glory to our newborn king!

And then it was Christmas! A crazy day full of family and fun and food. Of wrapping paper flying everywhere and it seemed like every present was "just what I wanted!".  Four year old boys are into Imaginext, especially the Eagle Talon Castle, and into spy gear, and lots and lots of Legos. And for our seven year old girl, it was all about things for her American Girl dolls, Lego Friends, crafts and sewing projects (even a kids sewing machine!).

We spent the morning at Nanny and Papa's house with hubby's sister and brother-in-law, and with my parents. We stuffed ourselves with brunch casseroles and cinnamon buns and lots and lots of bacon. We celebrated Nanny getting a new knee for Christmas (replaced last week) and all of us being together and healthy. Papa gave our girlie a beautiful handmade armoire for all her American Girl clothes and accessories.

Then after I had a brief nap, and the kids worked on Legos and Hotwheels wall track installation with their dad, we headed up to my Aunt and Uncle's for dinner and another round of fun and crazy present exchanges. We see cousins and extended family at Christmas that it has often been a year or more since we were last together, and there is so much joy and laughter.  Here's the whole crew (wearing our crowns from our Christmas crackers):

 

And just to show that I come from a long line of cookie bakers, here are all the yummy cookies we had for dessert, I counted 14 varieties of homemade cookies made by 4 different families, plus the candy and petit fours. We were stuffed, but in a good way. 

 And we celebrated Christ's birth, and we rejoiced in being together, and while no Christmas is perfect, this one was so good I would repeat it again and again. I pray you felt the same as you celebrated.  Merry Christmas, friends!

as we approached Christmas

This will be the first in a few Christmas posts, just to break up the enormous number of photos that have been taken over the past week or two, and especially the past day or two. As we approached Christmas, we got busy with all the normal preparations, visiting Santa while at the BSO Holiday concert...

 baking cookies...

 making birdseed ornaments for teachers, bus driver, extended family and friends...

 and making our annual gingerbread houses (we use the Wilton kits, they make it so easy!).

 Presents were bought, wrapped and ribboned. Church services were attended and we worshiped our Saviour, come once to earth for us, and coming again. Christmas pajamas were opened and put on. Stockings were hung by the stairway (lacking a chimney) with care. And we admired the tree, and put ourselves to bed, awaiting Santa's arrival.

thanksgiving and family friday

 Reviewing our Thanksgiving begins with this beautiful picture of our carrots: our final garden harvest of the season. After peeling and trimming, there was a full pound of carrots which we roasted and added a maple glaze...mmm, yum. We hosted this year's Thanksgiving dinner, with 11 attending.  I didn't get a good picture of "the bird" but you can imagine it: golden brown deliciousness. My secret: Reynold's oven bags, and cooking the "stuffing" outside the bird. Below is our tablesetting, with a runner and tablecloth I sewed up this week. The girlie made a full complement of handprint turkey place-cards. And we rejoiced and gave thanks, and ate too much.

 Friday, instead of joining the throngs doing "Black Friday" shopping-frenzy activities, we spent a family day together! We went to the B&O Train Museum to see Santa arriving on a steam engine (pictures turned out terrible, but it was fun). They also had a big Lego train display for the fans in my family:

 The decorations at the museum were wonderful, with a pair of these giant nutcrackers, and all the lit-up snowflakes hung from the rafters:

 And it was a sunny and fairly warm afternoon for a little play outside the museum:

 This is a nice view of the trains and roundhouse as we arrived back in the station after our train ride while we were there, and a view of the inside of a caboose they have on the train-yard:

Then! In case we had not had enough trains, we drove out to the Ellicott City Station (after a stop at Chick-fil-A, which was also very important), where our train museum membership also allowed us to visit, because they had ANOTHER large Lego train set-up as well as several other model train displays. I loved the wreath on the red caboose, so festive:

 And we got to see Santa! He had been hard at work on the railroad, and was dressed appropriately. It was good to have the kids get to tell him what they wanted and to at least have this one visit to count on, in case we don't get to see him somewhere else this month:

