Shopping is done!!

I went out early yesterday morning stopping first at Kmart. I found what I was looking for (plus a new handbag for me,for only $11.00) very quickly. I was amazed at the lack of customers in the store at 10:00AM and the abundance of sales going on. I've always liked Kmart and have been able to find last minute gifts. Sandy wanted a square griddle that would hold four slices of bread for french toast. I found one online at QVC.com which was on sale for about $21.00 so I ordered it for her. When it came I had mixed emotions. It is a stainless steel, teflon coated 'grill pan'. It could hold the required four slices of bread, but it is a bit heavy and clunky. It also has a two inch lip which makes it a pan, not a griddle. At Kmart, I found a griddle for the same price so I got it for her. And yes, I'll keep the grill pan for myself. :o)

I then stopped at a newspaper and magazine store that I visit annually at Christmas. My eldest nephew, Robert, loves wrestling mags and is into coin collecting. Mostly he likes to look at the collection he already has, so I try to get him mags about coins and collection, not so much about pricing old coins or buying and selling. My brother-in-law Bob, likes stories, etc. about the Civil War so I try to find one or two for him. This year he is also into Sudoku, so he will be getting a puzzle book. I always make this shop my last stop. It's kind of a victory.

I dug the tree out of the storage closet and put it up. It's been 4 years or so since I've put up a tree. The last time I took it down, I didn't take care to put the branches away in the order in which the tree should be assembled, so I couldn't remember where the color coding applied. Grrrrrrr. I put it together and of course there were longer branches sticking out of the middle of the tree and little stubbly ones on the bottom. I took the thing apart and put it the way it is supposed to be. Then came the saga of the lights. Two strings are dead and two are working. Except one thing. I have no idea where my head was when I bought one of them. They are on white wires!!!! Undoubtedly made for an all white tree. I put them on the tree, but it's awful. The white wires stick out like white wires on a green Christmas tree. LOL I'll have to take them off and replace them with the ones I'll be picking up at Ace Hardware today. Some of my ornaments are in not too good shape. So I've got holes............ LOL This poor tree reminds me of the one that Charlie Brown and Snoopy put together. LOL I'll rearrange the branches and add new lights today. It will be just fine. It will be my tree. :o)

Today I think I'll start wrapping presents. There aren't that many. I have a few that I'll send along with Chris and his wife when they leave to join the family in Atlanta on Friday.

My Christmas dinner celebration is on Monday so I'll have all of next weekend to get the house the way I want it. Dinner itself will be easy because I'm fixing ham. I'll have scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, glazed carrots and some other things but nothing time consuming or difficult to make. I intend to enjoy my guests and the time we have together.

That's what it's all about. Being with those you love.

Celebrate Jesus!!

God bless you all.