HO HO THE MISTLETOE

Venice,yes,it's a beautiful area,and I know we're very luck to have such countryside close to home.
Moon,yes,Arthur,Lancelot,Robin Hood,I often imagine that places such as this woodland have not changed at all since their times:}No ,I don't think much's changed for the landed gentry,or at least not a lot has,I think most of them still have more than one house,not little houses either :}
Hopefully back soon,clearing away after dinner.

Hi all,Joy,the Dukes home is enormous! I know it has to be very old! Do you know the age? If I lived in a beautiful old place like that I'd need a map tp get from point A to point B. It would take getting use to. Of course I would have to pretent to be the duchess...Grin...Thank you Venice,about our friend that passed. He was I'll for so long and in a better place now.

Hi Ya Dixie. Did ya have fun at WallyWorld? sounds more like an amusement park than a discount store...LOL

Moon,yes,it's the ancestoral home of the Dukes of Devonshire,called,Chatsworth House.To help finance running costs the house is open to the public[or at least part of it is]from Easter to Christmas.It's quite expensive to go around it,many years since i've been in ,so not sure how much.The grounds [except the private garden] are accesable for free,for walkers,horseriders etc.
Back soon.

Joy have you ever been to Scotland or Ireland? I have relatives over there I dont even know....Campbells are in Scotland. Campbell was my birth name. And the Murreys from Ireland. Would love to go...would be a trip of a life time.

It is my understanding that the greater majority are using public tours as a means of supporting the upkeep on these old ancestral homes. At least for now there is no dearth of tourists...grin Nice that the grounds are free to the public. I would imagine the private gardens are very nice. Are they included in the tours?

Yes Moon,Wally World is all ways an adventure! Grin

Sorry, Mouse had a hiccup...lol I always try to hit WW early in the morning on a weekday...less hassle and the cashiers aren't as tired...grin

Moon,yes the private gardens are included in the tours,I enjoyed the garden more than the house:}
Hi Dixie,most of the house was built in the 1500s.A little may have been added on since.I've never been to Ireland,but I've been once to Scotland,to the Isle of Arran,which is one of the Western Isles,reached by ferry.
it's a rural community there and very peacful and unspoilt.I've never been to any of the towns or cities in Scotland.With your ancestors coming from Scotland and Ireland,both places would be of great interest to you,so I hope you'll be able to go someday.You may find relatives you've never met before :}
I'm saying goodnight now,as it's 9.30 and work early tomorrow.
Thanks for chatting,have a good remainder of sunday,
Take care everyone,till tomorrow
Joy

Have a lovey evening Joy. Happy thoughts for tomorrow. Hope to chat more then

I had to reread your post about washing your hair, jjs. The first time I scanned through I thought you said you were hoping to get "LUCKY."

Wondering what kind of dream I had during my nap.

Have a nice eve. Joy. Enjoyed the pictures and history lesson. Stay safe.

Jim you are a bad boy! LOL..

Where did every one run off to?

O.k. I'm gonna sing! If that wont wake some one up nothing will.....Rudolf the red nosed rain deer had a verry shiny nose...I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause...I gotta go put Poo's to bed I'll be back to resume singing.

My singing will wake the dead! Going to eat.....be back later.

Hey Dixie, Hi Jim

Had to see a man about a goat...back now...grin

hi all...dinner baths laundry & so on....
hey Jim I made a turkey breast for dinner....I think it was the one from your poem.
I went looking for another garland like the one I bought no such luck, I had to improvise. There were tons of garlands, just not the one I needed!

Hi Lynnie. Gotta figure out supper in a few myself...how did the gingerbread house turn out? Did ya get a chance to work on it?

yup

AWWWW. The girls did a great job painting the Nutcrackers and the gingerbread house is too sweet. I bet they had a blast.

