Christmas this and that.

We're not discussing how it's been two months since my last confession.post. 

Instead, let's see what Christmas looks like this year!

First, there was this a couple of weeks ago:

That's solid ice, people, NOT snow. Even the dogs couldn't walk on it.

That was followed by this:

... in which I dress up like a man and proceed to hack at the ice like it's my job. I really wanted to get out the blow dryer, but sanity (aka, the husband) prevailed.

Moving the party indoors, I took a day and did this:

Holiday baking, otherwise known as "cheap gift giving for a million people." Snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, and molasses cookies, and chocolate covered pretzel sticks. There was banana bread at one point during the ice storm, but you can't prove it now. 

In the midst of all this, I changed jobs for the first time in nine years, and had about 3 days to finish all things Christmas before jetting off to Chicago for a couple of days, where I was greeted with this:

That's about 8 feet of snow scooped from the parking log and dumped on those poor trees. It will probably still be there in April.

Meanwhile, this stuff fell out of the attic and decorated the house:

And a few snowmen and Santas showed up, too:

This bookshelf transforms every year to hold my snowmen.

This guy was a gift from my sister -- and was purchased at the store my dear friend owns!

He just makes me smile. And his twin brother showed up this year for my daughter's tree.

He's a nightlight, too.

Santa nesting dolls -- the tiniest is a fingertip-sized snowman - brought to me from Europe.

Then there was this:

Coby apparently decided he'd had enough of the Christmas crazy and politely asked to be shipped to somewhere more kitty-friendly. We declined. 

At last, we had this:

...which led to this:

That's it, folks. Chrismassy this and that from our house to yours!