A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Saturday night E spent the night with my parents.  She loves going there.  She would carry her bag to the car is she could and she cries if my parents visit here and leave without her.  These are they kind of grandparents I had.  My grandparents could have given lessons on how to be a grandparent.  My parents must have been taking notes.  Anyway, M and I went to dinner at Houlihan's that night since it had recently opened in the area.  I had heard good things, and the food was good, but the service was TERRIBLE!  It was worse than terrible.  We arrived at 5:20 and didn't leave until after 7 and only waited briefly to be seated!  We didn't have any drinks, so I would think they would be trying to get us to leave faster since our bill wouldn't be much.  M texted for a free dessert, we ordered apple pie with ice cream.  When it arrived, 20 mins later, the ice cream was melted, so it had sat out, waiting to be delivered that long.  Wow.  Won't go back there.  

After we finally got out of there, I wanted to walk around the corner to Pottery Barn.  Last year I had tried to order this:  

The Partridge in a Pear Tree Salt and Pepper Shakers.  Last year they sold out.  M ordered them for me for my birthday last month, they were backordered until Dec. 8th.  Dec. 8th comes and goes and no shipment.  They actually had these in our store last weekend!  M called from the store and canceled the online order, plus he had a 20% off coupon for the day so we ended up saving $17!  Kinda makes up for the crappy service at Houlihan's.  

A visit with Santa

I love the Christmas season.  I love the lights, the coziness and strangely this year, I've really taken to glitter.  I'm certain to be cleaning up glitter from projects, ribbon and decorations until June. 

We went to the mall the week after Thanksgiving for our visit with Santa.  My friend had taken his kids earlier that day and advised us to go early.  I already had E's outfit ready to go, so we went that night after we voted in the run-off election.  My two main questions for my friend were:  Is the set nice, or is it some cardboard background?  And the most important question:  Is Santa's beard real?  I don't even bother with the fake beard Santas. 

Ah Glitter.  I got the idea from Pinterest, which links to this blog.  Plus, my friend Tiffany had done them at her craft day that I was unable to attend, but she was kind enough to bring me the supplies.  This was a canvas that I had from her last craft day that I hadn't done anything with and I have a total obsession with moose.  I also have a deer head that Tiffany brought me similar to the one on the Crazy Wonderful Blog. 

This is our mantle for the holidays this year.  Fresh greenery, pinecones, green ornaments and Al.  I tried a green Banana Republic scarf on Al, but it was just too short. 

I almost took all the ornaments off the tree last week to add more stuff.  It just seemed uninteresting to me.  M didn't want me to put on the regular berry garland, in case E put it in her mouth, and I forgot about the grapevines I had saved to wrap around it.  All the ornaments are shatterproof and I don't have out any of my special ornaments that I have made and collected over the years.  It will be quite a surprise when I get them out (hopefully next year) since I haven't seen them in so long.   After I wrapped some gifts, the tree seemed to look a little better, so I haven't changed anything....yet. 

Kansas City Southern Christmas Train in Noel, MO.  Dec. 8th, 2012.