Christmas Day snapshots

Christmas Day was a day of more family and more traditions.

presents :: Christmas breakfast tradtiition of eggs bennedict, monkey bread, mimosas :: 

new ornaments :: Christmas dinner at my parents :: a big game of Scrabble :: 

remembering the reason for the season

Christmas Eve snapshots

Christmas Eve was a day of family and traditions.

a car trip to celebrate Christmas with Pete's Dad, Uncle, Sis and her family :: time to visit with cousins :: 

back home to finish decorating the tree (we saved the 'kid' ornaments until Ty was home) :: 

a new tradition of take-out Chinese for dinner :: Christmas jammies :: 

the annual reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' :: Christmas snuggles

Merry Christmas!

The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

"This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Luke 2:10-14

Christmas baking

The Christmas treats that I made this year to share with family and friends. 

{click on name of cookie to be linked to the recipe}

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies // Caramel Puffcorn // Spritz Cookies

Snickerdoodles // Toffee Supremes // Gingerbread Biscotti

Sugar Cookies // Oreo Truffles // Peanut Blossoms

Santa and shopping

Each year before Christmas, Pete and I like to plan a shopping date and work on tackling some of those last minute gifts off our lists.  We make a day of it, and this year headed to downtown Minneapolis starting with lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery (a spot we haven't been to in many years.)

After lunch, we walked over to Macy's and went up to the 8th floor auditorium to walk through Santaland and the magical elf village.

We may have stopped to see Santa. :)

After some some shopping downtown, we headed over to Mall of America to finish off our list.

We finished the day with a stop by a local church to see up close this beautiful lighted Christmas tree.

It was a fun day and a perfect way to finish up our shopping.

College Mail

Jake grabbed the mail after school today and came running in the house with a big envelope from the school that is on the top of his college choices.

He was accepted 'Early Action' into Notre Dame!!! 

I am so proud of you Jake and all the hard work you have put in to make your dreams a reality!!

weekend lens::Tyler's Home!!

The weekend was finally here but we still had a little time to wait until Tyler's flight would come in on Saturday evening.  I spent the time working on our Christmas cards,

playing some games with Drew,

made Tyler's favorite Christmas treat {Oreo truffles},

spent time trying to process the horrible tragedy of Newtown, Connecticut, 

looked for a missing TV remote that the dog decided to hide in a corner of my office :)

And finally we headed to the airport to pick up Tyler!!!! He is home!!!

He was so tired (he had been up for over 48 hours) but looked so happy!

We made a stop on the way home so Tyler could get some Chipotle take-out. Does he look happy or what? :)

Sunday morning breakfast was another request from his email.

And dinner was his request of brats with peppers and onions and pasta salad (made with feta cheese). Ty thought this 'little' container of feta was so cute after the huge containers 

that they would buy in Greece. :)

His first day home was spent eating his favorite foods, watching American football, and catching up on sleep. 

It is so nice to have Tyler home!!!

American food

Tyler sent me an email recently with a list of food that he has been craving for when he returns home from his months away in Italy and Greece.

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I loved this list for so many reasons! :) But especially knowing Tyler and how he is not a food person & not a list person; the thought and time that went into this food list showed how much he has been missing 'American food.'

So I headed to the grocery store today to pick up some of his favorite things. :)

And sent him an email with this photo saying: "We are ready for you!"

He was at the airport in Athens and just about to head out on his very long day(s) of travel. The photo made him happy and he said that he and his friends were studying the picture. :)

Can't wait to see my boy tomorrow!!!

weekend lens :: snow & cookies

This weekend brought our first real snowfall of the season! Over 10 inches fell and it felt so much more like Christmas time with a fresh coating of white snow!

I started my Christmas baking, making some Spritz cookies.

And caramel puff-corn.

It was also a great weekend for some of Pete's famous homemade bread. :)

Which went perfectly with a big pot of wild rice soup.

We Skyped with Tyler for the last time before he comes home next weekend!!! The picture made me laugh with Bella on a chair looking at the computer screen when we were talking with Ty. Bell always goes crazy when she would hear Tyler's voice over Skype, it was like she was trying to figure out where he was. :)

Hoping for the snow to still be around when Ty gets home- in less than a week!!!

school spirit

Jake and his friends were showing a little school spirit at a recent boys basketball game and Pete and I were home watching the news when we saw our boy and his friends on the local news. :) Jake's group is only on this clip for a few seconds but it made us chuckle! {They start at about 23 seconds, Jake is in the third? row.}

weekend lens :: christmas decorations

This weekend we had a couple of hockey games and practices, but otherwise it was fairly quiet and we were able to get the house decorated for Christmas.

Drew set up my Dept. 56 Snow Village while I was out grocery shopping and Pete got them all lit! {I have a lot more buildings to this village, but I have found that we appreciate them more when we just set up some of our favorites.}

The Santa mobile that was Pete's from when he was a boy hangs in one of the boys bedrooms each year. We rotate it every year and this year Drew has the honors. :) I love how the boys still love having this in their room.

I love putting this santa frame out each year. I sometimes rotate the Santa picture, but this is one of my favorites.



The Christmas helpers. :)

It's going to be a great Christmas!