The Holiday Tale... Part 3

So.... to continue the story.....

So after the dinner was over, I stayed with mom for two more nights before Julie came by to pick me up for a short time at her home.
I got to sleep in my granddaughter's room. She has a very lovely bedroom to herself with a Princess bed, an armoire, two chests of drawers and a bookshelf. Not to mention a toy chest and various little girl essentials, the play kitchen, the baby doll stroller, the doll bed etc.....

Her bed was VERY comfortable and I defo slept like a Princess while I was there!

There are a few foodstuffs there I cant get here in the UK.... one being pimento cheese spread. 
So every morning, this was my breakfast.....

Yes- a cup of coffee with both milk AND Coffee Mate,  a pimento cheese sandwich and a tiny slice of pecan pie. Totally unhealthy, but ab-fab!!!! I enjoyed every second of it!!!
I had cube steak, mac & cheese, chili, biscuits, and all my favorite things I cant get here.

They had gotten most of the outdoor lighting up before I arrived, only adding a bit here and there after I arrived, but more on that later...

My daughter got her indoor Christmas decorations out and started putting them up while I was there, too. There was a few things that had her stumped at to where they should go- but together we sorted it out.  I also got to go with the family on their annual Christmas tree hunt. Okay- so it wasn't out in the woods but at the local Christmas tree lot, but seeing as how I haven't been able to have a live tree in over 6 years it was every bit as exciting. Actually more so than going out in the woods cause I didn't have to walk as far nor did we have to chop it down. we just walked around and  looked at the height and shape and chose the one we wanted.
Once it was home and in the dining room(she has an open floor plan for the living/dining area) she and I were like coke addicts. We would start into the kitchen for a cup of coffee or a snack and stop mid-step, lean over, stick our faces close to the tree  and inhale to our hearts content.
That is the smell of Christmas.
And I have decided that next year I am having a real live tree come hell or high-water!!!! i'm doing Christmas MY way. Enough of this artificial Plastic Imitation Christmas. Maybe that's where my Christmas spirit went this year... it just forgot what a REAL Christmas is like. The sights, the smells, the sparkle and fun!!! Well, no more.

Anyway, So here is a bit of the decorating we did while I was there... and it's not everything she has put out, either.

On your mark....get set....GO!....

Oh Tannenbaum!!!

Before....

Rudolf!!! (Fiancee did NOT find that amusing.)

No idea why this was taken... Alyssa (4 year old Granddaughter) may have taken it while I was in the kitchen.  Not bad for a 4 year old if that is the case......

Daughter/Sister in law Kathy came by to visit and help too!

After.....

Another after.....

Christmassy!!!!

Le Tree

Le petite Trees....

My daughter has a flair for simple beauty!!

Randolf....Rudolf's brother. (again, boyfriend wasnt as amused as we were.)

I love her Village!!

Rudolf and his wreaths- probably won at the Reindeer Games.

Julie dreams of a silver and white Christmas theme one day- so I bought her a frosted white and silver glitter hurricane lamp with a spruce scented candle to put in it for her starter. We all have dreams!!!

Her Dining Tavbe!!

My Baby Girl having a quiet moment.....

So Pretty!!!

She keeps her Christmas Ribbon in this pretty display box!!! For some reason my flash refused to work in some spots...

This mirror has been sitting in her closet for ages because she couldn't find a place for it. It was meant to be a full length mirror, but we hung it horizontally and put the garland over it. Perfect!!

The one thing we didn't get done before I came home was decorate the tree. We did continue to "huff" it every time we passed it tho.

... to be continued.....

The Holiday Tale..... Part 2

 So......

...as I said, Mom had invited almost 70 people for Thanksgiving Dinner so we had bought three turkeys and a HUGE ham to roast. Let me tell you, Mom's house smelled like heaven!!!
Everyone that came brought at least one and sometimes more than one big family sized dish with them.... We have some AMAZING cooks in our family!!!
Almost everyone that was invited showed up and it was an amazing day! Bothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, girlfriends, boyfriends, grandpapas, exes... we were all there!! No, fusses, no squabbles, no fights. It was lovely for the most part.

After dinner, there was picking and grinning, games, stories sitting on the back porch and on the tailgates out in the back yard.
When it started getting late, there was hugs and kisses and promises to get together agin soon and Mom and Mom, Aunt Mary and I had the house to ourselves for the next two evenings. We talked about lots of things.... Old times, holidays past, how mom and dad met and how he proposed to her. Most of this storytelling and talking was done between the hours of 2am to 5am when mom liked to get up and go out on the porch to look for her deer. No joke.

