Exiting our street, we always enjoy seeing the local longhorns out soaking up some rays. Texas yard art at its finest, y'all.
However, sunbathing isn't limited to just the neighbor's hoofed critters. Our very own cairn terriers Pepper and Finn like to find a sunny spot to warm up on cold mornings. Unable to locate the old heated blanket I've used the last couple years on their dog beds for chilly nights, I ordered them a new one that should arrive on Friday. Talk about spoiled.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the girls, the older daughter's fiance and his parents who flew in from Pennsylvania via their daughter's home in Colorado Springs. We enjoyed a feast on Thursday, with the highlight of the meal for me being my granny's cornbread dressing recipe that the law student and I whipped up. The dogs made a valiant effort of floor watching just in case an errant piece of ham or turkey was dropped. We're done with the leftovers and I'll soon begin working on my big Christmas Eve menu.
Santa has finally made an appearance at our house, and I'm thrilled. The bulk of them are the star of the show on our built-in shelves in the downstairs family room. But of course I spread them out so Santa is pretty much everywhere. Y'all know in my book there's no such thing as too many St Nick's on display.
I'm making a run to Hobby Lobby in the morning to get some festive greenery for the empty sleigh on my coffee table. Last year I had some flocked and glittery lamb's ear in it that shed all over the place. I'm thinking this year some plain old holly with a pretty bow will be a much better choice. This week I'll try to get some pics of our pretty candy cane trees lit up in the front yard, as well as the sign and lights on the front gate, so I can post them here. It really feels like the holidays around here now.
We kicked off our long weekend before Thanksgiving by taking seven month old Finn to the vet for neutering. As you can see in the video below, it hasn't seemed to slow him down one bit. They sent him home in this thick and rigid plastic cone he hated. Thankfully, I had saved two of the soft and flexible cones from Pepper and Chorkie's surgeries, so we switched it out on him and he doesn't seem to mind at all now. He's four days post-surgery and we've discovered we can leave the cone off during the day as long as we monitor him. He initially tried to get at his stitches while wearing the cone, and so I don't know if it's dawned on him he can give it another go when we give him breaks from wearing it.
Today I started all of my Thanksgiving meal chores, kicking it off with a visit to the grocery store for those last minute fresh veggies I didn't want to get last week when I did the big shop. I was shocked to discover that my nice spiral ham cost about ten bucks less than the turkey breast I purchased, which has me wondering if there's a turkey shortage. Today I spent almost two hours prepping brussels sprouts, green onions, bell pepper, yellow squash and sweet yellow onion for our various dishes. I also hot footed it down to the upscale seafood store to pick up the handpicked crab meat I ordered for our au gratin dip and gumbo Wednesday night.
We've enjoyed some lovely rain lately, which has been a blessing after such a hot and dry summer. With our fall temps finally settling in, we decided it was time to get the gas fireplace in the downstairs living room up and running so we could enjoy it over Thanksgiving with family and friends. The husband is my handy dandy go-go gadget, and made pretty quick work of it.
As you can see above, the lighting company made it out in-between rounds of showers to get the Christmas lights on our trees and the fence. That just leaves the front gate decor for me and the husband to put in place this weekend. I spied my first showing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, my all-time favorite holiday movie, over the weekend. I also stumbled upon an old season of the Holiday Baking Championship. I'm waiting until the law student wraps up her fall final exams and comes home for the semester break so we can watch the current season. That's something we enjoy doing together every December.
I hope each and every one of you and your families enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving, celebrating the many blessings our Lord has bestowed on you in the past year. Big and small y'all, our Heavenly Father did them all. This Bible verse is one that always comes to mind around Thanksgiving time: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 We serve a most holy and gracious God, and He alone is worthy of our praise and gratitude. May you find peace and joy as you're reminded of His great love and mercy in this beautiful old hymn that always touches my heart. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided... Amen!
It has taken every ounce of willpower I can muster to resist unpacking the bins full of santas stored in my garage. These containers represent 31 years of collecting santas from all over the globe. It has been especially challenging since our quaint hill country town has been busy the last week or so decking the halls in anticipation of the annual holiday events that begin the day after Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, I'll persevere with my pretty fall decor in place through November 23. After that, all bets are off as to how quickly I'll get the pumpkins and turkeys packed away to put santa on display.
