Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Hola! Mr. Don has arrived. We are very happy that he was less than 2 hours behind schedule, even having to transfer at O'Hare for the flight here. He arrived before 6:30 p.m. as I was just getting into shoveling out the driveway from yesterday's snow. We had a brief reprieve of weather earlier today. The temperatures have been moderate, but a storm is going to bring a mixture of snow/rain/sleet and strong winds over the next 2 days. It held off until about 3 p.m. or so. Today was a busy day working around the house. Don and I prepped areas of the woodwork in the kitchen, dinette and family room for painting and staining tomorrow. That was harder work than I thought it would be. After the insulation contractor came by early this morning and we had our consultation about insulating the sill cavities in the basement, Mr. Don and I bundled up and walked down to Meyer's Restaurant for a leisurely, delicious breakfast. Then we went grocery shopping and lugged everything the mile home through deteriorating weather conditions. Then we got busy with the prep work - (Photo from Kegel's website) Earlier this evening we had dinner with my friend Ann at Kegel's. Yum! Unfortunately, Mr. Don's digital camera wasn't working correctly, we can't figure out why since the batteries are practically brand new. None of the photos came out - all were too dark and they were also blurry. With the weather turning nasty - by the time we left Kegel's the streets were already snow-covered and slippery. It was certainly "christmasy outside!" Before bringing us home, Ann took us for a drive through Candy Cane Lane. It is an area on Milwaukee's southwest side where many of the neighbors decorate their houses to raise money for the fight against childhood cancer. It has become a yearly tradition for area residents to take a drive through Candy Cane Lane and on the way "out" drive past Santa, who holds a bucket to collect contributions and doles out free candy. Don had never seen anything like it as, block after block, we slowly drove through the neighborhood admiring all of the decorated homes and beautiful lights and displays. With the snow coming down it was a perfect winter wonderland and perfect night for the tour, and we had lots of company! Finally, we were at the "end" and there was Santa! We put a donation for the three of us into his bucket and received hard candy in return. Thanks, Santa. It was a very enjoyable finish to a lovely dinner with Ann. Don couldn't stop talking about Candy Cane Lane for the next couple of days :) As we arrived home from Kegel's, a UPS truck pulled up and delivered a large package of goodies from Omaha Steaks, courtesy of Isis and Michelle! So now the freezer is filled with lots of good things to eat. Tomorrow I'm going to make beef burgundy for Christmas Eve supper, with candied carrots and a cucumber salad.

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