I tried to take a video, but I can't upload it. I am tired. There are so great ones out there, so I am sure I figure a way to get it done at some point. Tonight is just not going to be that night.
Cutting to the chase, we had 133 families come to shop for 395 kids. It was beautiful.
Has anyone heard from Red at Hiawatha House? He hasn't posted in 3 weeks.
It has been a long busy time. This is the week of the toy giveaway. From all signs, it will be a great thing. Someone sent me 3 sleds. People are volunteering. We made front page of the paper. That attracted even more attention. Two people are donating entire doll collections. A woman who owned a book store is donating 3 totes of brand new childrens' books. Bus drivers are collecting. Churches. It seems impossible that it is coming together so perfectly, but it is.
I screwed up. A woman stepped up and offered to make an eye-catching poster. She did, and it was a fine poster. With a typo that became a Very. Big. Deal.
She overstepped. She did not want to be a team player. She portrayed this as a 'her and I' project. It isn't. This is the work of so many different hands. By the time I realized what was happening, there were really upset people. A very low blow had been taken on Facebook. The post was removed, but it was a slap.
So, for a time I was standing in the middle of two angry camps. I felt pretty badly. In the end, the woman who overstepped stepped away, angrily raging that she was done. I tried talking it through with everyone. Both sides like me just fine, but they refuse to work with each other.
A more experienced person would have seen what was happening before all the mad. I learned a valuable lesson.
I went to my son's family for four days. The Nutcracker was so sweet. I loved it. The girls were so proud of their hard work, and rightly so.
The next day was the Christmas pageant. The oldest was Mary. The youngest was part of the angelic host, but she opted out at the last minute. She'd had enough of the big stage.
One moment that stands out: I got my son and daughter out of the house for a date. They've been going full steam for weeks now, plus they are getting over a two week bout of virus. Total burn out.
So the girls and I were having a cozy evening at home. Square in the middle of The Santa Clause, the youngest began screaming. It scared the wits out of me. She had her face buried in the sofa, screaming hysterically, but finally she raised her face to me and THE CHILD HAD CLIPPED A BLUEY HAIRCLIP TO HER UPPER LIP!
I was expecting blood. I was braced for the very worst. This sight was so unexpected that I burst out laughing. Which hurt her feelings terribly. I unclipped her lip and cuddled her while murmuring apologies. She got over it, thankfully.
I headed home Monday. I stopped at their Mennonite discount grocery. That place is huge. I stocked up on good cheese. It will last for the winter. A product that Tim uses sells for $6.99 there. To buy it here, it is $29.99. I got 4 boxes of that. Ground pork for $1.75 a pound. We use it to mix with the ground venison, which is too lean otherwise. My Bel Vitas. 6 boxes, 99 cents each. Smoked ham slices for soup. Before it was done, I had $174. and a very full cooler in the back. Tim was very impressed with my haul.
Today we mailed out our daughter's package to the UK. I think it will be a nice thing to open on Christmas morning.
We grabbed the few things we needed in town, got our flu, covid and shingles vaccines and headed back home where we ground 25 lbs of hamburger, packaged it. Vacuum sealed it and got it in the freezer.
It was a full on day. I made a quick stir fry for supper, and as I was cooking Tim stood up suddenly and said "Aunt Anna has died." She is the last of his mother's siblings to go. The end of a generation. She died a few days short of her 99th birthday. Sad news.
It was below zero here this morning.
We are watching the American Revolution (Ken Burns) on PBS. So excellent. It rips any romantic notions of either side away, to be sure.
Well, I had expected to be in bed by now, but a curious thing happened. Tiger-kitten came to the sliding door. They all do, and they are fed each time they show up. There are only 4 ferals left of the original clowder of 12. I am not sure what became of Sigh and Tiger Cat (who is different from Tiger Kitty) but I have not seen them for some weeks now.
Anyways, now that winter has well and truly settled in, it makes me sad to see them outside the glass. They are always invited in, but if they come in, they dart back out before the door can be closed.
I got up to go to bed, and there was Tiger Kitty looking in the door at me. He meowed. So I got some food and opened the door. To my surprise he walked right in.
He seems to have made himself comfortable.
Now I am afraid to go to bed.
What if Freddie begins to try to assert alpha cat status? He can be a bit of a stinker. I think he may be the reason Feliway Diffusers were invented.
Or what if he decides changes his mind and wants to go back out? Or what if he needs the litter box?
Probably just grab a pillow and sleep on the couch tonight.
Today was cutting up the first deer day. Roasts, steaks, chops. All packaged, vacuum sealed and in the freezer.
I cooked the rib cage and will take the meat off the bones and grind it up to supplement the ferals' cat food. I was surprised at the quantity of meat of that. It will make a nice treat for them.
We have more dicey weather in the future and I am keeping a close eye on that. Friday morning, I am off. My granddaughters are both in The Nutcracker. The youngest is a mouse and she is adorable in her little costume. The oldest is in two scenes. She will be an angel and a lemon drop. They are both so excited about this.
I found them nutcracker ornaments for the tree. I also got an angel charm for the oldest's charm necklace. For the youngest I got the sweetest little silver mouse on a chain. I wrapped them today.
It will be a short trip. Next week is as busy week here, getting ready for the toy giveaway. Send out your best thoughts for this project, won't you?
Well, I will be sleeping in my bed tonight after all.
Tiger Kitty just asked to go outside. He spent two hours inside. I wonder what he will decide tomorrow.
It was interesting. I got up to put the turkey in and was surprised to see that overnight, we had just gotten a dusting of snow. Our bad weather was late!
So Thanksgiving went off perfectly with two turkeys, two hams and all the traditional side dishes. All the traditional people were there too. Good time.
The following morning was a far different story.
The local news issued warnings about unnecessary travel, really stressing that the snow was hitting some places very hard and that made travel quite dangerous.
But in the very next segment, they talked about the Black Friday crowd of shoppers. Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday here. The Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday and is considered to be the kickoff for Christmas shopping.
Stores offer huge savings on things to entice people into their store. The crowds are crazy bad. I did the Black Friday thing once. It was scary, with people pushing and shoving, and being rude to each other.
You could not pay me to be a part of that even if the roads had been good.
The news reporter showed long lines of people waiting for the store to open its doors. Some people had been waiting for 5 hours in the snow. Traffic was backed up a mile at the entrance to the parking lot.
And then there was this: I watched in total disbelief. So many are struggling right now. It almost seems obscene to me. Some stores are making it easy: buy now, pay later
I'm not a grinch and neither is Tim, but we have never gone into debt for the holiday. This year, we are even more cautious than usual.
This excess just strikes me as foolish.
We have 10 inches of snow on the ground.
Cranberry sauce (check)
Blueberry pie (check)
Apple pie (check)
Turkey stuffed. Cream corn assembled and ready for baking. Carrots pared and ready to be glazed.
We celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother in law's family, nieces, nephews, and greats and grands and in-laws and out-laws, and whoever gets swept up in the rush. No one brings everything, but everyone brings something. As I understand it, we will have two turkeys and two hams and all manner of potatoes, vegetables, breads and desserts.
If you leave hungry, it is your own darn fault.
That being said, it has begun to snow. The winds are expected to reach 50 mph over night and depending on who you are listening, snow accumulations are expected to fall in the 8-12 inch range over night. Travel warnings.
It will be interesting to see how this all works our.
If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope it is a good one.
