A Little More Christmas



Bedroom lavender tree

 

Christmas Dishes



Dinning room cardinals



Fire Pit Adirondack Chair on the tree!



Updated Ceramic Tree with white lights, instead of the different colored ones.(plus the little red cardinal lights)



George even decorated his house!!

As I look around the house, there seems to be some kind of Christmas every where.  More so since Shell was here to decorate.  It is pretty and I do enjoy it but by the time Christmas comes, I'm ready for it all to come down.  I'm not really " Bah! Humbug!" but I let thinking about having to take it all down and put it away, spoil it for me.  As everyone knows, it's bad luck to have it all up for New Years.  I don't want to take any chances, so the day after Christmas, it all comes down.  I thought my "personal decorator" would be taking it all down this year, but since she has a temp. job in Nashville for a month, she won't be here for the fun job.  I'm going to play Pollyanna and think about all the exercise I'm going to get, going up and down the stairs to the basement and you know what that means!  I can eat Christmas cookies and German goodies as I'm doing it all.  (smiling)
   I think my favorite of all the decorations is the pretty lavender tree in my bedroom.  I think I could leave that up all year ( if it wasn't bad luck).  It's so nice to have it lit as I sit at my "writing table" and my pretty wing back chair, having tea as I write letters.  The radio is playing all Christmas music and it's so relaxing.  Speaking of the radio playing Christmas music 24/7.   I have a favorite radio station that I listen to all the time ...BUT when it starts playing Christmas music non stop the week before Thanksgiving, the station gets changed for a couple of weeks.  I mean, come on...Christmas music is pretty but after two or three weeks of it, it's just "too much of it"!! I'm just saying.  By the time Christmas comes, you are so sick of it, you are glad Christmas is over.  Oh, there I go, "Bah Humbuging" again.  I guess I need to dig out my Christmas shirt that says " Bah Humbug" on the front of it and put it on.  Just maybe it will snow on Christmas Day and have me loving Christmas.  Then I won't want it to be over with. 

Chalk Holidays

Another Holiday ....another fun chalk board.  Lets see, we have January, February, March and April covered with holidays.  Come May, the chalk board is going to be empty of the pretty writing.  I'm sure between Shell and I, we'll be able to come up with something for the non holiday months.  It sure has been fun having the chalk board in the kitchen.  One of my better ideas when we built the house.  :-)

A Kayaking Sunday



Chuck and Charlie





The three of us, taken by Charlie Seifried

Three years ago, when we first moved up here ( before we had water and electricity) we had gone to a book signing of the author and photographer of our beautiful Alabama Canyons book.  We ended up staying and talking to Charlie and Jim for over two hours that day.  We became fast friends with Charlie.  We have been to Charlie and Brenda's house for dinner and we are always running into Charlie about town.  A couple of weeks ago, we ran into him at Publix and he invited Chuck to go hiking with him and some of his friends.  Then, he invited us to go kayaking with him the next day.  We jumped at the chance since he knows the area really well and we're always trying to find new places to go.  This adventure was to track down a bunch of white pelicans.  I know...you would never think there would be pelicans in Alabama.  Well, there are and Charlie has wonderful pictures of them....hundreds of pelicans on the water and in the air.  As we came to Lake Wheeler there in Decatur, there they were!  Must of been over a hundred of them, floating on the water.  Then, there was a huge flock of them in the air too.  It was amazing.  I was so excited!  ...but by the time we got the kayaks in the water and got to where they were, they were gone.  (sigh)  We continued to paddle down the bayous of the lake and saw tons of cranes and other water birds.  We had to make ourselves turn back because it was going to be dark before we returned to the trucks if we hadn't.  It was a really fun day on the water with Charlie and his stories and camera. 

The Best Store Ever!

Hunting for treasures!



Shell's Christmas outfit she put together



Look what I found!!!! A Hollywood sweater!! ha.

