Christmas Prep

I'm glad I opted to head home from Hilton Head Saturday night and wake up with Greg and Clyde Sunday morning.  The boys were happy to be reunited as evidenced here...

I made waffles for us for our Sunday breakfast.  Well, apple waffles.

2 cups sifted flour

3 TB sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 separated eggs

1 1/4 cups milk

1 apple

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel and chop apple in to small pieces and place pieces in a microwaveable bowl with cinnamon and microwave for about 4 minutes, until soft.

Mix dry ingredients.

Separate eggs and beat egg whites til stiff and fluffy.

Beat egg yolks and combine with milk.

Combine wet and dry ingredients until just mixed (don't overmix).  Fold in egg whites.

Add about half the apple pieces into the batter.

Cook on hot greased waffle iron.  Top with the rest of the apple and maple syrup (the good stuff!).

After breakfast we moved on to Christmas prep, starting with the tree!

Yes, we have a fake a tree...

It is totally necessary to watch Christmas vacation while decorating.

We got the entire tree set up and started checking the lights and had a strand that wasn't working.  Is it just me or does that happen EVERY SINGLE YEAR??  So our plan to finish decorating the tree got derailed til we could take a trip to Walmart for more.  

But first, we took Clyde for a nice walk around the hood.

Actually, Clyde is peeing here (sorry for the graphic shot).  I think it's hilarious that he curls his tail up like that when he pees.  :)

Even though it's like 3 days after Thanksgiving, I actually felt like we were behind most of the neighborhood in decorating.  As you can see here, my neighbors are into this whole Christmas spirit thing...

They seriously have every cartoon character ever created lit up on their front lawn...

We returned home and decided to do some outside decorating, assuming our outdoor lights would cooperate.  Clyde took interest.

The Christmas light hanging jacket (also known as the apple orchard jacket), makes another appearance!

I held the ladder, when I wasn't taking pictures...

Clyde's friend Cinnamon came out on the porch to play.  They actually get along pretty well!  I guess she's not that intimidated by him since she's bigger than him!

After successfully hanging our icicle lights, we took a trip to Walmart and got more lights for the tree.

We had pasta, stuffed mushrooms, and garlic bread for dinner.  My mom sent me home with the sauce, pasta, and the mushrooms, so all I had to do was assemble and bake the garlic bread.  Thanks Mom!

After dinner we finished the tree :)


Gorgeous, right?  My collection of ornaments is totally out of control.  I even have the whole back of the tree covered.  I LOVE ornaments!

Have you decorated for Christmas yet??