Only 10 days until Christmas. We are all ready. It snowed all day again today. I don't remember a year with this much snow in December in years if ever. Chelsea loves it, of course. Snow really turns her on.

This morning I drove to Sheboygan Falls to see Mother. I mailed her Christmas cards for her on the way home. She is fine but has been housebound this past week because of the weather. I hope it is nice this week as she is supposed to have two Senior meal events, one of them a party and she likes that.

I fixed a turkey for dinner today. The Thanksgiving turkey tasted so good that it made me want more and especially made me hungry for leftovers. Boy, now I have plenty of them.

I mixed up a batch of Christmas Stollen today too. It has to sit in the fridge overnight and then tomorrow I need to roll it out, fill it and bake it. It keeps for a long time. I checked with Mother. She is making a batch today too.

With all the snow, the world is a white and silver wonderland. Quiet and peaceful under the cloudy gray sky. It is so beautiful now before the black exhaust leaves a film on everything and it becomes old and jaded.

We should enjoy the purity of it.

Have a nice Sunday. I am working at Rhine. Bet it will be a very quiet dull day.

Love

Mary

Such an early onset of winter makes us leery of then next five months. It has been many years since we have had this much snow and this much snow this early in December. It would be nice if the snow stayed around until after Christmas. (All that White Christmas stuff, you know.) But snow through March or even into April is hard to accept. Only time will tell, but it was 13 degrees this morning when Chelsea and I went out for our morning walk.

She has been a real pest today. I must have taken her out at least 8 maybe 10 times. We don't know what is happening. Is it old age? Is it the pills? Is it because she is a spoiled little puppy (Bitch is the word Dick uses. Not insulting- after all bitch is the proper term for a female dog.)

I cleaned the kitchen and mixed up a pie crust this morning. AND Dick and I finally got the Gewertziminer racked. So a lot was accomplished. I vacuumed the guest room and dusted in that room. Tomorrow I hope to get the den.

Today I was thinking of a dear friend, Twila Heinze. Isn't Twila a lovely name? It belonged to a lovely woman. Twila was married to a man named Ernie. They owned a auto repair place in Santa Ana. Ernie was severely injured in a jeeping accident and was unable to work any longer. They had several children and the business was survival for them. SO - Twila learned how to be a mechanic and to run the business and they did just fine. She was dynamic.

We belonged to the same jeep club. One year at our Christmas party she commented that children were funny little creatures and all raised differently. She said that one of the little people had been scooting by her on all fours and she had patted him on his little rear as he scooted by and her burst into tears. She and I were both used to a little love pat on the buns of our munchkins, just to let them know that we were there if we needed them. She also mentioned that her boys and grandchildren all had dark coarse hair. My boys and the Kirby boys and the Nordin boys all had blond hair. She said that blond kids smelled like puppies. Isn't that the cutest thing you ever heard.

Love

Mary

Today we stayed home the whole day.

I cleaned. Bathrooms, and stairs and the kitchenette downstairs.

I also think I have all of my Christmas cards sent off. If I forgot anybody. I am sorry. It seems so important to be in touch at this time of year. I guess it would be good if it continued all year round but at least Christmas makes us take stock of ourselves and our friendships again.

I got a call at about 6:30PM from Kate. Just a quick call. Ron made it through the surgery OK. They put two stints in the heart. There are two others that need care I guess. The nurse came in as she was talking to me so she had to go. Just keep praying that all continues to go well and that Ron is restored to health. This has been a long and scary road they have been traveling.

Since it is near Christmas I will again give you my Scripture Cake Recipe. I did not make it this year as I have too many other things and still want to bake some of Mom's Stollen Recipe that came from Grandma Deeley.

We should always let the scriptures be our guide. It even works when making Christmas goodies – at least it works when making this delicious cake. Read the scripture indicated to find the ingredients and make this interesting and informative cake for a special family home evening activity.

