Post-Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season has begun. We had a good Thanksgiving but not a traditional one; no turkey. Instead we had a nice roast cooked in the crock pot, French-cut green beans, potatoes and gravy, jellied cranberry, and pies. All together we had an excellent Thanksgiving Day meal with leftovers for us to enjoy for a few more meals.

Pam makes terrific pies. This time she made a pumpkin and a rhubarb custard pie. Both turned out very well and are almost gone as I type this. Doubt if they will last the rest of today! The rhubarb custard pie is a treat as rhubarb is not very common out here. (It is high desert, after all.) Pam bought some at the grocery store this summer and cadged a bit from a neighbor who tries to grow it. Together there was enough for a good pie. There’s enough rhubarb left for one more pie at Christmas, after that Pam will resort to traditional fillings like pumpkin, apple, and cherry.

We are not much for Black Friday sales but the Honda needed a new set of tires, so, on Friday I went over to Big-O (a tire chain found mostly in the west) and had a new set of tires put on the Honda. Traffic was moderate (I didn’t go to a mall) and I didn’t see much in the way of Black Friday shoppers. At our age I guess there is nothing we want so badly that we’ll camp out, get up at 5:00 AM, or generally participate in Black Friday sales. We were NOT going to shop on Thanksgiving Day.

Today (Saturday) is our annual outdoor Christmas decorating day. With the cats and dogs in the house we don’t put up many inside decorations – the tree generally stays in one of the bathrooms where we can shut the door on the animals – so we put up some outside stuff instead. What we have is bits and pieces from previous residences; we’ll never win a decoration contest, but we still enjoy coming home to the outdoor holiday lights.

Pam decorating outdoor tree

In addition to the outdoor tree we put up a garland, rope lights, other outdoor lights, and ribbons and bows. I will be making a trip to Sanderling (to check on the RV) in a week or two, at which time I’ll  bring back some fresh evergreen boughs for wreaths and for  fragrance. Add a few “chochkies” inside the house and our  decorating will be complete.

By the way, the chairs in the photo are sitting around the fire pit. I kept a fire going and played Christmas music in the garage while putting up the decorations. Even though the day was grey and on the cool side a comfy fire helped move the job along.

Wow, we’ve already received one Christmas card. Our cards will be more like “Happy New Year” cards this year. Pam has the week of Christmas off – CMC closes – and I will take some time off as well. We will probably finish our cards during that break. So…if you don’t get a card from us before Christmas, don’t get your knickers in a twist — your card will probably arrive around New Year’s. Our electronic card is done and posted; you can view it by clicking on Christmas Cottage. The card is interactive so take a look and follow the instructions. Another link to the card is posted on our home page, http://www.appleattic.net, both as a tab at the top-right corner of the page or as a link in the middle of the page.

Time to stop talking-nothing more to say!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Am I wearing  a snowsuit in the picture? No, just three layers for warmth. Putting up outside decor in temps hovering at freezing is not a necessary part of the holiday spirit for me.  Next weekend is predicted to be even colder  – in the teens – at least it isn’t snowing [yet].

Happy Trails.