Happy Zombie

I would love to read your Christmas Meme and hope you will leave a comment with your blog’s meme link. Also take a look at PAMKITTYMORNING’s… it’s a riot!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Coffee, hands down #1 24/7/365. I do love equally egg nog, chai, hot cocoa, hot apple cider and that hot German wine my mom makes. I’m not picky… just don’t take my coffee away.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
I don’t know what’s been up with Santa these last few years. He puts the wrapped gifts under the tree, but he’s just not as neat and tidy as he was in years past (I think he’s been having trouble bending, arthritis I’m sure). Santa does however have great taste in wrapping paper and it always seems to match my decor! I’m hoping this year he uses that nice red & aqua stipe wrap from Target.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White! Or as the box says… “clear”. I like simple white lights that looks like little winter fairies sneezed and got fairy snot all over. I’m so not into the icecycle lights, unless it’s on a roof with a nice steep roof line and every inch of the roofline is adorned. I’ve toyed with the idea of being a Christmas Light Cop and issuing tickets to bad taste violators.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I hang an X-Rated DVD. I kid. We keep those in The Special Drawer. Ok, I kid, I kid. Or am I? Anyhoo… I don’t hang Mistletoe because I’ve always heard how poisiness it is. I don’t know if that’s true… but I avoid it because of the dogs.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I try for after Thanksgiving, but that NEVER happens. I have a hard time putting away my Autumn-ween stuff. Usually about 3 weeks before Christmas and down the day after New Years. My Christmas dec is a pretty big deal, so it takes awhile. I love it… but I have to dedicate an entire day to it.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Roasted duck, especially the crispy skin seconds it comes out of the oven. My mom and I both love this. My mom always made roasted duck, and as soon as I was on my own… I carried the tradition on.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
A Christmas in Acapulco and I was so worried Santa would not know where I was or how to find me. I left him a note back at home and of course he found me and I was so thrilled!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
When I noticed Santa’s handwriting was just like my mom’s and he used the same wrapping paper as her. A lesson I learned when it came to my own kids gifts from Santa.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We were always allowed to open one, and my mom would pick it for us. Now as an adult, my parents give me “pre-Christmas” gifts (which doesn’t necessarily fall on any certain day). Unwrapped, just goodies to celebrate the season. My kids get to open one on Christmas Eve… which of course I pick out!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
It’s very German. Lots of red and white and straw. It could look Swedish too I guess. It’s how I do the entire house.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Oh gawd… the S Word. I told myself I was not going to mention snow again for a while… but of course… I love it!

12. Can you ice skate?
@#$!%!… I have trouble putting shoes on let alone skates! So, no.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
The favorite gift was the one DH and I gave one year. We knew of a family in Guam who lost everything in a typhoon (Paka) and anonymously (with the help of an ombudsman) we sent them a tree, the trimmings and a few gifts. DH and I decided not to give each other gifts so we could focu$ on that family. We did it anonymously because we wanted the family to know it was from the heart and for no other reason.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family, friends, festivities and the focus on doing kind things for others.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Hmmm… not that into sweets. I would say Baked Brie with brown sugar and pecans.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Lounging all day with my family. One big relaxing pajamapalooza with lots of food, football and basketball (the latter two on the TV of course).

17. What tops your tree?
A Star of David made out of straw. Seriously.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
Giving! Totally! I wish I could be Oprah Claus!!!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Let is Snow (Dean Martin), Blue Christmas (Elvis). I love Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and all my Hawaiian Christmas CD’s.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Just not into them. I do like the way they look though! One thing I loved as a kid was those Life Saver books. No candy canes in my childhood, we always had REAL gummi bears from Germany and to this day I still stuff them in our stockings.

Is this not too cool or what!

I was chatting this morning with Pam (ok, not really chatting per say… I responded in an email), talking about ELP’s and I thought I should show another reason why Montana is beautiful! Oregon and California DMV’s take note!

Consider yourself warned. If you don’t want to see photos of my dogs in the snow… skip this post! Dogs + Snow = 250 (photos). I’ve spared you of the entire collection from this morning’s winter wonderland at Casa de Pajama… so here’s about a dozen.

It goes without saying that schools are closed today for our first official Snow Day of the season (yesterday was a Snow Delay Day… 2 hr. late start). This is our 8th year here, and this by far is the most snow I’ve ever seen in Astoria. Astoria looks like a post card! Did you happen to catch the Seahawks/Green Bay Packers game last night… in the snow? It looked more like Green Bay then it did Seattle. I would guess the snow that fell in (into? on?) Qwest Field was nothing compared to Astoria’s snow last night! It was even prettier before the !@#$% snow plows came!

Paula has a photo of one of my favorite houses in Astoria… so worth a look-see!

Click on the photos and enjoy!
Monica

My new favorite photo of Liberty (aka Libby).

My new favorite photo of Madison.

My view from my kitchen window. This is my idea of entertainment while washing dishes!

My patio table just BEGS to be dressed and photographed by Alicia P!

Now at lunch time!

A little lunch time romp in the snow.

Which way to the fluffiest snow?

Snowball and Omlet take a peek at the snow outside and determine it’s best to stay in the coop.

Too cold for the Chickadees too! I just love how the snow is draped on my birdhouse roof and the tree is flocked by Mother Nature.

