Christmas in the North Country

Sunday was our northern family Christmas. The head count was just around 30 and we had planned a ham with scalloped potatoes dinner. Brenda came home from Virginia and stayed with Dad. They worked hard on Saturday peeling and slicing potatoes. Then got up early Sunday morning to get them in the oven in time for dinner. I got a call on my way north that I might just want to stop and pick up some oven cleaner....
This is what I saw when I first got there. Not to bad of a spill.
Only the steam coming out of the oven, really wasn't just steam. It was smoke from the flames! This is after the oven cooled off. What a memory! It took 3 of us to clean it up and surprisingly doesn't look all that bad now. Wonder when Dad will cook again??
Ayla and Kelly sharing some hugs.
Laura next to Grandpa's tree. I can't get over how much of a little lady she is turning into.
Kelly wanted her picture taken with Uncle Alan and Aunt Brenda. It's nice that they were able to visit all the way from Virginia, as Laura tells.
Spending some time with my Dad. I must get my good looks from him.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas~ I thought I would do a Christmas wrap-up on some of the festivities. It was an enjoyable day all around. We started off with dinner at our house Christmas Eve followed by the traditional candle light service at church. Christmas morning was celebrated by having Grandma Sheila & Rich and Grandpa joining us. Then ending the day with dinner at Grandma Sheila's with the family. What a great way to spend Christmas. Passing some time after church on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa.
Santa came!
Laura asked Santa for a Nintendo DS. She was very excited when she found Santa left her one.
Kelly and I trying to get all those tiny pieces out of the Barbie package.
Working hard at unwrapping.
I put a new trash can on my wish list this year. I was surprised with a "touchless" can. Whoever thought throwing trash away could be so much fun.
Laura's Barbie had the option of tattoo's. Grandpa was the test subject. After he showed them it didn't hurt they were all in for it.
All the excitement of the day made Kelly tired before even getting to dinner. Notice the tattoo on Laura's head.
Gary with his mother.
While getting Christmas decorations out this year we found Grandma's dollhouse she played with when she was a little girl. It has found a new spot at Grandma's house for the girls. For more pictures from dinner check out Amanda's blog. There is a nice gallery of pictures from our evening at Grandma's house.

Now That's a Tree!

This weekend we went to Gary's office party. It was held at Tug Hill Vineyards in Lowville. We visited this summer for some "wine-down" time. The place sits on a hill overlooking the farm lands of the area. Some people might think it is unusual to see a vineyard in cow country. It really was a treat! I wanted to show you the size of this tree. Yes, it was a real tree brought in through the front door. It was decorated with white lights, gold balls and stars. They started at 11 am and were entertaining by 4 pm with this tree. A very pretty tree in person. This is the fireplace in the middle of the dining area. Our table was fortunate to be next to it. When I walked in my car thermometer said -1. It was colder when we left!
Grandma Sheila kept the girls for us while we were at the Christmas party. A great big "Thanks" for that time. We managed to finish up those last minute Christmas jobs Saturday morning before they came home. And look what they brought home with them! Baking with Grandma is always fun.
Laura and I set up the Christmas village when she came home. We decided to put it on top of the television this year. Can you find the John Deere tractor that was added this year?

