Out with the Old

I'm hoping when we say "out with the old and in with the new," we mean year, not friends. But it was appropriate to spend New Year's Eve with old friends!

It was our turn to host the group formerly known as the Assumption gang, but none of us have kids there anymore. Still, it's how Jim and I came to know these other three couples. And we'll cherish their friendship well beyond school years.

We did have plenty of food to "get through" before midnight. That didn't happen. Some eating and drinking but mostly talking and laughing. It had been awhile since we were just together and able to sit around and catch up. 2019 was a tough year in this circle. We've been touched by death, by cancer, and by a variety of health and other challenges. There have been blessings, too, but we all look forward to a better year in 2020.

One thing I've learned, we can handle whatever comes our way. As long as we have each other. Plus our loved ones who live with us or just in our hearts.

2019 is over. I survived it. You survived it. Let's move on!

Happy New Year!

Dreaming of a White New Year's?

If you were upset about not having a white Christmas, congrats. You'll have your white New Year's. Glad I took a "before" picture yesterday when it was spring. Today we've had 8 inches of white stuff and it's still coming down.

And yes, it sure can look pretty. When you don't have to go anywhere! I worked from home this morning when hubby shoveled round one. Then I took round 2 this afternoon and just couldn't finish. It was wet and heavy. Too heavy for the snowblower. And too heavy for me.

Fast forward a few hours and it seems like it's fluffed up a bit. According to Mr. College anyway.

He's snowblowing slowly and carefully and hopefully will at least have it halfway done before Jim gets home from bowling. Yes, we were under a winter storm warning. Yes, bowling goes on! We all have our thing we're dedicated to.

I kept up my dedication to Hallmark Christmas movies today and managed to clear off 3 more from the DVR. Those happily ever after endings just keep coming and coming. Better than the nightmare outside!

Be safe out there and have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

December Meltdown

 

The FitBit doesn't lie. Seriously, it will tell you that this is the first time in many days that I got 10,000 steps. I've been struggling to get my lazy-arse self to get 5,000 per day during vacation! What was the difference today?

Well, the arrival of spring, of course.

Not sure if we did see temps at 50 today, but I know it was in the mid to high 40s for sure. Enough to feel like spring. And put a spring in my step.

We were forecast to have rain all day but only got it in the overnight hours. Plus some fog that hung around all day. Still it felt like one of those post-rain shower walks in March or April. Water dripping from the trees instead of snow piled up. Wet but bare roads.

And Mr. Cow is like, where did this lake come from?

I had to take a "before" picture of the front yard since we are scheduled to get somewhere between 2 and 10 inches of snow between now and New Year's Eve. Yup. Kind of that big window since the forecast keeps changing. I hope it's wrong just like the rain forecast today!

Though I was partial to the Purple Rain on our deck! So pretty. (On a side note: Good news to our tree farmer friends Jon and Audrey – the tree paint does NOT run when the tree gets wet.)

Speaking of colors... The fog lifted enough to give us a gorgeous sunset, too.

I gotta say. This is MY kind of December!

And Mr. Cow and friends agree!

Fifteen Furry Years

This weekend marks 15 years with our fluff ball Princess Poops-A-Lot! I'm still not a cat person, but I like her well enough.

At the time of her adoption, Mr. College was in first grade and really, really wanted a cat like his teacher Miss Kitty (her real name – well, short for Katherine anyway).

We picked out the cat. But since we were heading Up North for my family's Christmas, Carter had to wait a few days to get his gift. Santa gave him cat food and a brush and a food dish and litter box and, most importantly, this letter. You can tell it was folded and unfolded a million times as Carter showed it to everyone in the family!

If you can't read it, Santa basically tells Carter he can pick up his kitty on Monday and he can name her and keep her forever.

Carter decided to name her Sylvester since looked like Sylvester on the Baby Looney Tunes show – "but without the diaper." So even though she's a she, we kept the boy's name and mostly call her kitty or Sly or princess anyway.

She loved the Christmas tree and batting the ornaments and even climbing up in it!

