Christmas Foods

We ate like Kings and Queens while daughter Bethany was home for the Christmas Holidays!

Christmas Breakfast.....

Christmas Dinner.....

.....and Christmas Dessert!

Merry Christmas 2011

 Zeke in his new dapper sweater.       Annabelle with a looooong bone           Chewing antlers

Darrell, Bethany and I went to Seattle and saw a funny yet heart warming play and ate at Guanacos Tacos and Pupuseria.  I LOVED the pupusas!

Family Christmas

This past Sunday brought us all together for a time of Christmas Cheer!

Love these times together :-}

Santa: The Early Years

This very short video (since the last one was sooooo long) is one that I made from http://www.animoto.com/  They offer free 30 second videos, or a cheap annual basic subscription or more expensive annual professional one, both for unlimited videos.   I have the middle one.

Christmas

A few photos of our Christmas :

Cookies made by Bethany Lynn!  Incredible artwork!

Bethany Jean called from Guatemala to be a part of our family Christmas on Dec 23rd.

We had our traditional Christmas Eve White Bean Chicken Chili that evening.

Homemade cranberry drink made from fresh cranberries, with ginger ale.

Christmas Day with Ryan, we breakfasted on eggs, sausage and a cardamom wreathe.  Dinner included a ham and sweet potatoes cooked in the crock pot in ginger ale, served with a blackberry sauce made with my Blackberry Pie Jam.  Also, sunshine carrots with fresh carrots from this summer's garden.

The Cardamom Wreathe, filled with almonds and golden raisins in a sugar-cinnamon mix.  It was most delicious :o}

A Special Christmas Wish

For our daughter........

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your friends in Guatemala!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Light

.....that His Light might shine upon a dark world

Christmas Memory: Remember Woolworth's?

A friend sent me this old menu from Woolworth's, and boy did it ever bring some memories flooding back!  Founded in 1879 by Frank W. Woolworth, it was one of the original and largest five-and-dime stores in America until the 1980's, when increased competition led to its decline.  Ever wonder what became of the chain?  In the late 1990's it became the Foot Locker, Inc! 

Growing up, there was a Woolworth's five-and-dime in a nearby town. I have wonderful memories of my mother taking the 3 of us children to the store the week before Christmas to hunt out those special gifts for each other.  We shopped little in our family, so it was something to get excited about.  Upstairs the shelves were lined with clothing, household items and other goods that might interest an adult.  However, it was the basement that beckoned to us kids, for it was filled with toys, games, recreational equipment, bicycles and anything else that might capture the attention and imagination of a child.  And it did!  At least mine.  I can still see in my mind's eye one year when I spied a miniature play set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, complete with a tiny table to set in the kitchen that was drawn on the box's background.  The bottom of the box had a wooden floor painted on it.  I loved this set!  No, more than that. I coveted it!  I so hoped that it would be under the Christmas tree for me the following week.  I continued on up and down the isles until I had selected the perfect gifts for my sister and brother, though I have no memory of what they were.  My mind was too filled with visions of the treasure I'd found and longed for.  After we had chosen and purchased our gifts, my mother took us back upstairs and treated us to a rare occurrence........  a meal out at Woolworth's fountain and lunch counter!  It was here that I was introduced to the Bacon and Tomato Sandwich, something that would become a life-long favorite of mine.    Mom also splurged and allowed us to order milkshakes.  What a treat!   Ah, but those were the days...........

Yes, I did receive my beloved Snow White and her Dwarfs, a gift from my brother, I believe.  And though I have long since lost the pretty box they came in, as well as the tiny table, I hung onto that set for years. I  still have the Seven Dwarfs to this day!  I remember agonizing over getting rid of Snow White as an adult (a silly notion of 'cleaning out' hit me), and decided in favor of her disposal.  Crazy! Don't ask me to understand my thought process at the time. I could still have the original complete set! 

Anyone else remember Woolworth's?

What a Difference!

What a difference a year makes! These photos were snapped at the same spot on the same road near our house. Last year we had to literally hike out through the snow just to get to the kids' houses. This year we took a lovely leisurely walk in the sun! Yes, it was quite cold, but we counted our good blessings to be able to move around with ease this Christmas day!

Christmas Foods

It was great to have all my kids here for a Cheese Tortellini Soup Dinner Monday evening to open a few gifts before Scott and Bethany Lynn took off for Moses Lake to celebrate Christmas with her wonderful family.

The week before Christmas, we all gathered here to bake the annual Christmas Cutout Cookies, too. Christmas Eve brought the traditional White Bean Chili Dinner (no photo) after a Christmas Eve service at our church.

But the best was to come for breakfast Christmas Morn! A new Ebelskiver Pan was added to our household this year, and Bethany Jean and I put it to grand use, though I think we underestimated the amount of labor and time that was to be involved! We selected 4 different types to make.....

.....Raspberry-Almond, Lemon Curd, Molten Chocolate and finally, Walnut, Pear &Blue Cheese Ebelskivers! They were well worth the effort! Not only were we starving by time the delicacies were served, but they were extraordinarily delicious!

