CHRISTMAS PARADE AND DEACON'S DINNER

The alarm sounded an hour earlier this morning so hubbie and I could beat the closed roads and crowded parking lot that the annual Christmas parade brings to town this morning.
There was an empty parking lot when we arrived at market at 8:30. The parade begins at 10am and with this misty rain I don't know how many folks will brave this weather to see the parade.
Market started off slow but picked up a little as the morning went on and folks walked back through on their way back to their cars from watching the parade on main street.
It was an umbrella fest while watching the parade and the crowds were quite a bit smaller than usual.

G-son's Cub scout pack had a float in the parade although he wasn't one of the riders this years.

This is one of my favorite parade entries, I love Llamas !

And of course the main attraction brings up the rear of the rain shortened parade.

I got visits by some folks I haven't seen in awhile and had a decent sales day so I am very thankful.
We had a nice surprise visit from a "flash mob" singing Christmas carols which was very nice.

After market I made one stop at Aldi for baking supplies and came home to do a little more decorating before getting chores done early.
The sun won the battle for a while after lunch today but the dark clouds are back this evening and it looks like it could rain any minute as I got the chores done on a warm upper 50's day.
Tonight is the annual Deacon's dinner at the Western NC Justice Academy cafeteria.
All the church deacon's and their yoke fellows invite the widowers and widows of the church to this dinner . #1 son and d-in-love went also as he is a yoke fellow.  It was good to see him actively caring for the elderly folks in the church. We are fortunate to have these young men so willing to take on the responsibilities of church life  and picking up the torches from the older men who are stepping aside.

The dinner was delicious as usual and the fellowship was wonderful with all the church family.
After hubbie and I got home we labeled and loaded all 50 caramel cakes in the van that need to be delivered to the lawyers office tomorrow afternoon.I had them stacked in the kid's playroom so we felt we had better load them tonight to get them out of their way tomorrow when they come to lunch and want to play in there.

I spent a relaxing evening catching up on my blog reading and writing.
Thankful tonight for the wonderful church family that God has blessed me with and for the freedom to worship our Heavenly Father.
Good Night and God Bless.

WINTRY DAY AND SCHOOL BOOK FAIR

Uhhh , a cloudy cool morning. Not raining but things are wet like it has been a very heavy dew.
After chores and breakfast I went outside to check on all the livestock as I do each morning on my walk. Today I didn't take much of a walk but did walk one round around the farm before the misting rain got heavier and ran me back inside.
This is winter around the farm pond , which still needs cleaning out badly.

These are my two faithful companions each morning who make every step I do.

 All the animals were intently going about their business on this nasty dull morning.

As I came back through the back yard to the house a flurry of birds were enjoying the offerings I had put out for them.
I counted numerous types of feathered friends.

Back inside I started my baking for the day. I baked 12 caramel , 1 chocolate and 2 pound cakes before taking a lunch break.
After lunch it was more decorating time. I still don't have anything completely finished so pics will come later.
G-son's elementary school is having a book fair this afternoon after school and d-in-love is volunteering to work the cash register so I went over to buy g-son some things from the fair and bring him home so he doesn't have to stay there until 7:00 when his mom gets finished working.
he picked out several books and was intently reading on the way home.

That makes my very sick so I'm glad reading in a moving car doesn't bother him.
He named this book anything he wanted and then drew pictures in it.

He is getting so big !!
HE went outside and played with Flash, his buddie, while I did the chores. Hubbie was late getting home from work today as he brought a load of firewood home with him today from some downed trees.
After #1 son picked g-son up I iced my cakes and got things ready for market.
The high today was 49 degrees under the cloudy skies making it a pretty raw day to be outside.
Talked to Re tonight as I missed her today when I was gone as she and little EL made their rounds to check the animals.
Talked to daughter after her basketball games, her JV team lost by 4 points and the varsity won by 40 at Hendersonville high school tonight.
Thankful tonight for the many blessings of this day .
Good Night and God Bless.

SLOW AFTER THANKSGIVING MARKET DAY

Off to market on another warm sunny morning. The parking lot was empty except for a few sellers cars when I arrived.
It was a slow day as expected but I did sell some things and I picked up a couple nice orders for later in the month.
There wasn't many sellers who made the effort to get out today either.
After market I ran errands then made several stops to look at Christmas trees.  Finally at Lowes I located a tree I thought would suit my need. I didn't find one in a box so I found an associate and bought the one on the floor. Only problem was they had it standing in a rotating stand and the stand that was there with it was not the right size.  He went to the manager to ask what to do since I really wanted the tree. 
They gave me a $20 stand off the shelf and also gave me 10% off the tree since I was buying the floor model.  I don't know how many trees they started out with but they have sold almost all of them including many of the floor models like I bought.
I will make photos when I get it set up and decorated.
I also found some white valences for the living room windows on sale while I was there.
My only other stop was Walmart to pick up a few baking supplies for tomorrow.
I got home at the same time as hubbie got in from work so he helped me get unloaded and put things away.
It was almost dark already under a totally cloudy sky so chores went quickly.
After supper I emptied another plastic container of Christmas decorations and loaded up a couple boxes of regular shelf sitters to make room for the Christmas ones.
Aa and Re made it home tonight from a week long visit with family in Ohio, thankful for safe travel for them. 
Thankful for the blessings of this day as I strive each day to be the kind of person that pleases my Heavenly Father.
Good Night and God Bless

