Elsie & Cookie a trois, yoghurt, sugared pecans, Pod Z decorations

I hopped up early Tuesday morning (12/8) because I felt I had a lot to get done.  Michael left around 9 AM for all of his errands, and shortly after that I had finished all of the quilting rows on the baby dino quilt #2.  I headed upstairs after that to work on more food gifts and found my babies in their traditional morning spots…enjoying the sun:   

 I put together more yoghurt for Michael 

 before settling back in to making Christmas food gifts.  I was totally in the throes of making sugared pecans 

 

when I got a call from the Lake House.  Apparently no one showed up from Volunteers to collect money for the Angel Tree gifts.  I ran downstairs and called seven people on the committee...NONE of whom were home!!!  So I told Susan (at the front desk) that as soon as my pecans were out of the oven, I would change my clothes and head up.  That took 2 hours out of my day…and kind of the wind out of my sails for a bit.  But I finally got started once again (once I was back home) and got a couple more runs of pecans done, and all bagged up.  By then Michael was home and he helped with the bagging.  

aren't these bags adorable?

I had a few leftover pretzels from the White Trash, and started to put together Pretzel Turtles with them (thank goodness Michael was willing to unwrap all of the caramels)…to be finished on Wednesday.  Michael and I sat in front of the fire and talked and read for a bit, while waiting for my 50 pound box of palm kernel oil to get a little bit soft.  I really would like to make some more soap, but even in the summer the palm kernel oil is ROCK hard….after sitting by the fire for 1/2 an hour, I managed to chip off enough for 2 batches of soap.  Now I just have to soften the coconut oil too  :~).  By then it was time for dinner and we each had a piece of leftover pizza before heading out to Pod “Z”.  They have a “light up the Z” event every year, so I asked Michael not to go to the movies so that we could attend.  We drove over in our golf cart to see the luminary and all of the decorations.   

 They collected canned goods for the local food pantry, and they had stations set up with hot chocolate and mulled wine.  We had a very pleasant time seeing everything and talking to several people we knew.  When we came home we were both chilled, so we made hot toddies and I knit while we watched TV.