Enjoying the Christmas preparations. . . . . . . . .

Phew! I feel a bit like this today after so much weekend baking.

Bob propped me up by staying out of my hair all those hours in the kitchen.

 I like to get on with my baking with Christmas music, no conversation,

 and a nice glass of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry nearby!

 Memories of childhood Christmas baking days with

 my mother fill my thoughts and make me happy.

The kitchen is now a mess with a layer flour everywhere, bits of pastry

 dough stuck on the floor, a raisin or two rolling under the island,

 and sticky handles on the refrigerator. I hate a grubby kitchen

so you know what I'll be doing today.

BTW, I love my pair of woolly mice - bought in Asheville, NC last year -

they came out of the storage box again for Christmas. I think they'll be 

staying around from now on, not going back into hiding. I can see them

 depicting happenings in our daily life through all the months ahead - so

 keep an eye out for them when I post in the new year.

Their names you may ask? Why Bob and Mary of course!

Yes, today I start some house cleaning now the messy bits of making 

the cottage festive are completed. 

With an open house on Christmas Eve - come and gobble

 up the goodies if you're nearby - I do like the house to sparkle in the candlelight.

 We still have not started burning our wood due to continued warm weather so

 the dust is not bad - but a fire in the hearth will be enjoyed over Christmas

 even if we have to keep the doors open! 

. . . . . eeeeek!!!!!! Tiny house guests soon?

How adorable are these mice!

I just found them in an Asheville shop - part of an early 

display of Christmas items.

The fact that there were girls and boys, dressed in

trousers and flirty skirts, with cute tails 

and perfect mouse ears, made a purchase of just 

two quite easy, and not expensive.

My biggest fear however is that with the cold weather now settling in, the 

real mice may be back before I can shake a stick set a humane mouse trap!
Sad as it may be to catch them this way, I cannot have those little nightly 
visitors running around the cottage. We've stuffed all access points, around pipes, 
back of stove etc. with copper mesh but, as the exterminator told us, a teeny mouse 
only requires a tiny 1/4" opening to get through!  The house is on a crawl space, 
apparently they come up from there, so traps are set down under.

We didn't spy a single mouse for the first twenty five years we lived in this house, 

now, for the past several years, they seem to enjoy sharing our home, especially
 during the winter.
Any tips for sending those tiny creatures on their merry way are welcomed, thanks.