Merry Christmas to you!

I guess I should also say, 'or whatever you do' too.  Happy Festivus!

We've had a busy few days.  Jolea came in Tuesday night and Jeff brought her directly to the house they didn't go out as planned, as they were both tired and Jeff had to work the next morning.

Wednesday Jolea and I did some shopping gag, I'd rather take a beating and it wasn't too bad.  Then we both got our hair cut.  I've had the same hairdresser since 1990!!! OMG!  Her son and Jolea were in 1st grade together.  So DeeDee was quite happy to see Jolea and Jolea's hairs were quite happy to see DeeDee.  Jolea hadn't had a professional hair cut since the last time DeeDee cut her hair, something like 3 years ago!

Like always Jolea has been doing a lot of cooking since she's been home.  Here she's making Mini Deep Dish Pizzas with Gracie's help.  These were really good, and even though I'd had surgery the tooth thing I was able to eat a couple and they were really good.  We came to the decision that they needed a few more ingredients than just mini pepperonis and cheese, next time we'll throw in some ground beef, bell peppers, green or black olives, onions, etc. as much as you can in a muffin tin.  Maybe it's time to purchase one of those muffin tins for extra large muffins. Hey.... I could make little chicken pot-pies in those too!

Friday we ventured out to deliver a Tiramisu and some not so spicy salsa to Lourdes and then we attempted to shop again, MISTAKE!  Jolea was trying to find an outfit to wear later.  She and Jeff were going out in Dallas.  She ended up raiding my closet, good thing for her that I don't dress like a Mom.  We spent more time in the parking lots than we did in the stores, Jolea shops like me, we scan, we spot something then we touch it, look at it, maybe try it on.  We're in and out in minutes.

Jeff came up for tenderloin and baked potatoes like father like son and he and Jolea headed back down to Dallas to meet up with an old friend of Jolea's from 7th grade and Jeff's buddies.
 

Then yesterday morning as Jeff was bringing her back up from Dallas, she remembers that she's supposed to meet a friend for breakfast.  Long story short, Jessica meets her at the house.  We whip up some pancakes and bacon and have a lovely chat with Jess and her adorable baby boy Braxton over breakfast. 

Seems like just a few weeks ago these girls were headed off to Padre for Spring Break.

He's a cute kid.

Here he's 'putting it out there for the girls' as Jolea and Jess said.

Gracie just LOVED his visit... it really freaked her out that we had a tiny person brought in to chase after her under the table.  I'm sure if she'd run through her tube he may have tried to follow her.

Around noon another old friend drops by and Jolea is whisked off for lunch with Woody's family Jolea and Woody worked together when she was home for the 2005 hurricane season.  She was later met and brought home by a different friend.  Chris and Jolea went to High School together.  Chris came in and stayed for a bit and they played guitars and sang together until the football game was over and he had to get back to his family.

We had dinner and soon after Amanda and her husband Matt came by.  Amanda and Jolea have also been friends since Junior High school when they were in 4-H together but attended different schools until high school.  We'd never met Matt, he's usually deployed overseas somewhere but is now stationed in Washington state.

We put all the leaves in Great,great,great Grandma's table, thinking that surely more of the kid's friends would wander in today around meal time.  Seems that the one that Jolea had invited I guess she felt sorry for him, she always tried to bring in strays may not come after all.  So we'll just scooch it back in to a setting of four.  Fine with me,  because there isn't much tiramisu or chocolate pie left.  I'm supposed to be making a chocolate cake right now but the ham is in the oven.

Tomorrow Jolea and I will set out for New Braunfels to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Then it's off to Houston Tuesday to see Nita.  Jolea and Nita haven't seen each other since 2008 when Jolea was living in St. Thomas and we all went to see her there.  Then it's back home Wednesday morning, maybe catch Michael and Di as they are in Dallas for doctor appointments. and Jolea will fly out for Key West on Thursday.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a great week.

The Ghost of the Christmas just past.

I'm sitting here nursing a headache with a cup of coffee.  No, it's not one of those headaches, I wish.  It's combination of a lack of caffeine late in the day and eating greasy food in the wee hours of the night headache. 

I'm watching Jolea's friends on Spanish Fly.  Spanish Fly is a fishing show on ESPN.  She's friends with the Host of the show Jose Wejebe,  but also with his guest fishermen the Goins family.  The Fishtafarians, as the Goins are know by, are a family of artist.  Jolea met Jose and the fish family back when she was working as a dock master in Key West.  This episode is pretty interesting, too bad it won't be aired again so Jody can watch it. 

I don't post much about Jolea, because I figure you all read her blog if you're reading mine and I don't want to spoil the surprise if you come here first or subject you to a re-run if you come over here after stopping by there first.  If you don't read her, check it out.  She's our little Adventuress.

 We had a couple of the Pickers over last night.  Dawn and Mike came down too.  With a lack of band members and Jody refusing to play, Mark coaxed first me and then Dawn to learn to play the bass.  He kept saying "it's easy..."  Uhhh, not really.   It's a lot like patting your head, rubbing your stomach, chewing gum and walking backwards all at the same time.  It's not one of those things I can just naturally do, like knitting with my eyes glued to the TV or closed.  It requires me to get one hand going and then get the other hand going in a different direction and then try to stay on the beat with one hand and off the beat with the other and then listen to Mark giving me cues to what notes are coming up a whole beat ahead (how does he do that?) before he's even played the note.  The whole time I'm trying not to do what I've been told all my life to do and that's follow directions.  When you tell me A.... that means play A right then not D then A.  I've also been told, by my husband, that it's not good to multi-task.  "When you multi-task, you are not giving your full attention to any one thing."  OK... so  do I multi-task or follow directions or chew gum or pat my head?  Good grief, I may have to stick to chopping, otherwise know as mandolin for dead people.  That's Dawn by the way in the picture. I'm in her camera.  Dawn and Mike shouldn't have left at 1:30, because by 2:15 I had a big ole greasy breakfast cooked... bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy.  I have cotton mouth so bad this morning I could drink a 6 pack of beer. 

