The Last Month in 2020

This is a month dedicated to festivities. The house here in OR is no exception. Mostly. The yard is surrounded in lights, but it isn’t one of a handful this December. It seems EVERYONE has put up lights and yard decor. Granted, the wind we’ve had has been rather negative towards towering air filled characters (This afternoon, I passed a smiling Santa flat on his nose!), but by and large, most of the items are things that shine. The Craftsman finished the wooden tree that went out partially last winter (he was not happy, it seems he zip tied the string to the board and removing them was a lot of work. However, it did let him paint the board and change the dull plywood brown for plywood green which looks much better under the fluorescent bulbs.) and he put out another one of the spinning lights that makes lovely fairy lights in the trees. Little Bear did move it because when it spun ‘low’ it was shining in the rabbit pens and he didn’t want his rabbits to have lights in the cages. (would they chase them like cats do???) Something I wondered was there is such a chasing after this holiday (“I need this after the year we’ve had around here.”), what will happen once January 6 hits (traditionally when decor is put away)? Coloring is a good idea to while away the new year!! Found this image under 5th grade math. (I texted Podman the wrong age, told him it was 2nd.) Between you and me, not exactly sure what math has to do with a busty lady wearing a corset while playing with her hair!

Moses isn’t as impressed with the decorations as he is with filled bird feeders. Now that it is colder, the little birds are even more eager to visit. We weren’t sure if Moses was a cat in a crime scene in this picture or if he was baiting the birds! (there are empty sunflower seeds in front of him) The squirrels have decided to munch on The Craftsman’s lights. We aren’t sure why, perhaps the little colored shapes look edible? He sprayed them all with a mix of Tabasco sauce and water and a smidge of dish soap after he needed to repair several strings days prior to their Thanksgiving Eve debut. (my mix came off in the rain, the night it was applied!!)

Inside, not much has gotten done. All the nativity sets are out, my adorable Holly is on her stand and half dressed. The fronds that make up her skirt are unpacked, but the bungee cord used in 2018 to hold the fronds on her waist is missing (bungee cords do wander off!!). (photo is from a couple of years back, the nose is NOT something I put on her.) The shelving unit in the living room is also decorated. Little Bear sort of objected to my balanced display of candy around the tree, he insisted that food can’t be art. Which is NOT true!!! All I wanted was candy to put in the container and the sweets The Craftsman found were favorites for the guys, but not entirely filling to the tree shape!!

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Odd, those two photos are a lot larger than they appeared after being shrunk. No matter. My little technology device just told me my glucose might be high, so need to go and verify that. This one has been on for almost 7 days and the ‘people who use this device approved‘ sticky patches arrived today, so there is a much more confident feeling as I go into this next week! Did make another pumpkin pie to use up the last of the canned punkin the fridge, the tiny ones still awaiting being cooked down are wearing Santa hats. (Wanted to text Ms. Monster a photo, but my phone is being VERY annoying and failing to send even 4 word texts unless I was outside in the freezing fog next to the car!!) If you make pumpkin pie, what kind of fluid do you use? I use a mix of reg milk with powdered milk or canned evaporated. My sister also adds rum! Another friend uses cream. More use only sweetened condensed milk. (which I only use for fudge!!) Had no idea there were so many things you could add to a pumpkin pie. Little Bear prefers whipped topping.