New Year's At Home

First of all, my year began with a bang...literally. At midnight, I saw gorgeous fireworks across the river from me. I'm not sure if someone was setting them off, or if I saw the ones going off over the Ben Franklin Bridge. Either way, they were a nice way to go into New Year's Day.

Started off my New Year's Day early. I had to work at 8. I'm not used to working early; I overslept and just barely made it. We were surprisingly on-and-off busy. I didn't think anyone would be awake between 8 and 12 on New Year's Day! We had quite a few beginning-of-the-month people...and my sister Rose, who was picking up things for herself and for her 9-month-old son Khai, who is sick with the croup.

Went straight home after I finished; thank goodness my relief was right on time. It hadn't been cold even when I went out this morning. By the time I arrived back at the apartment, it was at least in the 50s. In fact, my black coat was now too heavy for the warm day! I changed into a t-shirt and my heavy Cape May hoody sweater and headed out again.

At least, I headed out as best I could. There were two cars blocking the curb in the front of the house, and the VFW parking lot across the street was full. I saw a bus leaving just as I was heading to work this morning. Must have been the Mummers string band that woke me up last New Year's.

I went for a short walk and an errands run after having ham and spinach salad for lunch. I really wanted to hit the bank. I deposited my paycheck in PNC's ATM machine. After that, I strolled around the neighborhood, checking out the last of the snow. It's about half-gone here, and almost entirely gone from my porch. Most sidewalks and streets are now clear.

Spent the rest of the day at home, baking and watching TV. Made that Peppermint Mocha Cookie Mix while watching the remaining Woody Woodpecker and Friends cartoons. Unfortunatly, I added too much water, and they came out flat.

Ran Toy Story 3 while working on Sally Lunn Bread and Sweet Potatoes and Apples. Toy Story 3 is Pixar's most recent installment of a series about a group of toys and their devotion to their young master Andy. Trouble is, it's 11 years after the last Toy Story movie was made, and unlike most series, this one acknowledges the passing of time. Andy is now a college student and is moving out on his own. He can't take most of his toys to college, but can't bear to let them go, either. Woody the Cowboy remains loyal to Andy; most of the other toys, though, just want to be played with again. A trip to Sunnyside Day Care seems to be the answer, but there's something sinister behind the cuddly facade...

As someone who still collects toys at the age of 31, the Toy Story movies strike a very deep chord with me. I was lucky to be able to bring some of my stuffed animals with me to college and receive others from friends...but I know not everyone wants to hang onto them for that long, or has enough room for them, or roommates who will accept them. And even I weed out my collection from time to time. Woody was smart to hit on a solution that made everyone happy...including a new generation of toy lovers.

And remind me never, EVER to get a Barbie mad!

Switched to the pilot movie for Tales of the Gold Monkey while the bread was rising and I worked on the Cornmeal-Battered Chicken Breasts and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Jake Cutter is a pilot in the South Seas in 1938 looking for the guy he lost his dog Jack's eye to in a poker game. Sarah Stickney White is a singer looking for passage to Boragora. Jack's willing to help her get there...but when they arrive, they discover that her manager is dead, there are Nazis on their trail, and the cargo they had to jettison on the way has landed on an island with an errupting volcano...and a legendary Gold Monkey statue.

This was a LOT of fun. Lots of action in the Indiana Jones/Romancing the Stone mold. Loved Jake and his forgetful mechanic Corky...and of course, Jack the one-eyed dog.

Moved back to the Bowery Boys during dinner. Jake and Sarah weren't the only ones dealing with legends. Sach, desperate for money after he spends the Boys' earnings on a phony horse bookie, claims that he'd do anything for a winning horse, even sell his soul. Guess who hears his plea and says he'll give him racing tips for a week...for a price?

Yup, Up In Smoke is a Bowery Boys take on the Faust legend, the only time the Boys adapted classic literature. My biggest complaint here was Huntz Hall didn't have nearly enough interaction with the other Boys, including Stanley Clements. Otherwise, this was one of the funnier Clements movies, including "Mr. Bubb" popping up in the darndest places.

And I messed up the bread, too. I put too much water in it, and it never did bake right. I don't think it baked all the way through. I finally gave up on it. Oh well, I'll make bread pudding.

Working New Year's

Sigh. Yes, I spent almost the entire day at the Acme. I had to work 8 hours, and I work early tomorrow. I'm not happy about it, but I know, I know, it's a paycheck and health insurance.

