Thanksgiving in the hill country

The dogs and I made the trek back to our hill country house for Thanksgiving week. We were greeted by gaggles of the usual deer, and this fellow below was ambling along the perimeter fence on our five acres. While I was back at our old stomping ground, I had to get some "maintenance" work done. You know, things like an eye exam and a trip to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. Plus I finally needed to pack up some of the winter clothes and shoes in my hill country closet. So I'll be hauling back a trunk full of that stuff to the lake house.

The holiday lighting company we've used for the past seven years doesn't provide service at the lake house since we're just a bit too far from the DFW metroplex where they do work. Therefore, I asked a few of my lake neighbors who they recommend and settled on a new company to make the exterior treetops glisten. I'm happy to report that our house and trees are all bedecked in my preferred red and white candy cane scheme for the holiday season. And I especially love how the lights on the tree down near the retaining wall are even more impressive since they reflect off the water.

As you can see above, I'm now left with three boxes full of the lights used on our hill country trees and fencing that were delivered by the old lighting company recently. I'm trying to farm them out to a friend who has daughters with new homes that would like to do some exterior lighting this Christmas. I love that I'm enabling others to deck their halls (and trees), too!

We spent Thanksgiving day at my husband's brother and his wife's beautiful home over in San Marcos. She's a talented hostess, and the feast she prepares is always amazing. Honestly, she could give Martha Stewart a run for her money with the holiday decor and food presentation. It's always a treat to get an invitation for any holidays she hosts for the family.

I hope this Thanksgiving finds all of you happily enjoying the holiday with those who mean the most to you. I pray you are able to gather and celebrate all of the many blessings the Lord has bestowed on you in the past year. Praise God that He is faithful, even when I am not, that His love and mercy shine down on me and guide my path for His glory. That's what I'm most grateful for in this season of thankfulness.

Happy one year anniversary!

We're creeping up on the CPA daughter's one year wedding anniversary. I recently decided to have her wedding dress and veil cleaned and then preserved. It has been living in the closet of an upstairs bedroom at our hill country house since last year's ceremony. With us slowly purging and then moving the contents of our hill country house to the lake, or storage, it was past time to get this taken care of so she'd have it as a keepsake for any daughters they might have. 

I've also got their wedding cake's top layer stored in my guest house freezer. Curious about where the tradition of saving the top tier started, I looked it up. Per my internet search, it originated in Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries where couples would save the fruitcake tier to be eaten at the christening of their first child, believed to occur within the first year of marriage. Today the tradition has evolved to a celebration for the couple's first anniversary, with the saved cake enjoyed by the couple as a way to commemorate their wedding day. Our daughter chose the rich flavors of espresso, chocolate and ganache for that top tier, so hopefully when it thaws the cake will have retained its original flavor. Because seriously, what's better than some wedding cake from one of the best Austin bakeries?!

Santa Claus is lake bound

It's mid-November, so you know what that means, right? It's time for me to start decking the halls for Christmas. And I've enjoyed a lot of decorating in the past week even though it's a more time consuming task at the lake house since it's our first holiday here. Fortunately, unpacking boxes to reveal all of my holiday treasures always puts a smile on my face. 

Thus far the only real thorn in my side has been the tree. I swear I spent a solid 5-6 hours working on my brand new nine foot slim spruce and it STILL looked as if it was only about half done. But thankfully, 45 royal blue velvet sphere picks later and it's looking a bit closer to finished. I'm HO-HO-HOping the glitter pine tree picks I ordered will be the finishing touch that closes out the tree saga I've got going. 

If you're an oldie like me, you'll understand my reference to Norm from the "Cheers" sitcom that ran through the 80s. The folks at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Home Goods and At Home should be calling out my name and rolling out the red carpet since I've frequented their stores more times than I care to recall in the past week. And I'd swear the gold glitter strewn across so much of the holiday decor available is mocking me because every time I try wiping up some of the shiny little tidbits, I turn around and find more. It's like that stuff multiplies before your eyes. 'Tis the season, y'all!

Job beginnings & endings

The law student had her composite pics made recently for law school graduation in the spring. Of the five, this was my favorite. Those are my granny Doris' dimples right there. It's hard to believe she's one semester away from wrapping up this last chapter of her education. At the end of her internship this summer, she took the MPRE and passed it. This is a professional responsibility/ethics exam required for everyone who wants to be licensed to practice law in Texas. After graduation, that just leaves her to clear the hurdle of the Texas bar exam in late July. Then she'll start her "big girl" job with a Dallas law firm in September. 