SCRIPTURE CAKE

1 Cup Judges 5:25 (Last Clause)

1 Cup Jeremiah 6:20 (From a far country)

5 of Jeremiah 17:11

2 TBLSP. 1 Samuel 14:25

1 Cup Judges 4:19 (Last Clause)

2 Cups Numbers 28:5

5 teasp. Amos 4:5

1 teasp. Leviticus 2:13

2 Cups 1 Samuel 30:12 (Second Item)

2 Cups Naham 3:12 (Chopped)

1 Cup Numbers 17:23 (Halved)

Season to taste with II Chronicles 9:9

Mix as quick breads or fruitcakes are mixed.

Follow Solomon's directions for making a good boy, Proverbs 23:14

Bake as a fruitcake at about 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Makes two loaves

Love

Mary

When we wpoke up, the plows had neatly cleared our streets. So Chelsea and I tried a walk. We did OK but there was a lot of ice on the streets and big snow drifts on the sides of the road and blocking the paths to the park so we headed back after about 20 minutes.

This was shopping day. So we stopped at the bank then proceeded to the Family Restaurant for breakfast. I felt adventurous today and ordered pigs in a blanket. The brought out three huge pancakes wrapped around pork sausages. I wish they had pig in a blanket. Dick and I will eat a good breakfast tomorrow too.

Next was our weekly shopping trip. I think Dick was ready to disown me. He was VERY tired. So went to get some wine while I checked out. HOWEVER. I had a rain check for two dozen eggs at .99 each dozen. That would have been easy but the Pig ALSO was giving Pig Points for gas on eggs this week. That meant that they couldn't run the rain check through and give me credit for the Pig points without some real shenanigans. But we did it. This was a good week. I also bought a turkey because I got $8.00 off on it. I will cook it this weekend and divide the leftovers up into portions for the next couple of months. The only difficulty with not cooking Thanksgiving Dinner IS NO LEFTOVERS.

We went to ReMax this noon for the annual Christmas brunch that Bill puts on. It was excellent as usual and he had some really NICE gifts. A ceramic ornament, some note pads and a calendar. I like that.

Then I framed the presents that I have for my brothers and sisters and Denise this Christmas. I can't tell you what they are because some of them read this blog. It's a surprise. Tee! Hee! Only a couple of weeks until Christmas and I will bring George and Nora's to Texas.

We got started on the wine today but will be spending the next week racking and filtering. Hope we have some more ready for Christmas. We probably have enough anyway but it is nice to have the variety to share.

I remember when the kids were very young. Bret was about three or four and his very best friend was Chip Nusser who lived next door and Joyce, Chip's mother was my best friend. We went out tree shopping. The trouble is that you get two short mom's who are really kind of hyped up about Christmas and send them into a tree lot and things get out of hand. We decided that the tree should be about as tall as we were. The only problem with that is that as we were measuring, our hands kind of started pointing up. Until we got home, we did not realize that the 5 or 5 1/2 foot trees had "grown" t0 about 7 feet and both trees were too tall for our living rooms. Dick and Dan had to cut a couple of feet off the bottoms of them so they would fit. They were beautiful trees though. Good thing I had a pickup.

Have a nice Thursday. Get in the spirit.

Love

Mary

Woke up this morning to a steady snowfall of nice fluffy flakes that kept falling until almost 3PM. Chelsea loved it. We actually had a very nice walk. It was not windy and I wore my non slippy boots so we sent around the park and came through the park back to Tallgrass. She was delighted and bounded in like a young pup. Of course that didn't last too long. She is totally exhausted now.
We did not leave the tract all day. I watered plants and baked Lizzies and changed some arrangements for the Cream City Writer's party that will occur on Monday. We are going to Antoinette's instead of Hub City. Hub City is SO smoky that I think we would be uncomfortable. Between Bev and I we have contacted all the writers.

