NEW YEAR'S EVE

2012 is almost a memory.  Only a little over an hour and it will be history.  On New Year's Eve as the sun sets I always feel as if the year is an old, tired person settling in for a long rest.  The night seems extra dark and quiet with the Christmas lights punctuating it with little bursts of color -- a reminder of last week with all the excitement Christmas brings.

It was extremely slow at work today.  Just a lot of phone calls, most of them asking what time we were closing.  We got out at 3 p.m. again today.  So nice that the city gives us that extra time.

I wanted to get some apples to make dessert for tomorrow.  So I stopped at Shop Rite.  But I couldn't find a single place to park in the lot.  And there were several accidents, people yelling at each other, etc.  So I left there and went to the corner deli.  But they were closed.  I ended up going to Wawa and spending over $5 for 6 apples.  Just what I did NOT want to do, but I had no choice.

I have been so tired.  So I ended up taking a nap before dinner.  It felt so good.

Joe and I have a little "party" by ourselves every New Year's Eve.  We started off with summer sausage, jack cheese, hot sweet mustard and crackers.  Yum!

    
Then we went on to chips and salsa.

Because of our medication neither Joe nor I can drink alcohol.  But he found a non-alcoholic merlot for us to have.

We ended up with chicken wings.  I love chicken wings.  (My shirt says "celebrate" and I bought it to wear tonight.)

 
My mother-in-law gave us the glasses for Christmas several years ago.  I love them.  They are so pretty with the poinsettias around them.

We just finished watching the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".  So good.  I love Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

So now we are watching TV to see the countdown.  I hope you all have a wonderful 2013.  May it be a good year for all of us.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

This evening we went to see Joe's step-mom and her sister and give them their Christmas gifts.  This is the first chance we had to get there.  I wish I had the nerve to take my camera into the house with me and start taking pictures.  There is not one inch of that house that is not decorated for Christmas both inside and out.  I have never seen ANYONE decorate the way that lady does.  But if you knew my mother-in-law you would know that it just would not be possible to photograph the place.

She gave both Joe and me so many nice gifts -- both for Christmas and my birthday.  We know she does not have a lot of money and did not expect it.  We told her not to get us anything, but she didn't listen to us.  We got clothing, candy, food treats, trinkets, books.  My goodness that lady just got everything and she has good taste so it is all really nice.

On the way home Joe and I went to the street we were on last night with all the Christmas lights.  I finally got my good camera to work so I was able to get some pictures.  Some are better than others, but you can see just how this block decorates.  We weren't the only ones taking pictures.  People were driving slowly up and down the street and almost everyone had cameras.

  
This is just a small portion of the block.  So much more.  Unfortunately, we just could not sit in the middle of the block taking pictures and some of the ones we did take turned out too blurry to show you.  But I think you can get the idea of how great it was.  I hope they do it next year.  I'm going to find a place to park and walk up and down the block getting shots.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

I had such a great birthday.  It started off with Joe making me his wonderful scrambled eggs for breakfast.  No one makes scrambled eggs as good as Joe does.  Oh my are they good!

Joe gave me six gift cards for my birthday.  They were to Dunkin' Donuts, Sonic, Wendy's, Cracker Barrel, and IHOP.  I have lots of free lunches coming my way.  Is he trying to fatten me up?  My friend, Debbie, gave me some placemats and the cutest calendars.  My friend, Marion, gave me a Snoopy and Woodstock birthday figure.  I put it on the table with my other Peanuts birthday stuff.

And my sister Elaine gave me a rice cooker.  It's so cool and I can't wait to use it.  I'm probably going to try it out this week.  She said once I use it I will never make rice in a pan again.

 I got some spider mums that look like peppermint candies.  So pretty.

We got some snow today.  At one point it was coming down hard and fast.  But then it turned to rain and most of it is gone now.

Tonight Joe and our friends Walt and Carole took me to the Country Club for dinner.  It was funny because when we got there my friend Donna was there having dinner with a friend of hers.  Almost every time we go there we see someone we know.  I had veal francaise for dinner.  It is one of my favorite meals.  So very good.  And I have left overs for later.  

After we ate they took us through this street that the whole block was decorated with lights and animated characters.  They really went all out and it was beyond fantastic.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.  Joe and I are going to try to go back tomorrow and take pictures.  It's unbelievable.   

