Winter puzzle

A rarity for me, a brand new puzzle. At least I know all the pieces will be there. Not sure what happened to these two pieces, not fully cut apart.

Can't work on the puzzle until Ruby gets her licks in ... ew.

This only took a couple of days to do - 500 big pieces. At least I knew all of the pieces would be there.

Worth the wait

My Christmas gift from E, D and B arrived Saturday while E and D were still staying with us (they went to D's parents' house Sunday morning for the remainder of their stay). It's a solar hummingbird feeder. I can't set it outside until at least spring but let's hope some hummingbirds stop by next summer.

Fog and rain

Sunday was warm but overall a miserable day weatherwise. This was about 10:30 in the morning - our outdoor lights are on a timer that turns on at dusk and the sky got so dark, they turned on.

We did a little shopping and got soaked loading groceries into the car at Jewel.

We stopped in at Menards to get more birdseed and saw this beauty. Even at half off, Andy passed it by. The post-Christmas sales have been lackluster so far.

Cats at Christmas

The cats are enjoying having the folding chairs all over the living room from our family Christmas. They won't be around for long.

This picture of Piper was taken on Christmas.

Margie’s Candies

Cousin C brought a box of Margie's Candies' hand-dipped terrapins (turtles) over for Christmas. They're delicious and the box is so cute. The store has been in Chicago since 1921 so you know it has to be good.

Family dinner

I wasn't able to set the table as early as usual (darn cats - there's even one in this picture!) but we got it ready in plenty of time.

Appetizers - the usual meatballs, veggies and ranch dip and olives. I setbthe cheese on the counter and had the cheeses all laid out in layers on a Christmas tree platter ... and no picture? What?

Back porch. I was disappointed that I forgot to turn on the snowglobe lights. I had nametags for everyone to write their "elf name" on, based on the first letter of your name, your birth month and your favorite thing about Christmas. Even E and B wouldn't do it. Party poopers.

This was my dining room centerpiece since Thanksgiving and we moved it to the little china cabinet the other day.

L sent this picture of flowers that W welded for her - they'll last forever!

E and B.

E and D.

And us with our traditional celebratory margarita for getting everything together before the family arrives.

Good thing E asked when she and D should make their sauces for the beef because I said just before the rolls go in the oven. The rolls! We forgot to set them out to rise! I ran downstairs to get them from the freezer and Andy and I started plopping them on cookie sheets. Then, a whike later, he asked if the pans needed to be greased. Yes! We had to pull them off and, of course, they were already sticking. We washed the pans, re-shaped the rolls and set them aside to rise. They turned out ok but next year I might stick to Hawaiian rolls.

Family dinner went as planned. We were expecting 19 originally but Allison was home sick and two others just didn't show. In addition the rolls, we had beef tenderloin, ham, carrots, green beans, stuffing and mashed potatoes.

The kids' table.

After dinner we sat around and chatted.

We kind of had a late start to dinner so it was later than usual when we debated playing games. We had bingo and trivia ready to go, but decided to skip it. We'll try again next year.

Christmas morning

B was up early so he was the girst to look into his stocking.

The breakfast casserole turned out well.

We opened presents when E and D woke up. All of the kids received Little Debbie brownies - kind of a tradition - but B's were the Christmas trees; E and D git snowflakes. B also got a fact-a-day calendar, sweatpants and money.

We gave D a quarter-zip shirt and this candy cane of various favored Bird Dog whiskey.

We gave E a Corgi shirt, a box full of quilting fat quarters and hiking shoes ... that are expected to arrive Saturday. She also got some money, to share with D, of course.

The kids gave Andy a knife sharpener - that he asked for - and I gave him a Tommy Bahama shirt. Andy gave me a walking pad (as requested) and my gift from the kids ... will arrive Saturday.

D brought us gift from his parents. It's a magnificent horse carved out of wood, from Ecuador. We set it on our mantel and if the cats leave it alone, it can stay there, but if the cats decide to start scratching on it, Andy will take it to his office.

Time to search for the pickle present.

D was the winner and got a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels.

Christmas Eve

I had this tablecloth out to try to get the wrinkles to naturally disappear, but the cats loved it. Good thing I was doing laundry and was able to toss it in the wash before setting the table for Christmas.