DECORATING BEGINS

Another beautiful December morning.  After chores and breakfast I took a walk in the 51 degree sunshine. Ahhhh !!!  can this really be December ??
Back inside I baked a couple pound cakes and a wine cake for market tomorrow.
After lunch I got the Christmas decorating started. I emptied 5 of the plastic containers from the shed and got most of it in place. I changed all the rugs, furniture covers and pillows and even put a Christmas bed spread on our bed.
Hubbie came in from work and came out of the bedroom whistling "Christmas times a comin"  .
After chores I tackled the weekly paperwork and bill paying.  
I wrapped the cakes and finished icing the last of the caramel cakes for the large order as well as a couple chocolate cakes for market.
I expect a very slow day at market as the week after everyone has stuffed on Thanksgiving is always a slow one.
As we moved things around in the living room I have come to the definite conclusion that we need a slimmer tree.  I am going to look tomorrow at Lowes and if I can't find one I will probably take a chance on a real tree and hope we don't get cold enough to have to build a fire in the upstairs wood stove.  That is the main reason I started using a artificial tree , the heat from the wood stove dried the trees out in no time no matter how much water we kept around the base. The last time I had to buy a new tree and re-decorate it so we would have a tree with some needles on it on Christmas morning was the last real tree we had.
Daughter's teams played a rare Wednesday night game tonight as they traveled to Enka high school in Buncombe county.  Both her teams lost their games tonight, her JV team lost by 4 points after beating this same team at home a couple weeks ago by 20 points, how does that happen ???
This is a pic of this years varsity team, daughter is the second coach from the right.

Here she watches in the background as one of her players drives to the basket.

Thankful for a wonderful day and for all the Lord's blessings of the day.
Good Night and God Bless

MORE CAKE BAKING

The fog hung low for most of the morning after a misty shower that didn't leave any measurable amount in the rain gauge .

I took these as I took a morning walk. The temperature got lower than expected at 39 earlier this morning but it warmed up quickly to around 50 today under mostly cloudy skies.
After my walk I baked 12 caramel and 2 chocolate cakes before having lunch.
I ran out to Staples and Walmart to pick up a couple things I have to have to finish my large cake order this week.
When I got home I did house cleaning and got all the fall decorations put away. I was planning on getting some Christmas decorations up today but time got away from me this afternoon.
Flash is guarding the outside decorations for me  !!

After chores this evening I banded the 8 newest Silkie chicks and put them in the big house with all the other silkies. I have advertised them for sale but this is a bad time of year to sell chickens of any kind.  With the bright yellow leg bands I can easily pick them out this spring to sell.
I will have to watch them for a couple days to make sure they get into the routine of going inside at night before the next cold weather gets here.
G-son came to stay with us tonight while his mom went to music practice. He acted like he enjoyed himself and wanted to snuggle with his Pawpaw in the recliner to watch "Charlie Brown's Christmas".

As the show came on tonight they said this Christmas cartoon had been showing every year since 1965. Hubbie told g-son that that was the year he was 10 years old.  G-son said wow that must have been a really long time ago, haha !!
I iced 18 more caramel cakes tonight while they watched TV.  My stack of boxed cakes is growing each day, hopefully by tomorrow night I will be finished with this order and things for market Thursday.

We built a fire in the wood stove tonight just in case the temperatures go down farther than predicted again. It is still 46 degrees at 11:00 , so I would expect mid 30's by morning.
This is a map showing the snow cover in the country on these first days of December.

Thankful for the love of my Heavenly Father today and everyday and for the "Reason for this Season" !
Good Night and God Bless.

DECEMBER OR SPRING ???????

This first day of December 2014 feels like a spring day with bright sunshine and temps quickly warming to a high of 70 degrees this afternoon !!!
It was nice to be in shirt sleeves without heavy jackets for our outside work today but we did work up a sweat.
After chores I got laundry started then spent the morning baking 18 caramel cakes for Saturday's order.
I ate a late lunch then got my outside Christmas decorations out of the shed and put them all out except the lights on the trees and a few things for the front porch which I will choose as I go through the rest of the decorations.  It felt strange to be putting up Christmas decorations with the temperature so warm today.
This entire first week of December looks like spring !!