Merry Christmas

May your life reflect the light of the babe whose birth we celebrate today.....

Family Christmas

December 20, 2009

Busy Day at School

What a fun day at school!

First Bethany J and I went to help out in Bethany L's classroom, during which time Bethany J shared some information about Guatemala to the students. She also spoke to Scott's classroom, as well as a 2nd grade room who had a Flat Stanley to give her. She will take it back to Guatemala with her and present it to a classroom there, take Flat Stanley's picture with the kids, and mail it back to this group of 2nd graders! They were sure excited about that, and meeting someone who would actually go with Flat Stanley to Guatemala!

In the afternoon we popped into Scott's classroom to bring a craft/gift for them to make.

What does one make with these ingredients?

Snowman Soup!

The 4th and 5th graders stamped, cut, colored, glued, taped, packed and stapled the treats together. And what an awesome class of kids they are! Follow directions perfectly! Must have a good teacher ;-)

And who can't help but love that kid who is so immersed in a good book that he gets a slow start? Way to go!

Christmas Snapshot of Long Ago

Christmas 1962 was a special one. It would be the last time the entire Arthur Vaughan Clan, minus Grandpa Arthur himself, would be together. Here are the four living sons of Arthur, and their families. One son, Charles, had been killed at age 15 after being hit on his bike. Grandpa Arthur had passed in 1961. Leukemia would claim the life of Robert Vaughan, son of Herb Vaughan, in December of 1963. Robert stands in the back row, 5th from the left. From my understanding, the grief of his passing stole the joy and breath out of the Christmas season for Herb, his wife Inez and sister, Jan, so that the entire family decided to no longer celebrate Christmas day together anymore. Little did we understand at the time this photo was snapped,

the significance of this Christmas time gathered together as a family.

In this photo you see Grandma Cora Vaughan, her 4 sons Earl, Herbert, Leland and my father Lloyd and their wives and children. There are 4 cousins in the young adult age range and 8 of us cousins in the younger age category. In addition there are 2 spouses belonging to cousins, as well as the live-in companion/friend that came to live with my grandma after Grandpa died the previous year. I am smack in the middle in the rear of those sitting down.

“Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”~ Kenin Arnold

And the Winner(s).....

I had 5 individuals comment on one of their favorite childhood memories, and they were fun to read. So thanks! My dear espouso was one of the commenters, and wouldn't you know, his was the name I drew! I knew he would not use the gift I made up, so here is what I decided: I will find another appropriate prize for him, and for the rest of you, I made up a set of these cards as a gesture of thanks! Those gals are mimamama, Beth and Nancy. Amberlynne, due to the cost of sending packages to you, I think I will count the pumpkin seeds I put in the tube with the ferns as your prize :-) Did you ever receive it?

Christmas Day Last Hurrah

Our White Christmas was a doozy this year! Lots of old snow, and lots of new snow.....

I love these top hats on the posts!

Looking off of our front porch

A couple of shots of that long, thick icicle off the house

Path off our front deck. The snow was deep.

The 'kids' all arrived late morning by hiking in, and by 3:30 PM all of us except Darrell were hiking back out. I had to work the next day, Bethany J needed to get out to say goodbye to all of her friends, and everyone else lives down in Monroe. We packed our backpacks and suitcases and started the trek up to the top of the switchback and beyond. Here you can also see one of our cars stuck in the ditch.

The two Bethany's come upon a fallen tree

She has the cat-child Gideon in that carrier!

The Fed-Ex van that has been stuck and abandoned on our switchback since Dec. 12 is completely buried now! You better hope you didn't have any packages on this van!

Trudging along.....

Now to back-up Ryan's truck to a spot where he can turn around. He keeps getting stuck in the snow bank.

Scott tries to direct him from the rear...

It takes one hour to back up as far as it might take 20-30 seconds to drive forward without snow. Now to shovel out a road to back into so we can turn around. It is after 5 PM by now, and getting dark.

Darkness overtakes us...

Driving slowly out, we cut through one small tree, then come upon one that is too big to cut through with our hand saw. The boys try to, but it is pointless. Trees continue to fall around us. We call a 'neighbor' who is just sitting down to Christmas dinner, but he and his two adult sons drive out in their tractor with a chain saw to help us. Here is the light from the tractor coming down the road... bringing a different kind of savior for us!

All the men try to get at the tree, but it is too high. They cut the branches off that are blocking the road so we can drive under. But we don't quite fit. The tractor creates a packed snow ditch so we can move up to the higher side of the tree, and we finally drive through! By now it is about 6:30. Three hours after leaving the house, we have traveled 1 1/2 miles! We are cold, feeling trapped and oppressed, but not down for the count!

Downtown, Ryan's neighbors have built a life-size igloo in their front yard!

This snow has been beautiful, but if anyone wishes for a White Christmas next year, watch out! I may come wielding a weapon! Enough, already!!!