Another Boxing Day.

The day after Christmas will always be Boxing Day to me.  Cait and I headed out to a couple of stores and were back by lunch time!

It was a wonderful Christmas weekend. Filled with family, good food and great presents.  

Kirsten and her clan came over on Christmas eve after working most of the day.  It was fondu for dinner and buffet.  Thanks to Cutis for the family snap shot!

I woke up early on Christmas and enjoyed the tree in peace and quiet with a cup of java.

We had lots of fresh snow for Christmas Day which made for slippery streets.  

We had a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, homemade sweet rolls and hash browns before we attacked the presents under the tree.

I actually finished The tree skirt for Kirsten.  I also made 4 table runners and 5 pillow cases and made about 50 Christmas cards.  

One always needs a photo after Christmas has been unwrapped!

I hope everyone enjoyed their day as much as we did.  We have been so blessed and I am very thankful.

A Visit with Santa!

Kirsten and I headed out to take the grandkids to go and see Santa.  She hates going to the mall Santa.  They charge an arm and a leg for a crappy poloroid photo. And won't let you take photos unless you pay for theirs.  Thankfully there were a couple of other options in town.

Cooper was all excited to see Santa getting out of the car.  Previously he hasn't wanted to go visit him at all.  But once inside he was distracted with the toys and that was it.  Nic decided he didn't want to see him, either!  It's always a crap shoot with these kids!

But in the end, we ended up with dome decent photos!  

Cait flew in late that evening, as usual she comes home sick for the holiday.  It's just good to have her home.  

We had the grandkids here yesterday, while their folks were hard at work.  Pretty good day.  I went out and faced the grocery store to get my groceries for the next few days.  Their produce truck had not arrived and they were almost out of lots of fruit and veggies.  Luckily there was another store down the road I was able to get my produce.  

Got my cookies trays delivered and made one up for us, too!

We are supposedly under a winter storm watchand to get 5-8 inches of snow.  Waiting to see the action! 

In the meantime, enjoying the lights of our Christmas tree with a good cup of coffee.  

Winter Solstice!

Yesterday was winter solstice! The longest day of the year!  I am happy to get passed that and move to longer days.  We celebrated!  We took the "big" grandkids to see Moana after school!  The get out early on Wed.  It was a good way to start off their Christmas vacation.  I enjoyed the movie and so did the littles!  It took a while for Nic to get into it at the beginning.  

Curtis got back from the Flathead and since I had been without a car for almost 3 days I had some errands to run, as you can imagine.  I ran to one if the quilt stores to pick up a pattern I want to make.

Most expensive pattern I have ever bought!!  Good thing I had a full punch card to turn in to help defray the cost!  But I know a couple of people that would really like this all finished up!  

As Christmas gets closer adding last minute touches.  Got all my cleaning finished up.  Cait arrives later this evening from Seattle.  Everyone is excited to see her. Will have the grandkids tomorrow while their folks are working.  And need to visit the grocery store for some last minute things.  And a big winter storm is predicted for Christmas Eve.  

Need to share a snap of Mr. Nic.  He loves ties!  This one was in the advent calendar for him!  And so was the decoration he made. It's a hard time of year for him.  

Another travel layout.  This one features me with my blogging friend, Tracey, (trace-elementz) who I got to meet up with during our adventure.  How cool was that???

A Little Baking, A Little Sewing!

That's my mantra the past few days. Oh,yes and I worked a busy 12 hour shift.  

I do lots of baking during the Christmas season and make quite a few cookie trays.  I am old fadhioned. Mi do not like what the microwave does to melt chocolate.  I have this bowl I got from Pampered Chef and it serves as my double boiler for melting chocolate.

Austrian Chocolate Balls before they go in the oven to bake.  I found the recipe for these the first year Curtis and I were together and living in Germany.  They were a hit and have been made every Christmas since then. 

Always lots of shortbreads, being of British heritage.  The orange cranberry are new this year and certainly are yummy.  The others are shot through the cookie press and one just prays the shortbread gods are with you.  My sister tells me having humidity in the air is a great help with this.  Living in MT

there is almost no humidity, so why I need a prayer or two.

The above are eggnog scones before they went in the oven.  The girls at work appreciated them on Sunday morning.  

First time I have made these in a long, long time.  My favourite for the holidays being mince pies and tarts ! More of my British heritage.  None of my family appreciates them.  Also love Christmas pudding and fruitcake.  Not worth the time and money when my family doesn't really like them.  I wastotally  impressed last time I made the trip to Canada in Oct., and in the grocery store, one side of one aisle was totally devoted to Christmas baking supplies. I spaced it, but should have taken a photo.  I was impressed!!!

The countdown to Christmas is on.  Less than a week.  Cait flies home Thursday evening.  As per usual at Christmas, she is sick.  Hoping she doesn't need urgent care like last year.  And that the rest of us don't get it.  Curtis made the trek to the Flathead, on Sunday to deliver gifts.  Hopefully back today, as I have been without a vehicle.  Quite happy stuck at home.  The wind blew like crazy yesterday, although the temperatures warmed up significantly. You either get cold with no wind, or warmer temps and windy! 

