Christmas Eve-ness

The shopping has finally ended, the gifts are wrapped, the halls are decked, and not snow but ice is coming down. Instead of a white Christmas, I think we in Indiana are going to get a Narnia winter Christmas. In fact, if you put a laptop in front of Tilda the White Witch here, you would have an exact picture of me. I mean, look, she's even wearing a scarf like I do.

Our floors are cold; our house is cold. I know what it feels like to be a sandwich in a cooler.

It doesn't help that the Amish heater commercials are running nearly back to back. They always end with the admonition: "LIMIT TWO PER HOUSEHOLD!" Right now, I'd like to order about 37 of them, but don't tell my mom I even joked about that. Gee, look how real that flame looks in the pic.

A certain little puppy will be wearing a sweater inside the house if this keeps up. Besides her Christmas cape, I mean.

Yes, a Christmas cape.

Oh yes. There will be pictures, and they will be sweeter than the sweetened condensed milk in your cookie bars. I actually typed "cookie bras" and was tempted to leave it but thought better of it since we're almost at a religious holiday and all. I got class.

Yesterday I made:

Peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses in the middle
Rice Krispie Treats
Peanut butter fudge
Chocolate covered pretzels
Oatmeal Scotchies

And today, I baked two pies, but not from scratch. All of this to take to my brother's for an extended family celebration. But don't try to rob us when we're gone, because the watch dog will remain to protect the homestead. Mess with her, and you could be drinking wassail from a straw in a hospital bed, Bub.

I'm enjoying seasonal movies, my 2nd favorite being "The Bishop's Wife," with Cary Grant and Loretta Young and David Niven, whom my mother believes is a blood relative to Clinton Kelly because of the resemblance, which I would like to say right here and now that I pointed the resemblance out to her in the first place, but now she claims to have discovered this all on her own. I don't think so, Mom.

Also, I would like to say that we're both weird. By the way, "Hi, Clinton."










Well, that's all for today. I hope you and yours are are filled with joy as you celebrate Christmas. It's not just another holiday, and it's always conjoined with Easter in its full significance, which is why I like this picture. As my pastor has said many times, I'm not upset with God that he didn't provide a thousand different ways to bridge the divide between God and us. I'm thankful that he made A Way.

Jesus is God's love fully expressed. His banner over us is "Love." And that is something to celebrate!