This year I've upped my game with some new holiday bedding for the master. I also bought Finn his first holiday sweater. My old Christmas gate sign from the past couple years will be flanked by these festive santas I found at the Ashley Nichole website. I also purchased new wreaths for our double front doors from the same place since I knew I wouldn't have time to whip up some fresh ones this year.
The husband is already enjoying Peppermint Bark Blue Bell, a Texas holiday tradition. I'm a fan of their Christmas Cookie flavor. Alas, I'd like to avoid resembling a Macy's Day float before we even get to turkey day, and so I refrained.
Our sweet niece made these super cute bandanas below for the pack. I love the santa pattern she chose, and the monogramming that's different for each dog is just precious. Once she graduates next fall, this determined young woman will make an outstanding teacher because she's such a thoughtful person.
Every fall I accompany the husband on his annual executive strategic planning retreat. It's nice that the company includes spouses because we've been hosted at some lovely resorts the past nine years. This November we were in southern Virginia where we got to enjoy the tail end of fall foliage.
The view from our room was fantastic. That coupled with an unusually late week of Indian summer meant I was able to open up the sliding doors to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. There was a rolling panel beside the large soaking tub so you could enjoy the view while bathing, which I thought was a truly unique touch.
The property boasts approximately 12,000 acres sprawling through the Blue Ridge Mountains that are incredibly picturesque. Though we were obviously past the peak of leaf peeping, there were still quite a few trees retaining their vibrant yellow, orange and red foliage. It was particularly striking when the sunshine would hit it. I believe this was probably one of my favorite retreats because it was so peaceful and relaxing.
Our treks into the woods had us hoping we'd spy some of the local momma brown bears with their spring cubs. Though I personally didn't see any, we did run across pheasant and deer on one ride that took us up a mountain flanked by a babbling brook. Maybe next time, y'all.
For those of you out there who enjoy deer meat, I wish y'all could come to the Texas hill country and take home some fresh backstrap for your freezers. Our whitetail population is pretty thick in these parts, and they're all abuzz with the rut in full swing. There's no way I'm taking our doggos for a walk in the neighborhood with the bucks racing around looking for does and acting aggressively.
I spied the two fellas seen above on our street just in the past couple days. I wasn't fast enough to snap a pic of the ten point that chased a doe along the side fence of our property. As you can see below, our terriers certainly wouldn't scare away any deer. We've got a group of axis females who frequent the area right outside our dog fence. That's where they feast on the fat acorns that have fallen from the oak trees that were watered by our sprinkler system all summer. These rather hefty axis gals have zero fear of our little yappers.
With some cooler temps this week, I broke out the little blow dryer to warm up the sheets a couple days. Puppy Finn dashed under the bed at this unfamiliar sound, but Pepper girl hopped on the bed to burrow beneath the covers and enjoy the warmth. We started that with Ollie years ago when we lived in England, and it caught on with Pepper.
Back when social media was fun, before the mean and trollish behavior took hold, I remember how folks would go through November posting their thankfulness. So I'm going to kick off gobble 'til you wobble month with my gratitude for us being that much closer to the time when I can decorate with my santa collection here in our new digs.
Y'all know I can't resist a few new additions to my jolly old elf hoarding collection every year. For now, they're ferreted away on a shelf in the butler's pantry. I've added a couple vintage Fitz and Floyds I found on eBay, as well as a few other St Nicks from some of my favorite holiday decor haunts. For the back porch, I just had to have this neon red and white sign below from Etsy announcing my annual BER months motto to sit alongside a vintage blow mold santa. 'Tis the season.
Today I removed the pumpkin decorations from our front gate, in addition to trimming the water shoots off a couple oak trees out front. Now the place is all prepped for our lighting company to roll up and deck the place with twinkly red and white lights. This will be our sixth year with a candy cane theme in the yard, a tradition we started when the law student was a senior in high school and I wanted her last one while living at home to be a big production.
You know it's just a matter of time now before at least one of our local radio stations starts playing Christmas songs. Back in the day it was just an occasional holiday song mixed in with the usual hits. Then it became all Christmas tunes on one station that started right after Thanksgiving. Now it has progressed to a few weeks before the big turkey feast. I flipped around the radio stations this morning while out running errands and was surprised I didn't hear old Bing or Brenda Lee crooning about Christmas. In case you're ready like me, have a listen and start getting into the holiday spirit.
