Christmas Day as a Family

Christmas Eve

We had Christmas Eve at our house for the first time in 10 years! It was pretty fun. We had chili, snacks, and opened presents from each other. We played the game with some presents where you take a number, pick a present or steal from someone else. Fun.

Decorations At The Office

Charlie's office at URS had a decoration contest for their cubicles. The winner got to have a dinner for two, I believe. We didn't win, but it was fun helping to decorate Sunday night.
The Charlie Brown Christmas tree...


The UofM Bear, Tree, and other unique lights...




The Gingerbread House that took the prize!


A Charles Dickens theme....complete with Tiny Tim's crutch...

And...Charlie's cubicle. He used lots of color! Great Job, honey!

Making Banket

My friend, Betsy Herweyer, taught me how to make the Dutch Almond Paste Pastry "Banket," yesterday. It was a load of fun. She is a great teacher, so patient and wise. (Interpret...She let me eat some of the dough and filling before and after it was cooked.)
This is the sticky filling made out of....

almond paste.

Here is the dough, rolled out flat...

from a small piece with a rolling pin.

Oil the foil so the Banket doesn't stick.

Place the filling in a roll, down the middle...

even though it is very sticky!

Then, start to cover the filling on one side....

and then the other.

Brush with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes and cool. Doesn't it look delicious????

Now...just to keep our hands off it until Christmas morning for breakfast with coffee. YUMMO!

Mallory

At my "Wrapping Party" this past Saturday, my friend brought her 8 week old baby, Mallory. She was sooooh cute. Very content, calm, and rolly polly precious. I got to hold her most of the evening.

Owen's 1st Roller Skating Event

A group of school friends decided to go roller skating yesterday. I was kind of nervous, but decided to let Owen go. Daddy has been working so much overtime the last two weeks, that he has seen little of Owen. So, he decided to come home in the middle of the day and be with Owen. Then he went back to work.
It was really COLD in the roller rink. I was really surprised. But, it didn't seem to bother Owen. Here he is after getting his skates on for the first time. We had to put him in a size 1.

Off they go!

It was hard on Charlie's back to hold Owen up around the rink. So, after a while, Owen practiced on the carpet in the waiting area, which was just as fun to him.