A few bits before Christmas

I went outside every five minutes on Monday the 21st looking for the Christmas Star.  The last time I went out I looked up, it wasn't there, I looked down for about ten seconds, then I looked back up and it appeared before my eyes.  It was fairly amazing. 

It's there, you just can't see it.

Michael has an app on his phone that shows you where things are in the night sky. I took a picture of the open app with my phone. I think it looks so cool! 

On Tuesday the 22nd we all got COVID tested.  I get tested every other week for work, but it is always the nasal swab.  This was my first saliva test. 

I realized I forgot to take pictures of the outside bistro for the festive house post, so I did, and now I'll add them here. 

And since I'm adding more photos anyway, here are a few more.  It's just the easiest way for me to remember where to put stuff next year. 

The wreath on the guest room door

Guest room bed

A little Christmas village on the side table

Our bed

Here's a funny story.  I bought this king size bedspread for my brother a few years ago.  I bought the same bedspread for the guest bed last year, having absolutely no idea they were the same print.  Nick gave this back to me this year because he doesn't use it.  Now we have two of the same bedspreads. 

Our winter/Christmas flannel sheets were getting really old and worn out, so I got two new sets this year.

Sloth

Beagle

I had a brunch zoom happy hour with Ellen and Michelle on the eve of Christmas Eve (Wednesday the 23rd).  I had given both of them a bottle of prosecco and two champagne flutes, so we all had matching glasses.  We talked about doing another brunch zoom in two weeks, but realized we will be back to work that day so we'll return to our 4 pm happy hour. 

My friend Crystal dropped off  a gift for me that afternoon. She brought this tin of stuff from Lush and a box of Crumble cookies, but we ate all the cookies before I could get a picture. 

Elliott's friend Malcolm did a front yard gift drop off on Christmas Eve morning.  Elliott was so excited!

I bought these two candles years ago, and they seem to be magical and I could not burn them out.  I was determined to not store them for another year so they have been burning, burning, burning this month.

I finally burned the red one out. 

But somehow, even though I have burned the white one at exactly the same times, the white one still has about 1/3 of the wax left.  I refuse to put this candle away in the cabinet until next year, so I'm burning, burning, burning away!

Stay tuned for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the rest of Winston, but I'll probably take a few days off to be present for the holidays. I really mean a few days, not two months!