Christmas is coming and with it, a whole host of family. If the weather and everyone's health cooperates, we could have as many as 35 people here for Christmas dinner.
Needless to say, I am doing everything I can ahead of time to get ready for such a large family gathering.
and an upper shelf chock full of wreaths, boxes, and assorted decorations.
Thankfully, Kyle is here for a few days and helped me sort it out. He would grab a tub out of the closet and I'd pull out what I wanted and put it into a clothes basket. (I'm not putting all our decorations out this year - with that many people coming, I need a more minimal approach!)
When the clothes basket was full, Kyle would take it downstairs and put it on the dining room table. Then he'd come back upstairs and pull out another tub from the closet. We repeated this process multiple times until everything that I wanted was downstairs. (And the tubs were stacked neatly in the closet and the doors shut!)
Normally this is a very daunting task for Craig and me, especially since we both have some health issues like arthritis that makes it difficult to reach and carry. Plus I can't stand very long, and am still short of breath when I go up stairs or do lifting etc.
Having Kyle's help was a real blessing and he was fun to work with, too. Kyle is a master of word play, puns, and is a very quick thinker. We matched wits repeatedly and, well, he trounced me verbally nearly every time.
We got almost everything out of those baskets and out for display, and the house is looking very Christmassy. I'm not done, but I'm close. Pictures tomorrow, so stay 'tooned!
In case you are wondering, our family member who went to the ER Thanksgiving night was in the hospital several days. Doctors were going to do emergency gallbladder surgery, but X-rays showed pneumonia in the lungs, an anesthetic risk.
After several days of IV antibiotics, breathing treatments, and pain meds, our family member was able to come home late Saturday afternoon with instructions to come back without delay if the gallbladder pain returned. If it does, the surgeon will do immediate emergency surgery to remove it, despite the anesthetic risk. They are now home and resting comfortably, and surgery is scheduled for later this month.
Certainly not the Thanksgiving they expected to have!
Christmas Horse of the Day
Wassail, the Christmas Surprise Horse!
He came in five colors (red glitter, green glitter, red glitter filigree, green glitter filigree, and charcoal) and instead of being offered on Christmas morning as usual, Breyer surprised collectors by offering him a week or so before Christmas.
Advent Calendar Reveal - Day 2
A bucket and feed tub!
I like how the handle is articulated on the bucket. And while these two pieces are out of scale for Mini Whinnies,
They would work for a Stablemate. (I can see hobbyists painting these to use with those models.)