About two years ago, they opened the best Thrift store ever!!!!!  It's not like your usual, stinky, junkie thrift store.  This one is huge!  It used to be a big department store.  The prices are crazy cheap and most of the time you find big brand name clothes that still have the tags on them. It's like looking for treasures.  When I say "cheap", I'm talking $2.48 for a sweater or shoes/boots, or a dress, or a skirt or pants.  Then, when you get up to the cash register, certain colored tags are even on sale.  Maybe 30%, 50% or 70% off!  Sometimes you are only paying pennies.  It just makes you smile.  It's just too darn fun!  You never know what you are going to find in there.  Remember the antique map that I wrote about.  We paid $12.95 for it and found out it's worth $150!!  One of my recent finds was a $650 Wilson black leather coat.  I paid $29 for it.  I have never dressed so well in my life.  Yes, my closet is busting at the seams...but how can you not have so much fun and it not cost you an arm and a leg. 

Beginning to Look A lot like Christmas!



This is the one!



Tie it down good!



My Personal Decorator



Ta-Da!! Our Alabama Christmas Tree!



Annabelle and her stocking



I can't believe how fast Christmas came again.  Where did the year go?  Looking back over the year a lot of things happened.  We had a lot of fun company come to Brambly Pines.  Chuck and I both went down to Florida, twice each. Chuck for his Dad's 90th birthday and then to move Shell.  Me, I surprised both the kids for their birthdays.  Shell packed up everything she owns, quit her job and Chuck helped her move to Brambly Pines as a stop over until she gets settled in Nashville.  I had surgery on my eyes ( which didn't do any good).  Ryan got laid off from his job because of them moving the plant to Ohio, but was lucky to find another great job just as he would be out of work.  Chuck and I had many fun adventures through out the year.  All in all, it was a great year!! 

 It's been nice having Shell here with us.  She has become my personal decorator. You know that personal decorators help take it all down too. (smiling)  We've already had some fun times with Shell being here.  I'm finally over the feeling that she is here for a week and has to go home soon.  With her only being two hours from us, when she moves up to Nashville, there will be a lot to look forward too.  Now, if Ryan and his family just wasn't so darn far away from us!!

Black Friday Hike




One of Shell's markers so we can find our way back.

You can always find some kind of running water in the forest

 

Shell's going to "glitter" her deer head



Eating the BEST lunch!



sliding down a hill of leaves



buried in leaves



A still's mash pot



We save a lot of money by going hiking in the forest instead of shopping all day on Black Friday.  Plus, it gets rid of all the extra calories from the day before.  This year, Chuck took us to a new place that he had been wanting to find.  It took a lot of looking on the map and hours of "bush whacking" but we did find it.  Let me tell you about "bush whacking"!  It's not fun!  There is no trail.  You just take off into the woods of trees, slippery hills of leaves, branches and vines that hit you in the face and it is very tiring.  You do end up seeing things that most people don't see.  Plus, you never, ever run into anyone else.  Well, I take that back.  You might run into a hunter if it's hunting season. 

  Shell and I  did have fun sliding down this really steep slope covered with leaves.  We also came across the mash pot from an old still.  Chuck found a deer scull and Shell decided she wanted it, to glitter...ha.  Lunch is always the best on this hike because it's a turkey/cranberry sandwich, left over from Thanksgiving.  All in all, the hike had some fun highlights...just not the bush whacking part.   

Our Thanksgiving

Kitchen chalk board, Shell did.



Chuck carving Mr. Turkey



Lady of Lawrence County, Lady Melanie and Lord Charles

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  The table was set with the Thanksgiving dishes, along with the "Peterson silverware".  There were flowers and monogrammed place tags.  The wine was chilled in the silver wine holder and classical music playing in the back ground.  You would have thought we were in some fancy restaurant...ha.  Not only did we have the pleasure of having Shell here for Thanksgiving as always, but Lady Melanie drove up from Birmingham that morning to join us for the day. It just made it so special!  After our wonderful noon meal(which Shell cooked) of turkey, oyster dressing, green bean casserole, mash potatoes and cranberry jello salad, Lady Melanie, Shell and I went out to Roden's for our traditional Thanksgiving Day shopping.  When we came home, we had our pumpkin pie around the kitchen table before Lady Melanie had to return to Carmichael Hall.  Our family has so much to be thankful for.  I try and stop and think about it more than just on one day of the year.  It's easy for me since we moved.  I just have to stop and look around me and it all comes to my mind.