Christmas Everyday

"Take it you horrid thing!"  Ok, so probably only my family gets that reference...  hehe.  After four days of Christmas I was starting to feel that way.

The 26th we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's for the Day of Days, aka the Wyss Christmas.  Brunch, musical entertainment, presents, gondolas, presents, games, supper, games, 'twas a good time as always.  Cecily was a grouch most of the day and super clingy.  It didn't help that she did not get enough sleep the night before and we had to get her up early to make it on time for brunch.  And she would not sit still, lie down, rock, anything that would get her to sleep.  We ended up driving around the section twice during the day so she would take naps.  She cheered up after supper.  Thankfully.  Anyway. 

Grandpa, Clayton and Ned played 'When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.'

 

Secret sewing project #1 was revealed:

It's a tea towel with Grandma's recipe for cinnamon rolls printed on it in her handwriting!  I didn't get a picture of the one with the Taffy recipe in Pearline's handwriting.  We made one for each of the daughters and granddaughters.  I saw the idea here at Spoonflower.

Grandma helping little miss take her new tutu from Aunt Rita OFF.  She was not impressed with it or the crowd of people standing around taking pictures of her in it.  hehe.

 After all the presents were opened and things were cleaned up, Little Miss got a ride from Grandpa in Bob's new wheel barrow.

So Thursday we were lazy bums all morning recovering from festivities until we headed to the farm for Christmas with my family.   Mom made the usual Cornish hen feast and then it was on to more presents.  Cecily was more interested in the noisemaker part of her new riding thingy than anything else.  *grin*

We give each other weird presents.  This is authentic Czech snow camo.  It made little miss slightly nervous.

Doesn't everyone need a Zombie survival kit?

On Friday I left Cecily with Bob and spent a too short afternoon with Amber and Sarah at the Drake's.  I miss those girls. 

Auntie Shelly and my mom picked out some sweatpants for Cecily... they totally look like what the sorority girls wore around campus, so I put on her U of I shirt, gave her a high pony tail, and tried to put boots on her.  She wouldn't keep the boots on, and she doesn't have a north face jacket, but hey, it's close!  hehe.

This morning Lynelle came over to play while Gary and Kathy were at a funeral.  She was great.  Cecily kept stealing her toys.   They are about the same age, and I am so glad little miss is not twins!

Ok, so this last picture is for Aunt Karen:

She gave me some mini quilts for Christmas and I don't have any frames, so I hung them on a line on the wall of the 'sewing room'.  Kind of like bunting, which is trendy right now, only quilts!  I like it!  Thanks K!

Blessings.

O Come, O come, Emmanuel

Well, we are in the middle of Christmas festivities. Tomorrow is the Day of Days and then my family the day after that.



It snowed!!  I was pretty excited, especially since I didn't have to go out into the storm.  *grin*  Little miss and I went out on Friday, but she tripped in her slightly too big boots before we even got outside so she really was not impressed with the snow.  O well. 

 

My mom hosted Schlipf Christmas on Friday evening.  The soup was good, as always.  And we sang some lesser known Christmas carols.  Personally, I think they can stay that way.  Auntie Shelly cleaned out her closet and little miss decided to play dress up- such a stylish girl.     

 

Saturday morning Grandma Koch's granddaughters had a tea party with her.  We got to eat brunch on her good china and crystal.  It was yummy.

Somebody is pretty sure that an open door means she can go in...  even if it's a wet shower...

 

 

We headed to W-ton for church on Sunday.  Cecily was super grumpy and clingy all day long, so it really wasn't very fun.  But, we made our token appearance, which is what counts, right?  Hehe.  

 
Such a little mimic.  Although, I'm not sure where she figured out the phone thing because I almost never talk on my phone.  I never do both at once either. 

Christmas eve we went to Christmas with Grandma Koch.  It was nice... and Cecily had a great time following all of the other kids around the fellowship hall all night.   
 
 Little Miss opened her stocking while we were getting ready for church this morning.  It was full of new church toys, which we need.  I love her dress.  It's going to be a sad day when she has an opinion and I can't pick out her clothes. 

 
She's got the present opening thing down.  She opened one of mine this afternoon before I could get to her.  Hooray for Hobbit Legos!  I haven't had a lego set in a long time...

 
We gave her an adorable kitchen and some pots and pans.  She started stirring things right away, but I think her favorite thing about the kitchen is the phone.  She's a little young for it, but I'd rather she have it to grow into.  Plus it's just so cute and retro.  hehe. 

