Christmas gift: Couple of days at Callaway Gardens

The husband and I decided for our Christmas this year, we wanted to spend a couple of days at Callaway Gardens. We stayed at the Lodge and Spa at Callaway. It's about 3 years old now and still nice and clean.

We drove up on Saturday and on the way at lunch at the Smokehouse in Greenville, Alabama. They have good BBQ and the best onion rings...yummy.

Saturday evening we had dinner in the Piedmont dinning room there at the lodge. It was pretty good. On Sunday morning we went to the Country Store and bought some muscadine juice and jelly and sauce. Then drove over to Warm Springs, GA., to see FDR's Little White House. (I'll share those pictures later.)

Sunday afternoon, we drove around in Callaway Gardens and stopped to see the Bird of prey show and the butterfly center. (Pictures later.) Then Sunday evening we ate dinner in the Iron Lounge at the lodge. It was good and not as expensive as the dinning room. Then after dinner we went back into the gardens to see Fantasy in Lights. (I'll share pictures soon.)

It was so nice to to somewhere for a couple of days...and we missed the pugs. They stayed at Aunt Sue's house. She said they pee a lot ... and on everything. So they have no manners. But they were so glad to see us when we got home.

This is the entrance to the lodge.
Christmas tree inside the entrance.
Rooms at the lodge.
I like this fireplace screen.
My seafood rissoto dinner in the dinning room.
Husband had prime rib.
Husband in front of the fireplace in the lodge.
These cute tiles were in the shower.
This is the separate tub.
Shower.
The bathroom was roomy.

Happy 50th Anniversary

Today, December 28th, is my mama and daddy's 50th anniversary. Suzy and I are so blessed to have them as our parents and they are the best!!! I didn't have an old picture of them but I hope to find one from back in 1959 of them sometime and show it.


More pictures from Christmas day to come...the husband and I went on a little trip for our Christmas gift to each other and just got back...so more on that later.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone and every pug and doggie and kittie has a wonderful day today.

Mama and daddy and Aunt Sue and her husband are coming over to eat dinner with us today. I was up late making some chocolate candy last night. I'll try to get a picture today. It was real simple. Just dipping it into the chocolate took the longest time..but not too bad.

We're having prime rib and mashed potatoes and dressing and green beans and apple cheese and homemade banana pudding that Aunt Sue makes...it's so good. Christmas is all about the food nowadays since we don't have human children in the house. I think a lot of Christmas is truly for the little children!

A lot of people feel that Christmas is about celebrating Christ's birth, but the Bible does not tell us when Jesus was born. What's important is that Jesus was born and died for our sins and was raised from the dead so that we might have life everlasting.

But Christmas is a good time and a time when people are very giving and friendly and happy. I wish we carried that spirit around all the time. Sometimes Christmas is at a time when we are sad or depressed or have lost a loved one or are missing loved ones that we can't be with at this time. That is a hard time and we have to remember that we go through hard times to be able to appreciate the good times.

All right...off to cook!

Well, I just really love Christmas Eve when I don't have anything that I have to do (much of) anyway. I have to go to the grocery store for a couple of things and then do some laundry, make some cornbread dressing and some chocolate candy. I'm hoping the husband wants to play a round of Monopoly today. I like to spend big when playing that but somehow he ends up with lots of hotels and I will certainly go bankrupt paying him off.

The pugs made the annual Christmas card post on the New York Social Diary. Check it out if you have time. You have to scroll down a little bit to see them.

Here are some family Christmas cards that we received this year. I always love to see the pictures over the years.

This is the Christmas card from our niece that got married in May. They were able to use pictures from their wedding and engagement to use on their Christmas card. It is so special! I think I might frame it!

This is the picture on the inside of the card. I'm so glad they were able to do a wedding-related Christmas card.

Here are the twins and their parents! They did not get to come down this way for Christmas this year.

Here is our niece that lives in Apex, NC. This is one of her two golden retrievers!

Priscilla from Elvis Pug sent us these wonderful cookies and doggie treats. The husband loved the German ginger cookie! They were so good. Thank you P!

I saw an ad back around Thanksgiving for a one pound Reese's cup! I had to find it. I could not find it here in GB, so I just happened to go in a CVS in Pensacola and there it was...stuck on a different shelf than it should have been and they had NO MORE than this one. That was a sign for me to get it. There were to Reese's cups in it. Each eight 8 ounces...can you imagine??? It was a dream come true. It was good. If there had been another one, I would have bought it to have as a giveaway on the blog...but maybe it's a good thing there was not two..because I might have eaten that one, too!




I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Hey Magnolia Sun....I hope you have a special day if you read this!