I remember the last night I was there I woke up to find mom not in her bed. I got up and looked at the clock. 7:10am....I knocked on the bathroom doors- no mom......looked in the living room- no mom...... Kitchen & family room....no mom. So, I go out to the porch and there she is.... so I sit down and we have a cup of coffee having a nice chat for quite a while and then I say, well, I suppose I should get started on your Christmas tree. Julie said she would be here around 9 or 10 so I dont have long to get it decorated.
Mom looked at me and chuckled and said "Now?"..... I said "Yeah- I imagine it's getting late. What time is it now?" She looked at her watch and said "It's 3:20am." 
I laughed and said "No it is not.... the clock on your bureau said it was 7:10 when I came out of the bedroom." She started laughing and said "That thing isn't right... it's never been set since it was put in there 3 years ago."

I just started laughing.... Here I was, up for over an hour, drinking COFFEE and chatting and it was only just after 3am. Well, I wasn't getting back to sleep after all that, for sure. So I head to the living room to get started. Mom insisted on going in there to keep me company, so I set her up on the sofa with a pillow and blanket so she could rest comfortably and nap while I worked. Around TRUE 7am Aunt Mary woke up and joined us.

By the time my Julie got there to pick me up Mom's Christmas tree was in front of the living room window, decorated and shining like a shining star, just the way mom wanted it.

Mom & Aunt Mary-

More in a while.....

The Holiday Tale.....Part 1

Well, it's taken longer than I wanted, but I'm finally at a point where I feel up to sharing my last few weeks with everyone.

I'll start with Thanksgiving.....

This is what I saw a LOT of during my trip home. I thought last visit home was bad with delays- well, it had NOTHING on this trip!! There was 2 delays getting to South Carolina. a 12 hour delay in Manchester UK before I even stepped foot on a plane.... then we missed the connection in Philly, so that was a 2 hour hotel stay before I had to be back at the airport for my early morning flight. Yes- you heard that right- 2 hour hotel stay. By the time I took the shuttle TO the hotel, got booked into a room(most of the plane passengers had missed connections so there was a LOT of booking....)  I had just enough time to take a nice long shower, then lie down and rest(not sleep) about 40 minutes before I had to head back to the airport for my 4:30am flight out. Once I got there, they tried to send me from Philly to Charlotte(fine) then to Greensboro before sending to Greenville . Ummmm no.  Somehow I managed to get a flight to Charlotte NC to Greenville SC without the Greensboro connection.... Some might call it a hissy-fit.... I prefer to refer to it as using my Southern Charm. I didn't care, I was going home to see my family- probably the last time I see my mom in person and I refused to take a chance on TWO more delays.
I had decided that after that debacle, if my daughter was waiting at the airport thru some miracle of God, (I didn't even know when I was going to get there, how the devil would anyone else?) then that would be fabulous- but if she wasn't, I wasn't even going to call her- I was going to take a taxi to her doorstep and surprise her.
When I finally arrived at GSP I was VERY surprised to find it had grown to about three times the size it was when I had been there a couple years ago. HUGE!!!!! So I meander my way around and finally find the escalator (the only thing that hadn't changed in the place!!!) and start down it.... There, standing at the bottom where there was no way I could miss her- stood my daughter and my little grand daughter!!! I hopped down the last couple of steps and grabbed my daughter and hugged her so tight!! Both of us were crying at that point. My granddaughter then stepped up and gave me a big hug and kiss and we went and got my luggage and headed to her house. When we got there we took a short nap and then we just sat and talked and talked and talked til it was time to go to bed. Well, we did go out to McD's for a McRib.
The next morning we loaded up and went to my mom's house where there was another tearful reunion. Julie(my daughter) and I got busy right away cleaning things up and starting to cook as mom had invited almost 70 people for Thanksgiving Dinner. A photo of Mom and I will continue later today with the Thanksgiving  part of The Holiday Tale.....(I swear I will continue today!)

Mom.....

Nephew Dennis and Brother Chuck

Mom & Sister Tee & Me

Me & Tee

A few of the kiddos out playing in the leaves...having a ball together.

The grownups catching up and keeping an eye out for the kiddos playing....

Me & My buddy- Uncle Freddie.

Julie(daughter) and me

Frank(my son), Julie & me

Dennis, Uncle Freddie, Doris and Chuck

Me & Frank

Frank & my nephew, Billy.

Aunt Mary & Mom

Me & Kathy, my daughter in law

Back From Holiday Home In The States.

After I recover from the jet-lag and the massive cough from the smokey air of the Carolinas I will blog properly and put up a few photos for yall.

I will be Decorating for Christmas Next weekend so I may make it a two-fer.

Hope you all had a lovely Holiday as well!!

Homeward Bound....

