Happy 2012!!!

 Be safe tonight & have a wonderful celebration!!

 Instead of a ball drop for the countdown in Detroit, they have a "D" drop!  Cool!

The Nutcracker Army

Not anywhere near as creepy as dolls!

I really wanted to get some more toy solider blowmolds at Garden Ridge today.  But I should have gone last week when they first put them on sale for 50% off.  Nothing left.  A couple lamp posts, one Snoopy, one North Pole Sign with Elf and surprisingly - a large number of blowmold Angels. Shucks. 

So anyway. Thanks to this 50% off sale - the ranks of my nutcracker army have increased significantly.

 This guy is huge.  

He's standing by the back door to show his size. 

He actually came from CVS.

 These are all new today.  The big guys in back are 24 inches.  

The gingerbread man is 14 inches & the smaller soldiers are 12.

 Also new today.  Short & fat!

 The policeman & pirate are new from earlier this month.  

The other guys I got a couple years ago for like $2 each after Christmas.

The sailor I've had forever.  

The guy with the furry hat was from someplace last year on clearance & 

the wood guy I fell in love with from JoAnn Fabrics a few weeks ago. I love his colors!

This one I found at the Salvation Army & I got with the intention of updating him.  

His sporran is torn & he's holding a fish. 

He probably had a pole in the other hand at one time. 

I kind of like his colors!

Yet another reason I need to have a hutch - for my apothecary at Halloween & these guys at Christmas!

Christmas in Rochester.

Tonight we made our annual trip to Rochester to see the lights on Main Street.  It was cold, but not windy or otherwise crappy and there weren't too many crazy people out, either.  So a good evening! 

As usual there were some pretty interesting windows !!!

 The infamous upside down heart Santa cake.

 O_o

 This place can usually be counted on to have some entertaining windows.  

This year - elves with cameras!

 Who is photobombing who?

 I LOVE THIS PIC !!!!!

 The Headless Hordes

 Creepy, tree-headed mannequins.

 Flying Vino!

There was also a tragedy today, too.  My sister Laurie called this afternoon...the Big Bad Wolf, aka Morgan (her Husky/Lab) not only blew down Angel's gingerbread house, she also ate it - and the people! 

Before....

 After...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAA!

Happy Solstice!!!

Happy First Day of Winter, Happy Shortest Day - whatever you want to call it!

I am pretty happy - it's been a good day.  My boss took her department out to lunch - so there was a total of 4 of us, since the sales guy went along, too!  We went to a sports bar down the block from work - of course bars always have the best burgers!  A "weather phenomena" calendar I ordered for Randy finally arrived - after going to 4 different post offices in SE Michigan before finally finding the correct one.  The one thing I'm especially tweaked about is this arrived today....

   Light Show Tree 

I saw something similar, but smaller & not LED, when we were in Arkansas last Christmas and wanted one.  But I'd never seen it before & couldn't find it online or anything.  I googled every phrase I could think of & nothing.  I posted a picture on ChristmasFanClub (the HalloweenForum's sister site) and someone mentioned they thought they saw it on Home Depot's website!!  It took some digging there, but I found it!  I emailed the link to Randy & he noticed it was on sale & had free shipping, so he told me to order it.  WOOOHOOOO! Didn't have to tell me twice!    Love it!

This guy finally made it out in the yard, too!  He's only driven around with me since Saturday.

I'll go out tomorrow & get some pics of the yard.  It's not the most decorated house in the neighborhood for Christmas like it is for Halloween!!

Cookie weekend

 Sunday was a fun day - we made so many cookies that we got tired of decorating them!  One of the words I heard to describe the cookies is "demented". 

 not cookies - but my Tim Horton's ornament collection!

Angel modelling her apron.

 Niece Lisa & her apron.

 Angel's flowery train.

 Laurie & Angel hard at work!

 Charly the stupervisor. 

 I see a couple headless guys on there!

 Reindeer Morgan.

 Angel's "A" and her Clayton Cookie (for the boy she swears she doesn't like!)

 Captain & Princess wondering how to get their share of cookies.

 Mom doing her Kilroy impersonation over Laurie's antlers. 

 Kiss-y Face!

 Lisa's gingerbread house.

We cheated & bought gingerbread house kits that came with the house panels & roof already cut out in the correct shape - and the necessary candy & icing. 

 Green sprinkles...or not??

 Angel's gingerbread house - with her "Ben" cookie.

 Lisa's crime scene. 

 The Clayton cookie got changed to an Angela cookie since it looked rather ~funny~ with Ben & the rainbow house!

 I don't see the problem here.  

He looks pretty happy to me!

 Cookies on a cookie!

 I believe this says "oo my eye".

 Random kitchen tap dancing.

Halloween's last hurrah!