Nice Christmas Things -- The Odds and Ends of Life

There's something rather wonderful about hearing your doorbell ring and it's the new neighbors who just moved in, bringing you cookies! (I've been wanting to put together a plate for them and hadn't finished my baking when they came! A lovely young couple. I don't think they'll be there long, but they seem so nice, I hope they stay longer than planned! They'll get some of this from me...

...and this. And something else, too. Once I bake.

Rick got his tree. It was the easiest time ever -- we walked over to the right tree, it was the right price and in 10 minutes we were home. More on that one later!

Christmas is making ornaments and crafting. And who has time to do that? I probably wouldn't have, but I had a boatload of wine corks and wanted to make ornaments for our Cork Poppers gathering. Aren't these cute? I modeled after one a friend gave me last year for Christmas, with a few changes. (Incidentally, the ones below are works in progress, before I cleaned up the moss and hot glue strings!)

You need six corks per ornament, an eye screw, hot glue gun (and loads of glue if you're making many of them), some decorative trim, moss, snow and little flowerpots. (If you can't find the mini-pots, you could always cut a cork in thirds as a trunk.) Make the tree first, by gluing three corks together. Make sure the most interesting ones are on the outside.

Then repeat with two and then one. Finally, screw in the eye screw.

Hopefully you've already painted your flower pots and they've dried. Since the corks need more to hold onto than just the rim of the pot, fill the pot with something and glue it in well. You could use clay or any filler that would give a flat top. I chose moss. (You really have to glue that in because it is sort of squishy and not necessarily all in one piece. But it's pretty.) Then attach the tree to the pot. A little vintage tinsel on the top and a dusting of "snow" and you have a cute ornament -- and for our group, a perfect one.

We gathered together to celebrate the holiday at a local restaurant, then back to Kate and Mike's house for dessert and prosecco, accompanied by a wine-and-chocolate exchange.

If you brought wine and chocolate, you swapped with another and got one to take home, so it could be either couples or individuals. (Rick and I participated individually. Two new wines to try!)

It was all holly jolly and so festive. I made toffee bars. (The neighbors will get some of those, too!)

Barb brought a miraculous flourless chocolate cake.

Kate made peppermint meltaways, lemon bars and brownies. We were not deprived!

Yum!

Her house was lovely. Aren't these balls unique and beautiful?

They are by a local artist and really make a statement!

Of course there was toasting!

And photos -- this is our Christmas photo of the year!

My friend Suzanne, our "honorary Cork Popper," was here for the weekend from Canada.

It was such fun and super holly-jolly!

The night before, Rick, Suzanne and I did the holiday light tour, going to the neighborhood she and I grew up in. Most of the photos were terrible, but this one wasn't too bad.

When we were kids, we WERE the holiday display -- we stopped traffic in front of our house as we acted like animated dummies.

And we had such fun! Our cast rotated in size, depending on who was available and there were hot chocolate breaks when the traffic died down. We didn't think we were nerds but by today's standards, we probably were! And Mom and Dad loved having us around! It was fun trying not to "breathe" when people were watching us and let the cold-air steam escape from our lips! We even fooled people some of the time -- or so it seemed!

And of course, we had to see the state Christmas Tree.

After Corkies, some many of us went to hear Popper Roger sing in his Men of Orpheus holiday concert. Lovely to hear these deep lovely voices singing songs of the season. I, unfortunately, left the camera at Kate's!

So, I leave you today with the skies of a Michigan December.

And a little bit of holiday glow!

Merry and Bright.

(If you missed them:  Decking the Halls - The Living Room   /   Decking the Halls - The Rest of It)

Sharing this week with:   Pink Saturday