Thankfully she outgrew that, but still loves to sit under the lighted tree. At 15, she still looks like a kitty sometimes, doesn't she? She's probably keeps her girlish figure because she only eats her dry cat food. No interest whatsoever in treats of any kind. She's still so pretty.

And still, just like day one above, bonded to her human. Which was not Carter and not me. Ha.

Ahh, Princess. So finicky!

TGIV (Thank Goodness it's Vacation)

This is totally me this week. In fact, I actually had to ask hubby what day it was. Friday? Really? I suppose that's better than it being Sunday already.

I made a point of getting out of the house today. Went to pick up a prescription then stopped at Wal-Mart to pay 50% off of $200 worth of stuff. Or something like that. It was actually my first trip to Wal-Mart this month where the tally was under a hundy. Good grief!

Have plenty of chocolate for the candy dish at work (when I return next year) and stuff for New Year's Eve. So that's good.

Since I was showered and in clothes that could be seen in public, hubby took me out to eat at the Wildhorse Saloon. Saw a few people we knew and enjoyed a good dinner.

Came home and I'm still looking for the motivation to accomplish something today. I did get the Christmas stockings put away. And I finished the series Unbelievable on Netflix. I didn't realize I had 4 episodes to go. So that was good and worthy of its recent Golden Globe nominations.

Between watching several hours of that plus getting current on Days of Our Lives for the first time in decades, I'm pretty exhausted. I didn't even get time to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie today.

Yet.

In Pre-Heating Mode

Don't mind me. I'm just pre-heating my bed until I put myself in there like a Christmas ham or Whoville Christmas Beast.

This is my fancy heated mattress pad Santa gave me. Pretty high tech, I'd say. And I don't think I need it on HIGH. We had another day close to 40 degrees! Good news for me and those who hate the cold. But Mr. Snowman around the corner has issues...

Every day he's wasting away. If you look closely at the snow, you can see his red nose and blue eyes have popped (or melted) out of his head. And his upper body and head quite literally collapsed. The poor little boy inside the house must be crying about it by now. So I'll keep my adult chuckles to myself.

It was my entertainment for the day, though, since we were home relaxing again. Think I'm done with that gig. I finished the two books I needed to this week. Knocked off at least a Christmas movie per day. And whipped together a scarf yesterday for a friend of Carter's who visited today. Now I probably should get some stuff done! I always say I need a week off to get deep into the decluttering zone. I just needed santa to bring me some motivation to go along with the time.

Not that I don't appreciate my heated mattress pad. Oooh. I think the timer just dinged. Time to switch to Christmas Beast mode and hop into bed!

All is Calm, All is Bright

Merry Christmas! All is calm and bright on Blue Jay Drive! So weird we don't have the lights reflecting off the snow because the snow is melting. Forty degrees on Christmas will do that!

It was a nice celebration today. Clay and his girlfriend came out and we did Christmas brunch and opened stockings from Santa and gifts from us. I'm not going to share pictures because I'd probably have to hurt someone if they shard pictures of me before shower and in no makeup. So I'll be nice.

True to Santa's word, he got Carter socks and underwear. And that nice 4-wheeled sleigh, of course.

Since I sort of "broke" my electric mattress pad and it heats up to level 4 instead of 5, hubby got me a new one. Still dual since he can keep his side cool. But my side could go up to 10 heat settings! Not going to need that much tonight but we all know those winter nights are coming.

I surprised him tickets to one of the practice days at the Ryder Cup next year since it's in Wisconsin. Something we'll both enjoy. And on practice days we can bring our cameras. Bonus!

After Clay and Becca left, it was a very relaxed day. Lots of recliner time for hubby and me and Carter was hooked up with his PS4 playing against friends somewhere. I only have about 1,000 steps so that how I roll on a holiday.

Hope you had a blessed day with family or friends or both!

For Unto Us a Child is Born

They say Christmas is for the children. But we're all children at heart, aren't we? Plus now when we hear, "For unto us a child is born..." we can count family!

It is such a joy to see children at this time of year. Between church this afternoon and hosting dinner for the Austin Christmas, I saw my share of adorable Christmas outfits today. Of course, my great-niece Mya was the cutest. No bias. 

