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 There's the Leader-Herald in Gloversville, The Recorder in Amsterdam. They are owned by the Schenectady Gazette.

The Finishing Touch

    It didn't seem complete...my Christmas tree.  Oh, it had red balls, and green balls and jingle bells.  There was an enameled sunfish charm that's really a stitch marker but I think is too cute to use for that, and a red paper Cardinal that I keep in my bedroom the rest of the year. The snowflake and star buttons look so good hanging from the green branches.  And of course, Dominic and his wagon are right in front, but it was still missing something.  Then, the week before Christmas I was fooling around online and stumbled onto a site selling ornaments.  And I found, quite by accident, what my little (2 ft artificial tree) was missing...a Nativity scene.  It's supposed to be glass but I'm not sure, it's about 4.5" high and has Mary and Joseph around Jesus's manger.  It can hang from a branch, but I have it sitting on the table under the tree with Dominic and his wagon in front of it.  Now my Christmas tree is complete!

                          Buon Natale!

 

No More Housework For Me! Please!

       Today I decided the house was decorated enough for Christmas for the 2 of us.  It was going to be a quiet holiday without any guests, and it was clean enough for that!!  But I wanted to move the floor lamp in my work nook...switch chair sides and get me away from the window a little more... so I had to do somethings.  

     My work nook is just a small area of a bedroom.  There is a large wingback chair (very comfortable for knitting and reading), an ottoman, and bags and boxes of yarn, all stuck between the bed, dresser and window.  The floor lamp, with multiple adjustments, fell over this summer...actually fell apart from multiple adjustments...and when reassembled got put on the wrong side of the chair.  I decided I wanted it back where it belonged and today was the day to move it.  

      I pushed most of the yarn out of the way and balanced the chair back on its back legs. I held it like that as I moved the floor lamp and made sure the lamp base and cord were not under the chair.  Everything was going well until I lost my grip on the chair, and it crashed to the floor...on to my foot!  I let out a scream, Zoey barked, Jeff called out "What did you do now?"  And I fell forward...on to the chair! I was lucky to fall into the chair because there wasn't much floor space to fall on to.  If I had missed the chair, Jeff would have had to call the fire department to come with the Jaws of Life to get me up...I would have been wedged in!  I haven't looked at my foot yet, but I'm sure I've got a bruise.

         Even with the lamp where it rightly belongs (on the left side of the chair) I think I need a brighter bulb, but that will have to wait until our next trip to town.  At least the chair is a little further from the window than it was.  That should make the nook a bit warmer...I hope! But that ends my housecleaning efforts for the year.  Anything else that needs doing can wait until Spring!

It's Really Looking like Christmas...at least Inside!

       Today I added a few more touches to the Christmas tree next to my computer.  First, I moved our 'Dominic the Italian Donkey'

& his cart to sit  next to it instead with the crystal trees on the shelf between the TV room and the living room, hoping nothing would knock the tree over and break Dominic.  I don't know where or when Mom got him, but he's been around as long as I can remember.  She may even gotten him back in the mid-50's when the song was first introduced! 

    Later this afternoon we went to Hannaford's and I got the batteries I needed for the mini lights on the tree.  It cost almost $17 for a multi-package of AA batteries and a 3-pack of 3.5v round ones.  It would have been cheaper just to buy 4 new strands of lights!!  When we got home, I started to change the batteries and almost created a disaster!  The tree toppled over sending the small ornaments flying all over!!  Luckily, I collected all the pieces...nothing broke but several came apart...before the dogs thought it was a new game with the winner getting to eat what they'd salvaged.  By then I was in tears and Zoey was hiding next to Jeff.  I asked for help and Jeff tried to stabilize the base of the tree by putting pieces of cardboard under the corners but that wasn't doing it.  There was a square from a 'blocking board' next to the couch and the next thing I knew, Jeff had traced the around the base of the tree and cut the hole to fit.  It worked perfectly.  (It should, it was a square from a 'good' thick blocking board from JoAnn's Fabric, not a 'kiddies' A-B-C version you can find at Walmart.)

   On the way to the check-out in Hannaford's, I saw the display of Christmas cactus and decided to buy one to complete the scene by my computer.  My mom had inherited Aunt Ant's Christmas cactus years ago and it was huge!  It blossomed every year and after we got it, sometimes blossomed twice a year.  It lived for over 20 years, too!  I don't know if this little one will make it that long, but it looks nice next to my tree.  Every thing is on the same scale:  Small.  Cute.  Nice.

  Oh, I found another circular knitting needle when I was search for ornament parts!  I thought that one (a 3.5mm) was long gone!!  