 
We all played with Legos while I put my Bilbo and Gollum set together.

 
We went out to Bob's parent's for supper and presents.  Bob's dad didn't really give us a list sooo...  he got a pie.  I am usually not a fan of cherries but I think this pie might have changed my mind.  The recipe is from the Farm Journal Pie Cookbook and it is phenomenal.  Dark, sweet cherries, cream cheese, and a lard crust.  It is so good.  Listen to me raving about a cherry pie... what is wrong with me?? 

 

Little miss wanted to open everyone else's presents.  *sigh*  

 

Anyway, it's getting late.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I love birthdays.  *grin*  This year Bob went above and beyond and had one present for me to open every day until my birthday.  Somehow it makes turning 28 not so bad...  

 

 

 The list of things was pretty random, which I love:

1.  2 Liter of Dr. Pepper

2.  Set of specialty needles

3.  Camping egg carton

4.  Wildflower seeds

5. Russel Stover chocolates

6.  Pride and Prejudice

7.  Cupcake wrappers

8.  Pincushion

9.  Gourmet cocoa

10.  Serenity tree ornament

11.  Cupcake book

12.  Mulan

13.  Cupcake potholder

14.  Gardening book

15.  Chocolates

16.  Orchid

17.  Out to eat at Jonah's without Little Miss!

We left her at the farm and then ate cake and opened my present from them when we picked her up.  Best birthday ever.  Even though I had to make my own cake... o wait, that's fun.  I am not very good at it, I need lots more practice!

 

 

So Saturday night Little miss woke up 7 times between 4 and 6:30am.  Ugh.  It was rather awful.  I guess the only good thing was that she was better in church because she was tired... and we had Christy's toys! (Thanks!)  She fell asleep on the rug after church with a shirt she pulled out of her laundry basket clutched tightly to her chest, silly girl.

 

Sunday evening we went to the Beutel Christmas- the first one of the year!  It was fun and Cecily had a great time running around after all of the other little kids.  And stealing Anika's bear.  She slept so long that night, it was wonderful.

I'm finally starting to strip the finish off my chair that we got last spring!  Yay!  The two garbage bags behind it are full of the original wool and horsehair batting... why, yes, I do feel like a horrible human being for getting rid of it.  *sigh*  But, I am not an antique restorer and it was kind of dirty...

Blessings.

Christmas things

We got to go Christmas caroling this year... it was great fun.  We went to Hopedale nursing home and little miss had a great time toddling around.  She and Aaron ran off down a hallway and ducked into a room- thankfully there was no one in there.  They wanted to play with the stuffed animals and root beer.... haha.   

Daddy likes to feed her all kinds of things- this is the aftermath of powdered donut.   

 
We piled in with Rustin and Sharon and girls and went to the festival of lights.  I think Cecily was more excited about seeing Grace and Eden than the lights, but the rest of us enjoyed them. 

On Tuesday night I went to the W-ton Christmas tour of homes with Mom, Di, Trent, Donna, Katie, Sally, and Martha.  Extremely random group!  Little miss got to play with Grandpa, Jakey, and Lori's family for the evening.  We went through four pretty cool houses.  My favorite was the brick four square, but the big white house with the cupola was pretty awesome too.  The owner said it has 12,000 sq feet... and there had been a crew working on the house every day for 15 years... yeah... crazy, but it was beautiful! 

Somebody has already discovered cell phones...   

Little miss and I ate lunch at Java Junction and then we went and finished our Christmas shopping!  Yay!  Now we just need a little bit of snow...
Blessings.

The days are just packed

We've been keeping busy.  Rustin and Sharon came over one evening and we roped them into helping put up our new mantel.   

 It looks so good!  And I love decorating the house for Christmas. 

 So much less bare than when we moved in...   

 Jingle bell garland...  little miss likes it a lot.

 Little miss and I went Christmas tree shopping with my mom.  I set it up and decorated it while she was napping.  She was pretty excited to see it when she woke up.  So far she hasn't broken any ornaments or pulled it over. 

 We got a  little tree from Great grandma K's basement so she plays with that and leaves the big one alone. 

We've also been baking and decorating Christmas cookies, and shopping, and wrapping presents.  Little miss and I met my old coworkers for lunch today and then we did some more shopping.  Still not done though....  *sigh*

Here is Little Miss's version of 'Pat the Bunny,' or at least the three pages she hasn't destroyed.

Blessings.