The "best before" date.... December 24 ....

Yikes!! is it that close already? I bought some egg whites today and that was the "best before" date stamped on the top of the container.

Not that there are any deadlines, or promised gifts or commissions... it just seems... soon.

Funny how it goes isn't it? At the end of the summery days there is a sort of laziness... almost a "waiting for something" kind of feeling .... which I guess is the cooler weather.... then... there is some cooler weather, although this year was one of the lovely falls... warm til very late. Then, all of a sudden it dropped from +15 to minus something one day last week and we had a light snow overnight. That did it. Reminded me what time of year it is.











The snow melted almost right away on the streets, and finally on the patio furniture, but there is still an inch or so on shady areas of the lawn... it might be there til spring now. We moved the patio furniture inside over the weekend and did the last of the yard tidying... ready to batten down hatches if need be 'til spring. Even with the warm, sunny daytime highs... the sun is so low in the sky it never touches those areas of shade behind the house or the big spruce tree out front again for months. Lovely new clean snow will fall on top and there will be layer upon layer .....some years more than others, but the last few years certainly have not been what it was 4-10 years ago here. I used to shovel a lot more snow than I have the past three years. There used to be piles at the side of the driveway that were getting too high to toss any more snow on. It would just slide or roll off and back onto the drive unless I could manage to throw it high enough to go over the pile... Definitely not complaining about not having to shovel that anymore...just saying....










Not only is there Christmas "stuff" in all the stores already....but, it's also already 40% off!! How I love a bargain. It seems they barely got it unpacked and onto shelves before some "manager" came along with his sale signs. The perfect time to shop. Selection and quality at peak... none of it has been rummaged through or broken.










Found some cute little baubles with the thinnest of gold thread wrapped around and around and finished with sparkle dust. Perfect for using with the huge goblets I also found (if I can find candles the right size!) The inside base is open though, and votives are tooooo small. They would fall right in and melting wax would be everywhere.....I want some with an outside shell that will stay intact during burning. Must be something in between a votive and a thick pillar.... my mission now is to find some. Candle shops, here I come.

Christmas shoe boxes are in at Safeway ... time to drag out the tote bins full of goodies and get my assembly line in action. I love stuffing the boxes with fun and useful things for the little kids. Last year regular sized spiral notebooks didn't fit into the length of the box... they must have made them just that extra 1/4 inch longer this year...they fit perfectly! Good... because I still have about 20 from two years ago....we had to buy new smaller notebooks last year and wonder what to do with the previous books. This year I am ready to go... just need some more hard candies... my fav are the Werther's as they are so sparkly. I think gold, sparkly wrappers are fun to see when a box is opened.











Maybe the kids even save them like we did as kids.. (not Werther's, but any pretty sparkly wrappers we found) ... and use them for little dangly ball earrings or thread a few and make a necklace... ....