I've finished getting the house cleaned. Today I'm baking pecan cookies, tomorrow I will make peanut brittle and popcorn balls, then, the next day I'll make a couple of pies. I know for sure, one pumpkin [it's Erik's favorite] and either a cherry or apple pie. On the Christmas menu we will again have roasted turkey, dressing, 3 bean salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry waldorf jello salad [cherry jello, whole cranberries, celery, marshmallows and pecans], yams, cole slaw, yeast rolls and probably a relish dish with pickles, olives, cheeses, etc. I don't know why I make all the extra stuff, 'cause we all favor the turkey, dressing and potatoes most. Egg nog will be served, along with liquor and ice water [ice water for me!!]
We have games lined up, Uno, Pinochle [partners], the deluxe quadruple scrabble, trivial pursuit, hearts, and probably penny ante poker.
My sister and I plan on making a gingerbread house. That'll be a 'first' for us both. Sharon seems excited about it. That's what counts...give her a bit of entertainment and hopefully some giggles. New Year's Day is her birthday, so dining out is called for...dunno where yet, tho. Along with champagne. Needless to say, it'll be two weeks of a continual sugar-high!!!
This will be my last post until after New Year's sometime. I think Sharon will depart for a flight back home to Colorado on the 4th. Then, I'll tear down the decorations and get home back to normal and return to blogging.
By the way, altho my profile states I began blogging in November of 2006. That is partially true. I don't consider that my blog-o-versary tho. My very first blog post was on Christmas DAY!! So, on Christmas, this will be my 15th year of blogging. Checking my stats it shows I've published 3685 posts in that time frame! I really didn't know I was that gabby. Guess so. At the beginning my blog was Hootin' Anni's Chronicles, but after I decided to 'chronicle' my bird day trips and calculate my goal of 10K steps each day walking, etc. I changed it to Hootin' Anni's Day Trippin' and stuck with that title. More fitting!
I admit, I get easily side-tracked at times while blogging. Sketching, photography, humor, crafting [like the Santa afghan shown here. I made my own graph to follow and I think it turned out pretty good!], etc. As far as blogging goes, I do tend to stay away from politics and religion [that's all too personal], and besides, I don't like to be preached to or I don't like others trying to get me to change my standing on government...so, why should I sit here and preach or campaign to those who read my blog? Sometimes, the finding of a good book or watching an exceptional movie gets my attention and I blog about it. Sometimes I blog about family. I've been meaning to blog about my youngest grandson and what he's been doing of which I am so proud! I keep forgetting. Maybe I will remember to write about it all in the future.
Well, I best go get to working on other things. I plan to take a short drive to the bay coast [not the islands] this morning before making cookies. A newly constructed pier was 'christened' this past weekend after Hurricane Harvey demolished the old one. I will take photos hopefully. I am sure if I don't get there before the 'newness' wears thin, there will be trash and graffiti and it won't be pretty as it looked on the news the other night. And the weather will be cool with a promise of some rain... before it turns tropical-warm again before the week's over.
Y'all take care, I will return after the first week in January sometime. In the meantime, have a great holiday if you observe, stay safe. Stay healthy! Maybe the valediction is redundant but... See'ya in 2022!!!
When I was a kid, and up to the first couple years Bud and I were married, we would go a short distance, but deep into the foothills where we lived, in the Colorado Rockies, to chop down the "perfect tree". Then, I laid in bed one night after doing that -making it a day outing with our first born; I couldn't sleep. All I could think of was "If everyone did what we do, there would be no pine trees left in the forests"! That was the end of my wanting the "real thing"!! For 50 years now, we have had an artificial tree. If I want the scent of pine, there is pine spray. In those years, we have purchased three. The first two eventually lost its greenery by shedding the 'needles'. In fact, I read online [out of curiosity] that the artificial tree didn't become popular in America until the 1980s. AND, the first artificial tree in USA was produced in the 1930s...using brush bristles dyed green. Another fact that I found of interest, was in the 19th century, to avoid deforestation, the Germans created artificial trees using feathers, dying them green also. Hmmmm, interesting...since the Germans' holiday song is O Tannenbaum about the "fir tree". 
