CHRISTMAS

Hello and welcome to Christmas 2017 part 2.  Thanks for taking the time to visit me!

Christmas morning we all slept in.  You can tell we aren't kids anymore waking up at the crack of dawn to open those gifts.  What's more, when we did all get up, we got up to a White Christmas.

It wasn't a lot, just enough to make it pretty.

Elaine made us a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, muffins and cinnamon rolls.

I love taking pictures of her decorations.  They are always so pretty.

After breakfast I donned my hat and it was off to open those gifts.

Joe loves honey and he got a beautiful gift set from Elaine.

Elaine gave me this gorgeous rice bowl and a bag of candied ginger.  Yum!

I gave Joe a copy of "Happy Happy Happy".  I knew he would like it.

I gave Elaine this Lenox candle lamp that matches her dishes.

Elaine gave each of us a warm throw.  Joe's was a Marine Corps throw.

Mine is a pretty plaid.

Joe asked for a shoe shine box and that was what I got him.  A beautiful cedar one.  It smells so good.

I saw this ring in Lenox back in July and was going to buy it, but Elaine bought it for me instead.  It was in my stocking in a Tiffany box.  Tiffany for me?  Oh how nice!

Opening stocking gifts is always fun.  My mom made the stockings for me and Elaine.

Joe usually has one of my mom's stockings too, but this year he really liked this "Rudolph" stocking so I got it for him.

Gift cards are always a good choice.

Here are my stocking gifts:  Buttered popcorn jelly bellies and sugar cookie and cinnamon roll flavored peeps.  What could be better?  I also got a pair of really nice gloves, some hand lotion, a peppermint stick and two bayberry candles.  Of course the ring is there too.

And as usual we watched "A Christmas Story" with the famous line, "You're going to poke your eye out, kid!"

Ace had a different ball for us to throw for him.  He loves those balls.

We had an early dinner before we left.  Elaine made angel hair pasta with broccoli and garlic knots.  So good.  I make this dish but it's never as good as hers.

We left a little later after we finished eating.  It is always sad to say goodbye to my sister.

It was an easy drive home with very little traffic most of the way.  The sky was gorgeous -- all reds, golds, and purples.  I wish I hadn't been driving and could have taken pictures of it.  So beautiful!  It was sort of like this picture I found on google, only more so.  It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.  And I had the privilege of looking at it for almost an hour while I was driving.

We got home safely around 5:30 p.m.  When I parked I noticed we were the only car on the entire street with snow and ice on it.  Hmm...

Jack was happy to see us and we were glad to be home.

I will be showing you more Christmas stuff tomorrow.  So much to see the rest of this week.  And then on to 2018.  It's coming quickly!

Kathy