I finally finished my lated WIP (Work in Process). This has been hanging out for almost two months! Granted, it is a large doily - 24 inches done in size 30 thread, but really, it shouldn't take me that long! I actually put it aside - almost finished - in October to start my big push on Christmas projects. I think I made 80 snowflakes this year, and lost track of the number of embelleshed gloves - 20? 25? I also made 15 or so of the stocking ornaments. Now, to get started for next Christmas! (Yeah, right!)

We survived the drive to Susanville - a lot of snow on the way up, but it was melting on the road at least on our way back. We have (comparatively) warmer weather in the valley now. I did get some great pictures! Alli was a very good girl while we were there - she only got into the frig a couple of times!

This is a shot of the road up to Susanville - and a couple of pictures of the mountains around Susanville.

Grandma had microwave pizzas for lunch - yum! I bet you didn't know pizza was that much of a finger food, did you!

Here is the little girl that Mom is babysitting - such a cutie! Cambria found my scarf - it was a cool toy!

Alli on the couch, watching TV - with a little help!

Mom's kitten George. He terrified Koori the whole time we were there. She doesn't let me get very far from her when she is there anyway, but once George started stalking her, she was in my lap! (She is not usually a lap dog, but we made an exception because of mean old George!)

We are off to Grandma's house today - if the weather still looks good. We are cold here - 25 degrees, but I just checked weather.com, and in Susanville it is 14 degrees! Maybe I don't want to go up there! The site also said snow/rain showers tonight for Redding, and rain on Saturday. They are forecasting snow tonight for Susanville, and more snow on Saturday, so...we will see. I don't really want to get stuck up there!

I did take some Christmas morning pictures - I like the new camera!

Alli was just a bit grumpy in the morning - she perked up after breakfast, though!

Alli and her stocking - she didn't really want to play.

Alli playing with the only thing she really liked in her stocking - a pez candy dispenser!

Alli and her scarf and mittens I made - she wasn't too impressed there either!

Alex and his stocking - candy!

Opening presents

The dogs with their new toys

My new dragon!

Merry Christmas! I think this is the first Christmas the parents beat the kids up in the morning! Even the dogs beat the kids to the presents - with Koori stealing the big bone that was supposed to be Jasper's. I guess some things never change!

Alli spent some time on her core trainer on Christmas Eve, and seemed to be having a great time! AJ and I spent some quality time' playing the Wii - and I I beat him at bowling! (I think he felt sorry for me and let me win!) We haven't played in a while, and it was fun. Usually, he is playing War Games of some sort, and I try not to even watch!

(Mom is red!)

I am so glad today is a vacation day! Alli was falling asleep last night on the couch, so I put her to bed at 8:30. She got her second wind at 9:30 (when Ralph went to bed), her third wind at 10:30, her fourth wind at 11:30......I didn't think I was ever going to get her to go to sleep! I think the last time I got up with her was a little after midnight. She did let me sleep in until 7:00 today, to make up for it! She was very happy - laughing and giggling and bouncing on the bed. I only got up with her when she tried to leave her room. (No, she cannot have free reign of the house in the dark! She would like to though - especially the refrigerator!) She seems a bit subdued this morning, but I am sure she will wake up after I feed her some breakfast. (I am hoping it works for me as well - I'm tired!)

I got good news on my brother on Monday. A couple of weeks ago, he walked out in the garage and saw what he thought was two of their cats fighting. He grabbed the adult cat to protect the kitten, and....it wasn't their cat. About that time, the cat bit him and ran. Of course, it was a stray - no way to know if it had been vaccinated against rabies. Dave had until this Monday to capture the cat, or he would have to start the rabies treatment on Tuesday. Late Monday afternoon, he caught the cat! Sad for the cat, but happy for Dave! (Also sad for George - the kitten - Dave probably won't break up the fight next time, and George will get clobbered!)

I played with my camera just a bit today - very cool! These are the Kitchen Fairies that the ladies I work with got me for Christmas - the Seedling Fairy and the Bountiful Harvest Fairy.

I forgot that I hadn't posted these yet! Here are the pictures that we had taken for Christmas this year!

Vacation is here at last! Why does it come so slowly, and go so fast? I have the majority of the 'stuff' done for Christmas, so I am going to try to just relax a bit - easier said than done! I already started a list of things to get done today. (The list is shorter than normal, so I am relaxing - really!)

We have a cold and foggy day here today - it is 32 degrees outside - cold for Redding! They are forecasting rain today - snow level down to 1,000 feet. (luckily - we are at 500 feet or so!) Just to make me feel better, I checked the temp for Susanville - they are at 14 degrees, with a high of 31! I think I am going to freeze when we go up after Christmas!

I think I made Ralph's day! Yesterday, I accidentally dropped my camera. Who knew they were that sensitive? Ralph went on-line shopping for me this morning, and then went to Circuit City to pick up a new camera (and a couple of accessories, of course!) The pictures above were taken with the new camera. It is pretty nice, and is 'more' than I would have picked out, but I like it! It is about the same price as the old camera I got 2 1/2 years ago, but it has a lot more to it than my old one did! (I hadn't even figured out everything on it - now I have to start over!) Technology changes to fast!

The flower is a Christmas present from a co-worker. It is beautiful! If it lives long enough, it will be very pretty out in my white flower area, too!

We had snow! Okay - we had a dusting of snow only on the top of the cars, not even on the ground, but....we had snow. Truthfully, if this is all we get, I am happy! Since we live in the 'banana belt' of the Redding/Anderson area, everyone else got more than we did, but still not a lot in this storm. This picture was taken Monday morning, and Alex was hoping all the way in to town that Redding had more snow - which it did, but not enough for a 'snow day'!

There was a bit more snow on and off all day Monday, but then it started clearing up, and it is now cold! (at least for Redding) It is about 29 degrees according to the thermometer on the back patio this morning - cold for us! We are supposed to stay clear and cold until Thursday, and then another storm is scheduled to come through. This one is supposed to have more moisture, so we may be getting more snow!

Another annual cookie party survived! The 'kids' have all grown up! It is amazing how grown-up they look! Since we haven't seen Jerika since she moved to Oklahoma (about 2 1/1 years ago) she was probably the most changed. We seen the Derby girls a couple of times a year, but Emma has really matured lately too! Poor Renee' was shocked about how tall everyone was! She hasn't seen the kids since she left either! Jerika is only about 5'5" - Alli is almost as tall! Emma was here in between soccer games, so she is all decked out in her uniform. Since this is the last weekend for her games, she didn't bother changing, and I don't think she even got any pain on it!

Okay - they grew up, but they haven't matured yet - they are still kids! I think they really enjoyed hanging out together again.

They all decorated at least one ornament, and almost all of them decorated a lot of sugar cookies. Rosemary is an artiste, and took her time and made beautiful cookies - three of them, I believe. The rest of the 6 dozen + were decorated by the others. The ornaments this year were colored balls, with frosted paint and foam stickies. The first one here - the silver with the bows - met a sad fate. Allison decided to check it out as it was drying by the stove. This year, since the kids were older, I bought glass balls. It was the only casualty though, I think!

Did I mention that they haven't matured? Yes, that is Alex in the background - who knew he was a photo-hog?

Here is the cookie decorating table - lots of fun here too! What amazed me most was the clean-up. It didn't take me a long time to clean up, and there wasn't even a lot of sugar on the floor - maybe they are growing up!

And here is poor Jasper - isn't one of those for me?????