Snow and other pretties

With all of the reports coming from the east coast of snow, snow, and more snow, I was officially depressed.  While it is colder here, our house will never have a blanket of snow, we have no reason to buy snow tires, and I scoff at the notion of a white Christmas.  Well, I did until today…

Peter received an email from a co-worker at 6:45 a.m. (nothing like that "dinkle, dinkle" of the Crackberry before my first cup of coffee) declaring there was snow in Danville.  You may recognize the name as it is the hometown of "Sully" Sullenberger; to us, it is, well, the town next door.  The town whose border is merely blocks (albeit, long ones) from our house.  There was even more snow in Alamo, and Peter was treated to a view of snow-covered cars all the way to work.  Granted, there was no actual white stuff in our yard, or on our car.  However, I could easily see snow-capped Mt. Diablo from Cait's window.  You see, it's the little things.

Like the "pretties".  The pretties are everywhere this time of year.  They cover houses, and yards, and make the early darkness not so dismal or bleak.   They come in a rainbow of colors, and festivities are created around the set-up of many, many strings of pretties.  Yes, they are Christmas lights.  Well, holiday lights to be more exact.  According to Nicholas, no matter what the reason, the lights are very pretty, and if he shouts "Pretty!" once on a night-time car ride, he shouts in 10 times.  It would get old, except that he is so happy, and it is rather contagious. 

You can imagine his excitement when Peter dug out our "pretties" out of the garage, and began stringing them up.  Nicholas happily helped wrap them around the bushes, and pull them down from the window.  Not exactly what Pete had in mind, but he really enjoyed having a helper, especially one whose enthusiasm does not fade. 

Even more exciting? A trip to a  whole farm of pretties!  Peter found a drive-through light display in Lathrop, CA, and we drove 45 minutes on a dark winter's evening to wind our way through the greatest display East of the Bay.  We couldn't wait to see the look on Nicholas's face.  However, we got the surprise, as by the time we got there, he was sound asleep.  The girls managed to wake him up (one of the few times I have advocated such an activity), and the lights helped keep him awake.  We stopped at the farm part, and the kids enjoyed mingling with Rudolph and his friends, as well as trying to convince us we needed to get a tree that minute.  Nope, it can wait another week.  Given it will be up until January 6th, no need to rush it.

Now, Nicholas is not the only one who is excited about Christmas…as one gift came a bit early this year! See, there was a really, really, really good sale at King Arthur, and since Nicholas stole, I mean, lost the paddle to the old bread maker (which was not all it was cracked up to be)…it seemed like the perfect excuse to acquire one with a better track record.  I should also mention it was 20% off AND free shipping.  Who can pass that up?  It arrived today, and given our family's penchant for fresh bread, I have a feeling it will be in overdrive by the morning.  

Why not just bake it in the oven?  Perhaps because the oven is busy baking other kinds of holiday treats…only time will tell!