Christmas edition of The Daily Grind

Dec 20: Pathways' Christmas candlelight service...only we weren't allowed to use real candles.
Dec 21: Santa Bear

Dec 22: I didn't pack so light for heading to my parents for Christmas. I headed up a day early due to the big storm that was forecast and was thankfully up there well before any bad weather developed.

Dec 23: Merry Christmas deer. Dad shot this buck (1982/83?) when we still lived in Canada and it's been a fixture in our home ever since. It now resides at the bottom of the stairwell to welcome you to the basement and gets dressed up for Christmas. A few years ago, David told JT (about 2 at the time) that a reindeer flew thru the wall and got stuck.

Dec 24: Barkley was caught in the act. This is his favorite spot in the house because he can look out the front windows, but he's not allowed to be up on the bed.

Dec 25: Lawrence received 8-10 inches of snow and winds up to 40 mph. This greeted us Christmas morning out the front door. That is about a 3 foot snow drift at the end of the walk that extended along the entire front of the garage.

The view out the back door.

JT & I got bundled up like Nanook of the North to go sledding. Mom & Dad's driveway is steep enough to make a perfect hill and there was a big plowed drift across the street that we would sled into. Eventually, Sharon, David, Mom & Dad joined us in the sledding. It was great.

Dec 26: Heather P & I braved the poorly plowed roads to meet for lunch. I had cabin fever after 3 days of barely leaving the house and it was great to catch up with my dear friend.

Dec 27: The Man Meal. Allen & Steve made us dinner a fabulous dinner. Life would be boring without these men as my friends.

Dec 28: hmmm, what color to choose...the living room & hallway will be getting a new coat of paint soon.

The week that was...

Dec 15: Another Nigella recipe - snow-capped spice cake. I made it for a snack day at work. It was yummy. Dec 16 - Yes, I did rake leaves in mid-Dec. It was finally not frigid today and the lingering leaves were driving me nuts, so I took care of them.

Dec 17 - An important part of each workday morning and now I'm prepared for 2010. Four of us have been doing the daily Jeopardy calendar for several years, keep track of scores on an Excel spreadsheet...yes, we're enginerds.

Dec 18 - Went to see "Road To Bethleham", a tour through the story of Jesus' birth. Here Mary is visiting her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1).

Dec 19 - Baking: chocolate mint cookies, nutella cookie sandwiches, and sugar cookies with covered with chocolate & peppermint.

Seattle & more

Dec 10 - I was quite proud of myself. This was all my luggage for my trip to see Grandma.
Dec 11 - I don't remember ever flying into Seattle on such a clear day. I had this amazing view of Mt. Rainier out my airplane window.

I can't help but share two pictures from this day. The view of downtown Seattle was fantastic as we flew around it. I love that I caught a ferry boat crossing the Puget Sound.

Dec 12 - Grandma has these enormous evergreens in her backyard which are a good 70-80 feet tall.

Dec 13 - Grandma and me. I had a very nice weeked spending time with her and seeing most of my aunts, uncles & cousins on that side of the family.

When I was at the airport on my way home, this corner of the airport sparked a memory. Here is where I received my 10 year service award from my manager on a very early Friday morning as a group of us were waiting to catch our flight back to Wichita a few years ago. He decided to do it then since we were all missing the crew meeting that day I was supposed to get it at.

Dec 14 - The only Christmas tree I bothered to get out at my house this year.

December Picture Project

Since I signed up for the December Picture Project, I technically should be posting my pictures daily during this month. I will try but won't make any promises.

Dec 7: A few moments at Starbucks to get caught up on biblestudy homework.

Dec 8: The Keeper of the Plains on a gray & drizzly day.

Dec 9: Don't let the sunshine fool you. It was very cold today.

