Bring on Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving is often quite a day, and this day-after was no exception. There was lots of Black Friday activity. Leftovers being eaten all the day long. All the Christmas stuff was staged in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. We even had a birthday celebration. And what was the topic of Friday Family Dinner? Christingles! And Advent/Hope, too, of course. Oh, and Christmas movies; Noelle is quite good.

A Christingle.

Matt and Sam hauling the Tanenbaum.

Christmas is staged in the hallway with care...

Oh my...

Perfect seasonal puzzle.

Thanksgiving Day!

It was somewhat chaotic in the kitchen leading up to dinner. There were a lot of people doing lots of things! All the old-standby favorites: Bubble Bread, Sausage and Ham Omelets, Gramma's Rolls, Braised Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Mac-n-Cheese Casserole (a new one Fina made), 7-Layer Salad, Rainbow Jello, Fudge, and Pumpkin Pie. The amazing thing?... The adult table was the smaller table!

P.S. The next morning, Matt created a fabulous new sandwich: leftover braised rib meat in a Gramma's roll. Nothing else. Wow!

The Bubble Bread rose well enough...

But the cinnamon wasn't cinnamon!

Emergency Code-3 run for more Rhodes Rolls.
Thawing began immediately with the seat warmers in the car.

Gramma's Rolls are under way.

That's Roxie by the fridge.
Fina's dogsitting this weekend.

Flour!

AJ helped Papa with the Braised Ribs

Griffen helped Nana with the fudge.

At last, Bubble Bread with cinnamon!

It was a Hunt Cellars Thanksgiving.

It's Beginning to Look...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Lynn's birthday tends to get Christmas decorating going seriously. Sam got home today, too, and one of the things he likes is sushi! The basketball court got some use sparked by Sam being home, Lexi on a basketball team, and a visiting pooch named Roxie, a Burmese Mountain Dog that Fina is dogsitting.

A birthday bouquet for Lynn from California!

Sushi Ato!

An art project reward for Take Flight work.

Elves at Work

Tracy and Fina made the cutest Advent Calendars! I can't tell you what each contained yet as they haven't been delivered. Matteo made some airplanes - that fly very well! Fina decorated her car with the greatest reflective Christmas lights! And Jamie made the best birthday gift for Lynn, a pipe cleaner palm tree. It was symbolic for some Lisa Leonard pewter Nativity pieces yet to arrive.

Lexi lucked out. She was the only one up when
Nana and Papa headed for breakfast at Snooze.

Gotcha Day and a Birthday!

It was Gotcha Day (adoption day) for one of the clan and a Birthday for another this weekend!

World Prematurity Day

Tracy posted the first pic below on Facebook, saying: "Today is World Prematurity Day which always means I have to share my 25-weekers - who are now 10yrs old and defied all the odds. David and Jonathan, you are both 1 in a million."

Perfect new blanket for Christmas!
Biggest blanket ever!