More December Activities

The girls and I made 27 dozen cookies in a 48 hour period this December.  That's what happens when you keep telling people "Sure I can bring a few dozen cookies" to this and that.  When I sat down and added up how many dozen I had committed to bake for events, I was floored.  Add into that what I needed for the neighborhood cookie exchange, and the platter I always send to work with Jared, and there you go...27 dozen.  It was a lot of fun though.  I got some good bonding time in with the girls. We even recruited Dad and Jacob to help with some of the decorating.

We were gone for Thanksgiving, and Jon and Elise were leaving for Christmas and New Year's so we had a Holiday meal with them mid- December.  We went to their house this year.  Elise made a wonderful beef brisket with a blue cheese sauce, and homemade rolls.  I made a my favorite cranberry, orange, candied pecan and feta salad with poppy seed dressing. I also made an orange cake my friends had coerced me into trying a few days earlier.  Its is so moist and yummy its evil.  Elise and I must've been on the same wavelength that day, cause we were dressed the same. Katy and Paul are missing from the picture.

Goshen (Xandy and Bella's school) went caroling at a nursing home nearby. I thought it was a worthwhile cause so I took the kids (even the reluctant ones). I was so glad we had gone when I saw how happy the elderly people there were to have the little children singing to them. Jacob though one "grandpa" (to use his words) was hilarious cause he kept laughing and cheering during the songs. Katy was a good sport for helping them sing even though it wasn't her school. (The nice thing about the way this city divides the school district up is that everything is so close to you. The school and 90% of the kids attending it are within 2 miles of us and the nursing home was half a mile away)

Christmas Eve we got a nice surprise.  It started snowing and snowed just enough to give us a white Christmas.  The kids and I went sledding on Monday after Dad had to go back to work.  We sled down the rentention basin behind our cul-de-sac.  Its convenient to not have to drive somewhere.