It's that day we all dread.... the day we take the Christmas tree down and box up it and all the ornaments.  Hey... is this what the British (and Canadians) refer to as boxing day?  I never knew what that was all about but they seem to look forward to it more than Christmas Eve or Christmas.  I guess if you have a real tree that's dropping all it's needles and you have to keep all open flames extinguished you'd probably be excited for Boxing Day.

To all my readers from across the pond, or now down under, or across the desert, or through the woods (Duder), Happy Boxing Day. Oh wait, I think yesterday was Boxing Day... oh well today is Boxing Day at the Cruzans.

This year's Santa ornament. (jeez that picture is fuzzy)

This year's Snowman ornament.

Jolea had a boot for this year, I couldn't find anything Beachy... but I'll keep looking. And Jeff got a Santa on a cycle.

This is the one Maria (Overboard) sent us from Japan last year.

Here's the lovely tree in all it's dimunitive glory.  If Jolea isn't home next year, there will be no need to keep all those decorations and the big tree in the attic.  Jody will think he's free to throw them out.  I got this tree from the Library at school, gotta take it back this week.

Have a great week, hope it's a short one for you.

(it's really Sunday morning.... 7:30ish)
More ornaments, aren't you excited? It's like being here!

I have been collecting these old fashioned glass kind now for a few years, I'm concentrating on the ones that have a western theme, so here we have a star shape with a bull rider and under it the word Dallas. And a snowman, he's wearing chaps! In the background you can see one I've had for about 15 years, it's a little turquoise Native American wedding vase.

A Cowboy Santa, with more than a 10 gallon hat.

Two of my favorite things, coffee and boots.

This Santa sitting under a palm tree in a swim suit, drinking a fruity beverage represents what we did this past summer.... our trips to the Virgin Islands.

And this one represents what Jody did this past summer, that would be stayed home and played his guitar. He's SO adventurous!

Another Cowboy Santa with a lasso full of boots.

Coffee for the Meercat.

This one is the first ornament Jody and I ever had. On the other side is the date 1981, our first Christmas together. He threatens to break it every year, he's not only adventurous, he's a romantic too....

This one is Jolea's first.
Check out that glass chili pepper back there! It's huge, one of many.

This isn't Jeff's first ornament, I couldn't find his... but it is one of my favorites. I love that picture of him. I think it was from Kindergarten. He had a Nelson smile, now that he's older he has the Cruzan smile. Nelson smile = more like a laugh without sound. Cruzan smile = 'I don't want anyone to know that I'm really having a good time.'

We also have a bird's nest in our tree, which means: Birds are the messengers that bring God's love. Spreading his glory on the wings of a dove. Having a bird's nest in your Christmas tree brings good luck, new fortune and all agree... in finding the nest the tree has been blessed.

We also have a pickle ornament which has something to do with an old German custom, but at our house it just makes Jolea hungry. Speaking of... I'm off to the store for the essentials of Big Breakfast..... brunch. Have a good week!

That's what she said.....

We didn't go to Corsicana... just to Richardson, we met Dave and Carol at Texas Land and Cattle Company for dinner. Excellent! I had a really GOOD glass of Cab Sov, I wish I could remember the name, maybe Jolea will.

Jolea was glad the ride was only to Richardson, 15 minutes instead of 2 hours. She rode in the back "seat" of the truck....

She was waving and talking to me in sign language just before I took this picture.... doesn't she look happy and comfortable on her little 'perch' back there?










She's already singing Christmas songs...







She's incognito.... shhhhh don't tell anyone she's here. She travels like this a lot when we drive around in town, but this is the first time we had her sit in the 'back seat.' Next time she could lay down in the back of the truck with a blanket.

We delivered Dave's guitar to him, a 1953 Martin. He was happy. Dinner was great and it was good to see Dave and Carol, we hadn't seen them since October in Garland on the Square. They are the nicest couple. They want us to come to their house next time. I wonder if Jolea is up for it?

My week off is winding down, screeching to a halt really..... I'm glad. I'm ready to go back to work. I get bored at home when it's cold or rainy outside. I tend to sit too much and when I sit I knit. When I knit too much then my neck hurts. Besides, I only have about 4 weeks until I have Christmas break.... I can make it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas since Jolea put the Christmas tree up Friday and started decorating the house. She wanted me to post pictures of some of the favorite ornaments, since her camera on the laptop flip flops the picture. We've had theme trees in the past, one year everything was Southwestern. The kids didn't like it. They like putting up all the 'junk' ornaments from the bygone years. Last year we didn't even put the tree up. I may have dug out a 2 footer and put it on the table. Jolea was in Australia, so without the Christmas Elf in the house, we didn't bother.

This one represents the years Jolea spent swimming with those cranky Cruise Ship passengers out at the reef in Key West.





This one represents the year Jeff got his first 'Crotch-rocket' and Jody and I passed out in the front yard when he drove away. Thank goodness for neighbors with lifesaving skills and lots of beer.






This one represents Jody and his hobby. That's one of his hand made mandolins in the back... currently without strings.








And this one represents me... I LOVE cappuccino! Or coffee of any kind.






More to come..... from Texas.