Me on Monday

Whew! Where to begin? It was a very fun, relaxing, yet hectic holiday. 

After our Thanksgiving at Morgan's, we took off for St. Louis to visit family. We did have a stop in Springfield, Illinois to visit and tour the home of Abraham Lincoln. We also toured his tomb. It was bitterly cold--21 degrees and very windy. We're not used to those kinds of temperatures.

When we got to St. Louis, we visited with Walter and Chris for several hours and got our usual Imo's pizza--St. Louis-style pizza is my favorite. Otherwise, I'm not a huge pizza lover. We also get the toasted ravioli and Italian salad. So good--we have to have it every time we're there.

We stayed with Matt, my brother and sil Sharon. Our plans for Saturday took a detour as the snow really came down and thwarted our plans. We spent the day just hanging out and watching football. 

Janet, Jeanne, and Jim braved the weather later after the snow stopped so we could have our scheduled poker game. St. Louis knows how to handle snow! The highways are kept clear.

From the left--clockwise around (Sharon is taking the picture and didn't play): Matt, me, Jeanne, Janet, Butch and Jim.

I ended up being the big winner--$17.30. That surprised me because although I had some really good hands--includng a Royal Flush (the BEST hand you can get in poker for those of you who don't know. It's the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit. Mine was with a wild card. I don't think I've ever seen a natural one.) Anyway we had a great time--as always.

Butch and I got on the road yesterday at 4:15 a.m. and was home by 10!! That's how we like to travel--less traffic that way--especially on a holiday weekend!

Tomorrow is going to be my "Travel Tuesday" post about our visit at Morgan and Olly's. 

Today, I want to get back to ME. 

I do not remember the last time we had an Advent calendar. This year, we have FOUR!! 

I bought some of the Advent puzzles last year for gifts. Each day is a 45-piece puzzle. I thought that sounded like fun, plus I liked the old-fashioned images. I bought myself the Taylor Swift one--couldn't resist it. It's supposed to have trinkets. I've shown my first one below.

Sandy sent us the Disney Facts calendar along with some other goodies as a "thank you" for our recent Disney trip. I can't wait to get in to that one! Lastly, the candle from St. Paul's Cathedral in London, is from our friends, Diane and Gren from Nottingham. We do love candles and burn them every day--yes, every day!

Okay, so here's the first trinket from the TS calendar:

Okay, that's pretty underwhelming. You know what they say? You get what you pay for! If all the trinkets turn out to be these round things, I can use them on a scrapbook page. The only problem is, I've already scrapbooked TS. I don't really need more than one layout about her. We'll see. 

I'd forgotten how fun these calendars can be!