                               

 

Our Tree

    I finally got our tree up and decorated today.  It wasn't a great feat...it's only a 2ft tall (and spindly) table topper that I've used for the last 10-15 years.  (Putting up the big tree got to be too much work, so I switched to this tabletop one.  I actually gave away the big tree and all the ornaments Mom and I had made over the years...a dumb move but....).  I've got 4 strands of mini lights on it and a couple of dozen snowflake and star buttons that are hung on ornament wires.  I also hung the cute little stitch markers

that I got in swaps over the years ('balls of yarn', enameled and silver animal charms), there's a crocheted wreath and a Hallmark ornament or two.  Last year I got 2 paper gift labels that were 'special' so

they were added.  I found that Snowman on a Sled that Mom had made in the back of a cupboard and he's perfect to hide the battery paks for the minilights.  I don't know what else I'll add this year...it looks pretty good to

 me!  I'll add a photo of the tree when the sun goes down.

   I really had to do some cleaning to get this far.  I wanted to move the table my printer was on over so the tree would be more visible from outside...incase a squirrel or deer walking by would be interested.  To do that I had to move the printer to the other end of the cedar chest.  I decided to move the ceramic dogs (Samantha and one of her puppies, Lady Di-can you guess when those puppies were born??)  I thought they'd look cute next to the tree, so they got dusted off and moved closer.  I think I'll find a placemat to put down for them as a rug to make the scene more natural.

   I had to add a layer of styrofoam to the tree's base because Fanny had knocked it over so many times with her tail it wouldn't support the metal rod that's the 'tree' trunk.  I had planned to replace the styrofoam in the base but decided it would be very messy and just added a 2" layer to it.  I taped it all together with packing tape and it seems a lot sturdier now.  I just want it to last this year.  I looked for a new tree at Walmart this week but they were too big and too expensive.  I think I'll order one from Amazon and turn this one into a bird feeder or something!

   While I was cleaning for this move, I found things that I didn't even know were missing!  A pair of 'good' scissors, a single short size 8 knitting needle, and a long circular size 4 or 5 needle, the dvd "Mama Mia", a nice little rollup tape measure from a Swap, the dog's muzzle and the newest pair of dog's nail clippers (who hid those??), and a dime!

My New Thought to Live By for 2024

 

It's Beginning to Look A Little Like Christmas

   Had to change the lyric to the Christmas song because the snow we've been getting hasn't stayed for more than a few hours so, it's beginning to look a little like Christmas!  We picked up the tray of cookies I ordered from the Java Shop in Herkimer yesterday and oh, were they worth it!  They look so nice and taste out of this world!  (I enjoy baking but it's so hard to do 4 or more kinds of Christmas cookies alone!  Besides, Robbie is a better baker than I am!!)  Anyway, I put most of the cookies in a Tupperware-type container and put them in the cupboard to try and save them for Christmas but I did fill a plate and put it in a ziplock bag and put it on the table so we would have something to have with our coffee. I picked a Cucidati for my 1st cookie when we got home and after supper, I tried another and what to my wonderful surprise, found I had an almond paste cookie!  Right there, those 2 made it worth the cost of the tray!  Today I tried a biscutti (it had yellow frosting and was lemon flavored) and a sesame seed cookie.  Both were better than I could have ever done. Jeff likes the Reese's treats (a PeanutButter cookie w/a Reese's cup on top) and the Cucidati's. I know we'll have enough cookies to make it to Christmas if I keep the big container hid in the cupboard!!  

   We went to Ilion today to the Library and made a quick stop at Aldi's.  I saw last Friday that they had panettone...an Italian dessert bread...so I got one.  It lasted until today (I was the only one eating it!) and I decided to get another.  It was great for breakfast, lightly toasted.  They were only $5.99 and the ones I got were filled with chocolate chips.  Traditionally, panettone is filled with dry fruit but since I'm not a big fan of dried fruit I went with the chocolate.  One of 

my mother's older sisters made it for Christmas and Easter but this one beat her's hands down. My mother never made panettone but until this year, I didn't know how good it could be.  My aunt's version was good but this one from Aldi's is better.  The score between homemade and storebought is Homemade 0, Storebought 2.  Now if I could just find some Honey clusters....

  The 3rd thing that is different this year is I'm not involved in any swaps.  I've been so busy trying to keep my stock up in the shop and do some special gifts that I just didn't have time to do anything else.  Besides, since I wasn't working in the shop, I wasn't tempted to buy any of the fantastic and different stocking stuffers that the shop members produce and that left me at a loss as to what to include in a swap package.  Just as I was feeling really disappointed because there wouldn't be any great packages in the mail, the group administrators decided to skip swaps this year.  I'm not sure why...I haven't been following the FB pages that closely, but hopefully, next year things will be back to normal for all of us.  I know I'm not the only one who is missing those great packages!!

  We haven't got our Christmas tree up yet but that should be done tomorrow.  My little table top tree has taken a beating over the years as Fanny, our Australian cattledog mix, usually knocks it off the table with her tail at least 2 or 3 times a year.  I've pushed the tree 'trunk' (a metal pole) back in the styrofoam base so often there's not much styrofoam left to hold it steady!  I bought a piece at Walmart today and tomorrow I'll try to fix things.  Last year I ended up having to tie the tree to the window frame to keep it upright! I looked at artifical Christmas trees today but they were all too big and too expensive! I'll post a photo of our tree here:

Cucidat