Happy week of Thanksgiving everyone!!

Tomorrow morning I will be jetting my way home for the Beginning of the Holiday Season!

In my earlier post I told you I was ill.... and I have been all week. I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off to fully recover- but my boss nixed that idea very quickly. It seems management hasn't planned properly for my holiday- which has been booked and approved by said management for MONTHS in advance.

Not my problem, but as I was feeling a bit better every day, I decided I could be magnanimous and come in and get what I could done. I'm happy to report I am pretty much over the illness, still having a bit of sinus drainage(eww- sorry for TMI) but I'm over the contagious part of it and all the other symptoms as well.

I have spent yesterday and today finishing up my packing- I have been doing a bit at a time for the past three weeks, bits and bobs and I sat down this morning and made out my checklist for in the morning. Step by step so nothing is left to chance.

I'm really looking forward to this visit. I've decided to bring my little Olympus Camera- it's small and  lightweight, but to be honest- it's my favorite camera of them all. It takes fabulous photos without a lot of fiddling around. And I plan to take a LOT of photos this visit. I may need to bring along an extra card tho.

I've decided to keep our Sunday Dinner simple tho. I'm making International Stew. It's a dish made up of.... British Turkey & sausages,.... Alaskan Prawns.....Onions.... Italian seasoned chopped tomatoes, Cajun seasoning, Moroccan seasoning, salt, pepper, a chicken Stock pot and an herb infused stockpot, and Spicy Mexican Rice.

I'll let you know how it tastes.

I'll also be back to let yall know how my visit went as soon as I get back.
Until then....


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

It Is As I Feared....

Well,

Here I am, a week and a day away from going back for what will probably be my last face to face in person visit with my mom and what happens? The self centered bastard ass idiots at work who come in sneezing and coughing and filthy with the cold and flu have finally infected me.

I'm aching all over, Im running a bit of a fever and I have an itchy, scratchy throat despite my germaphobic preventative measures against just this kind of thing.

The bastards. If you are sick, please do EVERYONE a favour and stay your germy butt at home.

I hope I am over this whatever it is by the time I go to get on the plane. At the moment, I am sitting here(or lying in bed, depending on the hour) taking ibuprofen and drinking LemSip to feel better. I deplore being ill. It makes me even MORE ill.

So-  today I bought new undies, socks and a new pair of Jim-jams to bring with me on my visit.  Monday I will be getting my money converted to USD from GBP. After that all I need do is finish my week at work and then finish my packing over the weekend. I can get that finished up in less than an hour. The hardest part will be deciding what to wear on the plane.

I'm going to miss my hubby horribly. But it will be so great to see the family again. Im so excited.
If only I can get rid of this bug I will be thrilled.

Just life....

Know I haven't posted in a while. Have been working on my Memoirs instead of doing NaNoWriMo.

I'm off to visit the family back home in SC for Thanksgiving week(more on that next time) and I've been in a cafaffle of work getting the house clean sic n span, working on my memoirs and doing a bit of advance packing of the trinkets so I don't forget anything by waiting until the last minute. I'm trying to get ahead in my work at the office too- actually just now getting caught back up from when the office mate went on holiday all of September(no joke- ALL of September) and I had to do double duty taking on half of what she usually does. That in turn threw me behind on MY work and I'm just now back up to speed. Breaking even, so to speak. And I'm not worrying too much about getting ahead in my work either. If it gets done- it does, if it doesn't- oh well. No one does MY job when I'm on holiday, so tough. I'm going on holiday and not worrying a bloody fig about the office.

I made a doozie of a cake on Thursday night for Friday. Carrot cake mix..... substituted  applesauce for the oil....added an extra egg, used same amount of milk in place of the water- and added a 1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice(allspice) to the batter. Then baked as directed. Cooled a half hour, then poured 3/4 tub of ready made vanilla buttercream frosting over the top. and then 3/4 can of Carnation Caramel topping and swirled them together. Easy as pie...actually- easier.

Not to toot my own horn, but Best Apple Cake EVER! The house smelled amazing and the cake(after sitting overnight) was so moist and flavourful it was unbelievable. I will be making that one again and again!

Our color over here is absolutely spectacular right now. It will be gone for the most part in another week or so, I think. But we did have our first frost and so tonight, for Sunday Supper, we had our traditional Pot o' Chili!!!  I didn't think it was ever going to frost this year, but it finally did!!!

And lastly, I still miss our Michael's Blog..... but I am enjoying Spo-Reflections very much. I keep searching for new blogs that catch my interest, but I think it may be too soon after losing In Dodd We Trust to do so. Really good reads are so hard to find.

Happy Autumn, Everyone!!