Amazing Baci wrapper

 STEADY....

 STEADY.....

What one thinks of to do when sitting around the table after dinner. Will started it, and then the skill was perfected. Wow, that little piece of foil can hold up a plate! Will, Mr. Schmidt would be proud!

The Gingerbread men

 This has become a holiday tradition for Will and Linnea. They said they started doing this in 2003.

 It was very fun, though, to roll it all out in the new kitchen!

Piles of gingerbread men about to turn in to Harry Potter characters this year!

The tea cozy

 Linnea got a new teapot for Christmas, and she also wanted a tea cozy. I really didn't want to buy one and the knitted directions online looked too complicated for my level of skill, so I looked at the one we have. It was crocheted and I figured I could do pretty much the same thing. I would do a few things differently on the next one.

I chained 35 and double crocheted 25 and alternated rows single/double for the top ten. I crocheted 22 rows catching only the back of the stitch to give it the ribbed look. I made two and then stitched together the top 12 stitches and about 6 on the bottom. That way the handle and the spout have a place to come out. Finally, I did a row of single crochet around the bottom. But this is what I'd do differently. I'd single crochet all of the top 7-8 stitches. Ten made the top part too tall. If I make the top shorter then I could do a row of trim there, too.

I think I'll make some more. It was really fast to make. And fun too. And Linnea is really happy with it, that's best of all!

Particularly for Andrew

We missed you, Andrew, and hope that somehow you can see these little videos and know how much, especially with the fire part!

Christmas Eve 2010

 When we came home from our Dinner out at the Chinese restaurant, we decided to do some more baking. Linnea made the Russian tea cakes and I made the rosettes and the almond bark pretzels.

 While we worked, Will read stories to us. The first one was Christmas at Bullerby, and then he read A Child's Christmas in Wales. Then we listened to that one again read by Dylan Thomas.

 When everything was cleaned up we celebrated the birth of Jesus with our traditional Asti, Martini Rossi. YUM!! Then we watched It's a Wonderful Life.

This morning there were Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus!

Baking and more baking

Yesterday was a baking, relaxing day. Only Dennis left the house to go to work, the rest of us stayed home ALL DAY! But we were productive!

I did two batches of my Swedish Christmas bread. Instead of making them in wreathes this year, I braided them and just put in cardamom, cinnamon and brown sugar. The second batch I drizzled icing and added red cherries to the top after baking.

Then we had a hot chocolate break while Linnea began her recipe of Ginger cake with crystallized ginger.

Ooooo, it was yummy!

Happy Christmas! During all that baking, Andrew called. It was so nice to talk to him. We really miss him, and he said he misses just sitting on the couch in sweats with freezing temps outside and a cozy house inside!

Anniversary Dinner

Well, this is what the old couple looks like now! We had a lovely prime rib dinner with our delightful children, Will and Linnea. Don't they look like twins?

Dinner together again

Last night was the first night Linnea was home, so we had a little Italian food for dinner. Cin cin!
PS Maybe someone can tell me how I can outsmart blogger and not make all my photos landscape?

The mailman is Santa!

This morning the mailman stopped by out house with a mail box FULL of SEVERAL packages! With every adult in the house ordering online and having them sent here, we all got parcels this morning. What fun!

(This is Dennis bringing in the mail, not the mailman himself!)

Lunar Eclipse

I took a bunch of pictures with and without a tripod. They didn't seem to be turning out with my little camera and its limited telephoto lens. But this one turned out pretty well! Too bad I gave up, the total one might have been OK!

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Today is our 31st anniversary, so I couldn't resist making that the photo for the day.

We got married during my Christmas Break from teaching that second year of teaching in East Moline, Illinois. What a lifetime ago!

We're thankful for GOD'S faithfulness in keeping us all these years. Every year is made up of many moments! We're thankful for the way God's grows us together and grows us spiritually through this gift of marriage. It's a commitment that's grows  every year.

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We bought this sweet angel in a shop in Itri. In Italy.

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We bought a couple of these beautiful gold ones at a Christmas store in Garmisch, Germany. So delicate. Wish I had gotten more!

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A unique ornament that we had made while living in Italy. Good thing we didn't have any more children after that! :)

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The Westroads Flash Mob looking down from the upper level. It got even more packed!

Here's just a bit of the singing!

The baking begins

The meat pie looked so good that I had to take a photo. The puff pastry makes it yummy!

And a cascade of gingerbread. This is from my Grandmother's recipe who wrote on the recipe that it was HER mother's recipe. Over 100 years old!

Amazing Legos

I had some fun with a couple of boys Wednesday afternoon. We pulled out the Lego container AND the old ship. They were happy for hours!

But we had to take a little break to play with the cat... dangling "mouse" on a string! It was so funny!

DPP15 O Christmas Tree!

Finally up, and a few minutes later Santa, uh, Uncle Lester arrived!

The bookshelf from...the other place

We bought this lovely bookshelf when we lived in Italy. It has been taken apart only once, when we moved here, until now. Oh, it is a breeze to take apart. But you should be thankful that I'm not posting photos of us trying to put it back together. It has a very clever European system which locks all parts in place. Smooth, seamless. HOWEVER!!!! There is a problem when one tries to LIFT to lock in the bottom shelf all the while one pops "cookies" in from the back to the sides! We did it....EVENTUALLY! And we're still married. but it was not fun. and it took forever.

 So I could not help but take a picture of the thing all together and looking SO INNOCENT! With bags of games and puzzles waiting to get back in place.

 It's especially beautiful to see everything clean and tidy. Even the cat on the chair knew things were better! :)

Dinner?

She wasn't going to miss anything!

Sunday small groups

Our small group met at our house last night, hence the push to get the room finished. Here's our long-time friend, Kim, with our new friend, Ann. The room was comfortable, fit lots of people and smelled like fresh paint! Have to light a few candles and get the tree up now.

Italian Cooking Class Dinner

These lovely girls came over and we all made an

Italian dinner. I was great fun to have these girls over.Thanks for a wonderful, memorable evening, girls!

 Cin cin!

 We had a great wine server, too!

Operation Restore Order!

Now for curtains and pictures and shelves back up!