Christmas Break

Christmas week began with an unexpected overnight trip to Burlington with Annie.  I heard that one of my uncles wasn't doing very well, so I decided to pay him a visit.  We were only there for less than 24 hours, but we packed in all we could while we were there: visits with family, shopping on Church Street, dinner at Asiana Noodle Shop, Ben and Jerry's, a night at the Hotel Vermont, and a visit to the King Arthur store on the way home!

We almost had to postpone Christmas until the 26th 

because storms in the south delayed Kerry's plane 

and caused her to miss her connection 

on Christmas morning. 

She was stuck in the Philadelphia airport for 8 hours!

  Instead, we got her on a high speed train 

and Vance picked her up in New Haven.  

Christmas was saved!

The kids seemed very concerned about Sami's old age 

(he turned 11 this year) 

and wanted lots of pictures with him.

Kerry got her Dad a subscription to the Sunday New York Times

 for Christmas.  I couldn't resist wrapping up one of the nation's 

smallest newspapers for his stocking!

Adam's gifts had a common theme this year!  

I'm sure Grandma Alice will wear her t-shirt proudly 

in honor of Adam's home in the city!

Since our Christmas celebration was abbreviated on the 25th,

  we continued on the 26th 

with an afternoon of decorating cookies.

To add to the the fun,  

we decided to make it a competition (big surprise)!

And there was only one shape - a sweater.

The cookies were judged on Facebook 

by friends and family near and far!

Vance decorated these 3 cookies which tell a story.  

Quite a unique idea!

These cookies(above)  were done by Adam!

Kerry made a nice assortment (above). 

 It's too bad none of them won :(

Annie was very creative, with her snowman cookie taking 2nd place!

I made the cookies above, and the one below - which

I am happy to say took first place!

Our family is small in size, but large in love for each other.

We always have a lot of fun when we're together.

No matter how fulfilling it is, 

life and work can be very stressful.

I'm happy that Adam, Kerry, and Annie

could be pampered for a while at home

until leaving to return to real life once again.

We Need a Little Christmas

I remember when I was in my early twenties, living in an apartment in Connecticut.  I was happy at my job.  I had lots of friends.  I had a cat of my own.  Still,  I always looked forward to going "home" at Christmas to a house with festive decorations, cookies galore, and my family.

My kids have dealt with some difficulties this year, so putting myself in their shoes,  I want to make our "home" a welcoming, festive place to be.
The thought of getting out all of the boxes of saved decorations from the past didn't excite me because - we all know - what comes out of the basement has to be packed away again in January.  And that's not fun.

I decided to make the decorating more than just removing things from boxes and placing them around the house.  I decided to make most of the decorations out of "natural" things.  No glitz and sparkle - just simple and warm.

Beginning with a fresh tree, I dried orange slices 

and hung them with red ribbon.

The garland was made with felted wool balls, 

with much of the wool coming from my dogs fur!

The house was filled with the aroma of cinnamon

when I was baking these cute scented ornaments.

I strung mini wreaths of cranberries.

Knitting with toothpicks was fun!

These little pinecone elves were easy to make

with some hot glue.

I also used plain pine cones

and shells collected from Silver Sands Beach last summer.

 My favorite ornaments to make were these

Santa gnomes!

Maddie is all-natural and makes any spot in the

house prettier!

I've started collecting these whimsical

Swedish Christmas gnomes which

I have placed around the house.

 Wrapping is simple and organic too.

And candles never fail to warm up the atmosphere.

 Outside we have lights (especially for Adam, the light king).

Giant sugar pine cones on the door.

Pine boughs and pepperberries on the front step.

 A wrapped box on the front bench.

This is the first year I've put lights in my garden in the back yard.

They are controlled by a remote so I can turn them on and off

from inside the house.  This is what I see out my kitchen window!

The stage is set.

But the house is waiting for the finishing touches:

Adam, Kerry, and Annie.

Then it will really be "home".

The Making of This Year's Card

One tradition that remains steadfast is taking a special picture for the front of our annual Christmas card.  Some years, a lot of planning is involved.  This year,  we were just thankful to have a time when the entire family was home together.  That happened to be in September this year.

We didn't plan our clothing in advance - just a sweatshirt would be good enough.  We got the dogs and went on our back deck.  The camera was on a tripod, triggered by a remote control.

I tried manning the remote at first,  but I couldn't get it to fire 

unless I held my arm out.

Annie tried and was more successful at being discrete.

Except for a few canine issues, getting a good enough shot

 was a pretty easy undertaking.

Adam was out of the loop on this one.

Annie was enjoying having control of the shutter.

After finishing with the serious pictures, 

there's always time for a little fun.

This seemed to be Kerry's favorite face this year!

And the 2015 Christmas card photo is...

Love it!