We watched the grandkids last Sat. Evening so the folks could attend Tim's Christmas party in peace.  

There are presents under my tree.  Don't think there are any at home.  Coop thought we shoukd open them.  And Nic's impressed there are BIG presents under the tree.  This time of year is always a struggle for him as it creates stress.  

Working on my last sewing project for Christmas.  Leave the biggest project for last, but it is almost done.  Will have to post a photo after the big day.

There has been no time in my life right now for scrapbooking or creating cards. Imagine that!!

But I did get in my space Saturday and managed to clean up.  

Did this layout of my sister. Photos from Brisbane, Australia.  

Getting very close to the end of my album.  

It's a Winter Wonderland!

We are in the midst of a winter storm with it to turn bitter cold tomorrow.  It has snowed all day and continues to snow this evening.

These guys came to visit me and Kirsten shovelled my walk.  

Yesterday was Harlee's school Christmas concert.  The 4th grade classes have been learning to play recorders and we had the pleasure of listening to them.  They also had a few songs to entertain us.  

Been getting a few things wrapped up!  Continue to do some baking.  Cooper just thinks we should open all the gifts now!  Never mind he gets an advent calendar gift to open every day.  And I still haven't convinced we need to go and have a visit with Santa!

Coolest wrapping paper ever thanks to daughter #1!  I love it.

And to think Cait will be home with us all in one week!

Hello December

This new month is well underway.  And I am playing catch up, as I have been away.  Visiting Caitlin on the coast.  My decorations were up.  And I have time to address cards.  And have a couple of parcels to get in the mail.  And then the baking will commence. 

While we headed west we made a stop in Leavenworth, WA.  It is like being in Bavaria of Germany.  It was very magical all decorated up.   Reminded me of the Christmas markets when we lived in Germany. 

You can see we experienced some snow on our drive to the coast.  We have to travel over 4 mountain passes to get there.  It can be interesting at this time of year. 

The sunset was gorgeous as we drove across central WA

All the shops were lit up and decorated.  There was a pretzel tree outside the little bakery. 
We ate dinner in a German restaurant.  And the next morning we visited a couple of shops.  I found a wonderful quilt shop.  And we drove down the mountain and headed into Seattle to meet up with Caitlin.

We have come back to Montana to frigid temperatures.  I don't even know if it got above 0F today.  And there is snow coming tonight.  We even had snow while we were in Seattle on Monday.  Went out and got Cait and her roomates some IceMelt to put down on their deck, so no one would slip and fall. 

Curtis and Toots are out  at the Camera Club Christmas party.  It's a pot lock with a gift exchange and the little smokies went out the door with them. 

Cyper Monday!

Today, it's all about online shopping.  But, I didn't do too much damage at this house!!
But, we did hit up Target this afternoon with their extra 15% off. 

It has been a busy weekend around here. The call for help went out for work for Thanksgiving, so I volunteered to go in for a few hours in the early morning and was home by 11am to get the big turkey in the oven.  We got through Thanksgiving with Kirsten and her crew and had lots of leftovers.  Turkey dinner was yummy.  And also perused all the flyers for Black Friday and didn't really see anything I needed to go out for.  Tim did leave shortly after Thanksgiving dinner for Target to get Harlee a Christmas present.  And was back for pie time.  And he was successful and didn't have to wait in line. 

I had a pounding headache the morning of Black Friday, so it was a good thing I hadn't planned on going out shopping.  Instead, got all the fall decor down and started to haul up boxes with Christmas decor.  My big bay window has to get decorated before the tree can go up. 

Saturday, was a day spent in the NICU.  It was a busy 12 hour shift and I was pooped by the time I got home and was in bed by 8pm.  Curtis took Harlee to the movies to see Fantastic Beasts. 

Yesterday, I finished decorating.  There was figure skating on the TV.  I couldn't have had a more perfect afternoon.  I love to watch skating, maybe that is from living in Canada for so many years and spent an hour or two on the ice rink.  Actually, we just climbed the fence behind our house to the pond to go ice skating when I was a kid.  How perfect was that!

Today, was catch up on laundry, pay a few bills, run to the grocery store.  Work had a pot luck lunch for a gal that is leaving to work in Florida, and we have worked together a good long while!  And then Curtis and I hit up Target. 

No time for creating, except at the sewing machine.  Trying to finish of a couple of Christmas gifts.  Need to cut out some dies for Caitlin for her Christmas cards and get them out to her. 
Need to get the advent calendar gift over to Kirsten's for the grandkids.  I have a couple of layouts I need to take photos of to share.  But, in the meantime, photos of the grandkids creating Thanksgiving turkeys.  They decorated my house over the weekend.