A Strange and Wonderful Life

It occurred to me just a few seconds ago that life here at the Haney Place is both strange and wonderful.  Equally.  At the same time.

Here is our wonderfully convenient pre-lit tree we scored a few years ago on Black Friday (something I would NEVER consider doing again, but I digress).  The beauty and convenience of the pre-lit does leave a little something to be desired after a few years...

It's not really clear in this photo...but if you look very closely, you will notice that the clear lights work on the top and the bottom of the tree, while the colored lights work only in the middle...If someone would come up for a name/theme for this arrangement...I'd be glad to stick with it.  Good grief.  Oh, please also take note of the ever-present building permit decoratively situated right behind the tree...yes...this is the Haney Place indeed!!!

Then on to Christmas cookies.  I intend to make cookies called "meatballs" this year.  The recipe, I believe, originated with my Aunt Gloria.  They look like meatballs, but they are moist and tender chocolatey, cinnamoney, orangey goodness.  And the recipe calls for lard.  Lard.  Not a typo. 

So when going through my inventory of ingredients, I was sad that I would have to make another trip to another store to purchase said lard.  Then just now, while browsing through the freezer in the kitchen, I found a pound of lard.  SCORE!!!  I was ecstatic.  Impulsively, I held it up in the air, yelled LARD, OH JOY -- clutched said pound of lard to my chest while Big Steve was passing through the kitchen to the back door.  I put the lard in the fridge to defrost for tomorrow's baking, and then it occurred to me...neither I nor Big Steve had noticed anything remarkable in my behavior....

So...let the holiday preparations begin!!!!!!!!!!!!