The Stockings Were Hung...

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

In hopes that our cute grandson Jackson soon would be there...

and he will be--on Sunday night.

We got the Christmas tree decorated today and even have a few presents wrapped...1 for Emily, 1 for Baby Grayson, and 2 for Jackson so far. We will do most of our shopping in Albuquerque when we are there next weekend for the State School Board Meeting (Grampa gets to go to meetings and Nana Jo gets to shop!) Here's how everything is looking. Can you see our beautiful red pear tree outside the window?

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

We had a peaceful Thanksgiving today--just the two of us being thankful for our family, our home, and our lives in general. Rather than fix the traditional dinner, we had our homemade lobster bisque for lunch in front of the fireplace after Ed returned from delivering Thanksgiving meals to some folks who could not get out and have very little. Then we put a big fat roasting hen on the rotisserie on the deck and let 'er spin

for the afternoon, basting her with a pomegranate reduction I made. We also created a new Creme Brulee--Pumpkin & eggnog with Amaretto. The chicken was fantastic, so can't wait to try out the dessert later tonight!!!While the bird was roasting, we unloaded our Christmas decorations

so we can decorate tomorrow afternoon and be ready

for Jackson when he gets here on Sunday evening. All in all, it's been a good day.

Bambi v. Big Red

We've been here in the mountains of NM almost 20 years now, so it had to happen. Last night coming home from Ruidoso, Big Red (Ed's Rendezvous) was hit (literally) by Bambi's brother! Fortunately, Big Red only lost a headlight and suffered some dents and scratches--far better than Bambi's brother who went to meet his maker. Here are the sad pictures. We didn't get one of the deer (which is just as well), but if you look really closely at the 2nd picture, you will notice a clump of deer hair :(