Letti Thursday - New Year's Eve Edition

Firstly, Happy New Year, ONE AND ALL!

I haven't been very diligent at Letti Thursday posts, but as it was New Year's Eve, I thought I would whip out the camera for the last Letti Thursday of the year, and decade.

We had chicken drumsticks, black eyed peas, fried okra, croissant and cookies.

Yummy croissants




Drumsticks aka Letti-style Buffalo Wings




Black Eye Peas ( for good luck )




Fried Okra




Festive Cookies

Snow and Presents Galore

It may not be nearly as much

as some other places, but still, we had a semi blizzard on Christmas Eve, and there are still patches of snow on the ground today. It even snowed again a couple of days ago on top of the snow we already had. That NEVER happens here. At least it hasn't in a long while, I'm guessing.

It was quite a strange feeling to wake up day after day to see the snow still hanging around. Usually, it would have melted by the next day or even on the same day. Anyway, as someone who isn't from the northern states, or countries which are perpetually covered in snow, this was quite a new thing for me, a person from the tropics. We tried to get as much out of it as we could. We made some snow ice cream - 3 tubs remaining in the freezer, and brought Jaxon out to get as much out of the experience as we could. With the air being relatively calm and no wind, it was not as cold as I might have thought.

Here are my photogenic boys in their snowy splendour.











MINE, ALL MINE!!





Thank you Aunt Joanna, Uncle CY, Glendon and Evangeline for the helicopter!












We got him a Pooh 4 in 1 Rock and Ride, and will post pics of that later...

Christmas 2009

This year was extra special

because it was Jaxon's first Christmas. So, of course it was "spare no expense" time, and we got him his own little first Christmas shirt, hat and bib. Hehehehe..

I accidentally ended up dressing Jaxon like a lumberjack in his hat and flannel shirt, but he was still as cute as a bug.

( I love that absolutely perfectly round head )

We had to be really careful on the road going to my FIL's house because the roads were still covered with snow/ice and as David says, we have "precious cargo" on board.

The grub was good and the company even better.

I still can't believe we had a White Christmas after all. David jokingly said that it only happened because I had been complaining about not feeling the Christmas spirit this year, and so I was to blame for the blizzard and snow. :P

Ah, this pic melts my heart :)

I didn't make anything fancy for our Christmas lunch with the family. We got croissants from Sam's, and I baked some Christmas cookies ( thank you, Pillsbury ), did the Cranberry sauce/relish/salad and decorated a Gingerbread House! The icicles were a killer! I had never piped any icing of any sort before, and I was doing ICICLES?? David's comment? "What's piping??"

Cookies

Cranberry Sauce/Relish/Salad

Gingerbread House

Christmas Eve Snowstorm

A Blizzard Warning was issued for our area today,

which was pretty phenomenal considering where we are. According to the National Weather Service office in San Angelo, this was the first blizzard warning it has issued for our area since the office opened in 1947.

Looking outside all this morning, into the afternoon, I would have thought we were actually in a blizzard ( blowing or falling snow is accompanied by sustained winds above 35 miles per hour ). We had winds gusting over 35 miles an hour with sideways snow coming down almost all day.

I figure we got about 7 or 8 inches of snow, but with all that blowing, who knows... Plus, there were snowdrifts out here that were about 2 feet tall.

How is this any different from anywhere else that gets snow? Well, for one thing, snow seldom falls in Central Texas. Snow in December is rarer still. A White Christmas with a blizzard warning? Fuggedaboutit...

I took some pictures of the cattery from my study window. The cat toys that are usually dangling about a foot or so off the ground are kinda embedded in the snow..

We still made our way carefully over to my FIL's for Letti Thursday, which might have not been the best choice, but Thank God we made it there and back safely. We saw cars stranded by the side of the road, covered in snow, on the way there.

Oh, and Merry Christmas, one and all, and have safe blessed and glorious year ahead.

More Shots

We got our seasonal flu shots a couple of months ago

and went in to the Health Department to get our H1N1 shots yesterday.

David asked if they had the "preservative free" ones, and a nurse in another room who had popped in at that moment said, "oo, I think I have like 9 more of those". And voila, just like that, my assertive husband got us the preservative-free shots. Yay! It reminds me of my mom and older sister. They can be fiends at bargaining/ haggling, whereas I'm the shy one. I wish I was a little more like them that way, but I guess I find my bargains in other ways. Or I could always get David to do the talking for me. Mwahahahahaha.