Much going on
It's snowing here in Grand Junction but not very much. Phoebe (the dog) has some pretty muddy claws because of the construction going on outside of my back yard. They are building another Sub-division in what used to be a "Cow Pasture". The sub-division I'm in was built in 2016 so it's not bad. They built them 6-attached together. Luckily I'm on the end of the building and at the end of the Cul-de-sac. It's the main reason we all have 2 very large sky-windows. Anyone between me and the 6th house don't have windows in the middle of their house. One in the back bedroom and a large sliding glass door in the Master suite. Then I have a window in my office at the front of the house and there is a window in the living room, not very large at that but it lets in light. So the number one house in this brick has a window in their dining room if that's what they have on the outer wall.
Christmas was without snow, and it's not doing too much today either. So it wasn't a "White Christmas" but it was Christmas anyway. A little mix up in the grocery order but we survived it. We use the Walmart delivery service since we pay for it and they put it right at our front door. They used to ring the bell but the dog makes so much noise I'm around the corner before they run for their life, (only kidding) she's a 5 lb Chihuahua but she's got great lungs. And she can hear the FedEx truck and anyone else that pulls up by our driveway so she knows the difference between a truck and a car so normal visitors are pretty safe.
Now about the Mix-up in the Grocery order. Denise had my list and I said a small ham about 3 lbs, which would have done well for the 2 of us but then Dani showed up and announced she was doing the cooking. So she asks what I had planned. I said, Ham, sweet potatoes, regular mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots with a Fruit salad for desert because I wasn't going to bake anything but the sweet potatoes. And they were really good. So I explained what happened with the ham and she said she'd fix it. What the problem was what Denise said she put on the order. She said about 1 lb of ham thinly sliced or already sliced (whichever she said) and when we put every thing away that was delivered we had a baggie with 1.68 lbs of Deli sliced ham. Since I wasn't going to bake deli sliced ham I was at a loss and said I wasn't going to use the ham. I should have threatened to use a can of spam but Dani beat me to that one. She just said don't worry, Mom, I'll fix it and she did. I believe she put it in a skillet for a few mins and then put it on a serving plate. I had 2 slices that I dutifully cut with my fork into small chunks that i could eat and the whole meal was really pretty good.
I told my good friend in the Netherlands that I was going to post some of the pictures of my Christmas decorating. I have been collecting Annual Teddy bears for about 25 years now but they didn't all make the journey from Walla Walla to here so we weren't overwhelmed by the bears until Denise thought se needed some more. I have 3 now with 2020 on their feet, the one from the Millennium has a loud countdown to the midnight when we start the new year with a 2 instead of a 1. The dog doesn't like the noise. I'm surprised she hasn't attacked it when ever Denise pushes the button. But I also have at least 49 Santa Statues along the ceiling shelf that runs through the dining room and into the living room. There's a similar shelf on the opposite side of the living room which is where the Bears are hanging out. The Angels are poised on top of the kitchen pantry ceiling. I've let all my children and grand children that if they want to pick a few I'll be happy to send them. The couch has 5 bears, the fireplace at the bottom and the floor has another 9 Santa's. It's probably time to downsize a little bit. Here are the pictures.
Angels that I made a few years ago.
Angels from the stores.
My birthday present from Denise & Dani.
I think I bought the White one and
the girls bought the other one.
Bears that are dated, one up there says 1996.
More bears but not all their feet are showing.
The start of the Santa Wall.
Close to the middle of the shelf.
Starting down the other side.
The end of the Santa on the shelf.
When our K-Mart closed I couldn't pass up the sale.
More Santa's or maybe a different view of the same ones.
Above the TV with a window picture but no window.
The top of my tree.
The opposite side of the dining room.
The latest bear fell over and Denise said OK.
The bear up against the Sloth is the Millennial bear.
On the back are some of the Ceramic Angels I made about 55 years ago.
The poor dog couldn't make it outside like he was designed to do so he's tree watching.
Denise's Angel that watches over us.
