Pokey Peas Challenge for December 2021

Welcome to the December thread. Sorry to be slow getting it posted.

Yesterday I took DH for a haircut in a nearby town and we were in an accident. The sweet lady that hit us admitted that she didn't even look our direction as she was looking up the canyon for a good place to take photos. I felt sorry for her as she let us know that this was her 2nd accident in less than a year and that she was responsible for the other one also. She didn't want to let her ins. know because she had little damage. Ours, however, needs to be fixed and our ins. told us we had to contact her ins. Luckily no one was hurt or there would have been much more red tape.

Add to that, my companion teacher in Primary wanted me to make some Christmas ornaments for our class as Christmas gifts. I spent 3 hours going to all the craft stores in the valley looking for clear ornament balls, vinyl and a heavy cellophane. Seems they are all scarce at the moment. After finally gathering all the supplies, I came home to find that I couldn't make it work as I planned. Finally at 10 p.m. last night I was able to find a way to fix it and finished 8 of them. It was a frustrating day. I just felt unsettled and shaky the rest of the day after the accident.

I am addressing Christmas Cards today. My scraproom looks like a tornado hit it. I am also hoping to start putting my Village up tonight.
I hope you are all in the midst of holiday plans. I always look forward to seeing your avatars pop up on this thread.

Happy December!

Hello, Pokeys!

We had a busy weekend as well. I got all the Village buildings up and today I did the craziness necessary to get them all plugged in and not burn down the house. Alex is coming after school to stow all the boxes away under the tables. It's his favorite job every year. Then DH can bring up and tree and the trimmings. I will bake a batch of cookies today so they are hot when Alex comes. (will add the flour this time!)

We have some very exciting news. Angie and family are flying in from CA.after Christmas and will spend 5 days here. I can hardly wait. They haven't been in Utah since the summer of 2019. We have to share them with the in-laws and one day will be at oldest DD's home for the Polar Plunge which the CA kids want to participate in too. We hope to get the entire family together that day for lunch. I'm afraid we won't have time for a full Cousin Camp, but hope we can have a mini one.

We spent yesterday afternoon with baby Eddie and family since is was DD's(his grandma) birthday. How I miss having little ones around. He is delightful.

knutschen , it sounds like you are doing a great job with Zoe. Our grand-dogs have all been trained and it makes a big difference. Those doggies are lucky to have you.

grammadee , nothing makes me happier than seeing families having fun together. I'm glad they helped with all the decorating. I'm sure the cookie making would have gone faster alone, but what fun to have a little helper.

Linda , I love hearing your Christmas traditions and wish I had children home to try them out. The customs from other countries have always interested me. I'm glad you have your girls both home and that DS will be coming.

kitbop , msliz , gramma , joyfulnana and the others who hop on the online crop, I wanted to join this weekend, but there were too many things going at the same time. Hopefully next week.

gramma , how are you? You are in our prayers and I think of you often. Hugs.

kellyr21 , thinking often of you also. Take gentle care of yourself. I hope doing some art helps you through this time. Hugs.

kitbop , what is your new dog's name? I'm sure she will enjoy your family and will fit in comfortably soon. How is your dad doing waiting for surgery? My neighbor, an RN, said that as of last Thurs. no IHC (Utah's largest insurer) hospital in Utah, Idaho and Nevada had beds and they are flying patients to other states. I hope it's not that bad in your province. That would delay your dad's surgery further if you were here. Will this ever end?

Sorry for the long post. Waving at all my very special Pokey Pea friends.

grammadee, if you are getting snow today I hope that means we will get it tonight and tomorrow. They keep predicting it, but it is warm and blue skies today. Glad you are feeling better and getting back to favorite foods. Slowly, slowly. Your baking day sounds busy. I will take a photo of my village and post it.

Funny story: Alex has put all the people and trees, etc. up on the village for several years. He was in school when I got the houses up so I went ahead and did it. When he came over I let him know that I put them up but if he saw anything that he thought needed to be moved, he could put it where he wanted. He looked over the whole display and said, "Grandma, I think you did a pretty good job. There are just a few things that need to move." He then moved nearly every piece just a bit. A little to the left or right, or changing the way they faced. It was so sweet!

