Productivity Slowing Down

That's what I get for bragging about my productive weekend. I've had a fun couple of days, but other than a little baking, I haven't gotten any work done. The Christmas closet is haunting me. I really need to get to it so I can enjoy the rest of my week. I don't think it's going to happen. I have to knock out my work first thing in the morning. It's too hard for me to get motivated after noon. Heck, the day is almost done by then.

After a Christmas concert on Monday night and dropping off my friends, I took myself on a mini light tour. I love Christmas lights.

I do not have a fancy schmancy camera, so I can never get really good pictures in the dark. That's okay, I don't want a "big" thing to carry around.

Seeing the lights, reminded me that I very well may be the reason my family is so competitive.  When the girls were little and we were making our way to St. Louis for Christmas, I remember that I'd start a little contest to keep them occupied for the many hours it took to get there. We counted Christmas lights---the right side of the car vs. the left side. After all, it's kind of hard to play the alphabet game in the dark. Of course, there was the usual arguing--"those weren't Christmas lights, that was a store" or "you do not have 22, that last one didn't count." Still, watching for those lights got us all in a festive mood. Now-a-days, I especially enjoy seeing them because I have a real appreciation for how much work it all is. Thank you to all the people out there that put up Christmas lights. It's a little present you give to others.

Yesterday, I got tickets (free) for my friends and I to tour the governor's mansion all decked out for the holidays. There were trees all over the house.

 This tree greeted you when you walked in the front door. It's decorated with framed photos of each governor we've had.

 This tree was dedicated to the indians (I've already forgotten which tribe). I love the arrows sticking out. The guy that decorated the trees lives here right outside of Nashville. He's the same guy who decorates all of the trees in the White House. He does ours first!

Leave it to Tennessee to decorate their trees with dead animals. Actually, this tree was dedicated to Davey Crockett. I guess he was from TN. I think he's like Daniel Boone---he's been just about everywhere.

There were stuffed pheasant on top. I did like the branches sticking out all over with the red berries.

 The nativity set was beautiful.

This is what mine looks like. Jordan and Morgan made these when they were in kindergarten. They are precious to me. I have a HUGE set of Lenox figurines. And by huge, I mean not only large in size, but also in numbers. They are hand-painted and very detailed. I quit getting it out several years ago---maybe even 10. It's just too much work. I think I'll see if one of the girls wants them.

I wish I had a picture of our first nativity set. I bought it through one of those home decorating parties that were so popular in the 1970's. As we were unwrapping it, Sandy decapitated Joseph. She was about 5 at the time. I glued his head back on and we used it for years. I have no idea when I got rid of that set. I wish I had been more sentimental in my younger years.

That leads me to these cute photos from years gone by.

We had a fund raiser through our woman's club at church. You donated $25.00 and santa would show up at your house some time during the month of December. It was always a surprise. Mindy wasn't too happy.

Do these clothes yell out 80's or what? Sandy is going to kill me for posting this one!

 We had our first snow on Monday night. This is pretty typical for us---not much.

I like seeing out of the windows in the sun room. Some times, this is all we get. A few times, we've had enough snow to really cover everything. In all the 29 years we've been here, we've had about 5 inches 3 or 4 times. It's the ice that causes a problem for us. We don't get much snow, but we get plenty of ice.

I really need to get to work now, but it's hard to pull myself away from this:

I'll choose the couch, a throw, a fire, Christmas lights and my laptop any time. I can be a good procrastinator.