Christmas Almost Here

Today was my last day of work before Christmas, too. Joe and I have three days off!! A miracle. Christmas is almost here, and we are almost ready.
We are going to see "Sherlock Holmes" the new movie tomorrow, so Joe is making me watch the first one on DVD tonight. So he doesn't have to explain to me as much in the theater. Gotta start the movie now.
Merry Christmas to all!!
P.S. Yes, it is lightly snowing outside.

Leg Lamp Cookies, Yet Again

Finally we took time to make leg lamp cookies on Wednesday evening. And finally I got to use my new RED hand mixer from my birthday. It was doubly entertaining because Joe's cousin and his wife sat and watched Joe make his cookies. No explanation. Just funny.
Then, last night was our frosting party. Joe was better with covering more cookies, and I made them neater. Joe was in charge of his leg lamp cookies, of course.
Lots of snowflakes.
Joe's masterpieces.

Happy Printing!

Finally, I printed our holiday season greeting cards today... all 115 of them. Once again I was quite happy smelling the fresh inks, though I felt a little like a printing machine with a stack of paper too slow to disappear.
I must say it was quite an efficient operation. The hardest part really was to come up with the design idea. I'm not used to the full-time job taking up lots of my time and mind.
Little by little, we are getting ready for the Holidays....

Cold Day... and Sukiyaki

Friday, my day off, was a cold day. At 11 the temperature was barely 10 degrees F. You know it's cold when the sun is out and the temps stay below the freezing point all day. Brrrrr.
Upon Joe's request, I made sukiyaki for dinner. A perfect meal for a cold night.
I'm actually impressed that Joe can do raw eggs. I think he's qualified to have REAL sukiyaki next time we visit Japan. We just can't get the marbled and real thin cuts of beef around here.

Our Christmas Tree

Our usual potted pine tree has been decorated for the holiday season... for a couple of weeks now. This year I only put up the antique glass bulbs to stay simple and classic.
We have lots to do before Christmas. I'm just getting started on our greeting card design. I'll help Joe make his leg lamp cookies, too. All the holiday shopping left to do... all the fun.

Kayo Shot Her First Deer

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
To follow Joe's Thanksgiving tradition, I went along to sit in his deer blind this morning, mostly expecting to see no deer. Just then, past 8 a.m., a little doe came into our sight. I basically froze, trying so hard not to move, or breathe. Finally after a while I figured she was here to stay and eat some more (though I didn't expect her to stay for almost an hour!). Then I reached for our camera to take a shot at the doe. Right, not with a rifle, with a camera. Certainly my very first deer to shoot from the blind.
The funniest thing was that so many times the doe looked right into our direction like she was the one watching us. A strange feeling in the wilderness. One thing is sure: Joe is a better shooter than me... he took the clearer photo below.
That was my half day hunting story... whereas Joe's heavily emphasizes on the truck not running right since last night and his brother Mark locking in the ignition key and Joe breaking his chair. The good news for me is that Joe is sleeping in tomorrow to make me breakfast and to drive me in to work for my Black Friday shift 1:30 -10 p.m.
Happy Turkey Day and good night....

Deer Hunting

It's in the middle of deer season up here. Joe has hunted three days and seen a couple of does and a young buck whose antlers indicates he is not legal size. Still Joe is happy that he's seen more deer this year so far than he had seen in the last two whole seasons.
Yesterday on my day off I got myself up early to go out with Joe to sit in his deer blind. It was a very, very quiet day in the woods. Even critters and birds were not as active as usual. And no deer. Joe got some reading done; I took 2 huge naps, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
It started raining in the afternoon and turned to sleet then snow. Maybe 3-4 inches.
This morning Joe slept in, cooked me his famous breakfast, ran his snowblower in our driveway, and is now getting ready to go out hunting in the afternoon. I'm not that crazy. I'll catch up with some cooking and cleaning at home today.