An Ice Storm and a Birthday

 

We woke up this morning to a bit of an ice storm.  I know the picture looks like snow but it is actually ice.  A good day to stay home and off the roads which is just what we have done.  I did venture outside late this afternoon to roll our trash container out to the end of the driveway since tomorrow morning is our pick-up day.  It was a little slippery going but I made it! 

We had a nice coating of ice and sleet.

Today is my oldest son’s birthday.  Chris is 48 today and while he may think that is old, it really makes me feel old!  Many of us know that 48 is actually quite young when you are in your 60’s and looking back!  I sent him my love and birthday wishes this morning.  The day he was born was the best day of my life and it changed my life for the better! 

Chris at eight years old.

It’s been quiet and slow around here since Christmas.  I appreciate the quiet days after a holiday.  It seems like there is always a lot of rushing around with cooking, cleaning and other preparations for Christmas and a break afterwards is welcome. 

There’s not much to write about today but I wanted to stop in and say Hello and see how everyone is doing post-Christmas.  I don’t think I am the only one that has this very wintery weather today from what I have been reading on other blogs.  I made some homemade White Chili soup for dinner tonight and that just hit the spot for a cold, icy day.  I send my best to everyone for these last days of 2020. 

 

Christmas Eve and a Special Gift

Can you believe it?  Christmas Eve already!  I’m not completely ready yet but I’ll get there.  I’ve got last minute cleaning and baking to do today and just one more gift to wrap.  The final gift I had ordered arrived in the mail today.  The Post Office and all the various delivery people have had a hard time of it this year with Christmas and pandemic mailing combined. 

 

Our Nativity

I received a special gift from a dear blogger friend couple of weeks ago.  Connie from Far Side of Fifty writes a wonderful blog about their life in snowy Minnesota.  She and her husband are talented wood carvers and every year they carve over one hundred Christmas ornaments as gifts.  She has a drawing each year for a few of them and I was so fortunate as to have my name drawn!  She also sent me one of her beautiful homemade cards and a very handy little dish scrubby that she made!  Thank you again Connie!  I love my beautiful, original ornament!

 

Here's the beautiful hand carved ornament on the right!

We will be able to see one of my two sons tomorrow and his family.  Chris and his family are the ones we saw Thanksgiving and they will come to our house tomorrow.  Saturday we will drive to a nearby town and deliver gifts to my younger son, Sean, who due to health is isolating during this pandemic.  I feel blessed to be able to see them even though we’ll only see Sean at his door.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying these special days.  I know it is not the same as usual and many will not be able to see their loved ones.  That is hard I know, especially for parents and grandparents.  It is important to remember that we are still blessed in many, many ways.  I am thankful to have our home and family and even though our health may not always be perfect it could certainly be much worse. 

 

Our Tree 

I send a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my dear friends.  Thank you all for your friendship and kindness.  I appreciate you!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

 

We have a Christmas tradition of going to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show every holiday season.  Well, every Christmas except this one because there are no concerts now due to the pandemic.  They did livestream a show this year but we decided to wait for next year to see the show on stage as we have in the past.  

                

Even if you are not familiar with this group you probably know some of their Christmas music.  They have several popular Christmas albums out.  Their music is described as "symphonic metal progressive rock".  You get your money's worth when you see this show because they actually put on two shows.  The first is a rock opera about a young girl that ran away from home at Christmas.  The Christmas music is what I call a mix of classical and rock beautifully performed.  They even have part of the local Symphonic Orchestra perform on stage with them and the combination of the musical styles is amazing.  Of course, they have all kinds of special effects that you would expect at a concert including real snow falling on the audience during a portion of the show.  After the Christmas show the second part of the performance is hard core rock with an occasional classical twist.  I’m not good at reviewing or taking photographs of a show like this but I can tell you it is always one of the highlights of our Christmas season.    

I have been busy with Christmas preparations for we will have one son and his family with us for Christmas as we do share a “bubble” as they say.  We won’t see any other family but I am glad we can see them at least.  I’ve not been good at keeping up with blogging recently but hopefully I will get better after Christmas.  I hope everyone is well and enjoying the holiday season as much as you can in these changing times.    

 

Santa Bus and a Chair for Christmas

 

Christmas is finding its way here even though I am slow at getting started on my holiday preparations.  It seems like each year there is a moment when I look at the calendar and feel a bit of a shock realizing just how soon Christmas will be upon us.  I know all too well how quickly even three weeks can speed by!

Today was Santa Bus Day for our neighborhood.  Our small town has a wonderful tradition of having Santa Claus travel each street in town to visit with the children.  Santa travels in a Christmas decorated bus and is led by a police car with the siren occasionally going to let the children know that he is almost to their house.  He gives the children small treats and they get their picture taken with him.  Usually, the kids go on the bus to see Santa but this year they have had to change that due to covid.  Santa steps off the bus and visits with the children.  I guess I am a child at heart because even though it has been many years since we’ve had little ones here, I still love to watch the Santa Bus come.  Actually, our two cats get excited about all the activity surrounding the bus coming and always run to a window to watch!

Zeus and Sophie watching the Santa Bus

Christmas came early for my husband Tom yesterday.  He has badly needed a new recliner as his old one was not working properly and was even potentially unsafe for him since he has had balance and walking problems.  Good recliners are fairly expensive and a new one was not in our budget just yet.  When I mentioned it to Chris (our son) and his wife Kristi they suggested that we all go in together to get him a chair for Christmas. They are both so sweet!  We luckily found a great sale on one the Monday after Thanksgiving and it was delivered yesterday.  Tom loves it and I feel better that this one is not going to pose a tripping risk for him as the old one did.

Tom and his new chair

We managed to get our Christmas tree up a few days ago but I still have to decorate it.  I hope to work on that this afternoon and evening.  Since we have cats, they always manage to find fun ways to enjoy the tree!  I didn’t get a picture of them in the tree this year yet but here are a few from previous years.

No, they have never knocked the tree over.  We attach it to a wide and heavy base that keeps it upright.  Once we get it decorated we do discourage them from climbing it but invariably we will catch them in it once in awhile!  

I hope everyone has a good week!