December Busyness!

So far this has been a real busy month for us.   It's been enjoyable "fun busyness" for me, and "hard work" busyness for Harold!  He has been working on our old black pickup, Chevy Silverado 1993 vintage.  It had various problems, but he discovered the real problem was a blown head gasket.  Harold said he could fix this himself, and proceeded to buy $108 dollars worth of parts to fix the problem.   Now the poor old Chevy has her guts all over his shop, and he has been working for days to disassemble, clean, and put back together the engine.  He had most of the tools needed, but had to borrow a torque wrench from a neighbor.   Two of our neighborhood guys have been stopping by to help Harold and give advice.  We can't afford a new truck, and even a good used one is beyond our means right now, so hopefully Harold can fix "old blackie".  We need something with 4 wheel drive out here where we live, for winter driving.  My16 yr old car and our other pickup doesn't have 4 wheel drive.   So we really need our Silverado to be fixed.   I have confidence in Harold - he can do anything!

Here is what he is working on - looks like a confusing mish-mash to me!

Poor old "blackie" is all torn apart in his shop.

Harold is hard at work on the engine.

He is smiling anyway!  Things must be going well!

Harold took a picture of me working on the engine!  Um.......I think this photo would be considered "fake news" for sure!

Harold keeps his shop nice and warm with this old barrel stove.

So while Harold is working away in his shop, I am busy at home baking and decorating and cooking and just enjoying everything about Christmas!  I love to try new recipes, make new things to decorate the house with, and spend evenings reading from the many shelves of Christmas books I have collected over the years.   A cup of tea or hot cider, and a good Christmas story book and sitting in my comfy chair in the library - that's so relaxing!

I have 3 large shelves of Christmas books, as well as several Christmas cookbooks on other shelves.

One of my favorite things to do is bake cookies:

Here is a batch of favorite Peanut Blossom Cookies.

The house is so cozy now with lights and decorations all over.  Every year I put my village houses in the bay window.

Here is one view of my village in the window.

Here is a view looking the other way.

This year I put the tree in our dining area.   I've had this same artificial tree for 17 years now.  A few years ago I crocheted the tree skirt for it.

And of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without my favorite candy!  I just love those raspberry filled hard candies.   A person can only buy them around the holidays.  So this year I bought 7 bags of them! (should last me a while!)    I remember my grandfather always had these in a candy dish at his house at Christmas and I ate plenty of them as a kid.

My absolute favorite Christmas candy!  Raspberry filled hard candies!

The remaining time until Christmas will be spent mailing out packages of goodies to family and friends, and doing a little more cooking and baking.  We usually have neighbors over for coffee almost every day, and so far the cookies and goodies have been disappearing quickly!  This gives me another excuse to bake!  Later this week I will make lefsa and pierogies.
     So many folks get stressed out during the holidays, but I try to enjoy every aspect of the season.  This coming Sunday our church is having a Christmas program.  I will be playing special music for that on the organ and bowed psaltery.  We are having a special holiday pot luck, too.  During the week I listen to my collection of Christmas CD's on the radio/cd player in my kitchen.   This gets me in the holiday spirit.  On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we will be visiting via Skype with family members who are far away, and spending time with good friends.   But most of all I will be reading about that first Christmas in Bethlehem once again, and thanking the Lord for the gift He has given to all of us - His Son and salvation!  Merry Christmas to everyone!