Fuyus, Nuts and Bolts, Secret Santas, and The End of an Era

These little beauties were given to me...and we have been devouring them. I didn't even know about Fuyu persimmons until two years ago. The only ones I knew of were the acorn-shaped ones that my mom used for persimmon cookies. I'm sorry I've been missing out on these yummy and funny-named fruits for so long! (Oh, they are so good with Cheezit--that sweet/salty thing happens!)

And I had one of those turkey roast things in my freezer and cooked that up. It has one of those little timers on it and that thing didn't pop up until 45 minutes after it said it should. I got to the point where I just kept cranking up the temp on the oven, we were so hungry! It was so delicious though! Maybe food tastes more delicious when you're ravenous, I don't know, but I was proud of myself for this dinner! (Turkey, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cranberry sauce, spinach salad with fresh mandarins).

And then, about an hour after we finished our dinner we heard a loud knock on the door. Here's what we found when we opened it:

 I cried when I saw the money tree...topped by a $100 bill. Holy cow...

 There was so much good stuff in this box, a turkey and all the trimmings, plus lots of goodies, a gingerbread house kit, popcorn, candy, sparkling cider, you name it, and the softest blanket I've ever felt. I know if came from the church, so I made sure I told a few people "thank you" that would pass it on to our Secret Santas. It was just so cool!

 I made Nuts and Bolts this week. This is not Chex Mix, mind you. This is an old recipe that my mom always made since I can remember. It's so good.

 And just some randomness: I had to buy some scrubbing pads, but I was surprised at the tag on the back that reads "personal skin care". Yikes, that's a bit harsh, huh?

 Today I woke up to this beautiful sunrise. It was my last day of work until January 7th for Christmas--whoops---I mean "Winter Break".

This year the school's "Holiday Program" was actually Christmas based. They did a cute musical called "The Reindeer Whisperer". Nat played one of the reindeer. And no, I don't have a picture of her...but I have a good reason, and that is that it is so hard to get a good picture and I know that they will have good pictures in the school yearbook, that I've given up trying and I just go and enjoy.

But it was my last program at the elementary school because Nat will move on to middle school next year. The first program I went to was in 1992...and then through the years with each kid. That's 20 years! (not consecutive, I had a few years off) but still...wow! I'm glad that this last one was Christmassy and that they even sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas at the end. A great way to end an era!