Friday, December 21, 2012

A Bit of Christmas

Some of you know my friend who signs on as "Kathy Down The Road" or just KDTR in the comments section. Since we moved downtown, my friend and neighbour of twenty-four years is no longer "down the road" except in spirit.

My daughters have tended Kathy's garden for years, which was great for me, because it allowed me to photograph the results of all their hard work without actually doing any of it. It was a win/win. Well, it was a win. Sometimes KDTR and I would sit in the shade and drink coffee and watch whilst my offspring turned the compost  or pulled weeds in the vegetable patch. That was surprisingly satisfying, I have to say. Most days though, Kathy would prepare a hot breakfast for my girls - eggs, toasted English muffins, a variety of jams and freshly ground coffee - and chat them up before they got to work. I did not have jobs like this when I was a teen. I scrubbed floors and toilets for minimum wage (at that time, $1.35 an hour) in the local A&W after the bars closed and all the drunks came for their midnight feeding. It was not pretty.

Anyway, while our house was up for sale, I frequently had to skedaddle with the dog while agents showed potential buyers around. I got sick of walking or driving around in circles for hours, so one morning I asked KDTR if I could sit on her back porch for a bit until I got the all clear to return. She couldn't be there, but said "go on back and make yourself at home." Waiting for me was a chaise lounge and a tray with the morning paper, some baked goods and a thermos of ice water and sliced limes. That's the kind of friend and neighbour, oh yes, is my KDTR.

As if that weren't enough, every year at Christmas, KDTR makes cookies and distributes them to all her friends. And when I say makes cookies, I mean by the hundreds of dozens. This year alone, there were thirty-two varieties of cookies in each tin or box. If cookie baking were a competitive sport, she would be a gold medalist. Don't even think about competing. She would take you down.

Just gaze upon the splendour. See the doggy on the top of the box? That was no coincidence.

 Let's take a peek, shall we?
 Oh, baby. Come to mama.
 Do you see the ones that look like mice? Mice! With ears made out of almond slices and tails of licorice whips? I'd show you the coconut mound thingies dipped in dark chocolate, but you'll have to make do with a photograph of thirty-one varieties because I ate them.

And to continue the Christmas theme, here are some of my ornaments. If you post photos of your ornaments, let me know in the comment section. I love seeing how people decorate their trees. Are yours hand crafty? Citified and all fancy? Do you do tinsel or no tinsel? Coloured lights or white lights? Big lights or small? Twinkling or just on? I lost the lights battle again this year. I wanted little white fairy lights, but Doug insisted on these mini-twinkling ones that harken back to disco days in their intensity.







Oh yes, that is the Budster, immortalized in plastic resin


The "tart angel" who has been straddling our tree since the kids were babies. Not sure where she originated, but we've referred to her as The Tart Angel as long as I can remember.




Buddy was unimpressed.


All ready to light the fire.


5 comments:

nightsmusic said...

Those cookies are to die for and the mice are too cute to eat. Not that cute would stop me...

I do my tree in boring white now. White ornaments, white lights, white iridescent curling ribbon cut into 16 inch lengths and tossed on the tree in place of tinsel (the cat doesn't eat the ribbon, not so with tinsel...) and my lights are supposed to twinkle, but after years of the perfect lights, they finally died and we were forced to replace them. The new ones couldn't twinkle if their longevity depended on it. We've tried. But the controls don't work right.

How can one buy four sets of lights (our tree is usually 15 feet tall) and not get ONE controller that works??

When my girls were young though and the 101 Dalmations was the rage and Mickey D's was including them in happy meals, I ended up with almost 250 little plastic puppies. Two complete sets plus a variety of extras. So I did the tree in Dalmations that year. It was unique if nothing else!

A Novel Woman said...

Oh, I love the idea of a Dalmation tree!

Unknown said...

Dang. Those are some serious cookies.

Have a great holiday! :)

BB said...

Glorious Christmas biscuits and decorations!! Hope you had a VERY merry Christmas Pam...

BB

jeanie said...

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you!! Those biscuits look fantastic.