The Stockings Were Hung By The Light Switch...

... with care (on Command hooks, love those).  We don't have a mantle.  Usually we just loop the stockings over a chair back but we don't have enough chairs for all the stockings anymore.  In my defense there is a lovely lithograph of St. Nick hanging just above the row of stockings.  All but the striped knitted one and the fuzzy Marvin the Martian one look a little timeworn, maybe I'll crank out new ones for next year.  I'll poll the delegation to make sure I won't be ruining things.  The brown and green "His" and "Hers" stockings were swap gifts Durwood's parents, Pappy and Vi, got at a parish Christmas party one year ages ago; I'd kind hate to see them leave the lineup but they don't hold much.

Today is a cooking-ahead day.  The big orange pot has a triple batch of Sloppy Joe's simmering for Monday's supper (and leftovers) and the small orange pot has the wing tips from Sunday's Japanese Chicken Wings simmering with onions, celery, and carrot to make some broth for the freezer.  Tomorrow Durwood will make his Italian Wedding Soup and I'll get the wings marinating overnight so I can bake them on Sunday.  I have about 10# of wings, it should be enough.  (We're hoping for leftover wings too.)

I had plenty of work to do at work yesterday (how rude!) so I only got one snowball crocheted, but it's a blue one.  (We're not going anywhere near "blue balls" jokes, nosireebob)  I tried to make another one last night and ran out of the blue/purple/yellow yarn about three-quarters of the way through.  Drat.

Usually the Red-bellied Woodpecker lands on the peanut wreath, grabs one, and flies away so fast you can barely see it.  Today it landed on the suet instead and stayed there long enough for me to take its picture.  Haven't seen any Bluejays in a while; we think the #$%&^ squirrels have chased them away from the peanuts.  After Christmas I'll keep my eyes peeled for a trashed Christmas tree to drag in back to give the birdies a place to hide and be out of the wind.  We have no snow but it sure feels like winter today, it's cold and windy.  Brrr.

December 18--James Kay, SN-HK-44.  Taylor was bored.  He thought they were going hiking but Grandpa brought his camera and kept stopping every other step to take a picture.  Taylor flopped in the grass to wait until Grandpa looked at him over his shoulder.  "Bored?" he asked.  Taylor didn't want to hurt his feelings but after a minute he said, "Yeah."  Grandpa reached into his bag and pulled out a small camera.  "Here.  Why don't you try?"  Taylor sat up, leaning on his elbow.  "Aren't you afraid I'll break it?"  Grandpa shook his head, then he showed Taylor what all the buttons were for and he started taking pictures.  He was surprised when Grandpa said it was time to turn around for home.

Time to go stir my Sloppy Joe and broth.  Stay warm.
--Barbara