Ward Santa Breakfast
(Nathan; 4, Evan; 9, Annaliese; 11, Aaron; 6, Natalie; 14)
I always get a little melancholy after Christmas.
I miss the Spirit and excitement of the Christmas season!
People seem just a little happier in December =)
I hope that we can keep that Spirit alive all year as the the song says,
"Ring in the larger heart, the kindlier hand..." (Ring Out, Wild Bells)
It's hard to put away all the decorations, and lights,
ornaments and music of the season!
We were lucky to have family or ward family/friends over
every Monday evening in December for dinner and/or FHE
to share the Christmas season with us!
We also made 9 different kinds of Christmas cookies;
Peanut Blossoms, Peppermint Candy Shortbread Cookies, Peppermint Meltaways, Brown-Eyed Susans, Coconut Snow Balls, Christmas Spritz Cookies, Russian Teacakes, Candy Cane Cookies & Jam Thumbprints
to give away to teachers, friends and neighbors,
and for our family to eat =)
And we made caramel popcorn and Chex Muddy Buddies Mix!
I actually finished making the last of the Christmas cookies on
New Year's Eve day. =)
These were supposed to be Spritz Cookies made with my Cookie Pro Ultra II (cookie press =)
that I received as a gift last Christmas,
but we suspect that because I didn't use the spritz cookie recipe in the box, it
wouldn't work. =( I rolled the dough into logs and cut them into
slices instead.
After dipping them in sprinkles,
we think they tasted just as good =)
"Ring Out, Wild Bells"
Our hope for this month...
clear skies or at least "frosty light."
And here's to many warm, cozy fires in the fireplace all winter long! =) "Ring out the old; ring in the new. Ring happy bells..."
"Ring out the false; ring in the true."
We went to Sheldon's parents for New Year's Eve to
play games, and while the kids watched a movie, Sheldon and I took
Natalie to the New Year's Eve youth dance (and stayed for awhile as Bishopric
representation).
Natalie had a great time! After all the balloons dropped at midnight at the dance =), and we rang
in the New Year with sparkling cider, and fireworks in Seattle over the TV at
his parents', Sheldon went back and drove some of the
youth from the building to the Bishop's house for their
traditional New Year's Eve breakfast.
By 2:00 am. we were all home safe and sound =)
And all year long; and for many years!, we will be enjoying these Christmas gifts (a washing
machine, TV and TV stand...
In short... our washing machine and TV both broke shortly before Christmas.
We were able to get free Sears delivery, and old machine pick up, on our washing machine, and
then Best Buy
took our broken and very heavy TV at no charge =)
I was also able to post on Craigslist our very heavy entertainment center (for free), that couldn't
hold our new TV. The next day someone called, and they came and picked it up! Yay!
Our new washing machine; in all its glory! I love it! 
Your new washing machine looks nice. It's always sad when things break, but kind of nice to have an excuse to get a new one. :)
ReplyDeleteYou sure were busy cookie makers! I have never had about half of those kinds... but they sound and look delicious!!
I'm really sad about the holidays being over too. It's so hard to put everything away and say goodbye till next year. I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and New Years... it sounds like it was!!
I'm always sad to see Christmas go, too. It's easily my favorite time of the year.
ReplyDeleteLove your new washer!!
As Mike McLean's song goes, "I cry the day that I take the tree down!" I think of that song all the time this time of year. I do like January because I'm usually in a "get things accomplished" mood with all my resolutions... but nothing beats December and in January it seems so far away.
ReplyDeleteI would long enjoy the gift of a new washing machine like that, too! =D Your cookies look great; it sounds like a lot of yummy kinds. I'm glad you were able to make the spritz cookies work out anyway. =)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very fun way to ring in the new year with all your different activities. Congrats on the quick removal of your TV stand; I know how much you enjoy getting things out of there! ;)