Christmas spirit

Well, by this time, most people are pulling out the Christmas decorations if they haven't already and are dusting them off. I, myself, have pulled out the little tree and am deciding how I want to display it in the front room. We usually pull one of our nightstands into the front room and cover up the stand with some fabric and put the tree up on that but I'm thinking I don't want to do that this year. I need to go find a small table to use. I know! I could go to Ross and they always have little tables on sale for low prices--I could find something there, I guess. The question is do I want to brave the shopping traffic today? It probably isn't too bad at Ross...maybe. Most of the traffic will be at the mall area. At least the weather is beautiful today. It's blue skies and sunshine but still chilly. We haven't had any snow yet. Last year, we had had several snow showers by this time. Maybe we won't get much this year...I know, as soon as I say that a month later we'll be wishing it wouldn't snow anymore. The bad thing is that the skiing mountain, Bogus Basin, doesn't have any snow on it which is bad for us since we have season passes! Oh well. Right now, I've got both tv's turned on to the Christmas music channels. I had a nice, warm cup of coffee and I've got our kitchen table all switched over from the Fall to the Winter/Christmas theme. Red table cloth, fancy, sparkly arrangement I made last year and a bell-shaped...um, what are those things called that keep hot dishes from burning your table??? I totally forgot the word...anyway, a bell-shaped thingy-majigger, and holly berry placemats. I put our Christmas wreath out on the front door. Now, I also have to find a Christmas-y welcome sign. BigLots usually has those kinds of things for cheap. Ahh, Christmas preparations...aren't they fun? The other challenge I have to face this month is the temptation to bake cookies. Well, I'm already planning on doing that but I will strategically plan my baking day for a Saturday (my splurge day). I like baking in the Christmas month. Nothing gets me in the spirit quicker than baking for people. I'm gonna make one type of cookie this year. Last year I spent so much time baking all types of cookies for the neighbors and so this year, I'm making it easier on myself. I'm gonna make HUGE cookies like Mom and Dad do for the church sometimes. There's a recipe in the baking cookbook that Mom gave me earlier this month that makes cookies out of 1/4 cup scoops! HUMONGOUS!!! Can't wait! :) Now, I've got more people to make them for. Guess that's a good sign. A good sign that we've made more friends. :)


Last night was fun. My friend, Karen and her 15 yr. old daughter, Kori, came over last night to watch a couple of movies. I invited them over after they got done with their Thanksgiving plans at her mother's house. They came over and Karen said she was glad that I didn't have to spend Thanksgiving night alone and that they could come over and keep me company. I was happy to have them over! Also a plus, my living room/kitchen areas were clean, so what better time to have people over?! Next time we all hang out, they said we should all play Guitar Hero (a video game that's all the rage right now). I'm SO not good at that game. My fingers aren't coordinated enough to play those guitar games. I like Rockband better because it has a singing component and that's about the only thing I can do on those games. The drums are also hard for me. I introduced Kori to sweet tea. She had never had it so I gave her some and she liked it a lot! Karen doesn't have much of a sweet tooth (lucky her, right?) so she didn't have any so I gave her a beer. We watched 2 movies: "Happy Feet" and "School of Rock". Anyway, it was a good night and I didn't get to bed until about well after midnight. Late late! I slept in majorly today then. Probably later than I should have but it's nice to do that on the holidays. No obligations and no fuss. :)