Christmas!

Sorry for the delay...I haven't been very good at blogging recently!

We had a very nice little Christmas party at our house - starting with a fairly standard big meal.

After a bit of pool-playing....it was upstairs for the present opening.

Richard and Miranda got a few doggie-related gifts - this doormat reads "Wipe Your Paws"...

Robert acting silly amidst all the wrapping paper...

Everyone had a nice time, I think!

Even me in my silly Santa hat!  Happy Holidays!!

Christmas Breakfast at Barney and Jackie's

I'm posting from my little handheld itouch for the first time so this may look weird. We are always invited to our neighbors for Xmas breakfast . I will post our actual Christmas photos when I can. But I have these photos on my itouch so they are what you get for now! Robert joined us ... But I didn't get a photo of him !! Richard and Miranda were at her folks house then. Fun as always and no dishes to clean up!!

Christmas Cactus

My Christmas cactus seems to know it's Christmas!!! I didn't do anything to it (like take it to a dark room or anything like that). Quite lovely this year!

Mills River Christmas

Time for the Christmas get-together in Mills River.  Duane, I and Miranda flew up, of course.....the boys decided they should road-trip Raleigh-Mills River.  I think they were just a little bit chilly!

Everyone gathered at Mom's house for snacks and the "Chinese Christmas" game that we always play.  This time, Eddie II and Brittany joined us from Italy via Skype!   First, they thought they had Conner (who is over 1 month old now) asleep.....

But apparently not, so he got to join the party too!  He seemed like a real trooper and only fussed at the very end.  It was really cool to be able to see and talk to them!

We were projecting the Skype image up onto Mom and Frank's TV, but the camera was off to the side - so everyone was looking away from the camera.

The house was packed!!

More baby shots!

Random gift shots.....

Everyone had a great time with it - several gifts were stolen a couple of times.

Daisy, of course, had to sit on Duane's lap - the one guy that really doesn't want much to do with dogs or cats....she made herself right at home!

Good time was had by all, I believe.

We had breakfast with Pat and Cordy - Happy Birthday to Cordy, by the way!!!

Then it was back to the airport for the flight home - with a much more full airplane than we had on the way up, somehow!!

Beautiful day - we extended our climb-out from the Asheville Airport a bit...

And got a really nice view of the Biltmore House from above!!!

Book Club Christmas Party

It's time for the once-yearly Book Club "Dirty Santa" party.....

First, our hostess had some nice goodies for us to munch on. We (very briefly) discussed our book - The Thorn Birds. I actually hate to admit it, but I did enjoy the rather long, epic story. It's really just a soap opera in one big book....but it's a fun read, anyway!

On to the "Dirty Santa" - lots of fun - several gifts got "stolen".  We had a "2 steal" rule - the 3rd person who has  a gift gets to keep it!

Decisions, decisions....

A nice, fun evening!!

Another boring office party.....

Every year, I go to great pains to subject the Cardinal Air gang to my version of the "office party".





I think everyone had a nice time visiting "away from the airport"....

Isn't it weird when you look at your camera later and see that a photo that you thought you snapped was recorded as a video????

Rum balls/last of an era/liquor story

This is not just any old bottle...stay with me here....

I definitely didn't drink much of this. I'm actually not a rum-drinker....you know, the red-wine gets in the way of hard-liquor-drinkin' !!!

I made my rum-balls for Christmas yesterday.

You know, crush the vanilla wafers, add powdered sugar, minced pecans, syrup and RUM.

I finished off this bottle of rum with the last batch of rum-balls.

And I was cleaning up.

And I was walking over to toss this bottle.

And I realized it was the last of "Daddy's" liquor cart.

Let me explain.  My dad was not a liquor drinker.  He often drank cheap beer after mowing the lawn, but I'm not sure I ever saw him drink liquor.

This is the way that I know the story - it may not be quite accurate....I was long gone, we were living in Boca Raton raising 2 toddlers at the time.

 It was probably 1990.  I don't think he'd been diagnosed with prostate cancer at that point.

My mom worked as an accountant at a local firm and was very friendly with her co-workers.

They invited everyone from work over for a "pool-party".

Being wonderful hosts, they got a bunch of liquor for the party.  I'm sure it was a fine party.

Most of the liquor was left over.  The party-er's must not have been liquor drinkers either.

All the liquor was stored on a cart in their den.

Then he had the nerve to leave us.

And somehow, I got a few of the bottles of liquor.  And his overcoat.  And a few special guns.  All precious.

The liquor was toted in a big Rubbermaid tote as we moved from New Hill to Apex to Pittsboro.  There were several  half gallons of various brand-name liquor.

Through the years, I've slowly used them up in various recipes and drinks.  The bottles were actually dusty with age.

The liquor stayed very fresh.  Going on 20 years.  Wow.

So, if you get a rum-ball this year.....enjoy!!  I know I will.

News!! Extra, Extra!!

I'm assuming since it's out on Facebook that I can announce it here!

Richard and Miranda are engaged!! No details yet. I'm very happy for them!!!

Quote

When she says, “What?” it isn’t that she didn’t hear you; she’s giving you a chance to change what you said.

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NC Pecans

Most every year, my sweet neighbors Al and Shirley, offer to bring fresh pecans to me. There is an elderly couple who they know near Siler City that have a bunch of pecan trees and they sell nuts, word-of-mouth.

This year, I got "just" 10 pounds for my Christmas baking.....of course, they are not shelled!!

So, I borrowed Al and Shirley's very neat nutcracker and got to work!

Here's a close-up view - it's cool and so simple. Whew...I've cracked alot of nuts!

Quote

I'm going to start putting cute quotes I see up randomly....

You can sail anywhere on the planet and never be more than 7 miles from land - it might be straight down, but its never more than seven miles


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Myrtle Beach

It was such a lovely weekend, we needed to fly somewhere Sunday!! So, off to Myrtle Beach...wandered around Broadway at the Beach - as we came upon the notorious "bull ride", Duane was goading me to try it again. I think not!! This is NOT me - but a young lady - who did not fair as well as I did as she fell off after just one "spin". I think I made it thru a few spins before I was bucked off!

Had a few oysters for a snack - then an uneventful, peaceful flight home!

Hushpuppies

This weekend was our friend's annual "customer appreciation day" at his business....and I always volunteer to cook the hushpuppies in the "turkey cooker" that Mom and Frank gave us years ago....

Lot's of food and an absolutely gorgeous December day!

And the hushpuppies were wonderful, as usual!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I've started the preparations for my company Christmas party now......let's see how many things I can put in ziplock bags in my freezers!!!   I can't do it all the day before, so some of it has to be done ahead of time..... (Party date is next Saturday night....finger food for 35+ !!!!!)

Yummy lettuce from the garden

I had planted a 99 cent package of  "Variety Lettuce" in my little fall garden.  I am actually surprised that the deer have left it alone.  (They've eaten the radish greens instead....go figure!!)

We had freezing temperatures finally, so I thought I'd better get me one last salad:

I can't identify all the different greens - I see Chard, Arugula and various red/green leaf lettuce.  The Arugula was actually quiet "peppery", but the others were very mild and crisp.   I've got enough in the fridge of a few more salads if it doesn't wilt.   Now all I have in the garden is onions and collards.  Looking forward to a batch of "frosted" collards next - I've read that they get a sweeter flavor once they've been exposed to frost.  I'll let ya know!!