This picture could by captioned, "OK is this how I talk with my hands to look like great-Uncle Jimmy back there?"

It was a strange Christmas without Casey. Usually it's the four "boys" for the annual cousin picture. Mya did a pretty good job standing in for him, but still... we miss the eldest!

We'll have to accept that that is part of the growing up part of life. We won't all be together for the holidays. It certainly makes us grateful for the time we do have with family. So lucky indeed!

Hope you are feeling as blessed as we are! Happy Christmas Eve!

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells...

In one of my handful of trips around town today during my day off, I ended up behind the Batmobile. I'm guessing the owner things an 8 looks like an A. The Batman sticker is a clue, too.

Immediately I started thinking of the parody of the Jingle Bells song where we'd sing "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. The Batmobile lost its wheel. And the Joker got away. Hey!" You didn't have a complete childhood if you didn't have that in your life!

I could have changed the words to "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robyn needs an eggnog shake!" I'm still bitter than neither McDonald's or Culver's in Rapids has them!

I could also change it to "Jingle bells, Batman smells, but the Vikings really stink!" It doesn't need to rhyme. Nothing we did tonight made sense. I guess we're in the giving spirit of the season. Merry Christmas, Packers. Enjoy your division title.

At least we're still in the playoffs. But we shouldn't be surprised to see lumps of coal (or a new playbook) in our purple stockings on Christmas!

On a positive note, I finished a 400+ page book during the game. Proved to be more interesting. Still probably cried more at the final score of MNF though. Where's a Hallmark happy ending when you need one?!

Tis the Season... But Which One?

If this is how winter is going to go, I'll take it! Crazy but it is apparently going to be warmer on Christmas than it was for Halloween and Thanksgiving. Again, I'll take it.

The warmer weather created some fog this morning. Pretty anyway.

I guess that the sun burning off the fog is a sign of longer days. Starting now!

Before we get ahead of ourselves on what season it is, know that it IS Advent for sure. Enjoyed a wonderful cantata by our church choir this morning. I miss choir. I wasn't in it this fall since I had too much going on – including some travel. Might resume in January. We'll see.

After church, I was planning to get my car washed. Because that's what you do on spring days. The lines reflected that it was definitely a spring day and everyone had the same idea. Do some Christmas shopping then swing by the car wash. On my third trip to town, I was finally successful in finding a short line!

Not everything was successful, though. I stopped at both McDonald's and Culver's in town just looking for an eggnog shake. In both cases, when they said, "We don't have that," I swung right out of the drive-thru line and was on my merry way.

How can we have car washes like spring and Valentine's stuff on the shelves at Walmart already, but nobody has a stinkin' eggnog shake in this town? Grrrr.

At least I had a photo shoot this afternoon that confirmed it's still the Christmas season...

This little one is a brand new granddaughter to a friend of mine. She was a doll and it really lifted my spirits.

That and the nice weather. And a Hallmark movie. (Don't think for a minute I don't know what season it is!)

Hurray Winter Solstice Santa

Our non-Christmas holidays are becoming pretty big around here. First St. Lucia (with help from neighbors) delivered a pretty purple tree to our deck. And today, Winter Solstice Santa (with the help of hubby and me) delivered a pretty big gift to Mr. College.

It went something like this...

And what to Carter's wondering eyes did appear...

A new sleigh with 4 wheels and automatic gears!

For this Crasher and Dasher, it was a wonderful sight!

And we heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight: "Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad. You got this right!"

We hope so! It's a 2011 Accord with plenty of life left in it. Handle with care. Santa is still watching!!

Last Day of Fall

I was thinking that today was the shortest day of the year. I was pretty excited it fell on a work day and a Friday at that. But it's actually tomorrow. Still, it was a pretty quick day at work when we had a team holiday lunch jammed in the middle of it.

Then, after work, I stopped at UW-Stevens Point down the road from the office and got to watch one of Carter's high school classmates play hoops. She was playing for the visiting St. Norbert green knights. Macie a had a good group of Assumption folks and family in the stands cheering her on.

Although her team lost, Macie led St. Norbert with 13 points and matched a career-high with 11 assists. It was just like watching her in the "old days"!

