Hello, friends! I want to continue on from yesterday and tell you about the day after Christmas.
After we all got up and got ourselves together we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Joe and I had been given two gift cards so we treated Elaine. It was such a treat and so good. We loved our waitress. She said she lived in Pennsylvania and when we told her we lived in Philadelphia, she said she had visited and her daughter loved Philly. She was from East Stroudsburg and knew right where our church's campsite, Pinebrook, was. What a small world!
After we ate, we went to Marshall's for their after Christmas sale. Joe was able to get a new pair of sneakers for $20. And he bought me something I have been wanting all of Advent -- a sock advent calendar. But this one is the 12 days of socks, for the 12 days of Christmas. Since it was the 26th, I opened the first two days.
Here is the calendar before I opened it.
And here I am pointing to the first door which I am about to open.
The first pair of socks were crew socks with a picture of a nutcracker on it. So cute!
Then I pointed to the second day which I was going to open.
These were no show socks with peppermint stick stripes on them. I am loving this!
Thank you, Elaine, for taking these pictures for me. I will post each day the new socks I am getting. Such fun!
We had lunch before we left her house. There was lunchmeat, all kinds of cheese, different kinds of crackers, Hawaiian rolls and sourdough bread. It was great choosing what kinds of cheese to eat and what kind of meat to pair with them. Elaine knows I love Brie and had a big wheel of it sitting right in front of me.
Everything was delicious. Then she brought out a birthday cake for me. It was so pretty!
Elaine lit the candles and she and Joe sang to me. Then I blew them out. I missed one. Does that mean I don't get my wish?
I have the best sister ever.
We hung out for a bit, but finally it was time to leave. I wanted to get home before it was dark. And I was almost home before the night set in. But most of the way we were blessed with the most gorgeous sunset I think I have ever seen. Golds, reds, crimson and purples just filled the sky. If I hadn't been driving, I would have been taking some pictures.
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. There is still more to tell and show to you so please come back tomorrow.
Have a wonderful day.
Kathy
Hello, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Blogmas is over but the Christmas and New Year posts continue.
Christmas morning was not good for me. Just being honest here. I was totally not prepared to go away. I still had so much to do in the house. And I couldn't find things. I was trying to straighten up while throwing things around to find the missing items. I finally broke down and cried. It was not a good time. But we finally got everything wrapped and packed up and on the road an hour later than we had planned.
We had an easy trip to Northern New Jersey except for one intersection where a car decided to just cross the highway with oncoming traffic (including me) headed right at him. It was only by the grace of God that we weren't killed. You can't just stop the car on a dime when you are going 55 mph with a lot of traffic around you also going that fast. I was able to change lanes at the last minute and miss him by inches. Thank you, God! This is why we always pray before leaving the house.
But we got to my sister Elaine's house with no other problems and fairly light traffic. It was good to finally be there.
We arrived in daylight, but I have to show you a picture of her pretty house at night. The lights are perfect. The room lit up is the living room where Joe and I were.
Elaine made us the most delicious dinner of oven fried chicken, herbed new potatoes, asparagus and Hawaiian rolls. My mouth wanted more when my stomach said stop. She gave us some to bring home and we will have it for dinner tomorrow.
Of course we had our Christmas crackers. So fun, although the crowns, jokes, and prizes were not as good as last year. I got a magnifying glass, Joe a jumping frog and Elaine a spinning top. Here's a picture of Elaine and Joe pulling Elaine's cracker and one of Joe wearing his crown.
After dinner we opened gifts. Such nice things everyone got. Of course Elaine's dog, Ace, had to get in on things.
Elaine gave me a cookbook for my air fryer and a cool burlap bag that opens into a basket to hold all my cookbooks. I love it and know just where I am going to put it in my kitchen.
She gave Joe a shirt he wanted.
Every year Elaine gives us a treat for New Year's Eve. But this year was tremendous. She put a basket together for us with crackers, cheese, salami, chocolate, mints, nuts, tea and I don't remember what else. I love it so much!
Her tree was one of the most beautiful trees I had ever seen.
And she had a beautiful angel on the top.
Joe gave Elaine a decorated egg on a pedestal that when opened revealed a nutcracker. It was also a music box that played the Dance of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite.
A bag of goodies for Joe from Elaine.
Our friend, Chrissy, gave Elaine the cutest gift. It was a mug that said I love my dog, a box of hot chocolate mix, and a mug of chocolate with marshmallow dog chew toy. Adorable!
Another picture of me with the basket Elaine made for us.
Here is Ace with one of his balls. We got him three red and green balls for Christmas. Ace loves balls. I mean LOVES balls!
Ace wanted to see everything that was going on.
And he kept jumping into Joe's lap and licking his entire face.
We watched TV after we were finished and of course had to see our traditional movie -- A Christmas Story. Each of us likes a different part of it and waits for our special part to show up.
By this time we were all beat, so Joe went to bed first. Elaine and I stayed up and talked awhile but soon it was time for bed for us too.
I will tell you about the next day tomorrow and show you what Joe gave me. I still have not had time to photograph them. I am so tired today that I have done nothing. But we have a Christmas party to go to tonight with Joe's veterans group so I have to get myself together for that. At least I don't have to cook!
I'll see you later. Have a good night everyone.
Kathy
Hello, friends! I'm sitting here in bed listening to the rain POURING outside and feeling so happy that this was not what I had to drive in on Christmas Day. We had a wonderful day. And a good day after that and another good day after that. I know I am way behind on catching you up but the days are so busy!
On Christmas Day morning Joe and I took our time getting up. You can tell we aren't kids anymore. Joe was surprised by the things I got him: a soft throw blanket, pj pants he wanted, a Kate Spade coffee mug from Lenox, a few little things from Target and a pair of stereo earphones he has been wanting. Joe gave me a huge bag of peppermints (my favorite), a very pretty outfit of a blue and black plaid top and black leggings, and a beautiful jewelry set (ring, necklace and earrings) of flowers made with mother of pearl. I have to get a shot of them to show you just how pretty they are.
After breakfast we packed up and headed out to my sister's house. We left around 2:00 p.m. so I could drive the whole way in the light. I hate making that drive after dark. Elaine had to work that day so we got up there about 4:00 p.m. Her home is always so pretty.
Elaine's tree was so gorgeous.
Our friend Frank came over too and we all had a wonderful dinner of roast beef, potatoes, and mixed veggies.
Can you tell she collects nutcrackers?
Of course before we ate we pulled our Christmas crackers.
For some reason we all got red crowns.
My prize was a shoe horn. Joe got a tape measure. Frank got a corkscrew. I forget what Elaine got. And of course a lame joke.
For dessert Elaine had gotten me a birthday cake. And because it is a special birthday (65) she got me a special birthday candle. I've never seen anything like it. It was spectacular.
It was a delicious vanilla cake.
After dinner we opened our gifts. There was so much more. We are really spoiled.
Fruitcake for Joe. He is happy!
As always we watched the movie "The Christmas Story." I think it was on three times before we changed to something else.
Of course the star of the day was little Ace.
A little blurry picture of Ace, but it's hard to get a good picture of him because he's always moving.
After awhile Frank left and we all decided to go to bed. Joe and I were sleeping over that night so I didn't have to drive home in the dark. Elaine had the next day off from work so it worked out fine. I was going to tell you about that but this is getting really long so I will continue tomorrow.
I hope you all had a really nice Christmas. I haven't had time to read your blogs but I will do some blog reading today and catch up.
Enjoy your day! Until later....
Kathy