Madison is 3½… but she’ll forever be a puppy.

My words bring devastation… “Time to come in”!

Wow… great minds really do think alike!

This just blows me away… I just went to get my daily fix of PAMKITTYMORNING and I see her photo of her coffee on her patio table!!! I had done the same thing! In fact… I took this photo especially for Pam!

And yes… lots, lots, lots more snow last night and this morning! A true Snow Day in Astoria!

Our big Thanksgiving weekend came to a close. In-laws went back home and we even did some Black Friday shopping. The key was to go late in the afternoon after all the other people went home to sleep off their shoppers high. Though we did encounter a huge crowd and messy shelves at one Target (Tanesbourne in Hillsboro, OR), but found another with very few customers and nice stocked shelves (in Sherwood, OR in case you’re wondering). So lots got done, and a whole bunch of nothing else. My to-do list for Monday morning was long, long, long and growing longer by the minute!! So anyhoo… I make a nice Sunday dinner and DH makes a nice “Duraflame” fire. Dishes done, time for Amazing Race and then Desperate Housewives and I plop on the sofa, sip my coffee…. what’s that flicker outside the window??? What the heck (can you tell I’ve been watching Big Love?)… that’s snow! Yipppppeeee! Snow! Beautiful snow! Glorious snow! And then it stopped. A crushing blow from Mother Nature. She’s teasing me. Taunting me. She’s getting back at me because I refuse to stop wearing my flip flops.

I could barely sleep last night. Up every two hours on the hour to check the snow conditions! At 5am I turn on the local news and nothing on the ticker about Astoria schools delay/closure. Dang! Back to sleep. At just before 7am I check the ticker again, and there it is… passing fast but I saw it… “Astoria schools, 2 hour delay”! Not quite a snow day… but a snow delay works too! Time to frolic in our snow before it all melts. The dogs love it too and can’t get enough of it. Mmmmm… wet cold dog. Can you smell it? Needless to say… nothing on my list got done today!

For a long time now I’ve said (over and over) that Jackie of Wren’s Nest is the center of the blogging universe (and she’s from my hometown no less). I have discovered new blogs and made some awesome friends like Paula, Pam and Miss Dori Dew via Jackie. And of course Jackie too!

So anyhoo… Jackie sent me this online recipe swap gig and it led to me finding Louise’s Prairie Mouse’s blog. Not only did I get a YUMMY Lemon Syrup Loaf recipe from Louise… I got a link to her blog. There are a lot of great blogs out there (see my Lunch Box)… but Prairie Mouse made me gasp with delight when I saw the little kitty and bunny stuffies. It’s as if Louise climbed in to my head and designed something just for me! This morning I went through all of her archives and saw even more goodies! A real delight to visit Louise’s blog and I’ve committed myself to being her blogstalker now! So take a peek and be delighted, enchanted and inspired!

And speaking of Jackie… I was just at QuiltersBuzz and saw she’s going to be featured on QB soon! WTG Jackie!

Photo used with permission from Prairie Mouse

My Aunt Martha (yes… I have an Aunt Martha!) had made a DARLING Beach Kitty quilt and I fell in love with it! Martha’s quilt was SO cute and she used the cutest 30’s fabrics on hers. I was hoping it would accidently end up in my car… but it ended up going back to Tracy with Martha. I’m poo-poo’d with myself that I didn’t take a photo of Martha’s quilt! Just one more of the many reasons to make a road trip back down to my family in the Bay Area!

Anyhoo… My friend Karen ordered the pattern for her shop and I made this “one block” sample for the shop. The photo just does not do this pattern justice! Have I mentioned how cute this pattern is???

The little Beach Kitty has a little beach bag, so I decided to fill it with some beach gear… I made a towel and made her favorite magazine. I wanted to add one of those little paper “Mai Tai” umbrellas, but I didn’t have one (maybe Karen might have one and add it). Maybe I’m long overdue for a Mai Tai! I rarely have trouble parting with a shop sample… but this one I didn’t want to let go of. Good-bye Beach Kitty… have fun in your new home!

Fight back… and save the planet a little too. I hate, hate, hate the landslide of credit card offers that we receive. Back in the day we could just throw them in the recycling bin. Now because of the bad people doing bad things with our junk mail… we must sort, shred, recycle, blah, blah, blah.

I’m on a campaign to start a grassroots movement called “RECYCLE, REUSE & REVENGE!”. It’s very easy and very satisfying.

1) Open the offer and put the paper with all your info in the shred pile. All the other gunk put in the RECYCLE pile/bin. Be good to the earth, every little piece of paper recycled is small step to better living.

2) Take the “NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES Business Reply Mail” envelope and REUSE it as note paper. Shopping list, doodling, phone messages, to-do list, etc.

3) Mail your reused envelope. Here’s the best part… oh the sweet REVENGE! The credit card company has to pay for the postage (cha-ching, mooahhhaahaa) when they receive it! The icing on the sweet slice of revenge cake is that you are supporting the US Postal Service and maybe (hopefully) even a few jobs for those who need to open the received envelopes!

I don’t know if I’m making a difference, and at the very least I’m reusing and recycling. Will this put a stop to the credit card offers? I don’t know. At least it’s a shot!