I once went to a 'gingerbread house' party. I think there was 4 - 5 of us and we really drank a lot while making the houses. The hostess had all the gingerbread sides and tops baked and we had to glue the pieces together with the icing. Well, the icing was a little too thin but we kept trying to get the pieces together while we drank more and laughed histarically when a side of the house gently fell over. We did finally get our houses together. The hostess had all kinds of candy to decorate them. Well, after drinking and laughing so much, you can imaginie how creative our house became. The funny thing is that I was spending Christmas with my son that year. So I carried that gingerbread house on the plane to avoid any damage to it. My son thought it was really cool! But of course I didn't have good judgement about the house looked because I could only think of what happened in that jolly party. He even saved the house!!! So funny!

I wonder how JJ and Smiley's programs went today? Bet JJ's GS was too cute. I think Smiley's DD was in a concert performance this afternoon

How neat Venice. Sounds like you had as much fun making it as taking it to your son's, grin

well I coulda sworn there was more candy in that kit...hmmmmm...

Well, since it wasn't chocolate it must have been gremlins....grin

I hope they took photos for us.

I found a tiny alphabet stamp package that I had forgotten to give GD one year. It is only about 2" square for all the letters. I thought great, a freebie present. Then it occurred to me that maybe I should get a stamp pad. Of course I should get her some paper. Then she would need a little box to keep everything together. It started out as a $1 freebie gift then it turned into a lot more. Don't you think if I give her a stamp kit that I should also get her a stamp pad? and paper? and box? Or are just the stampers enough???

Well, of course you know, you can't make a gingerbread house with candy on it without eating some of the candy!!! They turned out soooo cute!

You might add the stamp pad, but I am sure she can manage the paper and probably already has something to keep them in. She may even have the stamp pad already...

Great! I don't mind taking all of those things back. It really just got out of hand!!! Thanks, Moon!

So silly of me. I went to 3 different stores for those extra things. I better take those back tomorrow before the crowds get really bad.

Sure thing Venice. I do the same thing buying for the kids...DH always says I go overboard...his favorite saying is: They will be getting gifts from other people.... lol

at this age Venice she'll be happy with anything, you can find cute stuff at Ocean State or Big Lot really cheap if you want to add a few things, but I'm sure she'll be happy with the stamps.

Hey Venice, did ya get a chance to look at that link on staircases?

Hi All. Lynnie, too cute.

DS made a gingerbread house in school one year. Or I should say a gingerbread house complete with picket fence and yard. Really cute, Santa is even on the roof. All you can see are his boots, though, he's buried in the snow. I tried to throw it out last year ~ it's looking kind of 'rank'. (They sprayed it with something)

Moon, you are right, DD had a concert today. Complete with chorus & choir performances. We don't usually get that treat. The chorus was ok, but the choir was really good. I had tears running down my face, big softy. Good thing it was dark. They actually played/sang Christian songs, which is rare in our district. What with political correctness & all.

Venice, maybe you could find a *little* stamp pad to go with the stamps. If she doesn't have a stamp pad, she can't use the stamps.

DD used to lick the stamp pads, drove me nuts. A woman I worked with gave me a huge tin of stamps once. Really fun. There's even a tic-tac-toe one, with the 'x' and the 'o'.

Edit: I'm editing out my little pad of paper. So there...

This message was edited Dec 13, 2009 6:59 PM

Awww, Smiley, that is why we love you.....grin

Smiley, your DS house sounds really cute. I wish we could have heard your DD concert!

Moon, I must have missed the staircase link! How far back is it?

This message was edited Dec 13, 2009 7:31 PM

here ya go V


http://www.oddee.com/item_96905.aspx

Wa-ay back up there, Venice. DH liked the 1st one, and the floating one too.

When the choir came down (from outside the auditorium) they all had candles, and what looked to be like graduation gowns on. They came in singing, walked to the front of the stage and finished the song. It was really nice.

DS had tootsie rolls stacked up like logs in his yard. No flowers, but little gumdrop bushes.

I'm off to make fudge. Catch you all later.

Have funny Smiley. Hope all goes well.