After an unusually cold November this seems strange but I'm sure I can get used to this.
I mixed 4 loads of laundry into my busy day and then delivered a coconut cake at 5:00 to bring to an end my decorating for the day.
The cold front coming into the area overnight made for a colorful sunset this evening.

After chores I took a rest on the couch with a heating pad on my back to watch the news. I fought sleep the entire time but wanted to make sure I didn't nod off and not get my icing done this evening.
I got up after the news and Iced 24 caramel cakes this evening.
As I iced I listened to the CMA County Christmas music show which was very good.
Daughter came by for the rest of our pot pie left-overs tonight.
Hopefully the Christmas spirit will hit me when I get this large cake order done and can get more into my decorating and enjoy the season as it is my favorite time of year.
Thankful for the strength God gives me each day and for the birth of His son sent to save a dark world from our sins.
Good Night and God Bless.

HANGING OF THE GREENS ENDS NOVEMBER

This last day of an unusually cold November began with bright sunshine and warming temps after a mid 20's night.
Very early this morning actually last night , but it was after midnight so it was today, I let the dogs out to pee one last time before we crawled into bed and as I looked up at the moon I was amazed and had to go back inside for a coat and my  big camera.  I have never seen the moon in this position before.

This picture isn't turned sideways, this was the actual position of the moon, only the bottom half was illuminated.  I'm sure this has a meaning in folklore but I was unable to find anything.
Back to this morning after the moon was gone and the sun was shining, I did chores and had breakfast then got ready for church.
The sermon was continuing in Esther and it was a nice service.
Afterward we had a huge turkey pot pie for lunch, using all the turkey and mashed potato left overs. It was delicious and enjoyed by #1 son,d-in-love, g-son, #2 son and daughter. I made a 11"X 15" pan of the pie and only a small corner was left !!  D-in-love also brought up a corn casserole she made last night and a pumpkin pie that was very good.
After lunch all the kids went their separate ways and hubbie and I made a trip to Aldi to pick up all the extra baking supplies for the large cake order for this coming Saturday.
When we got home and got unloaded we had about 20 minutes to rest before time for chores.
We got everything done a little early this evening so we could make it back to church tonight for the "Hanging of the Greens" service.
This is a favorite service of mine each year as the congregation decorates the church and sings all the old familiar Christmas songs.
This is the children putting the manger together, g-son is the one in the red plaid shirt putting a figure on the table.

The children then sang Away in a Manger for us.

 G-son loves to sing !!

The ornaments for the trees were all placed on the pews and the entire congregation lined up and placed them on the trees as we sang songs.

Then the lights were turned on as Cassie sang.

These three generations share a laugh.

Everyone enjoyed the service then headed downstairs  to fellowship and  snacks.

We also lit the  first Advent candle tonight, the candle of "Hope"  to start the Christmas season celebration.

Sitting there tonight watching the program I thought how strange it felt to already be in this season. Today is the last day of November and Christmas is a little over 3 weeks away, oh my !!
This November has been a wintry month with cold temps and a couple snowy days, which is strange for our area. Our family has had a pretty routine month of work and play.
#1 son has been working 6 days a week, 5 for his regular job at DOT and on Saturdays for a friend who has a grading business. He took the week of Thanksgiving off to deer hunt but didn't see anything to shoot at.
D-in-love has fit well into her new job at the elementary school where g-son goes and she has also starting her photo business up again and has been busy making Christmas card pics for folks.
G-son likes school and says he has the best teacher in the entire school this year.
#2 son has also been working 6 days a week at the post office delivering all the early packages and worked 1/2 day today picking up packages.
Daughter helped coach the varsity volleyball team to the third round of the state play-offs  before they lost, then had one free afternoon before basketball practice began. She is the head JV coach and the assistant varsity coach. With practice everyday she has little time for anything else but has been dating a new beau who seems very nice.  She also finally bought herself her first new car during her Thanksgiving break, an Acura ILX which she really is enjoying.
Aa and Re had a good month of farming as 5 out of  6 cows gave birth to calves without any trouble this month. Little EL is growing up way too fast and is talking a mile a minute. Re is now less than 6 weeks away from delivering her little boy and EL's baby brother.  They are still trying to get financing on a new home on the land they closed on last month.
Hubbie has fought falling leaves all month and swears there is more leaves this year than ever before.
I have had a fairly busy market month which I am thankful for and also have had precious time to spend with g-son and little EL while their mom's worked.
I am very thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family and also the extended family get-together we had earlier in the month.
This has been a very thankful month for me as I have focused more on the things I usually take for granted and trying to be much more thankful in recognizing my Heavenly Father and His love for me and my family as this month comes to an end and we get ready to celebrate the birth of our precious Savior.
Good Night and God Bless