Benefitting from those Christmas Presents

January can be a dreary dull month sometimes but fortunately Mike and I have had our Christmas presents to keep us occupied. 

Mike received a peg hook set from Emily for Christmas.  I heard him tell Emily it was just what he wanted.  I had to laugh to myself because actually it was just what I wanted.  His workbench has been a sore point for me for years.  It's always a mess.  He cannot find anything and then if I set something on it he tells me I am the one who caused the mess on his workbench.  With these new peg hooks, Mike could get some of that stuff off of the workbench and hang it on the wall.  Which is exactly what he did one gray but warm day in January without any prompting from me. 

He must have been so encouraged at the sight of a cleaner workbench (or the fact that Heath has been working with Mike's tools) that Mike went ahead and added LED lighting too. 

Lois gave Mike a coffee bean grinder for Christmas.  It is getting a lot of use.  Mike cannot believe how much better his black Starbucks Sumatra coffee tastes when he grinds the beans right before making a pot. 

However, by far my favorite present was for 'Princess' Lilly, I mean my dog.  Kathy gave Mike a dog car seat.  Mike and I have noticed that our dachshunds are not good car riders.  They whine a lot in the car.  I think it is because they cannot see out the window.  They are too little.  With a car seat they could see.  So Kathy got us one and Heath installed it.  It is in the back seat so real people can still sit in the passenger seat of my car.  Lilly loved it, well, she did after traveling in it for awhile.  She and I ran errands in town.  When I quickly ran into the post office, she remained patiently in her seat surveying her surroundings.  When I drove, she got comfortable (or resigned) and rested her head on the seat and watched the world go by.  She actually did look regal sitting back there. 

Although, I have enjoyed playing with all these thoughtful presents, they would be just as much fun or even more fun in sunshine and warmer weather!  Hopefully, we will be able to give that a try soon!