The Daily Grind

I was inspired to start a new blog project. Last week I read a book review about two friends who lived thousands of miles apart and decided to each take a picture every morning for a year, and now they have published a book of those pictures. I don't intend to publish a book, but I am going to attempt to take one picture a day for a year and post at the end of each week. We'll see how far I get with it. It has been interesting to think about what picture to take each day - to find that little thing that brings me a moment of joy or captures the essence of the day. So for your viewing enjoyment, this week's pictures starting on Thanksgiving Day.
Nov 26, 2009: Nothing brings me more joy than my three precious nephews.

Nov 27: Dad's birthday cake per the instructions of his grandsons. Nov 28: Halls Department Store on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City

Nov 29: Nick's chair. It was the first time I'd been home since Nick passed away this summer (my pastor growing up), and it felt odd to see his seat empty.

Nov 30: Just getting back from Thanksgiving weekend away + a long & busy Monday at work = Dillons sushi for dinner

Dec 1: Starting birth sampler #5 for the Ross family

Dec 2: New Year's Eve dress decisions

Dec 3: Jimmy! He won an evening on The Party Bus to tour Christmas lights in town and invited about 20 of us to join him for the fun.

Dec 4: Just around the block from my house is this tree-stump-turned-bear that gets dressed up for holidays. Somehow I missed seeing his Pilgrim costume until today. It's new this year and, in my opinion, quite spiffy.

Dec 5: Janel's 30th birthday party

Dec 6: 12:01 AM at IHOP

I went to Lawrence for Thanksgiving. Hannah & Jonathan and the boys came home for 2 days. Sharon & David & JT were over for awhile each day as well. So it was lots of family time. Got to play with the boys for while. JT & Marshall play well together. They both like Grandpa’s train though it’s hard for two to play with that at once.
Marshall is a chatterbox. He’s always popping out with some piece of 3 yr old wisdom to make us laugh. He did not want to go leave Grandma & Grandpa’s house. “I’m not going home. I stay here. I go home next time.” "CHEESE!"
And baby Jack is a sweet chunk-a-monk. He’s 5 months old. He’s a happy baby who squeals and smiles. He looks so much like my dad. He seemed to like Aunt Jen. There’s nothing like holding a sleeping baby.

. It’s sad to realize that JT is not a toddler any more. He’s almost 5 and growing up way too fast. We wrestled a bit. His laugh still gets me.

You would guess that Jack & JT were brothers, not Jack & Marshall.

The grandparents.

The boys had been upset that Grandpa didn't have a birthday party a few weeks ago. Marshall had insisted on a green cake with blue icing and red candles. And JT couldn't believe that Grandpa wasn't having anyone come over for a party. So we had a little family party and the boys helped Grandpa blow out the candles.

And that was the family Thanksgiving. Also got to catch up with Shannon & her daughter Noel. Shannon walked me through the White Show at Signs of Life Gallery. Shannon & her husband Darin put together this show of all white pieces. And then we walked around downtown Lawrence. It was great to catch up with her and be reminded of what an awesome downtown my hometown has. I was happy to find Taylors of Harrogate’s Spiced Christmas Tea at Brits. And Saturday afternoon, Mom, Dad & I took a spin around the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

Farewell

Grandpa Rafe passed away on Friday, November 6. He is very much missed by the family.

The finished product

I thought I'd brag about my flowerbeds and how they matured this season. Not that I did anything special. We had hot days in June when it was not looking good and then the rest of the summer was unusually cool & rainy. I am excited to think that next spring it won't take quite so much work since I'll have some established vegetation. But before I get ahead of myself, here are pictures of how my garden grew.
The back bed is full of hostas, coleus, impatiens, grasses and 2 potted ferns.
The side bed is where I have a little sun for flowers. The daises and black-eyed susans did pretty well. As did the dahlias.

More impatiens grace the patio.

The begonias out front finally started getting big in August.

My front door flowerbed - dwarf lamb's ear, dusty miller, begonias, and dwarf golden barberry shurbs.

Looks like we'll get our first frost this week so all the pretty will start dying away. But I have been happy at the progress made this growing season.