Work was busy all day long. If people weren't picking up platters for New Year's parties, they were buying pork for their traditional New Year's dinners. It's also the beginning of the month, which means we had a lot of annoying people coming out of the woodwork. Thankfully, there were no major problems, and I was able to shut down without a relief.

Good thing, too. I wanted to get my shopping for my own New Year's breakfast and dinner done and get my schedule. I'm not happy with my schedule at all. After having me work 30 hours this week, all I get next week is 18. Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday off again. While it'll be nice to be able to use those days to get the Christmas decorations down without a fuss, I do wish I had a steady schedule. 30 hours one week and 18 the next drives me crazy and tires me out.

I didn't have quite as big of a shopping trip as I have the past few weeks. The only meat I needed was ham for tomorrow's breakfast; all I needed for produce was bananas and grapefruit. Yoplait Light Yogurt was on sale, so I stocked up on that. Grabbed part-skim ricotta and mozzarella cheese for dinner. I was out of cereal, so I picked up Acme's generic Life on sale. Got one of Bigelow's holiday limited edition teas ("Eggnog'in") and treated myself to three bags of Land O'Lakes Gourmet Hot Chocolate.

After I got home, I put everything away and started dinner. I was going to make Baked Pasta with ground chicken and cheese, but I didn't have the time. I just made Skillet Tomato Pasta with ground chicken, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese, along with Spinach Salad with Grapefruit Sections.

Made Whipped Syllabub from Felicity's Cooking Studio for dessert. While most people toast the New Year with champagne, I go far more decadent...and non-alcoholic. The Whipped Syllabub is stiff-beat heavy whipped cream with a mixture of fresh-squeezed orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, and sparkling apple cider. It was very creamy and tasty.

Watched the Bowery Boys and cartoons as my last movies of 2010. Looking For Danger is the best of the Stanley Clements-era Bowery Boys I've seen so far. Duke relates how he, Sach, and the others outwitted the Nazis and helped the Allies in North Africa during World War II. Far more action-oriented than most of the other Clements-era movies, this one was a lot of fun, especially Sach and Duke loose in the Sultan's harem!

After the Boys ended, I ran Rudolph's Shiny New Year. This is the first of several Rankin-Bass follow-ups to their most famous property. Rudolph has to find the Baby New Year before the year begins...but he has very big ears that people keep laughing at, which upsets him so that he runs off. Yes, this is campy, but it does have some nice music, including the touching "The Moving Finger Writes."

Ran a couple of Woody Woodpecker cartoons to finish out my year as I did the dishes. Woody was not the most attractive character in his early years, either physically (he was buck-toothed and had the fattest legs I ever saw on a bird) or mentally (even HE questions how crazy he is). On the other hand, there was some funny moments, including Woody and a cat trying to eat each other during a particuarly severe winter in "Pantry Panic."

And...here's hoping that all of you have a happy, healthy, and laughter-filled 2011! Happy New Year to one and all!

Tales of the Gold Stooges

Slept in again this morning and started out around 11 with a trip to the Audubon Crossings Mall to finish my Christmas shopping. Stopped at FYE again, this time to get the Three Stooges Collection Vol One set I didn't see at Cherry Hill. I also found something I missed on Tuesday that I wanted, the 1982 Indiana Jones-esque action show Tales of the Gold Monkey. Several friends have mentioned this show to me, and as a fan of both the Indiana Jones series and this show's animated equivalent Tail Spin, this sounds like it's right up my alley.

More Information on Tales of the Gold Monkey

(And there's a reason I wanted to get these now. I don't like that the Audubon FYE is closing...but if it has to close, at least I can get the inventory at a good price. The Stooges were $19.99 and came up to $12.50 with the closing sales and my Membership Card. Tales of the Gold Monkey was $49.99 and came up to $31.50.)

I didn't have as much luck with winter boots. I checked Fashion Bug, Payless Shoes, and The Shoe Depot. Shoe Depot was the only store with decent, waterproof, lined winter boots, and they were either too expensive or not the right size. I just want simple zipper-up, waterproof, non-suaede boots. Nothing fancy. Rugged enough to last at least two or three winters, with good tread on the bottoms. I'll just order them from LLBean or Land's End.

Had a slice of broccoli pizza and a slice of mushroom pizza for lunch at Tu Se Bella's. It was only 1 at that point, so I went to work early and bought a bottle of sparkling apple cider for tomorrow. (I figure it'll be gone by the time I finish work tomorrow.)

