Cookie Decorating City, Sweetheart!

Casa de Pirie the Second

Before....

After! Here's the back door.

Side view of the front.

Front door...come visit any time!

Count down begins....

With Christmas approaching fast, less than a week now, I'm constantly running through the "lists" in my head. I'm in good shape, getting-ready-wise, but the lists are always there "Don't forget this!" "Don't forget that!". And here I am up at my usual time (butt-crack of dawn), the kids still asleep...I just can't sleep in.

Today I HAVE to mail my last package after work. I bought a Gingerbread House kit for the kids, so that needs to be put together (by them, not me...haha) probably today or tomorrow. Gotta hit the grocery store for some serious shopping, in preparation for Wednesday. Wednesday is Christmas Baking Day! Thursday is up in the air...then it's Christmas Eve! I only work Monday and Tuesday this week, so I'm very thankful for that! I'm picking up coffee for me and Diane this morning, too. We'll need it...baby it's cold outside!

There was frost on everything this morning! Veronica calls it "Florida snow". Mike even had ice on his windshield. Burr! It's wool for me today...socks, scarf, mitts, sweater, etc.

Here's some very cool news on the Band Front: The band has been invited to Tallahassee for the Governor's Inauguration Parade on January 4th! Awesome! I guess word of their Championship status got all the way to Tallahassee. Gov-to-be Rick Scott is one lucky devil to have them!

Shopping

Last night was my last big shopping trip for Christmas. I really wanted to get it done before the weekend when everyone and their mother will be out shopping. I went right after work and was home by six...sweet! Everything fell into place, I got exactly what I wanted for everyone and a few unexpected things, too. It was one of those shopping trips where, as I started to acquire bags, I got warm so I had to carry my coat, too...and my purse. I couldn't decide which was more worn out, my feet or my arms! Usually I don't wear a coat because I know I'll have to carry it around, but it was 46 degrees at 3pm yesterday...burrr!!!

I went into one store to get some stocking stuffers for the girls and I literally could barely make it around the display carousels. I was knocking stuff off...it wasn't pretty. I have no idea how people get around in that store...I had bags and stuff, but if you were a big person with bags and stuff, you wouldn't be able to move through the store. Ugh.

What's for dinner Wednesday is kinda fallen by the wayside. I'm trying to come up with something fun for blogging for the New Year. Any ideas out there? Oh, dinner tonight? Left overs. There's ravioli, potato soup, spaghetti, grilled ham and cheese, Caesar salad and chicken nuggets...take your pick. Think I'll have soup and salad. Then off to knitting! Yeah!!

Stay warm today, if you're somewhere where it's cold (like here). If you're somewhere it's warm, well pftttt to you!

Festival of Lights 5K

Last night Mike and I ran the Festival of Lights 5K with Jen & Archie. It was so cold...still we started running, then it was rather nice. Talk about crowded...over 3, 000 runners. It took almost a mile before it thinned out enough to run comfortably. My left knee is giving me some pain, so between that and the crowd, my time wasn't so great. I went into the race knowing it would be bad, but that's ok with me. The route was so nice...a little dark at times but the entire route was lined with luminaries. Very cool! I really enjoyed the run. At the finish there was this crushing sea of people...that was a little uncomfortable, but luckily Mike found me quickly. Afterwards, we all went out for dinner!

I think next year I'll do this again, but get more into the spirit of the run and dress up. Some people had on pajamas, red/white stripped socks, Santa hats, etc. There were runners with Christmas lights attached to themselves! It was a big family run, so TONS of strollers and dogs...and kids! I saw so many kids running (with little whining) and having a blast. One stroller was decked out with Christmas lights...so cute!

Mike's time: 32:53
My time: 42:32

Eagle Harbor Christmas Parade

Veronica's alter-ego...symbol playing band member when not playing marimba.
Trumpet dude...who forgot to wear his Santa Hat his mother knit for him.

Two weeks from tonight...

Two weeks from tonight is Christmas Eve!

HO-HO-HO!!

Science Fair

My chocolate covered peanut brittle came in the mail yesterday. To say it's delicious is an understatement. The brittle part has tons of peanuts, and it's not too hard...covered with milk chocolate; it's a great combination. Mike loves it, I mean he LOVES IT! I have a feeling it will go fast.

Last night was the Science Fair Awards Dinner at Justine's school. The dinner was a complimentary spaghetti dinner...not bad either. Justine didn't win any awards, but it was fun to see the kids who did...they were super excited about science (go figure!). Some of the experiments were very clever. Nine kids made it to the district level and will compete again. We really are so proud of Justine, she stayed organized and on schedule with her project (with little to no nagging from yours truly). SHE was very proud of her project and that was very cool to see.

Going Christmas shopping today...wish me luck!
And on a date with my husband tonight...woohoo!!

Fish Hat for William

I finished William's hat for Christmas!
I hope he likes dead fish.

