Christmas keeps on coming

This year the delay in the mail has really disappointed a lot of people. My packages to my sister still haven’t completely arrived yet. I was thankful that my family opened gifts when they were here in November. Today I did get a package from one of my sisters. The candle above was one of the gifts along with those fancy paper clips. 

  I took down all my Christmas decorations but left up things for winter. I carried them down to the storage room in the basement but now need to properly put them away. 

  It is cold out today with a high of 24. I am no longer walking outside. I really miss that. I am spending most days right inside the house. 

Christmas spirit

I guess I was feeling a little sorry for myself yesterday. I was thinking of Christmases past and the joy I always felt at this time of year. That peaceful feeling would come over me and I would know that all was right in my world. This year I was waiting for that feeling. I had it a little bit when I hauled out my Christmas decorations and distributed them around the house. (But I didn’t put them all out and pared back quite a bit). Then it came again when my family all came home for Thanksgiving and we exchanged presents. (But that left the month of December with no holiday activities at all.) The days passed and I waited for that excited feeling to come. But every day I stayed at home and listened to bad news in the world. My usual optimism had a hard time mustering up a smile. 

    But today it came back. That fun feeling. That holiday joy. And all it took was a trip out of town. Don and I went to Jamestown. He hasn’t been out of the house for months but wanted to go out to lunch. All of the restaurants in Pennsylvania are closed now so we really enjoyed the Olive Garden. I made two very quick stops at TJ Max and Michael’s but came out of the stores with no packages. I was really thankful that I had done all of my shopping early and didn’t have to stand in those long lines. But it was Wegman’s, a grocery store, that put me in the holiday mood. The town that I live in doesn’t have the variety of foods that this store displays. I really went wild buying things I don’t usually buy (like a pecan topping for the Brie that I will share with Don Christmas Eve.) And stuffed pork chops for our Christmas Eve dinner. We are having ham for Christmas Day. It was fun to be in the bustle of shoppers and I picked out some rum balls and a platter of Christmas cookies. (Since I am not making cookies this year). I even found a large white platter that I needed. (Along with some greenery). When I came out of the store I told Don that it was dangerous for my wallet for me to go in that store. LOL. 

     I was really in a great mood all the way home recalling that holiday feeling. Now to find some Christmas movies to watch and to make the holiday special even though it will be just the two of us. 

Can it be Christmas?

Can it be that Christmas is just a few days away? In this crazy year of Covid it seems that nothing is the same as it used to be. Pennsylvania is shut down again with restaurants only doing take out and most people staying home as much as they can to avoid catching this virus. I only leave the house now for a once a week trip to Walmart for groceries. Don hasn’t left the house in months. Even the library has closed again. Bradford has seen such an increase in cases that we are up to almost four hundred in our little town. I haven’t seen my coffee friends in weeks and haven’t walked with my friend Sandy much either because of the cold weather and deep snow. I am so glad we celebrated our Christmas at Thanksgiving because we will be alone at Christmas. We will wait for the vaccine so that we can once again feel safe being around people. Meanwhile I will stay right here.

Our Christmas is over

When the boys and their families were here for Thanksgiving we exchanged our Christmas gifts since we were all together. 

This picture is blurry but it tries to show Don’s sweatshirt with a picture of the ship he served on pictured on the front. He received a lot of gifts..mugs, puzzles, pictures of that ship. 

I loved my personalized gifts. 

The kids loved playing with Occulus virtual reality.  

 But look at our Christmas present.  Chris found a stray cat near his house. It was obviously someone’s pet since it was declawed. He tried to find the owner but no luck. So he asked us if we would take it. She is the sweetest cat. So lovable and all it wants is to sleep in your lap. chris called her Reeseie since her coloring is peanut butter and chocolate. 

Roasting chestnuts

You know the song “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”? Well, I’ve never eaten a chestnut. We were listening to Christmas music this weekend when Chris and Wendy were here and she said that she ate them when she was a missionary in Macedonia. So they went to the store and bought some for us. Using Google we discovered how to roast them in the oven. It was a process. First we soaked them in some salt water for twenty minutes. You can soak them up to two hours. Next we roasted them on a cookie sheet in the oven.  20 minutes at 350 degrees. Then turn the over to 450 and roast another fifteen minutes. Take them out of the over and put them in a bowl on a damp towel and cover with the towel. 

They pop right open and you can peel the shell right off. The meat is one large nut. I put a little salt on the ones I ate. It has a different and unique taste but not bad at all. 

Today Chris and Wendy will go to Coudersport to close on their house. When they got married they put the house in Port Allegany up for sale. It has been over a year and they are happy to sell it now. When they left last weekend I thought I wouldn’t see them for quite a while because of Covid so I was happy they came up again. 

Covid is keeping Don and I right here at the house most of the time. It is raging here in Bradford and we want to stay safe. The only way is to stay right here at home. I have finally gotten used to being a homebody and don’t mind it as much as I used to. But I have a long list of things I want to do once it is safe in the world again.