Christmas Eve & Christmas

Christmas Eve is always more special to me than Christmas Day, maybe because it's dark and the lights look prettier and there's a fire. This is when we have our "special" meal and pick a movie to watch and relax.
 

Never get tired of those colored pinecones you throw in the fire to give a special glow!

Brought out my smokey green wine glasses, I only have a pair and I'm so afraid I'll break one, but it's Christmas Eve!

The Pioneer Woman's potatoes au gratin, so delicious but fattening!

Filet Mignon with bernaise sauce, I cooked myself and couldn't believe how well it turned out. Yes, I ate a steak!!

A gift from my aunt was waiting at the gate, felt like it weighed 50 pounds and I didn't have a clue what it was.  CHEESECAKE!! How did she know I LOVE cheesecake??  Well, maybe everybody does.

I had made a batch of raspberry thumbprints, but opted for the chocolate cheesecake instead.

Christmas morning Bob made breakfast. As you can see the kitchen, this is why Bob is not allowed to cook, but he made Eggs Purgatory (not very fitting for Christmas) but they were damn good!

So Bob can cook.  Why does it only happen once every 20 years??!!

I've been hiding out since days before Christmas. We had a huge tree taken down (well, almost . . . I fired the crew, story later) but huge limbs were left in the treetops and I didn't want one falling on the dogs. Got a ladder and a pole to knock it out and it came down and hit me in the face. Haven't had a black eye since I was a kid.  

Very few gifts this year. Sent Rich and Pat some Ice Cubes, yummy chocolate squares.

Fabby was the recipient of an afghan this year for helping me to get Persia from Kentucky. (She is Hucky and Persia's Godmother.)

Baked a yule log for Lynn on the lake, my egg lady.  Love geting my eggs from her.

Christmas Day was 76 degrees, you know where I was all day, in my yard doing gardening (and cleanup from the loser tree guys.) My deer were eating cranberries.

The sun was out, the camellias were blooming and it was a really nice Christmas day.

A Real Live Christmas Tree!

Last year I saw this faux tree at Lowes and was bound and determined to copy it. I bought the same lights in large and small on sale to prepare for this year.
 

A very simple tree, flocked with pinecones.

It was the perfect year to get a live tree with two young chows that we didn't know how they would react to a tree and supporting a local tree farm since Helene destroyed a lot of the NC tree farms.

They all smelled good and were nice looking trees, was hard to pick the one to take home.

This is the one!

I have bins of pinecones from all over just waiting to be used. I have some really huge ones I collected when out on the NC coast and the Norway Spruce cones I got in Flat Rock.

My tree was not as heavily flocked as the faux one giving it a verdigris patina which I really liked. 

Even sprayed the lights to give it a softer glow as if it had snowed.

Added feather balls, nothing breakable just in case the kids wanted to mess with the tree.

Some faux fur balls, too. I thought the kids might have interest in those, but none whatsoever, so I think next year I can use glass ornaments.

Sparkly deer head tree topper.

                                        Merry Christmas.

First Day Volunteering at Flowering Bridge

My first day as a volunteer at the Flowering Bridge, which is no longer thanks to Hurricane Helene. There are plans to rebuild, it will not be the beautiful bridge it once was, but it will be pedestrian, and there will once again be gardens on it. The bridge above is just the road to Chimney Rock.
 

The lake is still very low after being drained to remove debris. I have to say it is a beautiful backdrop to work in.

You can see where the Flowering Bridge once was in this photo.

A small area of gardens has been started, compost and stones have been brought in. 

Thankfully the gazebo made it through the storm, some plants that were found wait to be planted. 

I didn't get a gardening task, I spent four hours outlining all the little gardens in xmas lights, changing bulbs and trying to make it festive for the community to walk through.

Other volunteers filled the planters in front of the new shed and education building.

Southern Living is donating the plants to restore the gardens.

Such a funny photo, all the gardeners bent over. Yep, that's the position you are in most of the time lol.

With the holidays and winter coming, there may not be a lot of days to plant when the ground gets hard, but that's okay, I have so much to do at home. I will be back soon!!