The Orange

My family doesn't have a lot of family traditions. There's not one thing that we necessarily do on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. However, there are a few of us that have followed an old tradition of adding a fruit ornament besides the other glass ornaments. When my grandmother was born my great grandparents put an orange on the Christmas tree with her name and date on it. My father also has an orange ornament that he added in the 1960's. As the oranges have dried they have shrunk, but they are fun to see.

James and I thought that we would add an orange to our tree in 2006 to celebrate our first Christmas together. Now each year we look forward to unwrapping the ornament and putting it on the tree. While it is the most simple ornament on the tree, it is also our most favorite.

16 mile commute + rush hour + snow + a lack of patience = A VERY long one hour commute home

For all of those asking...yes it's cold in Minnesota.

Weather.com says it is -7 air temperature and -21 wind chill.

Twas a great day to decide that I needed to get gas. My toes are still defrosting. Thank goodness for Chicken Wild Rice Soup!

A few weeks ago we were watching TV and there was a show on public television about eagles. Fred usually doesn't get too excited about things on TV, but when we weren't looking he jumped on the table and tried to get the eagles (we do need to teach him that if this was real life the eagles would be getting him).



I did manage to get one photo of him though...

Today was a very productive day. I...

• Went to the grocery store
• Cleared off snow from the driveway
• Went to the library and got two new books
• Worked on Christmas cards
• Talked to my sister
• Did three loads of laundry
• Worked on Christmas cards (again)
• Made some peanut butter fudge
• Baked some peanut cluster bars
• Worked on Christmas cards (some more)
• Wrapped Christmas gifts
• Made a yummy supper
• Finished (my part) of the Christmas cards

Preparing for the Christmas card

Step one: Fluff and brush Fred.

Step two: Test picture with Elise and Fred (there were a lot of these!)

Step three: More test pictures wondering why the camera makes us blurry.

Step four (three days later with the help of my parents): Complete!

Fred the cat (in winter)

In the dryer on the warm clean clothes (and you wonder why we always have fur on us)

In a basket

Curled up as close as possible to any human.

On top of my head at night.

Yes, I know these are very flattering pictures of me, but it's all about Fred.