The cashier I bought the cider from told me we got our paychecks early this week because of the holidays, so I went right over to the desk and picked up mine. (I'm glad we did. God only knows what it'll be like tomorrow, when everyone else is getting theirs before things close for New Year's.)

Work tonight was quite busy, much busier than earlier in the week. People are getting ready for their New Year's dinners and parties, not to mention the beginning of the month.

I watched lots of Stooges when I got home. Fun ones out of this batch include "The Sitter-Downers," where the boys build a home for their prospective sweethearts and "Goots and Saddles" (the Stooges play poker to flush out cattle rustler Longshore Pete for General Muster).

Stop the Printing Presses

I ended up spending most of the morning trying to get the printer working. It wasn't a matter of getting it hooked up to the computer. I did that just fine. It was getting it online where I had problems. I tried all morning. I connected it six times, counting tonight...and it wasn't until tonight that I got it to print online as well as offline. Otherwise, the thing worked fine. It even came with ink cartridges, which I appreciate - ink cartridges aren't cheap.

While I was cursing at electronic devices, Mother Nature was doing her own work. By the time I headed for the Acme, the snow was half-gone from anywhere exposed to direct sunlight. I was able to ride to work on the street once I got off of Manor, which is still covered with packed snow.

Work wasn't a problem. It was on-and-off busy, and I filled in the slow times with candy stocking. My relief was on time, and I was in and out quickly.

Watched Three Stooges shorts when I got home and made steak with fried mushrooms and onions and roasted Brussels sprouts for dinner. Some classic material here, including the boys' attempts to sell medicine in "Dizzy Doctors" and save their father (Curly in a double role) from a conniving blond after his money in "Three Dumb Clucks."

I work early New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so I decided to make special dinners both days to make up for it. Tomorrow, I'm going to finish my after-Christmas shopping at the Audubon Crossings Mall tomorrow and have lunch out. I'll make ground chicken lasagna New Year's Eve with Whipped Syllabub from Felicity's Cooking Studio.

The Cooking Studio will also provide a New Year's Day Colonial dinner - chicken pudding, sweet potatoes and apples, Sally Lunn Bread, and baked pumpkin pudding. This will be in honor of Felicity's retirement on the American Girl site.

A Bear of a Trip

I wanted to go to the mall today, but there were a few errands I just couldn't put off anymore. I rode my bike as well as I could around town. Hit the bank and did my laundry. The laundromat was dead; a lot of people either did their laundry before the snow hit, are away for the week on Christmas break, or are hiding from the snow.

When I got home, I put the laundry away, had a quick lunch...and headed right back out again. I wanted to take the 1:45 bus that would likely arrive in Audubon Park to the Cherry Hill Mall. Well, I walked over to near the tattoo parlor on the White Horse Pike, and waited...and eventually saw a bus going by. My bus. Which didn't stop, or even come on my side!

Needless to say, I was NOT happy. I finally decided to walk over to the Audubon Crossings Mall and take a look at the FYE there. It's closing down. I couldn't figure out why. I always thought it was really popular.

I finally picked the gift set for The African Queen that comes with a reprint of Katherine Hepburn's wonderful book about the making of that movie and the first Woody Woodpecker set. I used to love the Walter Lantz cartoons when they were on Fox in the late 80s and early 90s. Between the store's closing sales and my Membership Card, I whittled African Queen down to 28 dollars and Woody Woodpecker and Friends down to $17.99...and with the 30 dollar gift card Lauren gave me, it ended up costing 18 dollars.

And why is the FYE closing if it's so popular? Alas, the Audubon Crossings management apparently raised the rent beyond what FYE was willing to pay, popularity or no popularity. (I wonder if that's what sunk Fat Jack's Barbecue as well.)

I headed over to the bus stop on Nicholson Road after leaving FYE. This time, the bus DID pick me up. Barring some traffic in Cherry Hill, I finally arrived at the Cherry Hill Mall around 3:30.

I spent most of the time at JCPenney, my favorite of the four major department stores in this area. They always had great sales. I really did well there. I eventually picked up two long-sleeved t-shirts, 4 bras, a new pair of good New Balance sneakers for work (the old ones were literally falling apart), and a pack of heavy washcloths. Every single last item was on some kind of a sale - the bras were buy 2, get 2 free.