At the opposite end of the work spectrum is my husband. It was recently announced that he'll be retiring on January 1. He had been thinking about retiring before 60, and decided this spring to pull the ripcord by the time the calendar rolled over to January once again. After 27 years with the same company, where he had an amazing career climbing the corporate ladder, he'll be happily handing over the reins to his successor and will ride off into the sunset to enjoy his golden years. I couldn't be more proud OR happy for him. God blessed my husband with some amazing co-workers who became mentors and good friends along the way. The Lord's financial blessings via the husband's job allowed us to educate our girls through advanced degrees, as well as help some family and friends get their kids through college. It also helped fund a few weddings, too. So we are immensely grateful for God's provision through that season of life. Now it's time to turn the page and see what the Good Lord has in store for us next.

Skipping right over Thanksgiving

Since my sister-in-law is once again hosting Thanksgiving at her lovely home in the hill country, I decided there was no reason to pretend I wasn't chomping at the bit to usher in Christmas. Therefore, today I took pictures of all my current fall decorations here in the lake house so I can begin taking it all down. Tomorrow I'll start bubble wrapping and packing up my many pumpkins, turkeys and squirrels, oh my, so it can be stored in the attic until next Labor Day.

A couple weeks ago, I started unpacking and sorting the Christmas bins my husband hauled to the lake house. The man swore up and down he brought it all, but I knew better. I had purged all of my Christmas decor over the summer, but soon realized what I had in the lake house garage was nowhere near all of it. Sure enough, the husband left almost twenty bins of Christmas decorations back at the hill country house. So this weekend he's loading up the trailer and bringing the rest of my precious Christmas bins to me at the lake so I can start working on bringing Santa Claus to town. 

I know it's going to take longer than usual to decorate the lake house. One reason it will take longer is because it's my first time to decorate this house for Christmas. So after the sorting, there will be a lot of contemplation to plot the best placement and arrangement for all of my stuff. It takes a lot of brainpower and organization to figure out the perfect spots to showcase the many Santas I've collected over the past 30+ years. Then there's the tree, which is always time consuming. I recently purchased a lovely nine foot spruce from Balsam Hill to use this year, and so that will definitely take longer than usual to perfect. And finally, I know I'll be just generally more particular about the overall look and feel of my holiday design because our lake place will be featured in the women's club Christmas tour of homes next month. And I'm so excited about that, y'all. Decking the halls is always such a happy undertaking for me, watching our space come alive with the scenes of the season!

When cardinals appear

I've recently returned to the lake after a trip back to the hill country house. While there, the husband and I made a visit to one of our favorite local Tex Mex restaurants for lunch. Shortly after we were seated, I couldn't help but notice a cardinal at the window because it was in my direct line of sight. It continued to come up to the window and peer in the entire time we were there. It even landed on the door handle to the patio area. 

Cardinals always remind me of my sweet mother. She had a fondness for them because their presence reminded her of her own dear mother. I know it's not biblical, but I love the saying that cardinals appear when angels are near. My mother and granny are in heaven now, and I certainly don't think they are angels. Or birds. Yet every time I spy cardinals, a peace washes over me because they bring to mind these special ladies whose memory I hold tight in my heart, and miss so very much. I praise God that I'll see them again one day after I've entered the presence of the King of Kings.

(Jesus said) Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.  John 5:24 (NIV) 

Women's club winery tour

As a lifelong introvert, I've never been much of a joiner. And yet I've felt so welcomed in our lake house community that it's been easy to get involved. Initially unsure about how things would play out here in our gated, golf course location, we've been pleased to discover everyone is down-to-earth and friendly. Though we've run across some younger folks with kids, they're definitely in the minority here. I honestly don't mind the older crowd because that's where I'm headed as I creep closer to 60.

The women's club's first meeting last month was a fashion show and lunch. I sat at a table with the ladies from our street, and had a lovely time. The club house has an excellent kitchen staff that always presents tasty meals. This month, the women's club planned tours and lunch at a couple wineries in a nearby town. 

Best part about the day was that they hired a coach so all of us could ride together, and thus we had a designated driver. Not much of a drinker, I've gotta admit that first winery did some generous pours and I was feeling pretty happy before lunch time. By the fifth wine, I was requesting just a splash, please! Fortified with some food on my stomach for the second winery, we wrapped up a fun day of tastings. Ten wine samples in, y'all, and I found a couple bottles of whites and reds to purchase.

I love the pic of the house above, our second stop. Built in the 1880s, it's an historic home from the nearby town that was moved to be the centerpiece accommodation for the vineyard.