happy new year's!

our traditional appetizer feast for new year's eve!
everyone makes their own appetizer to present at different times through the evening

banana pudding

sushi

salad with homemade croutons

mashed potatoes and steak by Don

warm curried dip and tarragon fries by Sarah

berry shakes

the goodies that were very, very bad

We always bake a few extra goodies on Christmas Eve Day for the kiddles to leave for Santa.  

Buddy really wanted to melt Rolos on pretzels for an easy-to-eat candied treat.  It was going so well.

At this point, he dropped the pan and the Rolos spilled all over the preheated oven, which made them melt all over the door, into the hinges, and on the oven base.

This was the first of many good times that night.  It seemed a little like a National Lampoon's Christmas Eve.
We had a few Rolo pretzel survivors and I'm sure that Santa enjoyed eating them.

Christmas dinner

We don't like to travel on Christmas and my parents weren't able to come this year, so we had a quiet day.  Rebekah came in the morning, then we visited Gramma at lunch and spent the rest of the day alone at home, while it snowed.  It was lovely.

Here are some photos of the family from our formal family Christmas dinner.

And our Christmas Dinner table.

Thanks for sending us the ham, Dad.  That was a really nice gift.  I threw away the fruit cake you sent, because I was sure you didn't mean for us to eat a brown cake that was so heavy and smelly.  No worries!

a white Christmas

While it snowed outside and the children ran about with their new trinkets, the oldest of us snuggled up by the fire to read, nap and relax.

wishing you a joyous holiday season

more photos available at www.tinyprints.com/2012/donsarah

the ward Christmas party

In the ward that I grew up in, the Christmas dinner each year was just for adults.  Families (or wives!) signed up to decorate a table for the dinner, including linens, china, centerpieces, etc.  The one year that I was an adult in that ward, I was so impressed by the creativity and beauty of it all.  

This year, our new ward hosted a ward Christmas brunch and asked families (or wives!) to sign up to make centerpieces for the tables.  Recently coming from the flash and glamour of the last area we lived in, I expected that I wouldn't need to volunteer, since this is classic way to show up your creativity.  There is always a limited number of tables compared to the number of ladies who want to show off.  However, there was a table left for me and the day before the party, there was another table left for me!  I really was incredibly excited, because I'm ALWAYS on the look out for ways to use the great deals (junk) that I've convinced Don that I need (to waste our money on).  Really, I could have decorated  several more tables with things we have around here. 

The kids and I decorated one table with paper chains they had made, a paper tree Sunshine, Jasmine and my mom had put together, a large wrapped box, scrapbook paper for placemats, and red bows on the chairs. Don was a little concerned that I was using hot glue on the church's chairs, but I assured him that I had tested hot glue on any number of surfaces in the past and it would work perfectly well.  Sure enough, no paint was removed from the chairs and no damage was done.  Now you too can assure nervous folks when you bust out your hot glue gun at church! 

I used things that I had set aside for our family's Christmas dinner to decorate an angel themed table.  I didn't know how far to go with this table, because I know people are sensitive about angel stuff in churches.  It seems that everyone has their own idea about what angels look like, do, etc.  I didn't want to offend anyone, so it ended up being mostly just white tulle, candles, and spray painted gold or silver tchotchkes.

And because no post is complete without a photo of children, here are the kids in front of our house wearing the Christmas clothes they wore over, and over, and over again this season.

crafting with felt

The girls and I have been crafting up a storm with felt lately.  Felt crowns were made for cousins and felted yarn wreaths were made with friends. 

It's one of my favorite art mediums.  I have a shelf full of it in our craft room and I still don't have all of the colors we "need."  

Santa, bring us more felt!!!

Bagpipes, ghillies, and kilts

Sunshine's Highland dance troupe performed this week. She moved over to Scottish from Irish, because of a better location and better teaching styles. *sarcasm begins* It's all the same anyways, right? Our British friend, Simon, assures us that they're all from the same island and all know each other and we needn't concern ourselves with petty things like Irish or Scottish or English. *sarcasm ends*

While I took still shots, Buddy videotaped. HA HA HA!!!!! Wow. Apparently, his little fingers were dancing as well and he videotaped them.
Enjoy!!!!

Gramma

Dearest Don flew into South Dakota in November on an errand for an angel. Pollyanna had been in the hospital twice that month and I didn't feel comfortable leaving her. So, Don took time off work to help my grandmother move to Texas. He packed her things, helped my cousin move her furniture to his home, rented an oxygen concentrator for her, checked out a month's worth of her medications, went through an hour long security check at the airport of her supplies and sat with her through her anxiety on the three hour flight.
Now, Gramma is safely settled ten minutes away from us.  We get to see her every day and it's really nice for the kids to get to know her better.  Buddy's scout troop went caroling there a few weeks ago.  Sunshine's Highland Dance performance was a few blocks away, so Gramma accompanied us there. The staff at the nursing home are capable and kind.  They call whenever they need to check on something or if they need me to help convince Gramma to do something.  Gramma has already lost four pounds, because she's started doing physical therapy every day and she's walking again with their assistance. She takes lunch and supper in the dining hall, and attends a lot of the social events they offer. Mom and Dad have been to visit her already, because the plane ride to Dallas is so much more doable, since it's non stop.  Gramma is really excited to be in a bigger room and to have the window bed.  She likes the blinds open all of the way, so she can look out at the courtyard.  Don (an avid bird fan) has promised her that she'll see lots of birds as soon as winter winds down.  They have bird feeders outside of each bedroom, so the residents will get visitors and she's really excited about that.  Gramma's bed is also angled so that she can see people walking by in the hallway.  She loves that.

Aunti Lori and Aunti Carol sent her TONS of new clothes, so that I could revamp her wardrobe.  I've attached some photos of her and the one at Sunshine's dance performance shows Gramma in one of the outfits Aunti Carol sent her.  Thank you!

I'll try to post photos and updates about Gramma here, so that her family far away can see how she's doing.

st nick

our annual visit to the big man in red!

our third annual visit to Bass Pro Shop for their woodland holiday wonderland, free photos, free carnival games, free carousel rides, and free kids meals!