Hello, Christmas!

It started a little before Halloween. I stopped by Marshalls. The store was already filled with Christmas stuff. "Just looking..." doesn't work as always. I picked up a couple of glass Christmas trees and two wooden reindeer. I love Christmas decoration. It was a little bit early, but I gave myself a blessing to start putting up Christmas decoration. We had the first snowfall at the beginning of November.

Since we had the same decoration for last couple years, I decided to try something a little different this year. It started with painting.

I got a great assistant...? Well, no surprise here. Let's leave the grandma alone:-)

The first base coat is done. The great thing about acrylic paint is it dries quickly. Plus, this medium is so forgiving.

Once the second coat is done, my helping hand woke up. "Oh, are you done? Ok, let me put my signature on it." I got one paw print on one canvas and one purple paw dog. None of them works for me.

After a little damage control, I got two shimmering reindeer.

Marilyn tried out her Christmas attire. She is not quite sure yet.

Apparently, this year's theme is deer. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem that I can get enough of it. It's getting crazy... yes, I admit. I just love that graceful animal.

These are found at a craft store. It seems they can be used for our Holiday Cookie open house. I sprayed chalk paint. Our guests can write their names on and put them next to their cookie trays.


For Give Away...

Cookie tins to send out. They need to be picked up before Thanksgiving otherwise it would be very hard to find right sizes. Always, small ones are gone first. It seems everybody got the same idea. I used to go to a couple of stores to find "acceptably" good looking ones without getting into so much "grandma's favorite" looking. You see one granny one. It's ok because it goes to a granny.

I can use paper containers for neighbors and friends who live near by, but ones to ship out have to be tins to keep moist away from cookies.

These are all from a dollar store. Surprisingly, they are not so awful. It was nice and easy shopping. I like that.

The trays are just right size to bring cookies to work for a holiday party. The ones I used for a last couple of years are too big. It's not easy to carry around if you don't drive into your work.

The first batch of my pear jam got a pretty good feedback. Everybody liked its not-so-sweet delicate flavor. I decided to make some more for give-away for Christmas. The pectin is naturally made at a farm in Pennsylvania.

One weekend in November was spent for jam making. I like this half transparent light yellow color. It's like a warm sunny spot in winter.


Chad told me he already found Christmas stations the day before Thanksgiving. I turned on the candle lights at the windows and put a garland on the railing of the stairs yesterday. We had snow last two days. Now the yard is covered with snow. In two weeks, we have the town's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. I'll start baking cookies soon. The best part of Christmas is before the Christmas day. I just love this time of a year around.

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