Cuddle time

Christmas time was so wonderful.  All of us gathered in Adam & Andrea's home and we all slept there for 3 nights. 8 adults, 12 children.   Lots of activity, lots of food, lots of games (rook especially!) and lots of time for rough-housing.  But most of all, lots of time for cuddling.....    one can never give enough time and hugs to grandchildren.  Never. 

Christmas family picture 2012

Merry Christmas from our family of 20.  

A nice even dozen grandchildren...  we rejoice in our blessings!

Memories of Christmas Eve Carol Sing

One of my fondest memories of Christmas growing up in Basking Ridge, New Jersey was the annual Christmas eve carol sing.  It was started in 1924 and has continued to this day;  the town green, with a beautiful tree, the Presbyterian church standing magnificantly, the brass instruments and upwards of 2000 people gathered to raise their voices in praise for the birth of a Saviour!  

May you enjoy a blessed Christmas as you are making memories right now!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  (Click on picture to enlarge it)
Imagine!  Everyone is looking at the camera!  The trick for us is to set the camera on a tripod on a timer and have no one else around to distract the children...  the little flashing light on the camera seems to work like a charm!  Plus, it can fire 6 pictures in a row - there has to be a good one in the bunch!  (And it's usually the very first one too.)

Feeding the deer...

 Perhaps you may remember this from last year.... it is something that hubby designed and built to provide feed for the deer in our backyard..

 

 The idea was to open the top of the pvc tube and put in the deer feed and it would flow down into the trough.  So we did.  And we patiently waited all last winter for the deer...  (in the previous years we feed the deer on our front yard but we thought this would be better and we could watch them while sitting in our family room)... but for some reason we never did see any signs of the deer eating at the trough.  (Birds and sundy other little creatures enjoyed it though..)

 

 Until this year!  Hooray!  The other night we looked out and there was Mr. Deer... checking out the situation!

 

 He was really nosey too!  He had to get his nose all around the whole system to see just how much feed he could get, maybe?

 

And he had to share - something they are sometimes reluctant to do - there was a small group of 4 of them and we enjoyed watching them feed.  They don't mind the back light being on and as long as they don't see our motion in the window, they feel quite comfortable having a late night snack.  Works for me. 

12th grandchildren turns one on 12-12-12

Our 12th grandchild turned one on 12-12-12!  How special is that?

Isn't he a handsome young man?

 

His mom and dad hosted a fine party just for the big event! 

 

Mom Sara made these cute mustache cookies!

 

Samuel loved this super soft teddy bear.

 

Here he is all nice and neat and clean. He has no idea he is going to be allowed to eat that entire little smash cake, chocolate frosting and all! 

 

Turns out he thought it was a terrific idea!!

 And the rest of us had some mighty fine food to enjoy as well!

A good time was had by all.  Happy Birthday Samuel!!

Christmas around the house

Welcome to readers from Kelly's blog!!

http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2012/12/2012-christmas-tour-of-homes.html

Don't forget to leave a comment so I can check your blog too!

 

One of the best parts of living in Minnesota is the likelihood of a white Christmas.  (We won't mention that we also have a strong chance of a white Valentine's day... and on.. and on.. maybe even a ... white Easter?... we won't discuss that...)  At any rate, we love the beauty of living in this winter wonderland. I just can't imagine Christmas in a warm climate!

 



Just that touch of snow makes everything special! 

 

Welcome in!  We have a fun home to decorate and each year I often think "Oh, I will simplify this year .." but it never seems possible once I get started!

 

Many years ago our home was on a home tour (when it was nice and new) and someone came in to decorate.  We purchased the decorations and have enjoyed them ever since.

 

It does take a while to wrap all these railings.  I used to also wrap all the railings on the second floor, but I have cut back on that...

 

We have this interesting opening between our air lock and our foyer.  The decorator hung these red and green large balls.  Very cool.  Hubby climbs on the ladder dutifully each year to put them in place and then to take them down. 

 

This is the mantle in the living room.  This is the first year I have done it like this and I love it.  I love the red and blue together - and Mr. Owl is my favorite!

 

Here's a collage of some of the things around in the living room. 

 (You can click on any of my pictures or collages and they will get larger if you want a closer look.)

 

 In our family room I have filled the mantle with snowmen.  I don't think I need any more snowmen now..

 

 Little lights behind the snowmen just add a nice touch.

 

 

Here's a collage of the snowmen.  They are just so cheerful!

 

 

This picture is one of my favorite Christmas decorations because my dad painted it.  (He is no longer living.)  It is very "grandma Moses" style and he may even have been looking at some of her art when he painted it.  He took some adult education painting classes and it is such a treasure to have a few of his paintings.  (He didn't do very many.)

 

Then we move into the "River room" - it's an all-season porch that we have named the river room because we can see the river from it - at least during the winter when the leaves are gone.  During the summer it feels like a tree house.  Here is our tree - and it is fun to have a high ceiling to accommodate a tall tree!

 

The tree is artificial with little lights already on it, but we also add these candle lights. They make the tree look very old fashioned.  The tree has a scandinavian feel with lots of straw ornaments and some cute little knit sweaters or caps or mittens.  A few red ornaments and red ribbons add that pop of color.

 

Hubby actually had real candles on his tree when he was a boy. He loves these candles lit and we often just have them lit and not the other lights on the tree. 

 

Here is a collage of some of the ornaments.   

A close up of the electric candles.  I love the little red berry too and the fact that it is lit.