A few classmates were there, but Carter missed out on it since he didn't get home from Platteville until tonight. In fact, he beat me home by 5 minutes. So wonderful to see him! We'll have him for two weeks (yay!) and there's a good chance I'll be blogging more about him tomorrow. Shhhh. Santa's been busy.

Enjoy the last day of fall – what's left of it – and enjoy the brief daylight Saturday on the shortest day of the year! I can't complain it's a weekend 'cuz I'm off until January 2. Thank you, Santa!

Clubbing with the Girls

Tonight was the fourth night in a row I had something going on. But this was not a worthy cause for anyone else but me. And my girls.

Yup, we went clubbing. And by clubbing, of course I mean Book Club.

Since it was impossible during the holiday and shopping season to find a Saturday in December that worked for us, we met tonight for dinner at Applebee's. It was kind of fun to sit in the rounded corner booth and eat and talk and talk and also listen to the staff sing Happy Birthday to worthy patrons no less than 3 times.

It was really was nice to see each other one more time for Christmas. Two of us have already celebrated one of our Christmases so this really was sandwiched in between the seasonal mayhem. As busy as the week has been, I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Even though, for the first time in our nearly 6-year history, I did not finish the book. Gasp!

Just too busy to read lately. But due to the excellent conversation and reviews, I'll finish it. It's called The Reckless Oath We Made in case you're interested.

Thanks for a super relaxing evening, ladies! What a special gift to have friends like you in my life – and not just at Book Club. Merry Christmas to us all!

Baby, It's Cold and Pretty Outside

With wake-up temps below zero for the first time this fall, I wondered why people say autumn is their favorite season! But then I remembered it's the pretty colors...

Like tonight's sunset. Such a pretty drive home. Even though I was startled at first, thinking this was a massive fire. But it was just he glorious sun reflecting off and through the "smoke stacks" at the food-processing plant.

You can kind of tell it's cold, though, can't you?

Tonight I was grateful that where I bell ring for Salvation Army I am situated between two doors. Unfortunately, they are pretty much open the whole time because there's a busy after-work crowd at the grocery store.

Still, it was 10 degrees and not windy and I had a warm hat one.

That's me – Robyn the Red Kettle Reindeer – hoping warm hearts would warm the air before my nose turned red like Rudolph's. Yes, I entertain myself to stay warm! I even had to dance to my Christmas tunes tonight so my feet wouldn't get cold.

But then I remember why I'm doing it. So there's a warm place for people to go instead of sleeping out in this cold. I can't over stress the importance of what the Salvation Army and other programs provide for those in need. If you can't give time or money, at least pray for them during these last cold days of autumn and the Christmas season.

Let there be peace – and warmth – on Earth.

What's the Word on the Birds

I guess I'm a little slow on the uptake. I didn't realize there was actually some meaning that connected the seemingly random partridge, doves, hens, swans, geese and more in that 12 Days of Christmas song. Someone mentioned this at church council tonight and I'm glad I looked it up.

Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality that made it easier for children to remember. Except I don't think they grew up and shared with their children what the meaning was to pass it on. Or somehow was lost in translation.

But now YOU know...

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and charity.

Four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

Six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit – prophecy, serving,
teaching, exhortation, contribution, leadership and mercy.

Eight maids a-milking were the eight Beatitudes.

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.

Eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

It totally makes sense. And I'm glad there's deeper meaning. Makes listening to the world's longest Christmas carol worth it, I guess!

Secret Santas Revealed

Isn't this a beautiful sight to come home to at the end of the work day? We think so!

Not only did our Secret Santas deliver a purple tree on Friday, but strung lights on it Saturday when we were Up North. The best elves. Ever.

Since we had 4 hours in the truck on the way back from Luck, hubby and I put our heads together and figure out who left the tree. Our friend at the tree lot insisted it wasn't her. So we decided we should ponder the usual suspects. Who usually is responsible when something mysterious (usually baked goods) appears on our door step? Using my old reporter skills, I tricked a confession of sorts out of our good friends and neighbors Mike and Cindy.

