Beginnings and Endings

I last posted on Friday. That evening we kicked off the Christmas activities by joining Jill and the kids at Clam Lights.

This is Seattle and we have water here, the salt waters from the vast inland sea we call Puget Sound. Naturally we have lighted boat parades. 

 I know these are blurry but it is the best my little Canon could do in low light. We were bundled up and hoping the rain would not return while we were out on the dock watching the boats. 

 Then we walked back into the park to enjoy the Clan Lights close up.

 Yep, those are the clams, because this light show is sponsored by Ivar's Acres of Clams Restaurants.

 These are not clams. Kinda' cool how the camera blurred the people not in our group, although Isaac is a bit ghost like.  

Saturday we attended an arts and crafts show called Tide Fest in Gig Harbor, where conveniently, Irene and Isaac were playing their last soccer matches of the season. We shopped, then went to two soccer games, then finished our shopping. 

Fortunately we stayed dry for most of both matches and were well bundled up against the cold. The Mud Dogs ended in a 4-4 tie. 

 We finished up Irene's game and then took her with us to Isaac's game, where it was the second half and Isaac was playing keeper. 

 Jill was on the sideline as an assistant coach. 

The Rockets won 6-4, a great finish for a team that was thrown together several months ago and lost badly at first. They really improved!

Tom and I went back to Tide Fest to make some gift purchases, and then we set off through heavy traffic and gathering darkness to our garden club party. We were planning to go home, change and get the food we were planning to take, but it was such slow going that we just went "come as you are", arriving only an hour and a half late. But they fed us and we had a good time. 

Sunday we got in a walk and then got busy putting up the tree and decorating it. We joked about having 40,000 ornaments, but I can't even guess at the real number. We have stuff on there from when the kids were babies, over 40 years of accumulation. 

Many of you have seen photos of this tree before. Each year we add a few from our travels, but I think we must stop even doing that now.  Or else get another tree. 

 Anybody else have bacon hanging near Krampus? 

 Or a roadrunner and an avocado near a Santa? 

 How about Mozart from Salzburg or a royal crown from Stockholm or an elf from the Black Forest or a Norwegian flag from Oslo or an Alaskan cruise ship or a skyline of Philadelphia? And so much more. 

 Sunday evening we hosted Irene while Jill and Isaac attended the NFL game at the stadium. The Seahawks overwhelmed the Panthers 40-7. We watched at home. 

This morning we cleaned house while it snowed outside. 

It wasn't cold enough to stick around, but now the temperature is dropping again and the forecast is for our first freezing temps tonight, with ice and possibly more snow by morning.

I went through my cookie recipes, wrote my shopping list and went to the store this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll be ready to stay inside and start baking. 

'Tis the busy season.