Just strolled around the mall next. I browsed in a few stores, but it was really crowded. Like me, everyone wanted to hit the big sales. My next stop was the smaller FYE next to Macy's. I made another great score there. In addition to picking up the second set of Three Stooges shorts (I may go back and get the first from the Audubon FYE later this week), they were having a 50% off all WebKinz sale. I've wanted the Signature Endangered Brown Bear since it came out a few months ago, but the large Signature WebKinz are usually $24.99. With the sale and my Membership Card, it came out to $11.25!

I was getting really tired at that point. I browsed in Macy's and Spring, looking for boots, but I either couldn't find what I wanted, or the line was too long. I want fur-lined, weather-proof boots. Actually, I'd like a pair of Uggs, too, but let's start with the ones that'll keep my feet dry in weather like this. The boots Miss Ellie gave me in the summer are cracked and old.

I had a Sweet Onion Teryiaki Sandwich and Sun Chips at Subway in the food court, then went back to JCPenney's to await the 7PM bus. (JCPenney is conviently next to the bus stop.) I found one more thing I needed there - a nice, thick pair of red knit gloves. My black gloves with the faux-fur cuffs are getting thin, and the heavy cheinile gloves have a hole in them.

(And I still have 22 dollars left on the last JCPenney gift card!)

This time, the bus picked me up and dropped me off with no problems. I walked home easily. Most people had cleared their sidewalks...and in many cases, what humans didn't clear, Mother Nature did. The grass on the Black Horse Pike is half-clear. It's still a bit windy, but not as bad as the last few days.

There was salt laid on my steps when I got home, but not on the porch. I'll do that myself tomorrow.

And meet Butch the Signature WebKinz Brown Bear! He's going to be one of the last WebKinz I get. I want to find a Silverback Gorilla and a Bluffadoodle...and after that, I don't really need any more WebKinz! I have over 85 online. I'll still play the game, but I need to start clearing stuffed animals, not buying more.

Snow Day!

Most of you who have seen the news know that the East Coast was slammed with anything from 6 to 20 inches of snow last night. Thankfully, we got about a foot - not a small amount, but far less than the Jersey Shore or than what we got during last year's December snowstorm.

That didn't stop the roads from being a mess, though. I don't think the dead end side of Manor was ever plowed, or at least, not salted or plowed well. When I did get up this morning, I decided to just spend the morning hanging out at home instead of risking the mess.

(Oh, and by the way, someone did finally show up to fix the radiator last night...around 10PM. At the very least, it's not making noise anymore.)

I walked to work around 2. I didn't want to drag anyone else out in the snow, especially if they haven't plowed or salted their driveways. Manor Avenue was a bit messy, but most sidewalks on Kendall were clear. I had a far easier time on the Black Horse Pike than I did yesterday - the high winds had blown much of the snow off of the sidewalks and grass...so much that I was able to walk across most of them at my normal speed.

The only place that was a problem both was was the ramp onto Kendall. Snow had blown into high drifts against the railings, but I wasn't taking a chance on the roads, especially later in the evening. Hiking over mountains of ice created by snow plows shoving snow against the curb was annoying, too.

Alas, it took me longer to walk there than I had anticipated. I was 15 minutes late. For all the business we had, I could have been a hundred minutes late. It got mildly steady during the usual 4PM rush hour, but was stone-cold-dead for the rest of the night.

Not surprisingly, the shelves were decimated. People in particular were complaining about missing eggs and bananas. The Philadelphia International Airport must have cleared their runways pretty quickly; by the time I finished at 7:15, I saw people buying eggs and bananas.

Walkin' In a Winter Wonderland

I was jolted out of bed around 7:30 by a loud banging noise coming from my living room. I thought it was a snow blower outside...until I looked outside and saw nothing but gray ground. We hadn't gotten a single flake of snow yet.

It was coming from my living room heater, behind the tree (which is pulled well away from it). It's been doing it on and off all day. I have no idea why it's doing it. It wasn't doing it yesterday.

I managed to make Johnnycakes and put on Brunch With the Beatles between bouts of noise. "Beatles #1 Songs" was the theme, but I didn't get to hear a whole lot of it.

I called Mom after breakfast. She was fine. Hers, Dad's, and Keefe's Christmas was quiet after we left. They cleaned up from the party that night. In the morning, they opened the remaining presents, and Dad made a smaller version of his famous Christmas morning breakfast. (The one that includes his greasy scrambled eggs and home-made hash browns...and that Mom always fusses leaves grease all over her kitchen.)

