Thrift Shop Santa

I had one winter and one fall coat here that had been gifted to me and neither of them fit, so I thought I would donate them to Missions* for Bib*les. They were glad to have them and while I was there, I decided to browse a bit. On a shelf near the door I found a beautiful Santa. I haven't seen one like it for many years.

Santa has his list of children, as he talks to a little girl about what she'd like for Christmas.

Here is a different view and the price was right at just $5.00, so I decided to give him a good home while donating to a worthy cause. He looks fantastic sitting on a shelf in the entertainment unit where I can see him each time I enter the living room.

The Holiday* Trai*n

On Wednesday afternoon about 4:30, hubby and I picked up Brandon and Jordan, then drove across the city to pick up Mom. We drove about 40 minutes to the northwest to see the Holiday* Train, better know by this gal as the Christmas Train. LOL It has been running since 1999, but I'd never heard of it until last year when Pea from Pea's Corner posted photos.

The Christmas train pulled in right on schedule at 6pm. I had just bought the boys a hotdog and everyone hot chocolate. It was delicious.

The doors opened and Santa entertained the crowd by singing. Everyone loved it. I didn't get good photos because it was raining and there were hundreds of people there.

The kids were loving this and the boys enjoyed seeing the train all decorated for Christmas.

I got a photo of Santa himself and just after I took this, he gave me a handful of candy canes and a CD of last year's show. It all lasted about a half hour. When the rain began to pour down, we headed to the van where we could still hear the entire program. Many other people went to their cars as well.

If you would like to see better photos of the Christmas Train and enjoy a video of the show, drop by Pea's Corner. She went to meet the Christmas Train when it arrived in her community.

Winner of Pea's Giveaway

Pea over at Pea's Corner had a giveaway a week or so ago. She announced the winner and I couldn't believe that I had won. I haven't won many things in my life and this giveaway included one of my favourite things...lots and lots of snowmen.

Today the package arrived in the mail. Hubby brought it in and said it's from Sudbury. I was off to the kitchen in a flash.

I opened the box and was in snowman heaven. Snowman tissue paper and a nice handwritten note on snowman stationary.

These are all the beautiful things that were included in the box. A beautiful large roly poly snowman, a snowman soap dispenser, a snowman Christmas countdown, a snowman toothpick holder, square snowman paper plates and a snowman candle. They are all beautiful and so nice to put out display during the Christmas season.

This beautiful snowman looks right at home, perched atop hubby's replica radio and CD player. The soap dispenser is in the bathroom, waiting to be filled with soap. The candle and the Christmas countdown are in the living room where I can enjoy them while watching a bit of tv.

Thank you, dear Pea. You definitely made my day. Everything is gorgeous. If you haven't met Pea, be sure to stop by for a visit. Her blog is absolutely delightful and she is such a sweet lady.

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

When I was a young girl, I was always invited to Grandma's to help her make sugar cookies in a kitchen much like the one in this graphic. It would be later in the season, probably around December 20th.

Grandma and I would spend the entire day making sugar cookies together. She had every kind of Christmas cookie cutter you could imagine...star, holly, Christmas tree, an angel, wreath, snowman, Santa and probably ones that I've long forgotten. The cookies were baked in the oven of the old wood stove. We would add wood as needed and Grandma was very good at keeping that oven at a constant heat so the cookies would be perfect.

Once the cookies were golden at the edges, Grandma would use her apron to remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Then she would put them on newspaper to cool. Once cool, we would use coloured sugar, icing and winterberry candies to decorate them. What fun we had spending the day making at least five dozen cookies and sometimes more for the family to enjoy on Christmas Day.

Always, Grandma would make sure that I received a couple of cookies still warm from the oven and a big glass of cold milk from the ice box. Mmm! I can still taste them when I close my eyes and travel back to Grandma's kitchen. It was a real treat for me and Grandma and I always had fun together.

What memories do you have of a childhood Christmas. I challenge you to post one of your favourite Christmas memories.

Here is the recipe:


Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Modern Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Use rolling pin to roll out the dough, cut with Christmas cookie cutters and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

What a Day!

What a day it's been around here. First of all, hubby went to the bank with my bank card to withdraw the mortgage money. He used the machine and it released the card and the receipt, but no money. He knew he absolutely had to report it before he left the bank, so went inside to do so. The customer service lady looked at the card and saw my name on it. That's when the problems took a turn for the worst.

The woman phoned me and she is someone that I happen to know. I have dealt at that bank for years and when I first went there, she was a teller. She told me that she would have to start an investigation and that it would take eight to ten days. Sorry, not acceptable. I told her that I needed the money today, as the mortgage payment was due. She emailed someone and he happen to be able to check on the computer to find out what happened. I got a call from the bank manager just after lunch saying it was an ABM error. However, he said that he would mail me out a new card and we could then withdraw the funds. Nope! I told him I was sending hubby to the bank with a note, signed by me, and he needed to give him both the mortgage money and the debit card. He accepted this only because the note had my signature on it and he could compare it. A sigh of relief went up when he agreed to it and all things financial were able to be put in order.

In my previous post, I mentioned that the roof was leaking and water was coming through the ceiling. I called the roofing company first thing this morning. I got voice mail. They didn't return my call, so I phoned them again just after lunch. The secretary answered and said she would text the owner. By 4pm, I hadn't heard anything from her. In the meantime a big piece of the ceiling came crashing down. I phoned back and left a message saying she had until 10am Tuesday to respond or I was hiring another company and sending them the bill. We'll see what happens.

Hubby took the van in last Wed to have the hinges on the driver's door replaced. The van was there two days and on Thursday afternoon he phoned to see when it would be done. The man told him that the part hadn't come in and that it would be there Friday. Since we had some work that needed to be done on it at a service station instead of a body shop, we picked it up. We were told to return it Monday morning at 8am.

This morning hubby got up and took the van in, feeling confident that it would have new hinges by the afternoon. At 5:30 pm, I called to see if we could pick it up. The man told me that the parts hadn't come in. I had to bite my tongue to keep from erupting. He told me it might be done tomorrow IF the hinges came in.

I wonder where the hinges are coming from. I told hubby maybe they were waiting for them to get here from China.

What a day! I have full confidence that tomorrow will be better. I hope all of my friends and readers had a better day than I did.

A Pleasant Weekend

On Saturday, the boys came over about noon to stay the weekend. We put up the Christmas village, played Uno, chess and video games and then after dinner, we watched Santa Buddies. They liked it well enough but hubby and I found that it was pretty much a repeat of all the other Christmas movies that have come out in recent years. However, the puppies give it a nice touch and it is a nice family movie. You know, no cussing, no sex and of course, good wins out over evil.

In other news, the roof is leaking and it is coming through the ceiling. Grrr! Just what we didn't need. That particular spot in the roof has been a sore spot for years. We get it repaired and it lasts about five years and then it starts leaking again. So tomorrow I will call the roofer to see if the 20 year warranty covers it. Please keep positive thoughts coming our way. It's not a great time of year to have something like this happen, but it is probably a blessing in disguise because I wouldn't want snow to melt and freeze and then have all that water running into the kitchen in the spring. So I'll bite the bullet and see what has to be done.

Other than that, it was a very pleasant weekend just having fun with the boys. We even went out for an hour of looking around the stores. Then we came back here, had lunch and played more games until 4 pm when it was time for them to head home.

Wishing all my friends and readers a great week.