Ready for Christmas

December 18, 2022 7:45 am

Pictures from getting ready for Christmas this year. We went and got a tree on the 11th. We like grand firs, but they tend to not last as long, so they’re not stocked until a little later in the month. We went to Home Depot to see what they had, but first we had to wait for someone to come out and open the tree pen. While waiting we did see that they had a sign for grand firs, so there was hope.

An employee came out and let us in and they had one bin of grand firs, about 10 trees. So we found the tallest one and called it good. And then the employee gave it to us for free, just because. He said he’d been giving out the first tree each day for free and we were first today. Hard to argue with free tree!

So we brought it home and Corinne and Heather performed the ceremonial “Freeing of the Tree.”

I got the lights on and the next day Jess put on ribbon and on the evening of the twelfth we put on the ornaments. London was becoming greatly concerned about all of this. Some time ago Jess bought these little bird decorations at Target. Corinne desperately wanted to use the branches I trimmed off the bottom of the tree for something so we made “nests” for the birds and distributed them throughout the house.

And, finally, the outside decorations. I put the arch in the yard and ran some fishing line from the tree to the house to stabilize it. Our whole street is pretty well decorated, which is fun. The wineries in town run a holiday lights trolley tour which comes down our street 3 or 4 times a night. So we’re officially a destination.

Halloween 2022

November 1, 2022 7:47 pm

For something new this year we read Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October (a Halloween tale told one day at a time). So we finished reading it on Halloween after dinner, which was orange pancakes, eaten after Corinne got back from swim class. It was fun and the girls even mostly listened to the story. That put us a little behind schedule though, so getting ready for trick or treating was a little rushed and there was very little light left to get any pictures, so they’re pretty lousy, oh well.

“We” carved pumpkins on Sunday. By which I mean, I carved pumpkins based on designs drawn by the girls. Though this year Corinne did help scoop some guts out. Heather drew a horse head, Corinne made a square-eyed, pointy-toothed creature, I went with a simple Triforce.

Since I had procured a fog machine to use, in part, for Heather’s birthday adventure I set it up along our sidewalk for some extra Halloween ambiance.

Our whole neighborhood was pretty hopping this year with kids. Seems to have completely changed character from when we moved in 10 years ago. Lots of younger families with kids now. I seem to recall things being pretty dead on Halloween when we first got here.

We went down our street and back up the next one over. By the time we got home both girls’ buckets were overflowing, so it was a successful night.

Halloween Party 2022

October 30, 2022 12:07 pm

We had a little Halloween get together with the Spencers this year. We dressed up in costumes, did some crafts, colored on the table runner, played games, and ate food while Halloween music played in the background. Oh, and played with googly eyes.

In the past I’ve made a Halloween Trifle, but decided to try something different. I started with blondie bases, added a layer of either peanut-butter buttercream or whipped-cream frosting, then a layer of chocolate cake, topped with more buttercream or frosting. Sizing and piping was inconsistent, but they taste really good, so I’m happy.