Anny's Christmas wasn't quite as pleasant. My 6-year-old nephew Skylar sneaked into the living room on Christmas morning and opened all of his presents before anyone else! Needless to say, no one is very happy with him right now. (Although how he managed that in the tiny house he and his mother and brother have in the Villas is beyond me. You'd think Anny would have heard SOME rustling paper.)

Left for work right after I finished my chat with Mom. The sky was gray and cold. It was chilly, but not windy. I saw a few scattered snowflakes as I sped along, but they weren't really much. Mom said they were getting huge piles of snow as I talked to her, but we hadn't gotten anything at quarter of 11.

Not surprisingly, work was a total madhouse when I got in. It was ridiculous. Everyone wanted to get home before the snow got bad...which admittedly, it did. By 2:30, those little flakes had become a blustery blizzard. The blizzard cleared out the crowd, but it also decimated our supplies. All of the eggs but the organic brown eggs were gone by the time I finished at 4, and bread was getting low, too. There was a surprising amount of milk, though.

Good thing, because snow or no snow, I had my own shopping to do. I needed a huge basketful of items - yogurt (plain and flavored), milk (there was plenty of half-gallon skim milk), ground chicken, a nice London Broil, tangerines (to replace the vanished bananas I haven't been eating much anyway), a bag of apples, grapefruit, an onion, apple cider (to make Felicity's Apple Butter), granola bars, and canned diced tomatoes. Restocked mousse mix, Smart Balance butter, and muffin cups after last week's baking. I treated myself to two bags of Land O'Lakes Mint Gourmet Hot Chocolate on sale and a half-price bag of York Peppermint Patties to freeze for a chewy treat. (I may get more Yorks tomorrow.)

And yes, I bought the organic brown eggs. I prefer brown eggs anyhow, and organic is as good as any. If I have to pay extra...well, at least I know my breads and cookies will be healthier.

I walked home. Before you look at me funny, first of all, a few people did offer to drive me, but I had the bike. Second, I didn't want anyone going out of their way on a day with weather most people around here can't handle well. Third...well, I WANTED the walk. I needed the exercise, and I loved my walks in the snow last year.

I had more of a problem on the Black Horse Pike. The wind was really whipping something fierce there. It blew into my eyes, covered my bike, and made it hard to push. Things were much better once I got to Kendall Boulevard. Newton River looked like one big greyish-white pearl, and Kendall looked like a Christmas card or a Thomas Kincaid painting. A series of spotlights casing a soft white, star-like pattern on the glittering snow were especially pretty.

Though I enjoyed my walk, I was glad to get home. I put on a few Bowery Boys movies and made salmon and spinach salad for dinner. Both Bowery Boys movies I had on today were from the later Stanley Clements years. Hot Shots had Duke and Sach playing bodyguard to a spoiled child TV star and wasn't much fun. Hold That Hypnotist, with Sach remembering where he hid a treasure in a past life under hypnosis, was much better.

Put on The Dress Circle after dinner. Tonight's theme was just what the doctor ordered - "Positive Songs For the New Year." The up-tempo songs to give people New Year's resolution ideas including "Don't Be Anything Less Than Everything You Can Be" from Snoopy the Musical, "You Mustn't Be Discouraged" from the Carol Burnett Broadway vehicle Fade Out, Fade In, "Life Has It's Funny Little Ups and Downs" from the 50s MGM movie I Love Melvin, and the wonderful Sting version of the British show tune favorite "Spread A Little Happiness" (which the hosts have used on New Year's before - for once, we all agree that it's lovely).

Put A Little Love In Your Heart

It was cloudy and cool when I headed to my tree at around 7:30AM. I'd put Linda and James Young's presents for me out the night before. Linda and James are big fans of books, and that's what I got from them this year. They gave me a PD James mystery, "An Unsutable Job For A Woman," "Penny From Heaven" about a girl from an Italian family growing up in 1953 (I love Linda's stories about growing up in a big Italian family in the 60s), the children's book "The Birdsalls," about four sisters who have s surprising summer, and the American Girl book "Felicity's Cooking Studio," a reprint of Felicity's cookbook from the early 90s with a flower-shaped cookie cutter and helpful tips.

After I unwrapped my presents, I tossed together a Banana-Coconut-Dark Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake from baking leftovers and put on A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story. The latter is a Christmas Day staple for many, including me. A kid in 1940 Indiana wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas and will do anything and beg anyone for it. From tongues on fire poles to Santa's boot in his face, Ralphie Parker spends a classic Christmas in pursuit of what he sees as the ultimate gift.

