back roads and crossed this huge lake several times.

It was a beautiful day,

the office staff was kind,

the doctor gave me enough novocaine that I never felt a thing,

he said the gum tissue I had burned off with a laser last week was healing nicely,

and he said it was a good thing I got in quickly

because my tooth was about to blow.  :)

Not sure what that means,

but I'm awfully glad I won't have to find out!

All in all, things are looking brighter.