Merry Christmas

 I hope everyone is warm and safe!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!

I Like #283

 Welcome to another week of things to like!

We're getting clost to Christmas and I'm slowly either wrapping up pre-holiday things or just admitting they're going to turn into post-holiday things.

My friend Brett and I went to look at Christmas lights again this past weekend and this is a picture of one of my favorite lit trees at the local Methodist church.

The pups are doing lots of snoozing and stretching and cuddling just as much as ever!  Spooky did destroy a couch cushion though.  On Sunday I went in the evening to our church's children's Christmas pageant (which was wonderful), and was only gone an hour so I figured it would be ok not to remove the couch cushions, but that was a mistake!

I love my Christmas cacti, they provide such a wonderful shot of color, and excitingly (and weirdly), I have one that has both red and pink flowers this year!

One exciting task I got finished this week was mending a hand knit sock Spooky had partially eaten,  I love my hand knit socks and I'm always glad to be able to rescue them.

And of course today starts the arctic storm blast.  We had a little tiny bit of snow overnight but mostly it's just very very cold.  It was 7 degrees (F) as I was driving to work which is very cold for our area and I think it's supposed to hover around 5 for most of the day.  Very very windy, but luckily not much precipitation so the roads are ok.

Hoping you are all staying warm and indoors!  For more things to like, head over to LeeAnna's!

I Like #282

 Welcome to another week of things to like!  I was still sick for the first part of this week but luckily I'm feeling better now.  

The most exciting thing to love this week was our annual Advent service of Lessons and Carols at church.  It's a service of alternating bible lessons and choral music that walks through all the advent lessons about the coming of the Messiah.  Our (small but mighty) choir sings several choral anthems and hymns every year for it, and it's a wonderful part of Advent for me.  You can currently watch it on our church youtube channel here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1jXWvAwqKA&t=21s

At the beginning (before the video part of the recording starts, you can hear our church's recently reconstituted handbell choir. I love playing handbells, even though we're all a bit rusty.

I'm currently loving my new insulated water bottle-  it was an early Christmas gift from a good friend and as a dog person, she knew I'd love it! 

It's been chilly and very rainy and grey outside which isn't too nice, but inside my Christmas cactus is bringing a wonderful burst of color.

And of course I love the pups.  They've been especially snuggly this week.

A short list this week since I don't have too many pictures, but I'm loving the Advent season as usual, especially now that I feel better.  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

I Like #281

 I've been sick most of this week,  not COVID, but some sort of fall crud that's really been a pain in the neck.  So just a short post today.

Last Friday, before I got sick, my friend Brett and I drove down to Chickasha OK to see the lights.  They have one of the best holiday light displays in the states.  It was really great, I love Christmas lights.  I didn't take that many pictures, but here are a few.  I especially loved that snowflake made of scissors!

On Saturday I made a bunch of origami gift boxes out of old calendar pages,  I love being able to reuse the great pictures.

And I'll leave you with a picture of my snuggly pups.

Hope you're all having an ok week! Visit LeeAnna's for more from our group.

I Like #280

 Welcome to another week of  things to like!  We're celebrating advent now which is one of my favorite times of year, but last week of course was Thanksgiving.  I got to go see my family and after a variety of snafus it was a lovely weekend.

My parents' house got ~4-5" of snow on Thanksgiving day which was beautiful and my dad drove us back up into the National Forest to get Christmas trees the next day.  It was gorgeous.  My uncle and cousin and I hiked up the mountain to pick trees for me, his family, and my parents.

While hiking in the forst with my parents the next day we cam across these fantastic dried pods!  I know they're probably weeds, but I thought they were so cool! I pulled them out of the snow and took them home with me.  Such amazing structures!

Spooky and Blue went to New Mexico with me, and they had fun running around in the snow, but the doggy highlight of the trip was meeting my parents' new puppy Quark.  He's definitely a handful but so adorable!  He's still very little and my dogs were very bouncy (Spooky scared him at the beginning) so we're going to re-introduce them again at Christmas.

Upon returning home I got to enjoy decorating my house for Christmas which I love.  I've gotten a small tree the last few years and have too many handmade ornaments so I hung a few from my houseplants this year!  Unfortunately the tree still has to be surrounded by the doggy fence since Spooky would eat all the ornaments if permitted.

The outside trees here are just gorgeous right now too- I love all the color.  Mostly bright reds around campus.

Lee Anna's prompt for this week was what was our favorite or traditional holiday movie or tv show.  One of my favorites from childhood is the 1961 Babes in Toyland, which I think is probably considered a classic.

I also have always been attached to the early 90s version of Good King Wenceslas starring Jonathan Brandis.  When I was a teenages I thought he was super cute.  That one is harder to find now.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and is having seasonable but not excessive weather!  For more things to like click over to LeeAnna's!