My Advent Calendar

December 9th

I saved this birthday card from two years ago and include it with my window displays for winter. My youngest sister sent it to me for my 73rd birthday.  75 is creeping very close.

Here's the view out the kitchen windows this morning.  We woke to -9º temperatures.  It's warmed now to single positive digits.

Love the looks of those icicles.  This is the south facing roof and it hasn't been warm enough to melt the snow off.  It's only be sliding slowly but this morning frozen in place.

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I got the Christmas cards done and in the mail yesterday.

Here's something I have to admit about myself: I'm not very good about maintaining long distance friendships that once were based upon proximity or work or common interests. There are four Christmas cards I decided to hold off sending because I have had no contact with any of these since last Christmas.  Here's my reasoning: if they don't send me one then there's no need to send them one.

Is that so terrible?

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I've been ambivalent about making cookies this holiday but after sleeping on it I have decided to bake on Saturday.  Dan said he'd like some peanut butter cookies and I do like to make the almond decorated cookies.  There's also molasses that I only make at this time of year. 

For a number of years since we moved here I've been delivering cookies at Christmas to my neighbors.  In order to keep up that tradition I'll have to bake!  I even bought plates to stack them on when I was out at Michael's yesterday. 

Decision made: Look for cookie photos in the near future.

 

My Advent Calendar

December 8th

One of my ten Father Christmas statues.  This one I purchased from a Christmas shop in France while we were on a river cruise on the Rhine one spring. 

It sits in one of the windows with this one whose provenance I don't remember. It may have been a thrift shop find.

You can see our snow is sticking around.  Temperatures are staying below freezing here.

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My goal for today is to complete the Christmas cards and deliver them to the post office. Envelopes are addressed, cards are made except for an insert which I need to paste in each one.

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If you're interested in reading more about that cruise start with this post and move forward in time.

 

My Advent Calendar

December 7th 

I used Shutterfly to make this ornament after our two week vacation in Scotland in the Fall of 2017. The apartment we had through UnTours was in Dunblane and this was the cathedral there.

Here's a link to my blog post about this cathedral. 

Lots of good memories from that trip.  It was our first with UnTours.

We especially enjoyed shopping for dinners at the butcher shop which had these meat pies for sale.

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Today would have been my Mother's 107th birthday.  She managed to live to almost 95.  Miss her every day.  I'm sorry that none of my granddaughters never met her but I've made a point of telling them about her.

Here she is surrounded by her art work in the last months of her life.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My Advent Calendar

 December 6th

This is an old ornament.  Likely someone gave it to us when Dan was the principal tuba player in the Baltimore Symphony.

[Technically this guy is playing a sousaphone not a tuba.]