Went over to Dad and Uncle Ken's after Christmas Story ended. Dad, Jodie, and Jessa were up and moving. Jodie gave me a comfortable brown scarf. Jessa gave me four adorable Disney stuffed animals in Christmas gear, shaped like eggs. There were Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy. Dad gave me a lovely card made from Christmas paintings my Pop Pop, Dad and Uncle Ken's father, made before he passed away in 1998. Pop Pop was a wonderful artist. His paintings grace many walls in Uncle Ken's house. My mother admired his work. I brought Felicity to show off her new Riding Habit, and she traveled with me for much of the day.

We were later leaving than we'd planned. Poor Dad lost $110 worth of gift cards! He searched all over the house for them. He finally found them in his file cabinet drawer under the drawer in his computer desk he'd put them in! He found a gap in the back of the top drawer, and the cards must have slipped through them.

We finally headed out to Sam and David's around 11:30-12. (Jessa came later on her own.) The boys had just gotten dressed in new matching sweaters. Sam and David were preparing for their big dinner with Samantha's mother, Jane, and her husband Mario. Faith spent most of the time playing with either her new Leapfrog puppy game or the dollhouse she got for her birthday last month. She barely stopped to look at the Disney Princess Magnetic Paper Dolls I bought her or put on the pretty, fashionable pink dress she got from Dad and Jodie!

The boys were, for once, more polite. They put together the Nerf basketball hoop I gave them right away, thanked me for it nicely, and happily showed off their new Mario Galaxy 2 game.

We left right after Aunt Jane and Mario arrived. When we got home, Uncle Ken, Dolores, and several of her children and grandchildren (including Mercedes and Blake) were there. I got to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and give Uncle Ken his present from me. I usually give him a Rachel Ray cookbook. He loves Rachel Ray. Dolores said he watches her every day. Dad watched AMC's Scrooged marathon and the beginning of the 1951 A Christmas Carol. Jodie made Spaghetti Salad for her dinner with her aunt and her family.

We went to dinner around 4. Jodie's Aunt Colleen is really nice. They live in a lovely house in Mt. Ephram. I got to see Jodie's dad and meet Colleen's husband and her four teenage and college-age sons. Colleen is close to Jodie, and her sons are good friends of Jodie's two college-age boys. Her house was beautifully decorated, with two large trees and lots of ornaments and Christmas figures. I admired the decorations and talked about record collections with Colleen when I noticed she had a Victrola like the one I used to own.

We had a very tasty dinner. There was ham and turkey breast, pasta salad, potato salad, cole slaw, Jodie's spaghetti salad, green bean casserole, home-made sausage stuffing, and stuffed shells. I had everything but the pasta and potato salads.

After dinner, we played a dice game called Left, Right, Center. Everyone starts with three dollars. You roll a dice that has a dot, an L, an R, and a C. If you get a L, you hand the person to your left a dollar. If you get a R, the dollar goes to your right. "C" means the dollar goes in the middle. A dot means you do nothing. We had a good time playing. Jodie's dad eventually won the pot, but it was fun.

The news ran all during the game. We joined the teenagers for a rather startling newscast. Seems some winter weather may be heading our way. There's a big snowstorm making its way across the south right now...and it may be even bigger when it gets to us tomorrow. I agree with Dad (who has been a sailor for 40 years and ought to know) that it'll probably hit coastal areas worse than us. Channel 3 was calling for anything from 4-18 inches of snow, but I suspect the 3-7 inches that the National Weather Service Predicted is more likely.

Dad, Jodie, and I rode home around 6:30. I spent the rest of a quiet evening crocheting, eating a small bowl of Edy's Peppermint Ice Cream, and watching the touching 1972 TV movie The House Without A Christmas Tree. Ironically, like A Christmas Story, this also deals with a memorable Christmas for a child living in the 40s. In this case, smart Addie wants a Christmas tree badly, but her dad says no. Like Ralphie, Addie comes up with some creative ways of getting what she wants, but they just upset her dad more...until a kind gesture of Addie's teaches her dad a bit about the Christmas spirit.

A Candle In the Window

I could not sleep this morning. Even though it wasn't Christmas Day yet, I was still too excited to sleep. I got up at quarter after 6 and tried to go back to sleep, but gave up around 7 and opted to read and write in my journal for a while instead. I made grits with banana, brown sugar, and butter and watched Christmas In Conneticut and Garfield's Christmas Special until I headed to Uncle Ken's at 10 to meet Rose and Craig.

