A Little Christmas Cheer

Christmas Season Greetings All!

The house is a fair bit merrier looking as of today- the tree is up and mostly decorated (yes, I'm one of those moms who secretly goes back and "touches things up a bit"), the red and green aprons hang sweetly on their hooks in the kitchen, and the quilted wall hanging charms the dining area.

I love the festive time that the season brings!!

Yesterday we indulged ourselves with a viewing of White Christmas and were blessed a dusting of snow that fell as if right on cue. Today, however, the temperature plunged to a bitter cold of -20C (that's -4 F for our my American Peeps), and the house isn't so comfy anymore. Time to give the heating system a nudge.

I keep the winter store of veggies (sacks of potatoes, carrots, onions, beets, and squash) in my first entryway where normally, if the temp. is say 0 C or higher is just right for storage, but below that there is quite a risk of them freezing- which is bad. Very bad. I lost a few onions overnight, but hopefully the extent doesn't go too much further.

The girls braved the cold and ventured out shopping today, hoping to find just the right gifts. The selection of junk for sale here is, shall we say, lacking. Most of the "stuff" is from China, and breaks faster than you can clog a Central Asian toilet. There's always the new set of teacups, the new pair of gloves, but quality toys that last are just not around. Legos? Fugged-aboud-it. Authentic woven rugs? Not a chance- anymore. Clothes that don't look like some Brady Bunch disco reject coif? Never. Well, one time I did find the girls some really cool sheep's skin coats imported from Turkey. They are as warm as a hot buttered rum on a day such as this.

I think today we'll attempt fako-bako cookie houses. Maybe.

Cheers All,

Your SteppeSister