Forty-four
Happy Birthday old man honey!
Sorry for the sloppy, ugly cake, but YOU were the one who had to have the coconut pecan frosting. It’s a good thing I don’t get paid for my cake decorating skill or this cake would end up on Cake Wrecks for sure!
Maybe it’s not so bad once I slice it, and I can add a picture later 😉
This morning when I wished my honey a Happy Birthday, he said
“How old am I now, 64?”
“Yes, honey, you’re 64 today.”
The poor man never knows how old he is, but he’s never been off by that much! LOL At least up until today he knew if he was 30-something or 40-something.
The End
Wow. Has it really been a year already? 366 days of at least one picture a day!
It was great, keeping in touch with old friends through our blogs, and making so many new friends along the way.
I want to thank all my loyal readers….. my old and new friends, and those who lurked every day (you know who you are 😉 )… for making this such a great blogging year. They say Time flies when you’re having fun, and this past year flew by at lightning speed.
New Toy
Santa brought Melissa a call phone for Christmas….. although he probably should have brought her a camera instead, because that’s all she’s been using it for so far. She’s even letting Sara take pictures with it, and they had a blast, snapping away in the car on the way to Uncle Richie’s house the other day.
And yes, it was December 26th, and warm enough to be outside in a T-shirt (I think it was around 78F).
Oh yes, now Sara seems to think that Santa will bring her a cell phone next Christmas!
Last Minute Ornaments
These were inspired by the ornament Kristie posted on her blog. I thought it was absolutely adorable, so we gave them a try, too. Of course had to buy some ornaments, but thankfully we were able to find these beautiful blue ones. We got them done just in time to hang them on the tree before heading out to dinner on Christmas Eve.
Sara’s (I painted the details for her)
Melissa’s (she did her ornament all by herself)
Christmas Day Bonus: Crazy Tree
Can’t have a Christmas tree without taking some crazy tree pictures!
Camera mounted on tripod, and slow shutter speed both times. For the first one I zoomed in while the shutter was open. For the second one I had the camera in a horizontal position and then flipped it to a vertical position while the shutter was open.
Christmas Day
Wishing all of you who celebrate today a wonderful Christmas.
And one more favorite – this time non-German – Christmas song.
“O Holy Night” by Celine Dion
Christmas Eve Bonus: Cookies for Santa
Santa better hurry up before I eat them all myself! I’ll leave him the boring Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies (sorry Honey!)
Christmas Eve
Wishing everyone who celebrates today a very Merry Christmas.
I want to thank my Honey for letting me keep the Christmas Eve tradition. Opening presents with just the light of the tree is so much more special to me than opening them on Christmas morning, when it’s already getting light out (I’m the only one up when it’s still dark!)
Christmas was always my favorite day of the year, and I remember visiting my grandparents in Austria one year, looking out of their window into the snowy night, waiting for the Christkind (Christ child).
At home, my parents would always decorate the tree on Christmas Eve during the day, closing off the living/dining room and all day long my sister and I weren’t allowed to go in there. They would sneak the presents under the tree while we were playing in our room, or get all dressed up for dinner. The dining table would always be moved into the bedroom or mine & my sister’s room, so we wouldn’t see the tree before it was time.
After dinner, one of my parents would light the candles on the tree (yes, REAL candles!) and we had sparklers, too. That was my most favorite part.. not the presents, but walking into the living room and seeing the tree for the first time. We also had candy/chocolate ornaments and my sister and I could pick one or two to eat every day. And, we would always sing a few Christmas carols before we opened our gifts.
Our plans for tonight are to go out to dinner, and as we are leaving, I’m going to find an excuse to go back into the house so I can put all the presents under the tree. The kids are always so excited when we come back, because at dinner all they will have talked about is whether or not Santa came already.
I found this picture from my childhood. I think this was the Christmas before I turned 3 years old. That’s me in red .
Behind the blinds is not a window, it’s the pass-through between the kitchen and dining room.
Of course Christmas wouldn’t be the same without my FAVORITE Christmas song! Even though it is in German, I’m sure you will recognize it.
Stille Nacht by Nana Mouskouri
December 23 Bonus
As requested, here are some pictures of the Family ornament I made.
And this is for Doreen (you can see her little bird nest on her blog)
Melissa made 25 of them, to give to her teachers and friends. She finished them just in time, to hand out on the last day of school before winter break. I did hot-glue them all together for her to help her get them done. This one is mine 🙂
Naughty Is The New Nice
This was the Christmas card I sent out this year. No need for them to cooperate for the “perfect picture” since I would get one no matter what!
I ♥ Christmas
Another handmade ornament. This one is from two years ago, when I bought the plain glass ornaments at Michaels and painted them. This particular one was painted with sparkly paint first, and then I painted the Christmas tree. You can use regular acrylic paint, just be sure to let it dry completely.
“Weisser Winterwald” by Peter Alexander
Christmas Kittens
Wow, the second bonus post this week! With any luck there will be one tomorrow, too!
Well, we decided to get the girls kittens. They saw them recently and totally and completely fell in love with them, so Greg and I went back and got them. Aren’t they adorable? Sara’s is the little orange one because it looks just like Treva’s Ginger (aka Mr. G), and Melissa’s is the Siamese.
Stitched (1)
I have lots and lots of cross-stitched ornaments for our tree. This one is one of my favorites.
Joy
Simple handmade ornaments. All you need is a box of plain ornaments and a gold (or silver) Sharpie.
I made several of these last year, including this one and one that says Family, and has all our names around the ornament.
“Leise rieselt der Schnee” by Sarah Connor
Santa And Snowman
Found these at Target this year and couldn’t resist! They were in a box of four (2 Santas and 2 snowmen)
Caught In A Blizzard
A blizzard of icing, that is!
The girls got to build wooden gingerbread houses at Lowes Saturday morning and kept insisting that gingerbread houses are supposed to be made out of gingerbread… so on Sunday, we looked for a gingerbread house kit for the girls, but all we could find were the trees. I mixed the icing and put it on the pieces while they stacked them up, and then let them do the rest.
Well, this is what it ended up looking like…. if you look really close, you can see that there is gingerbread under all that icing. There is supposed to be a little candy star on top of the tree, but they said it kept falling over so they left it laying down….. and drowned it in icing!
As soon as they were done, Sara came running and asked “can we eat it now?…. Oh wait, pictures!…. Mommy, can you take some pictures?”
They did get to eat some of it after dinner.
And Stockings Were Hung By The Fire
OK, we don’t have a fireplace, so above the TV will have to do…
“Still, Still, Still”
The Daily Click 