Happy New Year's Eve!

 

As you can tell, this year I took a slight shortcut and got some 2024 Paper Cutout Glasses from Temu. 

Sometimes you just get a little bit overwhelmed, and this was just a way of delegating.

Pretty Frosty Mornings in The Countryside

 

One of the Last Harvests

We have the "Greenhouse/Shadehouse/NettingHouse" covered up for the season, but there are still some viable plants in there. 

The tomatoes may not be producing anymore, but the fruit on there are ripening, and I pluck them as they mature. 

Same goes for the Chives.  The Bellpepper plants are now indoors and keep on ripening too.

Merry Christmas 2023

 Merry Christmas, y'all!

Of course the day started with making sure everything was in place for when people finally got up :) Stockings filled, and presents waiting under the tree.

The Young Man pondering the Gifts That Are To Be.

It's always wonderful, isn't it? The joy and glee and excitement.

I know his face doesn't look it, but he was quite pleased with a Christmas T Shirt, and especially one featuring Among Us.

Minecraft Socks from Poh Poh..

Happiness is A New Sweater and Plush ( Jumbo Josh ) in The Current Favorite Color.

The Hubs emptying his Cowboy Boot Stocking to Goodies Galore.

Even the cat was not forgotten.  He played with the catnip-filled mouse for a little bit but then got all ho hum about it. Bleh.

We DID find him snuggling up with HIS own new plush, tho.

Christmas Lunch !

Potatoes, Cranberry Relish, Avocado/Spinach/Red Bell Pepper Crescent Candy Cane, Smoked Ham, Peas in Cheese, Mixed Fruit Salad, Cheese, Crackers and Pigs in a Blanket.

The Dessert Table!

Mixed Berry Cheesecake Pie and Chocolate Galore Pie.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2024, y'all.

A Very Unexpected Christmas Eve's Eve

It had been raining just about all day, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  

That was until it was REALLY late in the night - nearing midnight, when suddenly we hear the continuous blaring of a car horn outside.

Long story short, it turned out to be ours. We may live in the country where it isn't like a housing development where you bump into a neighbor at every turn, but we still DO have neighbors. It being the middle of the night, we knew we had to do something. Well, regardless of what time it was, it still needed to be stopped.

The hubs immediately went into emergency procedures and gathered whatever he needed to unhook the car battery to cut off the juice that was causing all that horrendous incessant racket.

All this in drizzling, freezing conditions.

When we had some time to take a breath without getting our eardrums blown up, we tried to survey the cause ....  and damage.

Somehow, the front windshield had developed a leak at its seal, which was letting rain water in, which then drenched the steering wheel and all the electronics in there - which then let loose this glitch with the horn going continuously. 

The floor board of the driver's side had water standing - a little flood - and we tried to do whatever we could to dry stuff out, including stringing a fan out to blow on the steering wheel etc.

Thank Goodness after setting the fan there overnight and onto the next day, when the battery was reattached, the horn had gone back to normal. Sheesh.

For now, there is heavy duty duct tape over where the metal meets the glass on the front wind shield faulty area and crossed fingers.

Side Note: The rain's brought out slugs. *shudder*

Season Themed Breakfasts

An Early Christmas Package

Whenever Uncle Carter sends over A Care Package, the little boy and I are especially thrilled.

One never knows what adventures await us in Uncle Carter's Packages :)

Thank you to the Loveliest Brother Ever.

Happy Winter Solstice.

It's the Chinese Winter Solstice Celebration today.

Like last year, I thought I'd make some Tang Yuan, and get the Little Boy a little more acquainted with the Chinese side of his Heritage. 

Even though this is only the second time I have done this in 2 years, I don't think I did too badly.  

The boys did not complain :)

Our GingerBread Christmas Village

While we were assembling the pieces, some of the icing fell off the walls and roofs, but we didn't really care. We had had fun assembling and decorating them, and that was what we cared about.

I also got some Christmas Tree Peeps to scatter around, and we found some Haribo Gummy Bears from years past which came in handy as the Towns Folk!

It's not anything to shout about, but we loved putting it together :)

Decorating Christmas Cookies

Time To Put It Together

The Decoration on the Gingerbread Pieces have dried sufficiently overnight to begin construction!

You can take a girl out of The Tropics..

and she can have lived here for 20 years, but she still gets Quite Cold.

As seen here, with her 15 year old decked in just a T-Shirt, whereas she is be-turtleneck-sweatered and be-beanied.

We're in for Some Kind of Weather.

During my "Morning Rounds" today, a very interesting sky greeted me.  There were dark clouds all around, moving really quickly, and yet the sun was still shining ever so brightly.

After I had snapped the photos, though, the sky became covered by the dark clouds and it became quite the gloomy day.