Christmas Fun

As many of us that could, got together at Betsy and Anthony's for Christmas. We had a great time.

My parents opening their gifts.

Kate with her camera. When our family gets together, one must have a camera...for self-defense!

Dale opening his new Beagle wear coat. It's really nice--the nicest he's ever owned!

Betsy gave us pedicures (not the guys). I love the bright red; I usually only use pink.

This is the tag that came with a cute jar labeled "Brownie Points" I give Brownie Points when they do something especially nice. However, once in a while, I take some Brownie Points away. All in good fun. I try not to be a mean mother-in-law.

Betsy helping Lori see if there's enough salt in the mashed potatoes.

A feast fit for a king...and enough to feed his army! We had two hams and two turkeys with all the trimmings.

Anthony smoked a turkey for the first time. Turned out pretty good. The white meat was nice and moist.

Karen made one of her adorable gingerbread houses. (Yep, I got the chocolate door!)

Just hangin' out.


This was in Betsy and Anthony's front yard when we came home from shopping the day after Christmas. Actually, it was already dead and gutted out...and frozen. It was one Jeff shot and was giving to Ben. The neighbor's dog was having a fit behind the fence!

Remember, I try not to post pictures of my little grandchildren on this public blog. I plan to post more pictures on Facebook.

Friday Night Party Time

...or not. Actually, what I did with my Friday evening was go to the nursing home again. I heard that the Amish young people were going to be caroling there. I heard them last year and really enjoyed their singing style, so didn't want to miss out. They lined up in the hall, girls on one side, boys on the other, and sang in their unique way. Once when they were deciding which song to sing next, I asked if they had sung a song last year something about Star of Bethlehem. One of the adult ladies asked if I meant "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem", then she found the page number. Several pairs of eyes looked at me. That was the precise moment I realized that in the Amish community, the person who chooses the song starts each verse of it. Here, I'd thought that was just the way they practiced their songs. The lady had mercy, tho, and started it for me.

Making Christmas Cookies

Ingredients. Looks like we have our work cut out for us.
Oops!

This picture must have been taken early in the day; the kitchen is not yet in utter chaos.

Show that dough who's boss, Kate!

I believe the mincement is supposed to go on the cookie dough...

About this time I was lecturing Kate on the amount of iron found in different brands of molasses. Did you know that gingerbread is pure health food?


That's why I'm making a triple batch.

Kate's creative juices were flowing when she took the frosting bag in hand. She did these to replictate her parents...


...her brother Jeff (the policeman)...

her husband, Josh, the snowmobiler...

And you should have seen the native warriors, Hawaiians, etc. The ones I decorated were quite unimaginative.

Anyone like to stop in for some cookies and hot chocolate or Candy Cane Lane tea?

Cuteness

Shylo likes to use visuals when teaching Bible lessons. (This wasn't supposed to be a movie. Someone had used my camera and left it on movie mode.)

Just a few shots of today

Christmas in our kitchen (where Helper Elm Kate and I will be baking up a storm next week)

...and in the living room (I don't like the looks of these drapes as much as my pretty ruffled flounces from before, but they are much more energy efficient...and you'll see why that's important in some of the following pictures!)

First time we've ever done all white lights. Looks so pretty in real life.

Those mounds are not hills; they are piles of snow. Big piles of snow.

This pathway to the church is pretty much drifted shut by now, I think. Might have to snowshoe over in the morning!

These are snowflakes, not snowballs.

Heavy-duty icicles (middle part of them, anyway)

My little Shylo

Jeff's Article

Jeff wrote an article that appeared in The Morning Sun newspaper on Thanksgiving Day. Here's the link.

pages 19 & 21 on this link
http://epaper.morningstarpublishing.com/edition-mtp/data/20081127/03/MSUNMP/mbz.jsp;jsessionid=0A7E16CF2AC9BA551211BBC66457EC96?aldatum=20081127

If that link won't work, try this one, but it is missing the first couple paragraphs

http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2008/11/27/sports/sunhunter/doc492eae7400dd5192442537.txt