Late Christmas!

This post will start out with CATS!
Please appreciate the beauty of these felines.  This little orange one is pretty great.  We are still looking for a forever home for him, so if you're near (or even semi-near) Arizona, and would like to add this cuteness to your life and home, let's chat!

How much cuter could one bébé be?

Let me know if you know anyone who is considering adoption.  Cats are the BEST.  They bring beauty, elegance, love, softness, silliness, joy, and peace to a home.  

Here's Allistair, sleeping in a strange position.

Since winter has come, Stephen has enjoyed this snuggly nest bed.  He's a sloth of a cat and LOVES to DROOP in any way possible.  In the winter, of course, he's chilly and doesn't want to be even chillier, so he doesn't want to droop off the couch or the half-wall; he wants to droop while being cozy!  He found a way - he droops out of the nest!

Our transition into 2021 has been smooth.  We've barely noticed.  We did purposefully enjoy New Year's Eve by watching old Doctor Who and eating pizza and brownies, but we do this almost every Friday.  It's a delightful ritual that makes weekends feel more special.  We also went for a walk later in the evening to see some of the fireworks being set off near our neighborhood (and in fact even IN our neighborhood!)  The air quality has been terrible thanks to the fireworks and people having fires on "no burn" days and now I'm fighting a sinus infection. 

Look at the SCARY ALIEN!

Greg was pretty concerned.

But the best holiday event was still upcoming: a Christmas celebration with my parents!

I am fairly introverted and didn't realize how much I miss PEOPLE.  Especially having people over and eating with people.  I'm surprised how much my mood has been lifted by simply spending time with more people who love me.  :)

My parents drove down and arrived week and a half ago from Minnesota.  We decided on at least 7 days quarantine, but after that, they're in our bubble!  Hooray! - we have a social bubble!  We saved our Christmas presents until our party, and I made a feast.  I made lasagna, potato veggie chowder, brownies, and chocolate chip cookie bars.  My parents brought some treats and a huge fruit salad.  Everything turned out great (that doesn't always happen; cooking is weird!)

Potato veggie chowder:

Brownies:

Chocolate chip cookie bars:

Oops - I ate one before our guests arrived!

Delicious creamy lasagna:

Our pretty and delicious table!

Greg was hiding:

and then he disappeared behind his huge white beard!

Then we opened presents by the fire! (It's a DVD fire.)

My parents are always extremely generous with GIVING and this Christmas was no exception.

It was sweet and heart-warming to have them filling up our home with more LOVE.

Greg put "hi!" with tape on one of the presents to me!

Our three adult cats actually came out, accepted some pets, and were friendly and sweet.  They don't have people around that often lately (stupid COVID), so we're proud of them for remembering how to be sociable.

Grandpa thought it was cute how Allistair snuggled up to me.

Greg started playing with his new toys right away (a holder to keep his cell phone attached to a regular tripod).  This was a set-up so he could record some foosball moves.

One of my gifts was a weighted blanket!

I bundled up in it for a bit on the couch and in about 5 minutes and it was so relaxing that I could barely keep my eyes open!  I slept exceptionally well last night with that extremely heavy blanket!

I hope you sleep just as well tonight!