Yes, our lights are still spreading holiday cheer into the long nights of winter. In fact, all out decorations are still up thanks in part to the city's schedule for collecting Christmas trees. There are two scheduled pick-up dates but the first one fell on the 7th of January and I was too distracted by Trump's attempted coup to remember to get it out to the curb. That's not the worst thing, it only went up a few days before Christmas. As for the outside lights, they're still on due to the Packer Factor. Some individuals in our neighborhood consider it unlucky to turn off their lights before the Packers are eliminated from the playoffs. HM and I are not into sports but feel the need to comply just to keep from being chided by our neighbors who apparently believe it actually matters!
I do realize this is a First World Problem that really isn't worth mentioning but we had a real issue with our lights this year. As embarrassing as it is, it's still pretty funny to look up and down the street and see our partially lit, pastel pink and yellow lights among the normal ones. All this silliness started when His Madness discovered most of the old lights weren't working. Since new ones were going to have to be LEDs, he put on a mask and went to a store to buy a "test" string (because not having your house lit up for the holidays is worth the risk of contracting a deadly virus?) After a suitable candidate was determined to be good enough, an order was placed and inevitably it arrived short by quite a few sets. At this point it was well into December and our neighbors houses had been shining brightly since the day after Halloween, so it was time to do the best with what we had. HM put the LEDS on the roof line and the old incandescent lights went around the columns and on the window boxes. The mixture of the two types resulted in the old white lights looking very pink and the new ones appearing yellow, with the added bonus of several unlit gaps. At least we're not letting the team down!
Among the gifts we received from our son Andy and his wife Kristin, were these great homemade hot pepper and Worcestershire sauces. There are lots ways they can be used but my first thought was - Bloody Marys! Spenser seemed doubtful, he most likely thought they should be reserved for brunch and he's probably right but these are strange times and we all have to make allowances. Besides, they also gave us some DVDs and we needed something to munch on while we waited for the pizza to arrive.
In preparation for pizza/movie night we searched for some suitable trimmings.
Spenser decided to leave the comfort of Ivy's lap to see if we needed any help or possibly supervision. Most likely, he just wanted in on the action.
After a few dill pickles, cherry tomatoes, chunks of Gouda, celery and olives were added to the skewers it was time to make it an adult beverage! Andy said he had used habanero and jalapeño peppers when making the sauce so we skipped the horseradish. Some shrimp and lemon wedges would've been good too, but these were great anyway. Guess they're not just for breakfast anymore!
I sent Andy this photo of his concoctions. They looked very festive with the Christmas lights.
Then the pizza came and we settled in to watch another Christmas gift, Dr. Strangelove. It's one of HM's faves, a dark comedy from 1964 about an insane Air Force general who orders a nuclear attack on Russia and inadvertently blows up the planet. It probably wasn't the best movie to watch after recent events but it was entertaining and I think we've seen everything on Netflix by now.
Thanks for stopping by, hope everyone had a good weekend.
Stay safe and wear a mask!
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