Christmas Parade
I forgot to post these pictures last time. T and I went to our first parade in Pensacola, the Christmas parade. We got some hot apple cider and looked at the downtown lights until the parade started. Then, we only stayed for a float or two and a band, then we headed home. It was way too cold! Plus, Tobin’s a little sick and we were both tired.
Lights downtown!
The street before the parade. There was a Christmas Dash before the parade, we got to watch all the crazy runners go by, some in fun Christmas outfits and lights…and lots of kid runners.
Here’s a little of the parade. We left pretty soon after.
I love the holidays! Merry Christmas!
Cookie Exchange
I’ve been attending a weekly book club (this time we’re reading “Marley and Me”…which has turned out to be a very good book), and this Monday we’re having a cookie exchange. I made candy cane cookies from one of Jacque’s recipes. Tobin helped with the candy cane topping; these are ready to go into the oven!
While I was doing that, Tobin made some homemade root beer. It was really good, although we were nervous to try it at first. The root beer concentrate smells very strongly! But it turned out pretty well.
Tobin fixed the tree a little, adding a blanket around the bottom that helped to make it look not too crooked. Oh, and my project at work wasn’t canceled after all, so I will have something to do over Christmas shutdown. 
Tobin’s doing well and will report for muster on Monday. And on January 2nd, I’m getting my wisdom teeth removed. 0o
Hope everyone is doing well and ready to celebrate Christmas! We’re getting the last of our shopping done and the bottom of the tree is looking better and better. Time for dessert, I’ll update more later.
ASBC
We’re all done with ASBC. Tobin’s graduation should be completed by now, and he’ll be heading home in a couple of hours.
Musings
Some people you just want to kick in the head.
And some things you wish had heads so you could kick them.
So, one of my projects at work may or may not be canceled for the moment. I’ll find out tomorrow. It was basically what was going to get me through Christmas shutdown, so now I’ll have to be creative. I bet I could get that long hallway really clean and slippery and wear some thick socks. Yup. That has definite possibilities.
I’ve been house shopping lately. Not because we’re moving, really. Just because the prices are so good right now. And because I think I inherited Mom’s thing for houses. I’ve also been dog shopping lately. Not that we’re allowed to own one right now. Just because I love them and they’re cute. And because I think I had to balance out Mom’s thing against dogs. And all those people who are allergic to them.
Big toys at work:
It’s totally glowing, isn’t it?
I’m bored.
In Which We Give a Chubby Little Tree a Good Home
One might think that in the warm southern climate of Forida, no Christmas trees can grow. But, after a nice long drive into the country (we were almost in Alabama…), we found ourselves at Whispering Pines, a cute little family-run Christmas tree lot. I was so excited! We were walking through a lot full of Christmas trees growing in what looked like pure sand, and we weren’t even freezing! However, it didn’t take us long to realize that all the true Floridians had arrived well before us…months before us…to put a hold on their trees. Their perfectly straight, no-gaps in the branches, fully-grown trees. We were sadly unprepared for this turn of events. So, we Northerners wandered the lot from corner to corner until we found a suitable, slightly dwarfish specimen. Most of the other trees were so thin, that even at 6 feet tall they looked pretty small. But this tree was actually roundish and filled out, and I liked him. So we cut it down and balanced it on our Prizm’s roof with some straps to haul up front. Isn’t it beautiful? My little Prizm’s a beast!
Once we got it up front, this little guy that acted like a fully grown man hauled our tree away and shook the needles free and baled it for us. He was so cute! This is our baled and shaken tree, tied firmly to the roof. Now we just had to get it home without all the needles blowing off.
It wasn’t until we got the tree home and upright in the tree stand that another flaw stood out. See if you can tell by the picture.
If you can’t, I’ll just tell you…our little tree is a tad lopsided. But there he is in all his glory! It was very fun to put the decorations on it; we had more than I thought, since Tobin has a small collection from all through his childhood. A few of my Mom’s ornaments and some from Carol went on the tree as well. Oh, and we bought some cool new LED lights for the tree. They’re so bright and fun! Below is our festive fireplace.
And this is a shot that Tobin took. Isn’t it pretty?? We used some of our wedding candle holders to decorate with.
And here are the lights from the outside. It’s a blurry picture, but it was the brightest of all the ones I took. It was quite a fiasco to string the lights, since we didn’t have quite the right electrical connections. But Tobin figured it out, and it turned out pretty well.
In other news, Tobin is almost done with ASBC (FOUR MORE DAYS!!), then he will be home for quite a while. I’ll be so glad to have him home. We’re looking forward to Christmas already!