O' Christmas Tree

The Christmas festivities have been flowing at our house. This past weekend we made another batch of caramel corn. Or should I say double batch when we realized we popped to much popcorn.
Gary took over the roll of stirring while I got the rest of the ingredients ready.
Only, what happens when you run out of Karo syrup?? You call the Grandma baking crisis hot line and substitute with maple syrup. It didn't make a difference. We were 1/3 cup short. Maybe if we needed more it might have.
Sunday was our day to get the tree. Just had to do a little housework before we could go. Not only does she shovel, she mops and folds laundry too. Voluntarily to boot!
Looking for that perfect tree....
Found it!
Not liking the selection of the tree.
While Gary took care of our tree the girls and I fed the deer some apples. Then we went inside to have some hot chocolate before we came home. It was raining and felt good to warm up.
Hauling the tree in for set up.
Ready to decorate the tree. Well maybe, do you think she is still upset over the selection of the tree?
Laura had no trouble hanging ornaments.
Grandma Sheila brought some Christmas cheer with her.
A family tradition is to have Gary's grandmother, Erma, dancing tree out for Christmas. This tree is motion activated and sings different holiday verses.
Monday morning the girls opened an early Christmas present from our friends at Sixberry. It's hard to see in the picture but they each had Christmas hair ponies to wear. Kelly had Santa's and Laura had festive pom-poms. Very cute.
This is a picture of luck being on our side. Monday night Gary came home to find the kitchen light dropped from the ceiling. When he took it apart he found that the ballast had started to melt in the light. This is after I cleaned out the light cover, but you can see where the melting took place. There was a thick layer of plastic that I chiseled out. This happened after our leaking roof this weekend. They say things happen in three's. Waiting for the third to happen.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

It's beginning to look like Christmas.... with the addition of some snow. We had some happy girls Sunday morning when they woke up to this. Kelly found herself amused by shoveling snow. She cleared the sidewalk then put it back in the sidewalk. We are very lucky to have such a shoveler. Wonder how she will be with that in a month.

After all that shoveling Kelly needed a little ride to rest. Can you see the smile on her face?
While Gary and Kelly were playing outside, Laura and I were working on her family snowman project for school. Laura loves to be creative.
Our finished project that will be hung at school. Complete with a glitter hat, mittens and buckle. Two chocolate chip eyes, a candy corn nose and three jingle bell buttons.

Laura was recognized this month for being the Outstanding Student of her class. This is an award that recognizes students for being "On-A-Roll" for academic or social achievement. You can see her with other students and the principal in the December newsletter.
Tuesday night was more fun in the snow. We couldn't get home quick enough for making snow angels. And taking a ride of course.

Turkey and Travels

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I know we sure did. We started the holiday at Eric and Amanda's house for a great turkey feast on Thanksgiving Day. Gary of course took the famous Hayden platter. Here Gary is showing Bill, Amanda's Dad, how to operate the contraption. Looks like Bill might have the idea on how to hook up the bird.
Ta-Da! Ready for the feast. And a fine feast it was. Thanks to Eric and Amanda for hosting such a wonderful dinner.

On Friday, the girls and I headed north for a two day tour to visit friends and family. We started out at our friend Mary's house for some holiday baking. Yes I do bake on occasion, and when it can be done with friends that is a bonus. Mary invited us along with her 3 sisters, her mother and a whole bunch of cousins. There were to many to count.
Here is a sampling of the counter. Some White Trash chex mix followed by some yummy chocolate noodle thing cookie. Kelly was making a cookie that had a snickers stuck in the middle with Mary's mom. I think she was just eyeing the candy bar in the finished product.
Kelly and Laura with Morgan decorating some sugar cookies.
Kelly was doing a one for the ginger bread man, one for me approach here.
Cutting out more cookies to bake.
After our baking visit, we headed down the road to Dad's house for the night. Enjoyed pizza and some of those freshly baked cookies for dessert. We finished up the night with a couple games of Uno. We didn't keep score but I think I was pretty lucky for the night.
Saturday morning we were up and ready to go for our next holiday dinner. This dinner was hosted in Herkimer.
Laura found one of Ayla's dolls that she liked to play with while we were there.
Last visit for the weekend landed us at Jason and Jessica's for the night in Oriskany Falls. One of the treats of the weekend was the air mattress. Who would have thought an air mattress could be so much fun. Laura slept on one at Grandpa's house and thought it was the coolest thing. This air mattress was a little bigger and both girls could sleep on it. Although they are sisters and tend to pick at each other.
Finishing out the visit with a ball game. Nice weather all around for the visits.