It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Partly due to the time of year, of course. We still have snow on the ground, which may be mostly gone tomorrow with expected rain. But that rain will turn back to snow & it is expected to turn very cold & snow much of the rest of the week.

It's also looking more like Christmas inside the house since we put the tree up tonight. Decorations may have to wait until we replace a string of lights that is out, though. But our candles are in all the windows, the wreath is on the outside of the front door and the Advent calendar is on the inside.

Christmas cards are being finished & will be mailed shortly. And Christmas music is playing.

First of December -- First major snow

It rained all night Nov 30th -- perhaps 1½ inches. Then around 8am it turned to snow. It was a wet heavy snow -- would have been great for snowmen. There were accidents, cars sliding off the road. Rt 39 was closed after Gordon got to the hospital to see patients, so he wasn't able to get back to see his morning patients at the office. Since he had a meeting at the hospital at noon, he just stayed there & saw his nursing home patients & then attended his meeting. By then Rt 39 was open again & he got back mid afternoon & saw his re-scheduled morning patients.

This morning there is just light snow here, slippery underneath. Buffalo and surrounding suburbs got the brunt of it and schools are closed from East Aurora north.

Thanksgiving at home

We celebrated Thanksgiving with just the two of us because Gordon was on call and did not know when he might be able to get home. After helping me put the stuffing in the turkey he left for the hospital to see patients and handle whatever calls came in for the day.

The turkey went in at 1pm and I worked on everything else that would go with the dinner, including, of course, pie. Gordon was home before the turkey was done and didn't have to go out again that evening.

He did a fine job of carving the turkey too.

Time for Secret Santa at the medical office

Once a week for 4 weeks each of us gives their drawn name a "Secret Santa" gift -- from the dollar store. Then Wednesday of the 4th week we meet for our Christmas party (place to be named later).

This week I received 2 gifts (necessary because the party is during the 4th week). They were: a (seasonal) magnetic notepad for the refrigerator and a small Santa plate/candy dish.

Second weekly gift was a Christmas elf that's weighted to sit on a shelf or mantelpiece.

Third weekly gift (Fri, Dec 10) was a set of snowmen salt & pepper shakers! I hadn't even seen this sort of salt & pepper shakers since I was a kid. My mom had a collection of all sorts of different ones.

Banned Books Week

We're using this poster in the library for Banned Books Week.

September 26-Oct 3 is Banned Books Week. We have a display of some of the books on this year's list of banned or challenged books. I also found a PowerPoint that illustrates the point very well.
Click here to see it.

Christmas Visits

We were in Maryland for Christmas with the extended family. Not everyone was there at the same time, but almost. We were there long enough to see those who had to leave early as well as those who couldn't come until later.