Christmas Concert

Last night was the Christmas Concert for the band and choir. A little too much choir, if you ask me, but I am a band parent so...
Joey had a solo in the concert band performance (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas) and he also played in the Jazz Band. Jazz band is so awesome! They sound great and get the audience all charged up. Joey was one of five trumpets, who stood up the entire time during the jazz band performance...it was great, because we could see him! And when concert band played, since he's First Chair, he sat on the end and we could watch him the whole time.

Veronica played with the percussion ensemble and the symphonic band. When she plays with the whole band, she's always in the very back and usually plays auxiliary (all those funny sounds that make Christmas music so fun). They played Sleigh Ride and Veronica did the bells the whole time. A mom next to me asked if Vs arms fell off after jingling those bells through the whole song...haha.

Waiting.

This is what happens when you have The World's Best Mom. She sends you Chocolate Covered Peanut Brittle. It's on its way, so I'm trying hard not to stand by window and watch...and wait.

It's almost cold enough outside this morning to build one of these guys...if we had snow, that is.

You-Know

He's making a list and checking it twice!

Oh crap...missed blogging yesterday. Hope you'll forgive me. I was so busy...took Joey shopping for his "concert band" out fit. He looks like Johnny Cash...head to toe black. Pic to come soon. I baked yesterday and had the Bunco ladies over for a little Christmas party. We didn't play Bunco, because currently we're short 4 players, but we did play Harry Potter UNO. The ladies from England who brought the game, pronounce the name as You-know, which was cracking us Americans up! By the end of the third game we were yelling: You-know UNO! It was super fun, but I lost miserably (probably a good thing we weren't keeping score).

Me, the kids and the tree

We went to Christmas on Walnut Street tonight. Mike took this cute picture of me, the kids and our JaxKnits tree.

Day of the Dead Fella

This is a new ornament I bought this summer when we were visiting family in San Diego. It was at a little shop in Old Town. I always forget about Old Town when I think of San Diego, but it's a really cool place. San Diego Avenue, which runs down the middle of Old Town was built over a huge cemetery, part of which still exists. I find that creepy, driving over a road that's paved over where people are buried. Ewww. It also has one of the most haunted buildings in the country: The Whaley House. Regis Philbin used to be a local news-magazine type person in SD and one time he tried to stay over night in the Whaley House. He couldn't do it! Got scared and had to leave...too funny! There are some of the best Mexican Restaurants in town there plus tons of shopping. This little guy looks like he's celebrated Dia de los Muertos pretty hard...Corona still stuck to his clothes. I just couldn't resist him! I found him in an old fashioned Tin Shop.

There's no yarn shop, but there's a Tequila Museum in Old Town. I know some knitters who would love that!

Gingerbread Lane

I have one of those artsy-fartsy kids, one who from the start could paint, read, color, draw and write. Now she's also into photography and decorating. She's been writing stories in journals for years and will spend hours drawing...alone in her room, perfectly happy. It's Justine. She's also my drama queen...go figure.

This little house is from a kit we got at Michaels. It's one of three that she built.

I love the photo, it looks like it's taken at night with stars twinkling in the back ground. (That's our big Christmas tree making the "star" effect.)

Our knit group decorated the tree in GCS for Christmas on Walnut Street, which starts on Saturday. It was dark and very cold. My fingers were numb! A bit of a challenge too, because we had to do it by flashlight! We did the job though, zip tied all the garlands and ornaments to the tree, in an effort to stop any thieves. After, we drove to FI for some knitting and coffee at Starbucks (the one in GCS was closed...still can't believe that!). Fun!

NO STOPPING IT NOW!

Well, here it is, December 1st. Christmas is a mere 24 days away. I've only bought one Christmas gift, but I do have my Christmas trees and decorations AND lights up. Did you catch that? Yes, this year we have two trees. We've had a fake tree for years (since the year the water stand leaked and ruined my hard wood floor), so this year I requested we get a small real tree. Lord knows we have plenty of ornaments. I could probably have three and still have plenty, only problem is space...where would I put a third tree?!

Anyway, I'm going to post every day till Christmas! It'll be something related to Christmas...a picture, something fun and Christmas-ie we did as a family or with friends. Hope you enjoy it! A couple years ago I did this, but I featured a different ornament each day. It was in 2008 if you want to take a peek.

This is what setting up the fake tree looks like in our house. They eventually got it set up.

Christmas just isn't Christmas unless these three Santas are hanging up! My mom had a set of these when we were growing up (still does, in fact) and us kids would jump to see which one we could reach...this would change over the years as we grew taller. One year I copied them and made a set for me and my three siblings. One of my coolest gifts ever, if I do say so myself.

Now my kids are jumping to see which one they can reach...very cool.

What's for dinner Wednesday? Tacos tonight! Then our knit group is heading down to Green Cove Springs to decorate our tree for the Parade of Trees. You can look for an update on that tomorrow.