Annual trip to the local florist and gift store

It seems like this is a tradition for me. I go to the local florist/gift store and they have some really pretty rooms set up with decorations and Christmas trees. I always enjoy looking around in there. Then I post them here. I like to go back and look at the different things from the past. I had two gift certificates from last Christmas that I needed to spend. I bought the red lantern that you will see a few pictures down. I also bought something else that I did not take a picture of...but I will be using it next year when I decorate so I'll take a picture then...Lord willing.










This is what I bought and I hope to decorate with it next year!

Alfred's Christmas from AM

Alfred received a gift from his other mother, AM! Thank you AM...he and Herbie both love it! And I will enjoy that great smelling candle.

Friday before Christmas

Well, it's one week to Christmas...hope everyone is enjoying the countdown. Aunt Sue and I and the husband spent the afternoon yesterday going around town looking in Best Buy and Barnes and Nobles. Aunt Sue and I got a Krystal burger and shared a fry while the husband doesn't like Krystal burgers or the smell of them, he stayed in Best Buy. Aunt Sue got her car fixed and the husband got his fixed and we're all set to go again. Seems like when you get a little cash for Christmas...these things happen. But we have so much to be thankful for since we can get those things fixed to keep us on the road.

I received this basket of doggie treats from someone I work for. We've worked together for five years and she knows all about the pugs and the ones we've lost and the ones we've been fortunate to take in. This package is packed full of treats. There is one big peanut butter bone that the husband says is for Alfred! Alfred is a lucky little boy here at our house. The husband dotes on him! Of course every one of them gets plenty of doting.



Here is the major problem of the week! The septic tank was full and so the toilets didn't want to flush and I could not wash dishes or take a shower...so thankfully a septic company came out within 24 hours to clean it out. I last had it done in 2003 and it was overdue this time. So I think I'll have it done every 2 years now instead of waiting until there's a problem. Sewage/toilet problems make me crazy. If we ever move from this house, I want to be on a sewer system! It's the small things ...
Here is the septic tank after the guy dug down to be able to pump it out. I was too scared to look inside of it.

Magnolia Sun Christmas

Last Friday, Aunt Sue and I went to Magnolia Sun's house to visit. Since she is being remiss about updating her blog because she plays on Facebook now...I thought I'd share pictures of her tree and fireplace and the goodies that she made. She fixed a pretty Christmas basket for Aunt Sue and one for me to take home. Everything was so good. Thank you MS!

This is the first time I've seen her tree in person! She's been living so far from me all these years...I loved seeing all the decorations she's collected over the years.

Her fireplace is so pretty. It sure felt good to feel the heat that day, too.


Every single thing was so good.



Anybody having car problems right now?? Aunt Sue is and the husband here is! And my service light came on last week, but so far it only needed the transmission fluid changed.

Tomorrow I'll show you a household problem I had this week that had to be taken care of quickly!

midweek

Well, it's midweek in mid-December! Time has flown by this year. I have been busy with work and I think it's going to slow down after this week.

My mom and MIL requested some Christmas themed note pads and here's what I made for them. I made some note cards and I ran out of note cards to stamp on so I put in an order for more but it will take a week to get the paper here...so I can't make any of those for the holidays now. But at least I'll have supplies for the new year ahead.

Here are the short ribs I made from Pioneer Women's recipe. They were good and smelled the house up for days. I sent the leftovers to Aunt Sue and her husband and they liked them. So these will get made again. The polenta was easy to make and tasted good with the meat and gravy.


My blogging friend Ginger at Deep Fried Kudzu made this necklace for me. That's so special! I love it. It's silver and glass.


I will have more post coming. I need to show my annual pictures of the florist/gift shop that I go to this time of year. I made a couple of purchases because I had gift certificates from mama and another friend of mine. I have them wrapped up and stored so I can't take a picture of what I got...but this time next year, I hope to decorate with them.

I saw Magnolia Sun recently, so I need to post about that, too.

Elvis Pug....I have not forgotten about your requests and I have the stamp set...just need to get started on the cards you want me to make! Hopefully during the down time of the holidays I will get that done!

barrette disaster

I didn't shop today...except the grocery store. I'm making the Pioneer Woman's short ribs and polenta...I'll take a picture when it's done. It smells so good.


The other morning, I got out of bed and went straight to put my barrette in my hair. My hands were not awake yet and my barrette hit the floor and broke into so many pieces that I couldn't put it back together. It's made of glass. I love this barrette and I have another like it in a different color. So I only have one barrette now to wear every day. I get these barrettes at the gift shop at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. And they aren't cheap...so now I have a BIG reason to get up there besides the fact that I just love it up there. I have to say Norman and his Woman and Ian are so blessed to live in that area.

My broken barrette was green in color and my barrette that I'm wearing now is the purple color. They are made of glass.