It is time to decorate the house for Christmas

For those of you who know my taste in decorations, you know this means tasteful, like right out of the magazine Southern Living or Better Homes and Gardens.  So First thing to go up is of course an inflatable reindeer Santa -- delighted the kids as is evident from the photo above.  I mean this baby is what everyone needs.  Well if not this - at least one inflatable of some such similar yard art type  stuff that the uninformed and ill mannered refer to as red-neck mess.

As you can see this is an asset to any room and will engage the most discerning of guests as is noted below.  The size can be a bit intimidating for some of the smaller crowd, but that is not all bad. 

Now another big project is the Arrangement Of The Angels and Other Small Objects on the Mantel.  This is a task that Laura did for upteen years prior to setting out on her own.  This was often done with Mom, well it was done again this time with two daughters who took the task very very seriously as they should

 
The sorting and arrangement is done very carefully as many of these angels are older than either of these girls grandparents, --- and most come with stories.  It was a fun special time.  (The "spot" on Lydia's head is a sticker from earlier activity time - that is just where she puts them)

and yes upon completion of the Placing of the Angels on the Mantel  we moved directly into tree decorating time.

and we stretched and we talked and we moved things around and we put more and more on the tree. 

and just before dinner since the day had been so uneventful, we opened special early Christmas presents from Great Grandmother Hodges and Isaac has been pushing around a red and blue truck

 

 

And Julianna and Lydia have been playing a new game and working on crafts.  The game,  LadyBug, is somewhat like CandyLand where you move forward and backward dependent on draw of the cards and instructions on the board.  As I was going through the instructions ( yes I do occasionally follow instructions)  and showed Julianna the the " Go Back 3 spaces " card, she said, " we don't play with those cards.  I replied, "well here we will"   She looked at me a little askance, and slowly said "well OK" .   So we did.   She loved the excitement of it.   We had a good time.  I won.  Perhaps she will win future games.  It is fun and we did enjoy it.  Later we played with Laura and Lydia, Laura won.

day after Thanksgiving - part one

Day after Thanksgiving was a little overcast with some intermittent rain, but we went back to the barn area to see if any calves had been born as they were expected.  Lydia was not pleased to be near the cows, took time to explain her position, and was not first in line to get near the fence to see the cows.  (See below)

We did get to see a new born calf behind the barn, startling its mother, and sending both into the pasture, with newborn struggling to walk with that awkward stumbling gait of newborn calfs.  the children thought he was so cute.  I did too.  In the picture below the calf is lying down next to the far cow in the upper left.  She will not come much closer than that nor will she let us much closer.  Now the other cows, they are curious.

Julianna was fascinated and stood and watched listening to their low mowing and snorting, not concerned after our earlier visits and awareness of the fence and the cows interest and similar concerns towards us.

with my invitation to try to pet the cow, as one cow in particular got close, she surprised me and did after I showed her how the cow was just looking for a scratch.

later we went into the barns and saw Great Granddaddy's old tractor and the one I particularly like to drive when working at the farm.

Of course we had to try out sitting in the seat.  It was a little large for little people

And old trailers are fun to climb on until spider webs are noticed

all in all a farm and a barn is a good place to visit the day after Thanksgiving with grandchildren.

Day after Thanksgiving - part Two

Another activity on the day after was that I taught Julianna how to play "Go Fish" using a real deck of cards.  Of course she had not played Go Fish with any deck of cards but she is my granddaughter so the teaching was easy and Lydia will know within a month or two as well.

As best as I could remember the rules, asking your opponent for a specific card by number resulted in either getting the card from your opponent or drawing said card from the deck in order to make a pair which could then be scored or laid down.  Of course not getting a card from your opponent your opponent says "GO FISH "  hence the name -- clever huh ?  (upon checking official rules later on the internet I learned that the internet has it wrong- but that is something to be corrected at a later date).

we had a challenging game for me and Julianna, especially since she had a little difficulty telling 6s and 9s apart and did not know what the 8 was at the beginning of the game and the queen was the "q", but we got there just fine and by the end, she had them like a charm.

Now Lydia will recognize a two in a moment, and an A.  Also she will tell you that you have one of said cards.  She has a little more to learn.  But teaching will be fun.  They learn fast and will know the rules too.

and in on the way north and east to Raleigh you know where we stopped for dinner.  As below yours truly and Isaac are under the famous sign outside the blue awninged architectural wonder that is the Blue Mist

First order of the evening was to introduce the kids to some really good hushpuppies and proper eating techniques  The importance of savoring that first bite and enjoying that taste was instilled.

You know who was enthusiastic

and studious -- and watching the other customers watching us.  Now why would all those men wearing hats while inside and while eating be doing that ?

and my goodness but BBQ plates all around with the standard "fixins" of fries, beans and slaw, sure make for a great dinner with some really sweat tea (or milk) to wash it down with.

Thanksgiving part one

Day before Thanksgiving has many responsibilities, one of which is to get non-esentials out of the house for a while, and guess who qualifies, -- that would be me -- so the kids took me to see the cows at the farm, which I always enjoy,

and then I got to walk in the pastures and alongside the old barns. -- main thing I was doing in retrospect was being "not-in-the-way

now later in the day we got down to serious business of cooking and these three went at cookie making like they knew what they were doing.

the whole crowd posed for a photo picking up one of the crumb chasers.

and there was some serious tasting of the preparations going on too.

At times, the work turned serious as the finer points of making molasses cookies were being discussed.

pots had to be found

games on iPhones had to be played - and even - shudder to mention the word, but shared too.

and more preparation, like table setting

we only had three tables set up.  and guess who got to sit at the kids table ? and also please note who was paying attention too.  Thank you Julianna.

and after dinner it was time for Patt to provide instruction in spades.  Those hours of internet work finally pays off in a big way.  Take 'em to school Patt.

PART TWO 

CONTINUES BELOW

Thanksgiving part two

and what Thanksgiving day does not have parade watching, the football watching was done later by me when someone we all know and love also fell asleep.  Seems as if the house was quiet as fortunately a large segment of the household had gone for a walk and I sacrificed and stayed back with Grandmother Hodges and we watched a little football.

and here is Great Grandmother with here great grandchildren

and late on Thanksgiving day, out come lights, as in Christmas tree lights.

clusters of decorations to hang on the tree, heights to climb and decorate, and much much discussion.

and my goodness, but you would not imaging just how pretty these decorations are, just ask, if you need to know.

help was from all angles

and involved, questions such as " what does this cord match ?"

and unattended children quickly returned to the tree for adjustments to the decorations

bedtime stories, followed by the older cousins finishing up some of the decorating.

a very very wonderful Thanksgiving for which we are so very very Thankful.