December - Before Christmas....

 December has been an interesting month so far.

We got more outdoor decorations up than we have done previously here.

along the front walkway

And I re-strung the lights for the star over the garage.

Both of these outdoor projects took extra work as the old lights had outages and we had to get new lights and re-work the star as well as the Tree outline.  The deer are new, but after a heavy snow and some fierce winds, we have had to re-set them a couple of times!
Indoor decorations have been set up in stages.  Wth my birthday on the 10th, we have had a tradition of not getting into Christmas until after then.  So on the 11th, I got things going!
I am loving small table-top trees! 
My heavy Georg Jensen ornaments look nice hanging from the curtain rail!

For the Nativity this year I decided to forego the stable. It is huge and we can't see out the window when it is up here!  I tried to find a lightbulb for the star, but they are sold out...and ones I ordered from Amazon did not fit.  I do like my advent candles like this, though.

Front door wreath. I added the oranges and ribbon.

I decided to make at least one knitted gift.  A sweater for Baby Girl so she can wear the romper and shirt I made for her... if she doesn't wear them now, she will outgrow them!

This is the beginning, but I got it done!

We enjoyed a Christmas concert, (compliments of the kids) for our birthday presents. It was the acapella group Tonic Sol Fa at the Washington Pavillion  It was lovely and fun!
Had not gotten our boosters yet, so we masked up for extra safety.  It was crowded!

These guys sound great and really put on a cute show.


And as usual, I have my favorite helper!  Of course he is my favorite after he gave me this writing project he did in school!

He tells about how he grows things in the garden with his grandma. 

cleaning out the cookie dough

Some serious cookie baking...
We did get a good snow, on my birthday, no less....  about 10".  But it did not even last a week!  Temps went 'way up, and just as everythign got melted off, it dropped again.  This year, the weather has been a real roller-coaster!  Now we are not supposed to have snow again before Christmas...

Grandpa and Grandson snowball fight.




shoveled out a toilet area for Archie...

And then there is the Daycare Christmas program.  What a hoot!  The littles were adorable and neither of them cried!  Huge success!
Middle grandson in green plaid shirt, and Baby Girl in the red.

Hey Brother, what do we do with these bells?

To bring us up to date, here is a family dinner,  frosting Christmas cookies, and snuggling a munchkin who doesn't feel good.




To top things off, my washing machine died.  Fortunately I found one IN STOCK, but it can't be delivered until Christmas Eve.  So we are going to do a bit of a switch-around in the laundry room.  Who knew that moving this set of cabinets was going to be a two-man job?  But it was.  Now it is moveable and we will attach it to the opposite wall after the new washer is delivered. In the mean time, I am taking some necessary laundry over to DS and DiL's house to wash.  That is where I am just now, typing this all out.  But it's almost done so I can move on.

Father and Son demolition... no just de-attaching. We don't have enough storage to remove this completely.  It is going on the opposite wall so I can open the dryer door all the way!

The only other major event this month is that I have started my annual round of Doctor appointments.  My dental cleaning was all fine with no issues.  My regular Dr. "wellness check" gave me a fairly clean bill of health (cholesterol is always high, and this time I asked about Vitamin D levels because my immune system is so crappy - yes it was low so I am now taking a supplement). I go to the colonoscopy Dr. today to make an apt for that lovely proceedure... annoying but necessary.  And I still have to make an apt with an opthomologist to get my eyes checked.  Good thing I got my Medicare card and new insurance...Getting old takes maintenance!

Oh, and the dogs are fine...


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