December Fun

 Here's December (so far) in picture mode...

Walking for my Mama in the Arthritis Jingle Bell Walk/Run, we are Oma's Angels.

Yahoo, we did it!  Unfortunately, without my angel friends from last year.  
Way too many surgeries going on!

DJ directed me to youtube to find out how to make these scarfs...  
Redskins vs Cowboys.  Oh, the things I do for my family/friends!

Spike, our elf, has kept us a little busy following him around.

Shopping in historic Ellicott City with DJ, this was our view from one of the windows in the antique shop.

Fun at St. Nick Night, making crafts.

Great sledding hill at the house for our first snow of the season.

Aww, our first ornament together, first one on the tree.

I finally made my Mom's German hazelnut cookies, I thought they turned out pretty good!

Nathan's "C" for Christmas, singing with the scouts at a nursing home.

Our annual visit to the National Christmas tree in DC.

The lake house tree up and ready for presents!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and for the first time in I don't know how many years, I finished wrapping everything last week and can relax and make Santa his favourite cookies when he comes to the house - iced sugar cookies!

Day 11 of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop

 Oh boy, it's that time of year again, Jo @ Serendipitous Stitching is having her annual Advent Blog Hop and I'm Day 11!

Now I know I'm supposed to show you something I've stitched, but I wanted to honour my Mom and show you what she stitched before her rheumatoid arthritis ruined her beautiful hands.  My Dad has these hanging up in the house all year round, as well as the ones I have made them.
 

As for my festive food story, I've got nothing!  Well, maybe a hodgepodge of some small stuff... 
Growing up, we ALWAYS had turkey for Christmas dinner.  One year my brother was home from boarding school and wanted another turkey after we finished the first one.  I think we ended up having three or four total - can you say turkey overload?!  Since I've been married, every Christmas dinner is different.  DH gets to choose our main meal and we work the sides around it.  We've had steak, lasagna, Swedish meatballs, pork loin, just to name a few.  He'd better get thinking for this year, I've got to start planning.
As for the sweets, there's always iced sugar cookies for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve.  It's his favourite at our house!  My Mother used to make these awesome German hazelnut cookies, but it's been years since she's made them.  She gave me the recipe and this year I'm going to attempt to recreate them, wish me luck!
I normally bake bread as gifts - zucchini, lemon, and/or cranberry orange.  I've made banana bread in a jar before for teachers and I'm planning on making some this year.  On Boxing Day at my parents house, we always have Christmas Pudding with brandied whipped cream.  Or should I say my parents and I always have it, DH and the boys don't like it very much!  Oh well, more for us.

Thanks again, Jo, for organising this!  It's always fun to see everyone's stitching and maybe get some new ideas. 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and an Amazing New Year!

December TUSAL

 I have totally been slacking in my TUSAL reports this year, but here's December. 

 

Ok, here's a better picture - got a little goofy on the first one.

LOVE this pic!  I can't remember where I found it, but I think it could be a t-shirt and now I want one!

 

Thirty Days of Being Thankful - Day 30

Day 30

I am thankful for shopping.
Let me specify -
The freedom to go shopping
The car and the gas to get me there
The clothes to keep me warm while shopping
The family and friends I have to go with me
The family and friends I have to shop for
My DH for working so hard so I/we can afford to go shopping
Being able to buy for others who are unable to do so.

Nathan and I shopping in Cumberland today.

Opa and Nathan

Supporting the book store!

Santa has his own postbox!

Walking to the toy store.

Hi there!

Almost ready to go home, it's cold out here!

 

 I saw this in one of the antique shops - it said, $30 vintage needlepoint.

And here's his girlfriend.  I'd love to know the details behind them!

If you've stuck it out for 30 days, WOW!  I really am thankful for so much more, but the month is over and I must get back to stitching for Christmas.  So thank you for your time and comments, I'm thinking a give-a-way is in order... just need to think about it!

Thirty Days of Being Thankful - Day 29

Day 29

I am thankful for Spike, our extra pair of eyes.
I love the way Nathan gets excited when he finds him in a new place!

This year, he appeared at Oma and Opa's on Thanksgiving evening.

From the potted plant, he hopped over to a candlestick - luckily it wasn't burning!  Then he ended up over here in the village.


His next stop was on top of one of Opa's masks, this one is in the hallway.  I wonder where Nathan will find him in the morning?!

Memories of last year - Spike riding a dragon.

Maybe he was trying to put a star up there?

Checking out The Santa Clause.

Getting some love from Clarice and Rudolph!

 

Snuggles from Woofie and pup.

 

We can't wait to see what Spike gets into this Christmas!
Anyone else have an elf in their home?

Thirty Days of Being Thankful - Day 28

Day 28

I am thankful for my silly family!
That included my immediate family, parents, brothers, and out-laws!

We were video chatting with my nieces today and Nathan and Hannah were having fun.

Even my Dad got in on the act - he's "chillin" out at the beach!

Dad's famous family photos.

Ming and Max are part of the family too!

Dad and his baby, Tennessee.

 

Two years ago, my brothers and families joined us for Thanksgiving, it was a full house!

 

Our attempt at Tom Turkey, just a little scary.

 

On the other side of the coin, here's my out-law side of the family.  We have been going to the beach 17 years together every summer.  Unfortunately, I think last year might have been our last time together there.  We went on cruise this year and the kids are way busy with sports during the summer - bummer! 

 

Another fun thing we do together is cruising! This was on our Hawaiian cruise several years ago.

 

Needless to say, I love my family, who else would put up with all the craziness?!


 

Thirty Days of Being Thankful - Day 27

Day 27

I am thankful for warmth.
We are at my parents house in western MD for Thanksgiving and it is currently 18 degrees outside, brrrrr!

We were welcomed with a nice hot "buppa" tea when we arrived, ahhh.  At least I was, Nathan won't try it - oh well, more for me.
I'm sitting in my Mom's tv room in my short sleeve tshirt (Saints Football!!!) actually feeling hot.  They have to keep the house warm for her and this is definitely something I'm not used to.  But so very glad to be inside nice and toasty.
I must say I need to sleep with it on the cool side, I loving snuggling up under the covers!

I would have included some photos, but for some reason I can't upload any.  Darn blogger site.
Nathan took a great one from the car today - driving in certain areas the trees were frozen white, just beautiful!

Update - I had to use my Dad's computer to add this.  Guess DH will be checking out my computer tonight!
 

Thirty Days of Being Thankful - Day 26

Day 26

I am thankful for my cute kitchen help!
It's guaranteed, if I start baking and Nathan is around, I have a helper... at least for a little while.

He loves helping me make Welsh cakes and sugar cookies.

Today he helped me make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.

 

He wanted to help with the zesting, maybe next time.

He did a great job helping me with the juicing.

This I did all by myself!  He won't eat the end result, so no worries.

He liked hearing the cranberries pop, pop, pop.

These aren't just good for turkey, it tastes wonderful on toast!

Our next adventure will be making cranberry orange donuts while at Oma and Opa's, then eventually Christmas cookies and breads - yum!