A fun family day. A good Thanksgiving holiday. We truly have so much to be thankful for, and we look forward to the coming season of joy as we prepare to celebrate Jesus's birth.

summer wrap-up, part 2

 After we got back from the lake it has been one thing and another, crossing activities off our summer bucket list one by one. On the 16th, the kids and I took a day-trip to Cunningham Falls State Park. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, so it was a "new" experience for all of us. We took the fairly easy 1 mile round-trip hike to the falls and back, including toes dipped in chilly water, and followed by a picnic lunch:

 This is my kids striking their "rock star" poses on the big rock. Pretty funny if you are 4. Or 7. Or 37. Rock. Star. Ha!

chilly toes...

 After lunch, we drove to Larriland Farms, a pick-your-own farm that is about halfway from the park to home. We picked blackberries...

 And peaches...

 ...and even some Gala apples. Here's all our bounty:

The next few days were full of baking (peach cake and blackberry cobbler), freezing (peach slices and premixed pie-filling), and of ice-cream making (blackberry). The apples are in the refrigerator, for munching, and I'm sure we will go pick more soon!

blackberry frozen yogurt (with chocolate sauce!)

We've also been painting, and swimming, and playing outside. And making homemade pizza as a family, for the very first (but definitely not last!) time.

 And then on the 22nd, we crossed off of the list "have a breakfast picnic at a park/beach" by picking up doughnuts and heading for one of our county parks (which also has a little beach...bonus!).

 We even spotted some raccoon tracks:

 And did some "treasure hunting":

There has been a lot going on around here! I have one more post's worth of activities, so stay tuned...

the pickle tree

About ten years ago, one of our friends admitted he had always presumed that pickles grew on trees...and thus begins a lifelong joke. Its just how things like that happen. Ask my sister-in-law about whittling a key sometime, and you will understand. For now, anytime we have new pickles, it must be asked whether they came from the pickle tree.

Alas, there is no tree. Our pickles started as lowly cucumber seeds (Arkansas Little Leaf H-19 Pickling Cucumbers from Southern Exposure), grew happily on the angled trellis made by hubby (which I blogged about ), were harvested last week as this:

 3 1/2 pounds of yummy cucumbers. Having never made pickles before, I decided to start with some refrigerator pickles. There are so many great pickle recipes online! Hubby requested sweet dills, and the little buddy loves his dill spears, the decision was made. So I sliced them up two ways, in spears and round slices, and sent them off to an ice-bath in the fridge for a few hours. I read that keeps them crispier, and it was easy, so why not?

 Then came the pickle making fun. I had enough for three pint jars of each type of pickle. My "recipe" if you call it that was loosely formed by all the various recipes online, for which I am very grateful! Here is what I did:

Dill Spears:  Place one smashed garlic clove and 1 tsp. dill seed in the bottom of each clean pint jar. Then cram as many pickle spears in as you can, and wedge another garlic clove in the top.  For the brine I combined 1 c. apple cider vinegar, 1 c. water, and 1 T pickling salt (found in the "salt" aisle at Walmart). Bring the brine to a boil, then pour over the pickles, leaving 1/4" headspace. Put lids and rings on jars, and cool to room temperature, then put them into the refrigerator. Shake once a day to mix. Start eating on day three!

Sweet dill slices:  Place 1 tsp. dill seed into each pint jar. Slice 1/4 of a large sweet (Vidalia-type) onion, mix together with the cucumber slices and pack tightly into each jar. For the brine, combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, and 1/8 cup pickling salt. Bring to a boil, and pour over the pickles, again leaving 1/4" headspace. Put lids and rings on jars, and cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Shake once a day to mix. Start eating on day three!

Here are the kids at our taste test! I have to admit, I'm not usually a pickle-lover, but I do enjoy the sweet dills. And the kids, hubby, and grandpa are all devouring the rest. Glad there are more cucumbers to come!