Then we came back to the house and had cupcakes for my birthday.  They were so cute.

 
Walt and Carole gave me a gift card to Dollar Tree (I can do loads with that!) and a butterfly balloon.

It has been a great birthday.  Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings and good wishes.

FRIDAY VIEW

An extremely slow day at the library except for one hour.  That hour I was the only one working in the library.  Both Bob and Jerry were at lunch.  Then, of course, everyone decided to come in.

I have one last Christmas view for the season.  I was at my friend Debbie's house a couple of weeks ago.  Her husband goes all out decorating for the holidays.  Hope you enjoy them.

Wow!  I told them I felt as if I were at the North Pole!

Tomorrow is my birthday.  I will be 59 years old.  And we are supposed to have a major snow storm.   It just figures.  I was going to take it easy, but I decided that having a clean house would make me feel better than sitting around would.  So I'm going to get things done as I sip on hot chocolate and look out the window at the falling snow.  Nice.

SURPRISE

Another slow day at work.  All week has been really slow.  I thought with the kids off from school there would be a lot of activity, but there has been almost no one in the library.  I guess everyone is doing other things.  I know the PAL (Police Athletic League) is putting together a soccer team and a lot of the kids are interested in that.

I was on the desk this afternoon when Jerry called me back to the workroom.  I said, "I can't leave the desk."  He said, "Oh yes, you can.  Get in here.  We have to have a talk."  I thought, "What did I do now?"  When I walked in the room there was a cake with a lit birthday candle and everyone sang to me.  I was really surprised because I was sure they had forgotten all about my birthday.

Jerry had even stolen the paper flower off of Diane's desk to decorate the book truck that had the cake.  He has a habit of doing that.

They also gave me a card that they all signed.

 
This was so nice of them.  Especially nice of Bob who saw that Diane and Sheila were off, Jerry was just coming back from vacation, and took it on himself to plan all of this.  I work with the best people.

CHRISTMAS

Joe woke me up this morning at 6 a.m. to start the day.  We had a lot to do before we left for my sister's house at 8.  There was no one on the road at that time of the morning on Christmas Day so we made really good time and got to her place around 10 a.m.

The snow we got last night was all gone by this morning.  But at Elaine's house there was still some snow on the ground.  So I had a white Christmas.

There were lots of presents under her beautiful tree.

 
It was a long trip and we were really glad to finally be there.  Joe and I love going up to see Elaine, but neither of us love the long drive.

Cody had lots of toys to play with.  But as usual he first had to tear them apart and pull out all the stuffing.

One of the gifts Elaine got was this beautiful cup and saucer from some friends of ours.

Joe and I each got tops from Elaine.

One of the things I asked for was a new griddle for making pancakes.  This is a nice one.  I am very happy.

Joe got a copy of one of his favorite movies -- "The Artist".

  
 One of my favorite gifts is this book.  It has beautiful Victorian botanical illustrations and places to put photographs on each page.  I'm going to have fun picking out just the right pictures to put in it.

Elaine always decorates so beautifully.  Walking into her house is like walking into a Christmas wonderland.  Here are some of the pillows she had on the sofa.  I love them because they are 3-D.

  
And here are a few of her decorations.

  
Taking a break while Joe takes a nap.  His ribs were really hurting him, so he took a pain pill and laid down for a couple of hours.

  
We always have Christmas crackers with our dinner.  They bang when you pull them apart.  Inside are paper crowns (that you wear through dinner), toys and a riddle.  A bad riddle.  Mine was:  who is the most famous married woman in America?  Mrs. Sippi (Mississippi).  Groan.

  

 

We had a pork roast, green beans and roasted potatoes for dinner.  It was so good.  I even had seconds, which almost never happens.

We stuck around for a little bit after dinner.  I was so tired I fell asleep.  I woke up with a flash in my face.  Elaine had taken my picture.

 

After talking to my two brothers on the phone, we took a couple of pictures in front of the tree and then headed home.

The outside lights were beautiful, but of course didn't turn out so good in the picture.

The drive home was kinda rough and long.  Lots of people on the road and poor visibility.  But other than that we had a wonderful day.  Hope you all had a great Christmas too.