Why I Oughta...

Marking it down.  Owned.  And let go. 

One of my annual Christmas-related traditions is getting to Kirschbaum's Bakery in Western Springs on the day (that they are open) before Christmas - usually Christmas Eve.  This year, I arrived first (!!!), but because I wanted to stay in the car as long as possible, I waited until someone else got out of their car to get in line.  It always is someone who arrives like fifth who wants to get out of their car and start the line.  Then we all have to get out, bundle up and wait for the 45 minutes or so to open. I ended up with #2.  Not too bad.  Last year, I was #6 .  I was in-and-out in less than ten minutes this year.

Best day of the year?  Yeah.  Sure is.  Hope you spend it with the ones you love.  I know I will be.  I'm grateful for my family and I'm most grateful for Nat.  Today is the last day we get to spend with our elf Goldie.  I'm grateful for his visits.  And the little bit of magic he shares with my kids.  See you in 11 months, Golide. 

No.  Instead there's a pole. Happy Festivus to you and yours. 

I'm posting this photo of this tiny tree to see if I can document if it is, indeed, dying before my very eyes.  This is something that we had originally planted out in one of the girl's fairy garden this Summer.  It was an expensive plant (like $12), so before the frost hit, I thought that I'd bring it inside to see if we could overwinter it.  I *think* it is getty more brown everyday, but I'm unsure.  So, this post will serve as a guidepost for me when I revisit this thing in January.  The top looks just fine, right?  But look at that bottom part.  Almost orange.  *Fingers crossed* for survival.  I've done this 'will it make it?' thing with larger trees out in yard.  Here's the same type of post from our first Dawn Redwood . 

The last time I posted in the [ firewood consumption ] diary was back in the very beginning on November of this year.  At that time ( post here ), I had not touched the two 'indoor' racks (indoor meaning inside the screened porch) and had worked my way through about half-way of the outdoor third rack.  Today, I'm documenting where we are right ahead of Christmas. In today's post there's only two photos of the inside racks.  That's because we've totally consumed the outdoor rack in its entirety.  And we're working against the two indoor racks.  The top photo shows where we are in the smaller rack - with about half of that wood consumed.  The bottom portion remaining is Cherry.  Below, the second photo shows the full 'big' rack that shows we've mostly NOT touched this rack with Cherry on top and Birch on the bottom.  Feels like we've gone through about 'half' of the wood, doesn't it?  Last year, we had a Face Cord

A few years back, Nat gifted me this Dept 56 building from "A Christmas Story" line that was part of Mantleburg.  It was the only A Christmas Story (it is difficult to continue to insert that "A" in the name of the buildings, but I'll continue to do it.) building that we have as part of Mantleburg.  And, if you have been paying attention over the past few years, you might know that things have slowed down in Mantleburg.  We haven't added or annexed any new buildings into the Village of Mantleburg for the past few seasons and have seen some of Mantleburg be de-annexed (via Craigslist) and re-annexed into other neighboring communities.  And that's ok.  We're trying to simplify things around Christmastime and we're focusing on the Mantleburg line. This fall, I posted some photos and posts about the various Lemax structures that Menards is carrying this season .  All would be nice, but having my mantra in mind, it is enough to know this exist an