Before Christmas

Before Christmas.

Isn't it true that the anticipation of Christmas,
the time BEFORE Christmas,
is often more exciting than Christmas Day?

Buying gifts for loved ones, wrapping, planning, decorating...

This year, the time before Christmas was extra special.
With my sister and her family here, there was time spent in NYC and Vermont,
a marriage proposal,  gingerbread house competition
and lots of time spent with family and friends,
just  being together.

There were unexpected visits from good friends...

bearing thoughtful gifts!

After church on Christmas Eve,  we had an Asian dinner of ginger chicken, fried rice and egg rolls.

Then we decided we would each opened one gift.

The gift I made for my sister got the expected reaction!

It was a photo book of all the times our families have spent together since our children were born. 

The tears came as Emily read the foreward.
(see end of blog post for details)

Vance's brother and his wife visited too.

and Ravioli.

The end of the evening was spent looking at Bride's Magazine
in search of a wedding dress for Emily!

Foreward

Family

In truth a family is what you make it.  It is made strong, not by the number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit.

Will You Marry Me?

On the Saturday before Christmas, we made a road trip back home.

To Burlington.

My sister, Lori.  Me.  Kerry.  Hali.  

 Emily and Joe.

Packed snug in my suitcase was a very special turquoise box.

From Tiffany's.

We were keeping it hidden from Emily.

After checking into the Hotel Vermont, we walked through the cold, icy/rainy night to the Daily Planet for dinner.

During dinner,  Kerry went to the bathroom with Emily and we gave the ring to Joe to put in his pocket.

Lori's high school friends, Lisa and Pat (Fr. Pat now) met us for dinner too.   My niece, Jamie, came later to join us for drinks.

They were unaware of what they were about to witness.

When we left the restaurant, the rain and sleet had stopped momentarily. A normally bustling Church Street was deserted because of the storm.

Church Street looked magical.

We walked to the top of the street near the large Christmas tree.

This was the planned spot.

We took a few pictures in front of the tree.

(Kerry, Emily, Hali and Lori)

 Lori, Fr. Pat and Lisa

Then Emily and Joe.

At that point, Joe turned to Emily and began talking to her.

We couldn't hear what was said, but we didn't need to.

It was written all over Emily's face.

He got down on one knee and took the box out of his pocket. 

Opening it to show her the beautiful diamond ring, 

he proposed.

I believe he got the answer he wanted to hear.

 It fit perfectly.

Everyone was excited, but cold.

We walked back toward the hotel. 

The news was out on social media within minutes!

Fr. Pat couldn't stay to celebrate with us at the hotel bar, but before he left the family gathered around for a prayer.

Then more hugs and more pictures.

The evening ended with a toast to the Emily and Joe

followed by talk of wedding plans...

I was so happy to be a part of it all.

A special couple

in a special town

on a special night

with special people.

Congratulations Emily and Joe!

Competition is Sweet!

"Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base."   ~ George S. Patton

The people in my family have a lot in common.

But if I had to pick one thing that's most prominent, 

it would have to be this:

We are competitive.  We like to win.

So when we decided to make Gingerbread Houses this year,

what fun would it be if it we didn't make a competition out of it?

We paired up into teams and went to Stop & Shop to buy what we needed.

The only rule:  it had to be totally edible.

Team #1:   Kerry and her friend, Melissa

Team #2:  Emily and Joe

Team #3:  Lori and Hali

Team #4:  Gayle and Adam

"The pressure people put on themselves and the rivalry between the teams is much more marked. And I think that's a good thing. As long as that rivalry remains within the spirit of competition, it can only spur everyone on.

~ Eric Cantona

"I think there's something wrong with me - I like to win in everything I do, regardless of what it is. You want to race down the street, I want to beat you. If we're playing checkers, I want to win. You beat me, it's going to bother me. I just enjoy competition." 

~Derek Jeter

Kerry and Melissa made a sweet cottage.  It was covered with sweet tarts, twizzlers, candy canes and shredded wheat cereal on the roof.  There was a pretzel fence, a tootsie roll log pile, jolly rancher pond and fire pit, and real gingerbread people warming themselves by the fire. A nice finishing touch was the snowy frosting drizzled on the roof and windows.

"You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that."  ~ Michael Jordan

Emily and Joe had a very unique design with a lighthouse made from rice krispie squares, a boathouse from vanilla wafer cookies, and a boat floating in a pool of melted Jolly Ranchers.  Rocks were chocolate covered raisins.  There was even a gingerbread girl sunning herself on the roof.

Lori and Hali went with a very detailed chalet design with lots of frosting details. The path was made from slivered almonds.  The trees were fresh herbs (thyme or rosemary I think).  Their coup might have been their intricate fence made out of piped chocolate, except we think the light above the table was too hot and their fences kept drooping!

"It is nice to have valid competition; it pushes you to do better."  ~ Gianni Versace

Adam and I designed a New England cottage with a fall theme.  It was sided with peanut butter and potato sticks, pretzels, and golden grahams on the roof.  The grass was made out of coconut sprayed with food coloring, the trees out of popcorn, and the pumpkins from cheese balls. Adam made dormer windows with hershey chocolate bar roofs and baskets of apples.  The chocolate chimney had popcorn smoke coming out of it.  On the other side of the house was a lean-to with pretzel rod wood logs. The orange leaves were lentils.

"Some people don't like competition because it makes them work harder, better"

                   ~ Drew Carey

Annie got home from college toward the end of the competition and Grandma Alice came over for the dinner we didn't have time to make!

In fairness, we needed judges that were totally objective and didn't know who made each house.  We called upon our neighbors, Linda and Ron.

They were feeling the pressure, though, and we had to convince them that nobody's feelings would be hurt.

 Vance had the honor of tallying up the points and announcing the winners.

First Place: Gayle and Adam

Second Place: Kerry and Melissa

Third Place:  It was a tie.  Lori and Hali, Emily and Joe.

"At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You WILL regret the time you lost the gingerbread contest." 

 ~ Barbara Bush