I worked for a few hours in the morning and saw on Facebook that a neighbor was giving away puzzles so I drove by on my way home and picked up four (there were so many). I was surprised there were any left but people were probably busy on Christmas Eve. I'm pretty excited to do the Betty Crocker one. Free items don't tend to last long.

I came home and made ranch dip, cut up broccoli, put together a breakfast casserole for Christmas morning and tossed some little smokies in the crockpot for us and B on Christmas Eve. E and D came home Tuesday afternoon and have been sleeping here since several people in his family are sick.

L and W are both off work for Christmas Eve and Christmas. She was so excited he filled her stocking that she sent me a picture.

We went to church with B for Christmas Eve while E and D went to his family's Christmas ... masked up.

And for dinner we had Old World Pizza. It's been years since we had ordered from there.

Cookie issues

Finally got around to making my favorite cookies. I always start frosting the snowflakes so I begin with white frosting, Then I started doing the stars and forgot to add yellow food coloring to the frosting. Andy and I ate that one. Good mistake, lol.

Then I realized after the first batch that I had the rolling pin set too high and the cookies are kind of huge. Should have removed the biggest ring - maybe I'll remember that next year. Maybe I need to add a note in my cookbook. I ran out of dough before I got around to making bells, but B isn't home to do the clappers anyway.

Kittens and ribbon

I left a roll of curling ribbon on the dining room table in a tin with my wrapping tape, scissors, pens and gift tags. It was still wrapped in the cellophane so I figured it would be OK while I ran out to the store. I was wrong. Piper and Ruby were having a lot of fun with it when I returned. It's now hidden in a cabinet.

Early presents

An Amazon box arrived the other day, and for the life of me I couldn't remember what I had ordered (not unusual). Turns out, it was a surprise. Darla re-used an Amazon box to ship my Christmas gift. She sent a pretty cardinal picture - the candles light up - and a birdseed wreath, something I didn't even know existed until that moment. I plan to set it near one of our bird feeders so I see what birds come to visit.

It came with netting to keep squirrels out but the squirrels that live near us are a determined bunch.

And my gift from L arrived. She said she thought I'd find it funny. OK, it's funny ... I guess.

Andy's been bringing home a lot of gifts from the office but this, "a major award," is apparently staying at work. His office gives out annual awards (named in his honor as the firm's operations manager) and this year he was a recipient too.

And not exactly a Christmas present, but I've been asking for a phone upgrade for awhile. I had an iPhone 11 and it wasn't holding a charge and it couldn't do the fancy photo editing that Andy's phone can do. Anyway, he brought it home the other day. It's pretty.

Party with the pastor

Our pastor had his annual holiday cocktail party at his house last night. It's very well attended compared to the other wine and cheese events that are planned throughout the year.

I made sausage balls with honey mustard and ranch for dipping, and a caramel/cream cheese dip for apple slices. I like trying out new recipes on my church community and see what they think. The sausage balls were a hit and all eaten. We had some of the apple dip leftover because it's more of a dessert than an appetizer, I think. At least those who tried it said it was good. I'd make them both again so that was a successful night.

Early in the day we finished the grocery shopping for Christmas and saw Santa. He even waved at me. The stores were crazy so if I don't have what I need now, we're doing without.

Cirque du Soleil

Andy and I met our friends Tim and Betsy downtown at Elephant & Castle, a British-style pub in the Loop, for dinner last night before going to the Chicago Theatre to see Cirque du Soleil 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. We had occasionally talked about seeing a Cirque show (they have a lot of productions) and just never followed through so when Betsy suggested it as a holiday outing, we figured, why not?

Such a pretty theater. This was Ticketmaster's description of the show and all I knew going in: A thrilling interpretation of the well-known classic poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," this joyful show about the virtues of generosity and friendship promises to leave a lasting impression on families this holiday season. 'Twas the Night Before..., Cirque du Soleil's first-ever holiday production, is a whirlwind of love, holiday cheer, riotous fun, and adorably endearing characters that will establish a new tradition for families to treasure.

Ready for the show.

It was interesting show. My favorite part was the reindeer.

After the performance we walked to the old Chicago Athletic Club on Michigan Avenue (and saw the huge tree in Millennium Park) where Tim read about a Christmas pop-up bar called Happy's. It was a quick half-mile walk in the cold.

This was the view from the balcony.

The menu.

Andy and Tim getting our drinks.

The bar was in an old pool.

You can still see the tile lane markers on the floor. It was a fun, festive night.