 

On the dining room table I have another favorite - this centerpiece was made by our daughter-in-law Andrea for us when she became a part of our family back in 2000.  I love the classic look with the candles.  I have used for a number of years now and I don't intend on changing; it is just perfect.

 

My paternal grandmother was born in Sweden and my sister made this darling Lucia for me.  Isn't she cute?

 

I bring in the Swedish influence, but my hubby is 100% Norwegian, so that seems to add another dimension to our decorations (and holiday food).  Aren't these little Norwegian children adorable?

 

I did say that each year I say I am going to "simplify" and this year I did... this picture is from a previous year and NOT this year!  I love my Snow Village but it is a very big job to set up and take down and pack away.  The last few years I have had our oldest granddaughter (she is almost 10) over for to help me do it (a very good tradition to establish) but she doesn't live in our town anymore so I just put it off this year...  I need to start it with our other granddaughters who now live only an hour away.. they are getting old enough to enjoy it too.  I wonder what the grandchildren will think when they are "home" for Christmas and they realize I didn't put out the little houses??

 

Well, I don't think I've done a long post like this for a while. I hope you enjoyed this little tour!Thank you for stopping by! Next time I'll put the coffee on!  But if you got this far on the blog post, here is one last treat for you:

 

 

May God bless you this Christmas season and in the coming year!

First snow. Hungry birds.

 Although we live in Minnesota and snow is part of our life out here, the first real good snowfall is still exciting.  Especially when it doesn't come until December!  We were getting fearful of a NOT white Christmas... that just wouldn't do for us hearty Minnesotans!  But happily, the snow arrived and with it the opportunity to take pictures, make a cozy fire, stay home and enjoy the beauty of the view out of the windows ... and relish in the holiday season..

 

 

And the snow brings out our winter birds in full force and their normal food supply must be hard to come by ... and the ease of the bird feeders (all filled with sunflower seeds) is just too easy for them.  We love our birds and again, I just can't seem to stop taking photographs of them despite the fact that I probably have similar photographs from last year!  Enjoy! 

Thankful heart!

I don't think words can adequately express our thankfulness to God for our three sons, their lovely wives and our 12 healthy grandchildren.  We do not deserve all the blessings that have been so freely bestowed to us!  Along with our thankfulness for our  family is the amazing fact that God has sent His Son to redeem us!  

Repeat performance

It is fun to see the various ways our children or our grandchildren resemble their parents; sometimes it is in personality, sometimes it is in physical characteristics.  In the case our of youngest son - HIS youngest son is, to me, a repeat performance.  What do you think?

Culinary Failure

 I suppose all good cooks experience major failures along the way, or how else would they become good cooks?  So, that being said... I think I may be on my way to becoming a good cook because I tried.... and failed... at this Norwegian meal!

 

 Now you may be wondering what in the world this was in the first place?  This would be called, in layman's terms, "potato dumplings" - though my Norwegian spouse and his family called it "kumpa" - other names are also "klubb" or "komla"... and on this particular day I thought I would totally surprise my dear hubby with this "delicacy" that I have, so far, avoided ever making.  How hard could this be, I determined?  Afterall, I think I'm a pretty decent cook.... so I was smiling as I peeled potatoes (that is the one kitchen cooking chore that I really dislike - it ranks right up there with cleaning walls or crocheting)... but I peeled and shredded and squeezed out the excess moisture (I told you I was a good cook - this is an important part for this meal) and added flour, some oatmeal and carefully shaped them into balls with the required piece of salt pork safely tucked into the center of the kumpa.  I had brought the large kettles of water to a soft boil and then, so proud of myself, I took a picture before gently placing them into the water...

 And then into the water they went!  (There is a little ham in the water to add, possibly, a little flavor...)  Again, I had to photograph to document I had DONE this!  Oh, how happy and surprised Mr. Wonderful will be, I happily thought to myself.  

 

Pride goeth before a fall.

 

Within minutes these beautiful spheres.... disintegrated into the water!!!

HORRORS!  I didn't know they would or could do that!!!

NO, I was so befuddled that I forgot to take a picture of the water/shredded potatoes mixture!

Now what do I do??  I quickly shared my dilmena with my facebook friends (after telling them I was so "wonderful" making kumpa...) and someone gamely suggested potato pancakes...

 

So, remembering that hubby also loved potato pancakes ... and thinking that onions usually improve everything... I drained the potato stuff into a colander and again ... squeezed out the moisture... then chopped up an onion and added it to the mixture along with more flour and an egg and fried them in butter to make some not-so-bad potato pancakes!

 

 

But there was a small bit of redemption.... in the smaller of the kettles of water remained ONE whole "kumpa" and part of a second one...

 

I think you have to grow up with these things to really appreciate their taste...

 

I should have taken a picture of the kitchen afterwards.  I used SO many kettles, large bowls, colanders, food processor for shredding, etc.,  It was a mess. 

All for 1 1/2 kumpas.

And because I love my man. 

Two little brothers

 This past weekend we were in "the cities" - first for a lovely wedding of the daughter of close friends, and then to enjoy the home of our eldest son and daughter-in-law ... and THESE two little fellas!

 

 We had a hard time getting this busy little boy to sit still for a  picture...

 

 The older brother, however, cooperated happily.

 

And the really fun part of this weekend was seeing our youngest grandchild (10 months) decide that walking was something he could do - he went from taking just those 2 or 3 steps to getting himself to a standing position and walking across the room.  Yup! That's walking!!