White Christmas and December journal

Last year I made a daily December journal, and I've had so much fun looking at it this year and remembering the special events from 2009. This is the beginning of my 2010 journal . . . See the big "1" on the snowflake? (page two). That is December 1st and my Choir Performance.

We actually wore blue silky robes like graduation gowns, not angel wings.

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Phil had been working hard all day and I talked him into relaxing with White Christmas this evening!

I borrowed this from Carissa one year and have loved it ever since! Two of the main characters are "Phil and Judy"... It is a nice Christmas feel good movie.

My favorite song is "sisters" and I can still hear Carissa singing it to her kids! The scene where Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye pretend to be the girls and sing "sisters" always cracks me up!

Decorating and Celebrating

Even though its Monday, we treated today like a weekend. No work. We got up LATE. (8:00 a.m.).

We went to Yelm to visit Phil's dad, and to decorate his room for Christmas! He has lots of great Christmas decorations. It was fun to dig them out of his closet and find places for everything. This ice skating rink is really fun. The skaters spin around and around and music plays (if you want it). We took him a Glenn Miller Band cd and popped it into his tv to play while we decorated. Phil gave his dad a new boxcar for his train set (Glacier Green). I brought him the playmobile Santa in the background and a box of cookies.

It was a nice time.

Afterwards we did a little shopping, post office-ing, and a few other errands. I made a great chicken Parmesan dish for dinner. Tomorrow I need to get busy and get some Christmas shopping done!

Decorating...

I spent most of today unpacking the Christmas boxes and decorating the house, all but the Christmas tree. It was really fun, I must have run up and down our stairs 25 times. Maybe more. I got most things unpacked and many of the decorations around the house, although I have to say they won't necessarily stay where I put them first. The family room is the "nutcracker" room. I have 15 - 20 nutcrackers, all different sizes. They are on the windowsill, bookcase, and other surfaces around the room. I didn't take any pictures yet, but the bathroom is the "snowman" room.

My dad made this tree shelf for me several years ago. I keep meaning to paint it a different color, but every year its still green! It hangs in a narrow hallway going into the kitchen, so I only put unbreakable items on it, just in case someone bumps into it and everything falls to the tile. This year I tried to give it a kind of "I SPY" look. I'll probably add more to it as I unpack the Christmas tree ornaments. The tin tea set is Little Red Riding Hood. But I always save it for Christmas.

On my glass coffee table is a wreath I made from trimmings from around our house. The red bus is from our Glacier Park Red Bus Tour.

And my favorite project today, a wreath decorated with framed photos of all my grandchildren. I am going to put two bows on it (one pink, one white) for the two new grandchildren that won't be born until Spring 2011. They are all years older than these photos, so I have to decide whether to leave them as is, or update them from time to time ... What do you think I should do?

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We have been listening to Christmas music nonstop today while working.

Cowboys on the Santa Train.

Phil and I took a train ride with the "Hammer Clan".
The cowboys were dressed to kill.
The Steam Engine is all warmed up. We're all little kids when it comes to Christmas celebrations.

Buying the tickets.

Phil has to choose his name. It ends with Jack Hammer. Maybe Hazardous Jack Hammer? I had a temporary name of Scarlet Belle Hammer.

I snuck in to tell Santa what I wanted before all the little kids lined up!

The gear was impressive!

The train ride was fun, but it was really all about being cowboys for a day, dressing up and camaraderie.

This guy must have ridden his horse to the train station.

All steamed up!

The Hammer Clan. (and Santa).

My date.

Afterwards we went to one of the Hammer homes. They served us chili, clam chowder, ham, breads, salads, a bunch of other food, including cakes, cookies and candy. I didn't take my camera inside for that, but I wish I had.

A starry night

Tori and the wreath she and I made together.
Alan made one too.
Tori was taking a picture of him, while I took a picture from the side.

Tonight was the Mountain View Women's Christmas Dinner.

Claudia and I went to this dinner, at my sister-in-law's table.

We had a lovely time.

There was a nice dinner, a speaker, The Olympia High School Chamber choir, and caroling.

And over 60 giveaways!

We went to this last year and it was a great way to launch the Christmas season.

These were at our place settings. Cute!

As I was driving home tonight, every star was shining!

I spotted some planets too.

Beautiful!

Hark!

December two and counting! Today I have "started" decorating.

Below is a common household trunk being

used 11 /12ths of the year as an end table . . .

But, for one month of the year, it is a TREASURE CHEST!

This is where I keep most of the Christmas Tree ornaments and all the little things that were overlooked the first time I put everything away! It is always a joy to open it up and see Christmas contained in one box!

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Of course, I have six more boxes upstairs that are filled with the larger things. I'm shifting my dishes around too, getting out the Christmassy ones and putting away the others. Christmas music plays on the stereo, and W called today to say it was snowing.
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I had lunch with Vicki today at the Mall.

She brought me a gift:

an acorn squash, a delicata, and home-made seasoning salt.
Thank you!

Sing we Clear!

The First Day of December! I performed with this choir tonight.

It was really fun and uplifting! My Choir is done for now.

I'll probably join again in the Spring,

but I think I am going to skip the next quarter

because of the weather and late nights.

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Three times this week I have picked Tori up after school and we have been having a lot of fun. Well, the first time she was sick, so she had to stay on the sofa and color or watch tv. The second day we read books together Squids will be Squids, the Twelve Cats of Christmas, and Santa's Horrible start on Christmas. Tori is a pretty good reader, and we laughed a lot. Tonight I got to play princess Barbies with her! I got Snow White, and two other princesses I don't know that well.

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I went to Thompson's Furniture in Tumwater today (for you local followers)...they have the BEST ORNAMENTS IN TOWN! Go there! You won't be disappointed.

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