Linda, one of our traditions that has continued our whole 54 years of marriage is that we read a Christmas story every night in December. I started collecting stories when I was a teen and have accumulated 2 full binders now. We each have our favorites and we find that one a night it not enough. We read for almost an hour and will never get through all of them. I love all your traditions. It's what makes Christmas such a great time of year as family gathers.

joyfulnana, I would love to see photos of you with your family making and decorating cookies. What a fun activity and you know that Rudy will love it. Does Abby hang around when the family is all around or does she hide out away from the commotion? I hope to at least stick my head in to say hello to my Peas friends online this weekend.

I am taking a break from finishing my tree. We spent most of the day yesterday at the woodshop where one of the owners spent several hours teaching DH how to use a couple of different tools on his lathe. He is making little Christmas trees for ornaments and large ones for display to give to the kids. This man knows he can barely see and invited him to come, get his head up close to the lathe and he would give him pointers. What a kindness! Today we went back over to pick up a few items and to take a French Silk pie to the man. He seemed really surprised and said, "Oh, it was nothing!" But to us it WAS something, something wonderful.

We stopped at Costco and picked up gifts for our neighbors, home teachers, visiting teachers and close friends. We filled the car with gas and I hope that's our last time out of the house today! When my kids were young I used to say "if mother's place is in the home, why am I always in the car?" I think I'm back to that stage again. LOL

Hugs to all of you. You brighten my life more than you would ever know.

Sending special hugs to gramma and kellyr21.

kitbop , I'm sorry about the furniture. What makes someone refuse something that can save his life? I hope you get it soon. Alex is not the youngest grandchild. Topher is a year younger, but lives in CA. They are so excited to be able to be together for the holidays. I hope the finals go well for DD. I typed in your book title and up came a You Tube video of a woman reading the story and showing the photos. I think I need to invest in that one. So cute.

grammadee , that snow is really pretty. They say that the storm is on its way and it's starting to get colder and darker. So maybe this time the prediction will be true.

Linda , we actually have the book by Margaret Wise Brown. I have several of her books and that's a favorite of the kids. They also like Goodnight Moon and the Big Red Barn. Such fun books. I think she wrote the Little Fir Tree too. I hope you all survive the week of finals. I remember the stress I felt as I studied. No way would I like to go back to college now! Best wishes to her (and you). I am sorry about your vision. I can understand the concern. My DH watched his mother go through this but they had no treatment then. He has had treatment(shots in each eye every month) for the last 16 years. They have given up on one eye and think within 6 months they will have to give up on the other.

I have just about finished my tree. I need to add the angel to the top and make sure she lights up and then I can clean up the living room. That will be wonderful! I hate the big mess I live in while setting things up.

ETA: kitbop, your tree looks lovely. Cute doggies too.

Snow, snow snow! We got about 8 inches today and it is beautiful. It's even more beautiful because I only had to drive around the neighborhood in it. Tomorrow I may not be as happy as I need to venture farther to get groceries. grammadee , your storm came down to us.

I have never been this prepared for Christmas this early. It feels so good to know that most of the rest of the preparations need to be done in the home, not out and about. We need to try to make connection with DS in the next couple of days. He's hard to catch as he is so busy but DH has made a couple of pens from the wood scraps he was given from one of the homes DS is building. He may want to give them to the home owner before (or by) Christmas.

I took photos of my village tonight and will post them tomorrow.

grammadee , I hope the side effects of the booster are gone by tomorrow. I had no reaction to the first 2 but the booster gave me aching and fatigue for a day. Your new scrapbook kits sound wonderful. Can't wait to see what you do with the Graphic 45.

justjac , your home and tree are beautiful. I especially love the green light tree and your deer in the front yard. So very pretty.

Linda , I read on another thread about the harassment your DD is getting because she is masked. That makes me want to cry and then to get mad. What is the matter with all these people who care nothing about the lives around them? Please give her hugs from me. She is one brave and very bright young woman!

gramma , how are you doing? Thinking of you often.