Rose and Craig, of course, didn't arrive until after 11. They have an excuse this year, though - 9-month-old Khai. We met at Dad and Uncle Ken's so Rose, Craig, and Khai could give their presents to the Camden County side of the family. (They're going over to Craig's mother's house tomorrow.) Uncle Ken gave Rose and me these adorable stuffed Frosty the Snowmen dolls that dance when you take their hats off and put them on. Khai loved watching Frosty dance. He got a plastic "tool set" with a hammer and "nails" to whack and a dump truck that vibrates when you pull a "rock" in the bed.

We headed out around 11:30-noon. I squeezed in next to Khai's baby seat and had a very pleasant ride "chatting" with him and keeping him amused with his plastic keys. He's teething now (has four teeth on top) and loves anything he can put in his mouth. He did nap a little while we were on the highway, but he awoke when we stopped at a WaWa for drinks and a bathroom break.

Kelsey the Miniature Pincher was NOT happy with that WaWa stop! Kelsey just had an operation not long ago to remove a non-cancerous growth on her leg, and Rose and Craig didn't want to leave her alone. Kelsey is very attached to Rose. She rode in her lap both ways. When Rose went to WaWa to get a drink, Kelsey actually went over to the driver's side window, pushed the button with her paw, and lowered it all the way down so she could see when Mommy was coming back! What she didn't see was she also lowered the window next to me...giving Khai and me an unexpected blast of cold winter air! I'm just glad she didn't try jumping out the window.

We finally arrived in Cape May County with no more problems around 1. Mom was taking a shower and Dad was picking up 2-year-old Collyn and 6-year-old Skylar, but Keefe and his girlfriend Vicki were home. We chatted with them for a while before Vicki had to go to work. (She works at the same Michael's in Rio Grande that Mom does.)

Dad arrived with Skylar, Collyn, and Collyn's dad Mike about a half-hour later. The boys were very excited...maybe a bit too much. Mom finally came down, too. We chatted. We played with Khai. We kept Skylar from chasing Kelsey. We played Super Mario Brothers and Mario Kart on Wii.

We all sat down to dinner around 4. There were so many of us - 12 all together - that Dad and Keefe set up a card table at the end of the dining table. We had a delicious dinner of ham, romaine salad with home-made bacon dressing, mashed potatoes, potato rolls from Shop Rite, green beans with onion, and ambrosia. Mom out-did herself, as usual. Everything was just divine.

All three little boys were getting very fussy by after dinner. Collyn and Skylar got so crazy, Dad eventually took Collyn, Mike, and me out to look at lights in the next neighborhood over. We had a nice time. There were some really lovely light displays. My favorite was the house with all of the light sculptures, including two gingerbread people and a gingerbread house, a dancing snowman, an elephant on a ball, and a dolphin in a bird bath.

Our ride did the trick. Collyn was out like a light by the time we got home. He didn't even wake up to eat dessert. Mom set out her home-made snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and her famous chocolate chip bars. Rose and Craig contributed a fruit tart and chocolate mousse cake from Wegman's. A neighbor of Mom's had given her a carrot cake that was utterly divine.

After dessert, we finally opened presents. We really need to be more organized about it next year, when the boys are a bit older. I have no idea what happened to the cards I had for everyone. There was such a flurry of wrapping paper and hugs and bows, I still don't know half of what everyone got!

Rose and Craig gave me a Chia Herb Garden. (I hope I have enough sunlight for it.) Keefe gave me a 30 dollar gift card to Borders. Anny and her boys gave me awesome Miss Piggy slippers and a 15-minute-recipes cookbook. Mom and Dad gave me two lovely ornaments - a pretty china doll in a Christmas outfit and a gingerbread man in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform. I got my annual calender, this year with vintage Coca-Cola ads. Got Bath and Body Works body lotion (considering how dry my hands have been, I need it) and Oil of Olay lotion. Mom and Dad gave me Toy Story 3 on DVD, which I'm dying to see - I have the other two.

Mom did give me something from American Girl. My Felicity not only has the least clothes of my four girls, but hers are the most difficult to find for decent prices on eBay. And with her Archival announcement, most of her things sold out quickly on AG's website...including her Riding Habit. Yes, Mom got me the Riding Habit, a lovely green felt military-style outfit that will be perfect to keep Lissie warm this winter. She also hand-knitted her a gorgeous shawl and bought Springfield Collection sneakers for Molly and Jessa to share.