Our suspicions were confirmed when Mike came over yesterday to fix the outdoor outlet so the lights would work. Not every Secret Santa is an electrician!

Thank you so, so much you two!

I can tell you, being the recipient or the giver of Christmas cheer really lifts your spirits.

If I hear "Last Christmas" one more time!

Tonight, though chilly, I had a nice time bell ringing at one of our locally owned IGA stores. It's the same one of rang at since Carter was younger and we started this tradition. Even ringing solo was fine because the time flew by. Saw several people I knew and one young man kept me company while waiting for his cab.

Donations were good but there are so many shifts to be filled yet. If you have 2 hours of time between now and New Year's, please consider ringing! You can find time slots and sign up at www.registertoring.com. You won't regret it. Even standing there dancing to my music to get warm, at least I didn't have to sleep out in this cold. It's so important to support the Salvation Army and all organizations who can bring people in from the cold.

God bless our neighbors for loving us Viking fans unconditionally. And God bless all of you who are doing your part to pay the spirit of Christmas forward!

Festive Family Fun

The 8 R's and their family units brought some festive family fun to the north woods yesterday. Each year whichever siblings are hosting it choose the date and place and cross fingers we all can make it. This year it was at Skonewood, a fellowship hall we could rent just up the road from "the homestead" outside of Luck. We went up and back so it made for a long but fun day.

There were just shy of 40 of us who made it! Only a few of the grandkids were missing – including our troop since Casey is in Washington, Clay was working, and Carter has finals this week. To make up for the missing, there were a lot of extras this year in the form of girlfriends and adorable little ones. That was fun!

As usual we had our family program – the 55th annual, according to my sisters. I took some pictures of the entertainment but enjoyed capturing the faces of the littles. I'm sharing so my siblings and nieces and nephews can enjoy my view, too!

Renell was our emcee – and she performed the job to a T. (Yup, she successfully rhymed all her introductions!)

We "performed" going from youngest to oldest. My twin Raylene and her family started with their Christmas wishes for all of us!

For our part, Jim and I shared the 12 months of blessings in 2019!

Rachel gathered the littles and read about about Turkey Clause. They were very attentive! And so cute!

Willow

Lyric

Hans

Adryan

Quinn adding a candy cane earring.

Makayla

  

Sasha

Nash

 

My brother wrote and sang a song. Yes, we are all creative and talented!

My sister RoAnn reminded us to find JOY amongst the stress and challenges we face each day.

For Renell's family, my niece Beth (and her boy) helped lead their youngsters in a fun version of Jingle Bells.

 And there were bells!!

That was fun!

My sister Romey and her son Eric (and his new crew) sang for us.

Eric the Red?

Jace the Red-nosed Reindeer

My sister Rayna shared a song she heard on a recent trip to Branson that reminded us to remember Jesus during the Christmas season and every day.

My mom saying, "I can't believe you all belong to ME!"

She also taught the little ones a song she used to sing as a girl.

The winter scenery – including some Frozen props – was a nice photo backdrop. Here's Rayna and Paul enjoying the quiet corner.

Renell and her crew!!

Raylene and her family!

Romey, Rick, Eric and his girlfriend Polly and kids.

And Princess Nell of the Northwoods.

Or something!

 

Elsa, Anna and Olaf... also known as Lenesker, Bynski and Olaf!

And Mom and me!

After the program, there was also time for sledding and visiting and more eating and entertaining ourselves.

My brother-in-law Ken has a coloring book supervisor named Kenlee!

Yay for hot chocolate and marshmallows!

My loving sister likes the scarf I crocheted for her! Finally, I can share the fact I've been busy with my hook!

The annual selfie with my niece Caryn. Well, the "every time we see each other" selfie. Ha. I've loved her the longest!

A Christmas hug with my SKOL sister RoAnn! We both got part of our Christmas gift today when the Vikings won. Now, the second part when they beat the Packers! SKOL!

And finally... a visit to see Dad. I know he was with us in spirit and so very proud of his children and grandchildren. Just like Mom, I bet he was bragging to the angels, "Yep. They all belong to me!"

I know I would. Love my family!