The wind is a-howling here today. Woke up this morning to the
wind thundering around the house and wailing through the trees.
There's a strong wind warning posted by the Weather Network
that will last until late afternoon with gusts up to 100 km/h. In
other words...it's a good day to hunker down indoors.

Actually, the past week weather wise has been an excellent
argument for humans to hibernate. Take Christmas Eve for
example. In the morning we woke to about 20 cm of snow
that had fallen overnight. We grimly dug out the car and
headed off to work, with a fine mist pattering against the
windshield. During the day the temperature rose, so that
by the time DH picked me up from work it was a somewhat
balmy (for us) +4 and it was bucketing rain. It was foggy
in some areas too.


When we got home we discovered snow had piled from the
main roof of the house onto the smaller roof over the front
entrance to the house. The rain was making that snow very
heavy and we were worried about the weight so DH got out
a ladder and stood on it while shoveling/pushing snow off
of that roof. And all the while it continued to pour rain. He
also shoveled out a bit of the walkway to the backyard and
cleared a path on the deck in case we needed to get out the
back door. By the time that he came in he was soaked to
the skin and had to change into dry everything before sitting
down to dinner.

After dinner we were going out to a local horse/riding stable
to watch a nativity play put on by the folks from the Ballinafad
church. By that time the rain had stopped, of course, but the
wind had come up and was beginning to blow. All during the
show the wind could be heard roaring around the high roof
of the riding arena where we were located. And when we
came outside afterward the wind blew us back to our car
and pinched at us with chilly fingers as the temperature was
dropping. It was good to get back indoors again.


The rest of Christmas Eve was spent with friends visiting
and lots of chatting, pots of tea and wonderful chocolate
covered English biscuits from Loblaws/President's Choice
to eat. The seven of us devoured the entire package actually!
DH went to his church's nine o clock service to sing with
the choir and then joined us afterward. It was a great
evening and perhaps the highlight of the holidays for me
at least so far.

Christmas day morning I spent making pastry and then
pumpkin pie, and turnip casserole. After lunch we put
the turkey in the oven and left my SIL to turkey-sit
while we went to visit my Mom and give her her
Christmas presents. My SIL had a cold and so couldn't
go with us.

Mom's back at the rehab facility, having been
transferred back there on December 23rd. She was
quarantined there for two days but is now free to go
to the dinning room for meals and practice her walking
in the hallways. She's doing well and was thrilled with
the clothes that we got her for Christmas. We stayed
with her as long as we could and then had to hurry
home to finish preparing the turkey dinner.

We opened gifts during a narrow window of opportunity
while the potatoes were cooking and the turkey was
resting and the turnip casserole was warming in the
oven. Then it was dinner time at last!! Yum Yum!!!
Everything turned out well, if I do say so myself.

Of course clean up took three times as long to do as the
eating of the meal, and I thank God for dish washers.
My SIL left after clean up and DH and I spent the rest
of the evening....resting.

My question is.....where did the time go????



I didn't have all that much left to stitch on Kitty Cottage and so
finished it last evening. As I said before, it'll be my final finish
for this year. And here it is, all pressed and everything so you
can get the full effect. I used Colonial stitches for the mouses
eyes and am pleased that they turned out pretty good. I put
in a few stitches on Halloween Short Stack last night too but
there's not enough progress to warrant a picture. Next time.

Now I have to start going through my stash and choosing a
new traveling project. What shall it be???


A few reading finishes to report. Both are light reads, which
is all that you want at this busy time of year. I've read one
book by Robin Pilcher before and enjoyed it so when I saw
this one on sale I grabbed it. Yes, this is the son of author
Rosamund Pilcher who is a great favourite of mine.


Another book from the sale pile. I actually got two hard
covers by this author from the sale pile and this is the
first one that I read. It was a lovely, amusing read with
lots of Southern charm. This was the first time that I've
read Deborah Smith and I look forward to reading more
by this author in the future.


Sat down and watched White Christmas on DVD the
other night. It's one of my favourite Christmas movies
and I never tire of it. I love Bing Crosby's and Rosemary
Cloony's singing and Danny Kaye's antics. And the
costumes, by Edith Head, are gorgeous!! And of course
there's THAT song! Gets me every time.

Well, guess I should go and do some more of my Christmas
baking. I've made ginger/butterscotch cookies and short
bread so far but still have a few other old favourites I want
to make. Didn't have any time to do baking before the big
day but now I'm on vacation and am getting into it.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes
for the New Year!!! Take care.

Cheers