Brrrrrrrrrr herrr herrr herrr herrr…. We left the house shortly after 6:00 PM with the temperature at a nice 72F. It’s hard to believe that by 9:15 PM it’s already 39F and falling fast. The forecast now says a low of 22F over night instead of the 40F which we are now a degree cooler than that already. It’s so hard to believe it dropped 33 degrees in just 3 hours! The rain is already here and we are back home nice and warm on the inside, all settled in for the duration.

We had such a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend celebrating and giving thanks. The temperatures were in the mid 70’s pretty much all weekend with nice beautiful blue skies for the most part.

The leaves are beginning to fall covering the earth with a nice big blanket perhaps for the approaching cold front that’s coming. I took this pic of a tree in downtown this past weekend and I’m sure it will begin shedding its leaves soon. The skies have turned grey and there’s mist in the air. The ground and sidewalks are moist from the mist and the temperatures will be dropping to the mid 20’s by the end of the week. Of course it’s in the forecast to warm up during the days to the mid 40’s but the evenings will be quiet chilly. We are so thankful for plenty of firewood to keep our home nice and cozy on those cold evenings.

It’s been a very sluggish day for Bobby and me. We’re having a hard time getting back into the swing of things after this past weekend. Bobby met me for an early lunch and that was so nice to just get out and see him. I asked if I could steal him away for the rest of the day but he needed to get back to work, he’s trying to save as much vacation as he can at this point. So I plan to pick myself up by my boot straps and clean up around here, get to some laundry and prepare to get back into my studio tomorrow.

More icicle lights this year will be hung from the roof top. Bobby is quite the perfectionist insisting on hanging lights from way up there. My duty is to hold the ladder and make sure he’s doing alright. I still don’t like him climbing the ladder but he likes the house trimmed with lights. I can’t complain and am thankful he goes the extra mile and loves to see me smile.

A pic of holly in our front flowerbed.

Bobby’s still working diligently on that newsletter I was up with him till after midnight last night and finally had to retire and Bobby was up till after 2:00 AM working on that. Like he says, when he’s on a roll he doesn’t like to stop for anything. We hope to finish our newsletter this weekend and have it out by next weekend. Bobby and I had our little date at Wal-Mart today, not bad at all. The lady at the register told us how crazy it was yesterday. So glad we didn’t brave the day after Thanksgiving rush. We had a nice time stringing more lights outside and will be back out to finish up very soon. We enjoyed a nice dinner out tonight and that pretty much wraps up our day.

We did manage to get to a little decorating outside today. Bobby and I worked at getting 7 trees in the front strung with lights. We actually string the trunks of the trees from the ground upwards to approx 8’.

I worked a little in the flower beds trimming a few bushes back and basically giving them a little spruce up.

We didn’t venture out today to do any sort of shopping whatsoever. We’re not into the mad house out there but we did discuss going over to Wal-Mart in a couple hours. We need a few things for the front yard but after getting all cleaned up and showered, I think we’re going to call it a day and stay in this evening. Actually, I think I could go sound to sleep at this very moment and I may cash in on the early side tonight.

Decorating for Christmas is quite the ordeal around here with Christmas music in the background. It’s such a pleasure getting everything all set up.

Swarovski ornament 2004

A favorite Precious Moments ornament from 1998 is special as Bobby was taking flying lessons that year and working towards getting his pilots license. We have 3 years worth of ‘Our First Christmas Together’. We started dating in 97, got engaged on Christmas morning 98 and were newlyweds in 99; hence all three years were firsts.

A favorite Lenox ornament from 2001.

This 7′ Pencil tree did not make it to the living room, now the kitchen has 2 trees.

The tree in the kitchen features cloisonné pieces that we purchased during our visit to China several years ago.

Kitchen tree # 2

Handrails decorated with tree garland, ribbon, lights and berries.

I still need to get my green and red candles going and I’m pretty much all finished on the inside this year. Now we need to get to the outside.

Stock Yards Station

Bobby and I spent an evening in the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards. We just had our picture professionally taken for our annual Christmas newsletter this year and also enjoyed dinner there as well. We strolled down the sidewalks enjoying the shops and a little browsing as well.

Fort Worth Stock Yards

At one time The Stockyards was a center for the cattle industry. Today the Stockyards stand as a center of tourism for the surrounding Fort Worth areas. The area is filled with shops specializing in old Western gifts and antiques.

Riscky’s Steakhouse – Great B-B-Q’s Too

There are numerous restaurants and other attractions such as the Championship Rodeo and a daily move of the famous Longhorn herd at 4:00 PM. At the Stockyards the old west is alive and kickin’.

I had my boots and western dress on and Bobby was stylin’ too.

I’m loving my new clay body. It’s been quite a busy schedule in the studio this week doing what I like best. I’m so taken with large vases these days that I can’t seem to stray on over to the purses yet. I plan to have enough pieces made up this week so that I can get out to the studio where I’m a member and glaze next Wednesday. I always look forward to the Wednesday group as they are such a joy to be around plus we all have pottery in common which is wonderful.

It seems Mrs. Claus has such a hard time surprising Santa for Christmas. E-Bay is one of our favorite channels to purchase our goodies and that’s where I went to get Mr. Claus some of his Christmas gifts this year. I purchased this brand new 2006 St Louis Cardinals World Series plaque. It is a J.D. Healy plaque that is officially licensed by MLB. It is brand new and measures 13” X 16”. The plaque includes the team logo, photo, roster, season record and all game scores from the 2006 World Series. The only bad thing is that Mr. Claus visits my E-Bay account and has already seen all the fun stuff I purchased.

Our oldest nephew Brenton turned 13 yesterday. How did that little man that I once cradled in my arms grow so fast? He’s taller than me, ok it doesn’t take much to arrive at my 5’ ½ “ stature, but he’s way past me now. He plays football, basketball and is just an all around great kid.

Dad is moving right along with his Bells Palsy. He is not out of the woods yet but he is gaining a little control over that side of his face. I think it’s going to be one of those longer recoveries for him but his spirits are soaring.

Just made our Christmas reservations. I’m so excited and look forward to our Christmas this year as always.

I’m getting all geared up to get our Christmas decorations out of the attic one night this week. The decorations will begin this coming weekend.

It’s another busy week in the studio, so off I go.