Today when I was talking to Kate, she somehow connected to the fact that my boys are named Bret and Bart. She laughed and asked how that happened. So I told her it was from Maverick, the series on TV back then. She had assumed it was from the Green Bay Packers two most favorite quarterbacks, Bart Starr and Bret Favre. I remember that Sara and Nora thought that it was pretty neat that their uncles were named Bret and Bart. Actually my Bret is a couple years older than Brett Favre so who named who after whom.

Tomorrow we shop and go to the ReMax Open House. That is always nice and Dick likes it because they have raw beef sandwiches. We also need to get back to racking wine again. The Gewertziminer is ready to rack.

Have a good day. I hope the roads are good tomorrow.

Love
Mary

It was a very cold day today and cloudy and gloomy too. The day was not cloudy and gloomy though.

Dick and I had to be at Aurora in Plymouth for his last Diabetes Class at 8:30AM. This class covered vitamins and minerals and herbals and reviewed the previous 6 classes for us. We have been really pleased with the lessons. And so far, Dick is keeping his sugars within the parameters just with diet.

Then we trudged down the hall to Dr. Sharon's office. He wanted to see how the sores on Dick's legs are doing. I showed him the kind of weepy area on Dick's right foot and Dr Sharon took a swab to test it. We will hear if there is an infection in a day or two. I hope not. We have been working VERY hard to avoid that.

Then I dropped some things off at Kate's and went to the Pig to pick up Jenna from the Cream City Writers to go to City Streets in Sheboygan for the Sheboygan County Writer's Club Christmas party. That went quite well. We ate, then everybody got a door prize, then we exchanged gifts and then finally those who had submitted read their selection from the book that John Textor, our co president, put together. The second COLLECTION OF WORDS, WIT AND WISDOM Volume 2. It is a nice book and I purchased several for gifts.

I got home at about 3:30 after picking up Chelsea's meds from the Kettle Moraine Veterinary Clinic. We had soup and grilled cheese for supper. Now the day is done and we can wind down. Good thing. I am really tired.

Look into the eyes
Of those who hold out their hands
And you have to love.

Tomorrow we get to stay home all day. If there is no sleet, I will go to Church in the evening for the Evening with the Pastor. The bible study.

Take care. I am going to bake Lizzies tomorrow.

Love

Mary

Another full day. I am almost glad that the weekend if over.

Had to be up by 6 because I went to the 8AM Mass. Sure glad I didn't have to miss another one. Fr. Van Beeck pointed out something interesting. This was the gospel of Matthew referring to John the Baptist living out in the desert wearing camel fur and eating honey covered locusts. John said that the "Kingdom of God is at hand." He did not mean that it was coming soon, which we usually assume but that it is there for the taking. Pretty interesting.

When I got home, I fixed breakfast and then went out to Rhine. We started early today because there was some sort of meet which started at about 10AM. It was not too busy. Sara Behr had made chicken soup for people to eat on as we were open over the lunch time. We also served ham sandwiches and coffee. I left between two and three to come home. I brought some of the soup home for us to lunch on during the week. Sara DOES make a great chicken soup.

I called Kate Herman, my friend, tonight. She is not going to be able to to to Sheboygan Writer's tomorrow as Ron needs her there. I had offered to go to St. Luke's with her and Ron on Thursday when he will be able to undergo surgery, but it looks like their son will be able to go now. That will be much better for Kate, but I told her to remember that I will stay available in case she needs me. Please pray hard for Ron. He is a very sick person and needs us.

Tomorrow morning, Dick and I will be going to diabetes class again. I am not sure what we are covering this time. Then he sees Dr. Sharon. We need to be sure that his legs are not infected. I am sure they are not but am worried about one "hot spot" on his right foot.

What a game the Packers had today. They won handily. It seemed that every time I turned away from the screen, they would do something else spectacular. It was worth my having to see them on the replays.

Guess that should be all for today. I called Bart today and had a nice telephone visit with him. It will be good to see him and Barb in Dallas.

Take care now and have a good week

Mary