I Love This Day!!!

This lovely Christmas Eve Day...is really sort of relaxing...
We are home all day until we go to church later...and dinner after that...
Chef Gary and The Orchard is our relaxation spot tonight. It will be beautifully decorated for the holidays and wonderfully quiet...almost a zen like experience.

While the Denver Broncos play I will make the cookies I did not get to yesterday...hopefully I won't be too distracted!!!



I am loving every word of The Starboard Sea...it has that sort of addictive dysfunction vibe meandering through it.
Seriously yummy!!!


Have a wonderful day!!!


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I Want To Stay Home All Day!!!

I do not want to leave our house today.

I want to wrap everything. I have lots to wrap...

I want to bake two loaves of Farmhouse Bread...

actually...one loaf...the other part will be cinnamon rolls.

We have gifts to deliver but my sidekick will do that...while I bake cookies.

I always make cookies the day before so that they are fresh for Santa...

and us.

These cookies are from a blog called Bakerella.
She calls them Gingerbread Heads.  If you click above it will take you to her site and the recipe.

Dinner?

Yummy homemade pasta...

it might actually be cold enough for a fire tonight.

Tomorrow we will go to Lancaster Central Market for stuff!!!

Not sure what stuff...veggies and cheeses and breads.

It is an amazing place!!!

How are you spending your day?

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It's Beginning To Look And Sound And Even Taste Like Christmas!!!

Well...I have to take that back...people were wearing a mix of everything today...boots, shorts, sandals?
I saw a woman wearing a winter coat with flip flops!!!
It was a warm weather day for Christmas shopping!!!

We finished most of our shopping and had a wonderful lunch at an amazing place called The Whip!!!
It is in the heart of horse country...in an old redone barn with amazing beers and fresh organic foods.
The incredible thing, too, is that it is perhaps 15 minutes from our house and we never knew about it.
I had an amazing beer in a wine glass. Quite delicious. We had house smoked fish on little baby potato pancakes...OMG.
Then the vegetarian in me had a huge hamburger with sautéed onions and crumbled Stilton cheese.
I had a really difficult time choosing between that and the house made veggie burger...which lost out...I am weak...very weak.

Yesterday was just a teeny bit sad.
But the sadness is gone today. I still miss my dad and mom so much.
Christmas reminds me of them...my dad buying and my mom wrapping and baking and mildly complaining.

Books!!!
It's like Christmas!!!
Oh wait...it is Christmas!!!

I received The Starboard Sea from ShelfAwareness and NetGalley.
I have desired this book from the moment I read about it.
Boarding school, boys in troubles, teachers, Maine...my kind of book.




I am reading this now!!! Right now...I can not wait.

NetGalley is responsible for so much book goodness this week.
Thank you Santa NetGalley!!!




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Have a lovely Thursday!!!
Are you all on top of things and feeling good?

Location:Somewhere near the North Pole...or else Pennsylvania

I'm Wrapping As Fast As I Can!!!

Ho...ho...ho...I knew this would happen...
Just because it always does...
And...
I never learn.

On Monday the entire week seemed and felt endless.
The days were long.
There was plenty of time to play, wrap, watch movies...have fun!!!

Now it's Wednesday.
I am not finished with anything.
I am still waiting for stuff to come so that I can wrap it.
I have not yet sent out any Christmas cards.
There are four stacks of neatly folded laundry in the midst of my family room floor.
We are so busy running out to dinner and watching movies that neither one of us feels like carrying it upstairs.

My fun has changed from guilt free to full of guilt.
Sort of...

Today...hair and nails.
Then Target for Target stuff.
Then "Little Italy" for a bowl of pasta.
After pasta we drive around to look at the Christmas lights.
It's what we do...

Tomorrow we go to the "big mall"... it is far away and it has the closest Nordstrom's in it...we do this every year for last minute gifts.

We go as early as it opens...we zip through...we zip out and chill out at lunch somewhere.

Whew!!!

How are you feeling on this Wednesday...exactly three days before Christmas?



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Prom!!!

I blogged about Prom Night so much that I wanted to share one of my favorite photos from that festive evening.

LOL...

Den dressed and waiting for his car. 

Lucy very curious about

all of the picture taking activities.

A lovely time was had by all who attended.

Again...that would not be me...

or Lucy.

Disclaimer...

on her own without any coaching from us...

she sipped out of the martini glass.

It was only water.

Cheers!!!

Here He Comes To Save The Day...

I have been waiting since last Christmas for this wondrous gift that I am about to be given.

My husband is a closet cleaner.

He loves to clean.

He is going to brush away my surface cleaning and get to the grit...lol...of the matter.

He is out buying cleaning supplies right now.

He will mumble and grumble and shake his head.

But when he is all finished this house...Hallelujah...will be cleaned.

It will glisten and shine and sparkle.

OMG!!!

I can't wait.

I did mention that it will sparkle and shine and glisten, right?
Good.
There is even a best part to what we are doing today.
Well...I say "we" sort of loosely.
He hates when I get in the way.
He likes to clean on his own...without my help.
I just have to say that again...without my help.
I interfer.
I distract.
I bother him.
I have perfected this art of bothering him over the years.
It is a masterful plan...if I do say so myself.

And now...just one more thing.
I am making him The Pioneer Woman's Tortilla Soup for dinner.
It is his reward for all of his work today.

Whatever you are doing today...have a wonderful fun filled happy day...

even if you are reading while you watch your husband clean...

Thank you, Santa!!!