Scenes from a Busy Christmas Week

I hope that everyone has had a very Merry Christmas. The week has been full of family visits for us. We started off on Tuesday by driving to Radford to celebrate Granny's 93rd birthday. 93 years is quite an accomplishment! My aunt Nancy stayed in Radford an extra day so that she could visit with us. It was nice to see her again.

Happy Birthday, Granny!




I cooked dinner on Christmas Eve for Mama, Mr. SP, Mr. S.P.'s dad, and our good friend, Elsie. I made Emeril's Bourbon/Cola glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, company carrots, and refrigerator rolls. Elsie is a fabulous cook. She made Pepper Jack creamed spinach, artichokes au gratin, and a bourbon pound cake. It was quite a feast for five people!




Have you tried TGI Friday's Fried Green Bean appetizer? I've never had it in the restaurant, but I found it at Sam's. They are so good. If you need a quick and easy appetizer, give them a try. They come with two bags of Wasabi dip that is already made. VERY Yummy!!


Mr. SP and I always have fun opening our gifts together while we enjoy our coffee.



I started with my stocking this year. Mr. SP bought an antique (1890's) gold filigree ring with a mined diamond for my stocking. It is too small, so I'll have to get it resized to wear. I love estate jewelry and really wish that I knew who owned it.



Mr. SP was very generous this year and bought me way too much jewelry. He gave me earrings to match my black pearl necklace, another estate ring, this one is Platinum in a domed shape with small diamonds over the dome from the 1920's, and an emerald ring. He spoiled me something terrible!

He saw this book and knew that I would love it. I'm a country girl and I love to get out in the woods and see what I can see. It's a field guide to tracks and scat! Tracks are way easier to identify than scat!



We went to Mama's house in the afternoon on Christmas Day. My favorite part of her Christmas Day meal is always the fried oysters. It wouldn't be Christmas without fried oysters.



It was sad that Ruth (my mother in law) wasn't with us for Christmas. Rich did really well coping. I know that it wasn't an easy day for him.



After we feasted on oysters, we decided to go for a walk around the farm and in the woods. I took my scat book with me "just in case".

I may be biased, but Mama lives on a beautiful hunk of property. I love to walk around and admire the pretty scenery. Christmas day was sunny and warm and it was so pleasant to be outside together.


We walked through the pastures and then we went into the woods to look for scat and tracks. We found a few tracks and one impressive pile of either bear or fox scat. I won't gross you out with the pictures, but you can bet that my 7th graders will like seeing them and trying to guess which animal left that calling card behind!



We found the scat and footprints beside the creek that you can see behind Mr. SP. I spent my entire childhood playing in portions of this creek.

Here are some pictures of Mama's land. Isn't it pretty?










O.k. I'm going to show y'all what a goof ball I really am! Here I am in some sort of wierd yogaish position examining some scat. I think it was raccoon.



I spent Christmas night with Mama and Mr. SP and his dad returned back to our house. The next day they came back to celebrate Christmas again with Susan and Reese.

The sunrise on Friday was so pretty. I don't see a sunrise or sunset from my house and I really miss that. Mama gets both!



Reese wanted American Girl stuff from us for Christmas. Mama and I spent a bundle on a new doll, her birthday outfit, matching pajamas for Reese and the doll, and an American Girl dress. Those presents were great, but what did Reese spend the most time playing with?? A whoopie cushion! She and I had massive amounts of fun with that.



It was a good couple of days, but I'm glad that it is over. I have eaten way to much and am ready to get back into a routine.

I'm going to start "Operation Get Back in Condition" tomorrow. I thought that I'd start today, but after I ran and played tennis I had a food relapse and I feel a wine relapse coming on for tonight, so tomorrow will be the start.

I'm looking forward to reading about everyone else's Christmas.