Dad gave me one of my two big presents. My old printer couldn't plug into the laptop Lauren gave me last year...so Dad gave me a new printer. I'll hook it up later this weekend.

Mom gave me the best - and most surprising - present of all. About 20 years ago, Mom got a gorgeous print of a real animation drawing of Gus and Jaq the Mice picking up blue beads for Cinderella's pink bow gown in the Disney Cinderella. It's hung in her room or office ever since, and I've always admired it. Cinderella is one of my favorite Disney movies. Well, imagine my shock when I opened something that seemed to have a frame...and found that print! Mom apparently had gotten tired of it and said she couldn't think of anyone who'd appreciate it more. It was one of the sweetest presents anyone ever gave me.

I don't remember much about the ride back, other than Khai fell asleep the moment he was put in his car seat and it was otherwise uneventful. I got in around 8:30, dressed Felicity in her new Riding Habit and shawl, and went online.

And when I went online, I got another shock. Two of my fellow online WENN chatters, Mike from Oklahoma and Jen (the Jen who visited me last June and is now in the Navy) from Seattle are engaged! He flew all the way out to Washington State to be with her. That's the sweetest thing I ever heard.

In the words of Sydney Greenstreet at the end of Christmas In Connecticut, "What a Christmas!" ;)

I hope yours is equally full of wonderful surprises!

Christmas Bowery Boys Stories Posted

Just posted the two Bowery Boys stories Lauren and I wrote for the holidays, "The Bowery Boys' Christmas Carol" and "How the Bowery Boys Saved Christmas." Enjoy!

Bowery Boys' Basement Clubhouse

Christmas Vacation

Started out a sunny, cold, blustery day with the very last thing I need to make for Christmas. For the last few years, I've made my dad's girlfriend Jodie and her sons Jesse and TJ a pumpkin pudding pie for Christmas, since they like the ones I make at other times of the year so much. That concludes my Christmas baking, wrapping, and shopping.

After I finished with the pie, I ran some errands around the neighborhood. I'm going to be meeting Rose, Craig, and Khai at Uncle Ken's house around 10 tomorrow, so I made all my neighborhood present deliveries today. I dropped Miss Ellie's cupcakes at her side of the house. I left my neighbors' bread on their front door. I brought the Dorias' cupcakes to their deli.

Went for a walk around the neighborhood after I left the Dorias'. I got to check out all of my neighbors' decorations in the daytime. As lovely as the lights are, there are other things to see, too. Some people had huge inflatable Santas or reindeer. Others had doors that were guarded by vintage light-up hard plastic nutcrackers and snowmen. Houses with elaborate front doors had big evergreen wreaths on windows. Snowflakes and large, glittering plastic ornaments hung from trees and porches. Windows that didn't flaunt wreaths had lovely candles or figurines. My walk felt very, very festive.

I stopped by the Oaklyn Library, hoping to do some volunteering. Alas, while they are open again, they're apparently only open for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week and next week before starting a full week's schedule again on January 3rd. That's ok. I'll just go back early next week.

Spent the remaining hour at home having lunch and watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and the Remember WENN episode Christmas In the Airwaves. I figured Christmas Vacation was appropriate, considering that many adults and children will be going on their own holiday vacations starting today. I hadn't gotten around to Airwaves yet and had missed watching it with the other WENN chat members on Sunday; enjoyed it, as always.

It wasn't really busy in the neighborhood this morning. Must have been because everyone was already trying to get home. There was traffic on the Black Horse Pike around quarter after 12 when I was heading to work. I'm assuming everyone got off early and wanted to rush home or to their relatives' homes as quickly as they could.

Work was busy when I got in, too. It was really crazy between 1 and 4, confirming my suspicion that many people got off early and went shopping as soon as they left work. After about 4:30-5, it slowed down to on-and-off steady. It was still on-and-off when my relief arrived and I finally headed out.

I made a quick stop at Arby's for dinner (after buying pumpkin at work to restock what I used on bread and mousse pies this week). Despite my getting off at 6:30, Arby's was completely dead when I came in. I guess everyone is eating on the road or at home. I had a Philly Steak sandwich that got burned a bit on top and some Curly Fries.

Went straight home after that. It wasn't nearly as easy as getting to work. The wind was whipping something fierce, chilling me to the bone! I was so glad when I finally got inside and jumped in the shower.