It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas.......tra la la

 It was already dark when I drove home from my afternoon of shopping in Knoxville.  Most houses, big and small, have some lights and decorating.  And there are a lot of lights in town on the streets.  And there were carols playing on the radio.  What a pleasant way to get through rush hour!

The fresh wreaths are beautiful and a good deal at $15-20 dollars.  Back home, I was paying more like $50.

They tell me it never snows here!  Well, they are wrong!  I have never seen people so excited to see the snow!  Everyone loved it!  Ersie even called to see how I liked it.  Very cute. (And she called me Miss Sarah!!!!)

Here is another little Tennessee tidbit - do you know where mistletoe comes from?  You are probably thinking like me, the florist!  Honestly, I just thought it was a plant that you go out and trim.  This week I was driving with my walking group (hmmm...) and I saw what I thought from a distance were bird's nests in the tree.  I mean, there had to be 10 or 15.  Ersie told me they were mistletoe!  They look like a little bundle high up on the top branches.  So here is the really amazing part - how do you suppose they get them down?

They take their gun and shoot them down!  This is a true story.  I thought they were pulling my leg, but not so.  They go hunting for mistletoe!  This is a tree full of mistletoe.

Pam at Sidewalk Shoes has a fabulous recipe for Mulled Cranberry Sauce.  I will be adding it to my repetoire.  I can hardly wait to try it.

This is my first ever Gingerbread House.  It is made entirely from what was in my kitchen.  Total cost $6.  I made the Raincoast Crisps for the roof, the candied orange peel for the snow and the candied orange slice.  The evergreen boughs came from outside.



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev'ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben;
Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen;
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
There's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well,
The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart. 

Listen to Perry Como singing this song on You Tube.  He is amazing.

Here are some pictures of what I am missing in Calgary this week!