Sunday With Ticky.

Remember Ticky brought me a lovely cocktail glass for my Christmas tree. It's a fine Egyptian glass collectible, handmade in Egypt by a professional Egyptian glassblower. This glass collectible was mouth blown, engraved with a unique design, accented with 24 Karat gold trim, and painted and fired in a special oven to bake in the exceptional color. The end result is a truly elegant and timeless treasure to cherish! (OK, I copied all that from the tag on the ornament.)

We decided to head out this morning to the Christmas Mouse, one of those stores I despise. It sells overpriced Christmas crap 364 days a year and there are rooms and meandering rooms of crappily decorated Christmas trees. Really, those trees did nothing for me. But, I wanted more bar ware for my Norfolk Island pine, since I didn't want Ticky's little ornament to be lonely.

When we went upstairs to the Egyptian glass area, we were startled by a life-sized Bee-Yorn guarding the glass. Beyond Bee-yorn, was a room full of ... ...NUTCRACKERS!

Every size, shape, nationality you could want. That is, if you're into nutcrackers, which I definitely am not.

Nutcrackers from Scotland - the city of bagpipes.

I'll probably be having bad dreams about this tonight.

Sandra Lee would have

pee'd her pants.

Oh just great. Now I've got this ear worm burrowing into my brain, only the lyrics are different: Nutcracker, nutcracker, crack me some nuts. Almonds, pecans. Walnuts, chestnuts. Nutcracker, nutcracker, spit out the shells. Stay outta my dreams tonight. Ticky was kind enough to take a picture of Rosie and Bee-Yorn. Now if the nutcrackers weren't bad enough, this next room gave me the willies.

It was the Room of Creepy Dolls.

If I don't get nightmares from the nutcrackers, these dolls will do the trick.

I could only imagine that these dolls come alive at night, wander through the store, and move stuff around.

Or these dolls might braid each others hair or unbraid it just to keep the salesclerks on their toes and creeped out.

Wedding dolls? This is just weird.

I'm on overload at this point.

Oh Gosh. This is just way too creepy. I can just see these dolls getting up at night and moving around and changing places just to mess with the staff.

This sad little unkempt urchin was all by herself on the floor. It would appear her legs or feet are maimed.

There was even a Native American doll who seemed just a little too happy.

I swear, their eyes were following me around the room. And I was half expecting to see THIS. The next tree with detailed close-ups, I shot for Mrs. VJW. Mrs. VJW is the author of Diary of the Suburban Hausfrau and she likes Vegas.

Cause nothing says Christmas like gambling. Enjoy, Mrs. VJW!

Well, to make a long story longer, Ticky bought a bunch of ornaments. I bought a bunch of ornaments, Egyptian glass among others. And here are my purchases:

2 Egyptian Martini glasses, a red wine glass, a white wine glass, a crystal wine glass, a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a bottle of Pinot Noir, a bottle of Bordeaux, and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

And here's my Norfolk Island pine, with bar ware. Aunt Sandy has nothing on Rosie.

The glasses are on, but not the bottles, since I needed longer ornament hangers to fit over the branches.

Egyptian glass.

Red wine glass.

More Egyptian glass.

Ticky's Egyptian glass.

Sparkly wine glass.

White wine glass. Since it just cannot be seen enough, here's Sandy's cocktail tree. And Ticky? Thanks for everything. We had fun!