. . . and fruit flies like a banana.” -Groucho Marx

This Christmas break has flown by!  I hardly know what I’ve been up to.  Let’s see. . .

Monday, had a cleaning frenzy - burnt the trash without being told to, swept, put away the dishes, etc.  Had a delightful dinner of meatballs and scalloped potatoes.  Opened gifts that night.

Tuesday (Christmas), went to my Granny’s house at noon, did some knitting, played games with family and ate all day long. . .

Wednesday, went back out to Granny’s for left-over soup.

Thursday, I attempted to tackle my room, and, once again, purge.  Nearly had an art-brain-drain - not good.  Made some drawings - good.

Friday, Today, we went to our friends’ house (the O’s) for the afternoon and evening!!!This was the first time we’ve been to their house, and we all really enjoyed the time we spent with them.

That’s what I’ve been up to lately :-).

I remember many, many years ago we made little gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, pretzels, and chocolate icing.  Of course we were very young and didn’t have the patience for the real stuff, but one year we did end up trying to make a nativity scene which turned out quite nice.  But alas, after all these years (ancient sage that I am), I have never made a real, real gingerbread house.

Until now!

This was first year to make a gingerbread house! All by myself even!

“Will it stick?”

“All right everyone, if you would all step this way to your new home…”

…and viola! The Gingerbread House.

This is going to have to be a Christmas tradition now.  Even if it did take over 6 hours(?), I think it’s worth it.

A very rewarding experience.

Last night was midweek Bible study at church, and afterwords we got to visit with the R. family. We were all sitting on the floor in the hall, while Grace R. (14) was telling us a spooky story about the time she and her cousins went for a walk around a lake in the dark. While she was in the middle of telling the story, Elijah R. (3), came to listen. I asked him if he wanted to sit with me, and he replied by promptly plopping into my lap. Ooooh! too sweet!

The really cute part came when Lily R. (2) came to listen. Emily asked her if she would sit on her lap, and Elijah encouraged her. Patting Emily’s lap he said, “Here Yeeyee, I’m sitting on this one’s lap. You can sit on that one.”

It was such a sweet moment! And here’s a doodle I’ll share with you:

Introducing . . . Marcell, the . . . um, Critter!  I met him last night as he leapt off my pen and proceeded to sing a Shakespearean ballad at the top of his lungs.

And although the afore mentioned doodle has nothing to do with politics . . . There was a political cartoon contest at GenJ that I entered.  My cartoon tied for third, making it an honorable mention.  It won a $25 gift card to Amazon ($5 of which goes to Emily who scanned, cropped, corrected, and sent the final piece). To see it, click here.  Its honorable mention #3.

“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”

-Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

“Books in Winter” by Jesse Wilcox Smith

This is one of my favorite paintings from one of my favorite illustrators.