That’s That

That's that for this year.  

The kids are gone, and even though they were only here a few hours, the house still feels a bit empty without them.  

I vacuum sealed the rest of the cookies and candy and put them into the deep freeze to save for next year, keeping only a small amount out for me to enjoy this evening and tomorrow. 

We didn't even open the store bought cookies and fruit cake.  

Yes, I like fruit cake!  We used to make it every year when I was a kid-- it was one of our family traditions, and eating it was a much of a deal as baking it.  We'd all gather as a family, and each get a small slice with a cup of Coca-Cola.  I still enjoy a good slice of fruit cake, but I'm the only one here who will eat it, so if I do make it, I make mini loaves and vacuum seal those.  I don't know why I bought a cake, since I still have one mini loaf left in the freezer.  I ought to get it out and cut it up...I think I will. 

I wish the kids would have stayed one more day, because today would have been the perfect day to sit out by the fire pit.  It was chilly enough to make the fire feel good, but not so cold as to freeze our toes off.  I debated on putting a fire out there myself, but I was still melancholy enough I just didn't feel like it. 

Instead, this was today's project. 

It's a bit of a pain in the butt to put them together, and this roof holder thing never fits right, but we got 'er done in the end. 

Decorating it was fun,  

but I was a little disappointed that they changed the tray.  You can see in this photo of the one I did last year, the tray had a whole front yard that could also be decorated.  

This one had barely enough room for the house.  

There wasn't even enough room for the gingerbread men.  Heh, you can also see that my piping skills have not improved one whit since last year.   Oh well, it was still fun to do.

I debated on whether to bring my storage boxes in from the shed and start taking my decorations down, but I didn't.  I'll probably wait until Friday to do that.  Instead, I just watched football and knit all day.  And as promised, here is the current hat OTN. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Supersaver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Crayon Box

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/ 5 mm

By the way, my garden staples still haven't arrived.  They were supposed to get here Monday.   Not that the need is urgent or anything, but still I want stuff to get here when they say they're going to get here.

And finally, I did lesson two of my classical music course.  It made me cry, too, but in a totally different way.  I forget which song the professor was playing, but it was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes.  

Needless to say, I'm enjoying this one so much more than chemistry.