Christmas Reviewed

Every family has their holiday traditions. One of my favorite is the little advent tree to the left. I got it many years ago at Sam’s Club. It has 24 tiny draws in the base each holding a simple ornament. Every day starting on December 1st the kids put on an ornament, come Christmas morning it’s all decorated.

Another holiday tradition is coffee cake. This is a time honored recipe Sheila, my mother-in-law passed on many years ago. It’s fairly simple and enjoyed by all.

 

 

 

As many of you know our middle son, Derek is a music major at University Massachusetts Lowell. He is a percussionist. Below is a present he received from a friend. I suspect he will accumulate many percussion related items over the years.

 

The other event that makes Christmas doubly special for us is that it’s Mark, our first born’s, birthday. This year he turned 25. It’s hard to believe. You may have noticed that many of our posts are devoid of people pictures. My family is very camera shy starting with me. We’ll have to work on that in 2010, just one of the many resolutions I have rolling around in my head right now.

We’ll Have a White Christmas

Before I go any further Emily received notice on Saturday that she was accepted into her #2 pick, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, MA. It’s in the heart of the Berkshire Mountains. We’re still waiting to hear from #3 Hofstra and #1 Champlain. Hofstra really doesn’t matter at this point because it’s #3.

Sunday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland. All told, we got close to a foot of snow. The Cape took the brunt of the storm with many locations nearing two feet. Fresh fallen snow always makes for some beautiful photos.

Even though the snow was fairly light it was still enough to warrant breaking out the John Deere.

 

Derek needed to get back to school because he had one more final on Monday. This particular one was a jury. He had to perform preselected pieces by a panel of judges. It’s a common practice throughout his music education.

Even Abbey seemed to enjoy being out in the snow. She’s over 13.5 so just getting up every day is an accomplishment for her.

A snow storm is the perfect time to make Christmas cookies. Maybe even Martha Stewart would approve of these.

Percussion Ensemble

Monday, December 7th was Derek’s Percussion Ensemble. The group is very talented. Photo above left shows Derek in black on the right and his housemate Dave to the left in the blue shirt. The group performed 6 pieces. Derek was in 4 of them. Below are links to 3 performances. The pieces are not typically something you can hum along to but I think the kids had a lot of fun playing them.

Rupture in Nature

One Eyed Jacks

The above piece was conducted by Dave. He is a senior this year with a major in Music Business.

Music for Pieces of Wood

Derek did not perform in the above number but it was an interesting piece if you like rhythm. The students have a high level of participation in that they conduct, create and perform in the pieces. One of the students did performance art during a piece he composed. It was too long to post to utube so you’ll have to take my word for it.

All of the kids are very dedicated to their craft and their passion for music is very clear. A pleasure to watch.

Our New England Village

Every year since 2000 we have been setting up our New England Village after Thanksgiving. The first piece we bought was entitled Steen’s Maple House. We started with that piece because of the maple syrup production started by Norm and carried on by Gary and Paula. It seemed appropriate to us. Each year we added to it until it has taken over our dining room table. Last year was the first year we didn’t add to it. Click on the photos for a closer look see.

 

 

 

Joseph, our rabbit, loves this time of year. In the fall the plants I keep out on the deck come inside and in December the tree goes up. He loves to hang out underneath it. I think he feels like he has a forest habitat.

I can’t believe Christmas is a week from Friday. Where does the time go…

Before, After

On Thursday, the 3rd we had 70 degree weather so I was taking outdoor photos. This morning we woke up to low 30’s for temps and a winter wonderland. We got at least 4 inches overnight and some areas got even more. The bottom left photo is the view out our bedroom winter taken early this morning. The photo to the right is of our Christmas lights on our front bushes.

Thanksgiving- The Finale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good time was had by all.  We have a camera shy bunch so I don’t have many people pictures. There was plenty of food and we were all sufficiently stuffed. I think we’ll be eating turkey for quite some time to come. Friday was my traditional turkey soup meal.

 

Sheila and Rich will be heading home this morning. I had hoped to join them for breakfast before they took off but I got a call from the other unit that I occasionally work at that there was a sick call and would I come in so… Greg will be going to breakfast without me. Duty calls.

Happy Thanksgiving- Part I

The preparations are underway, above left is the turkey. This year we decided to go a little smaller than we have in the past. It’s slightly over 14lbs. There are the five of us plus Sheila and Rich. Emily is a vegetarian and Derek… well those of you who know him, need I say more, he’s not an eater, so a smaller bird made sense. Sheila made a pumpkin pie yesterday.

 

We traditionally start our morning with Sheila’s coffee cake recipe that we have been making for years. The turkey is now stuffed and ready to go into the oven.

Once a year the dining room table is used for its true function instead of a catchall for books, projects etc. I didn’t break out the good china but there our a few pieces here and there.

Greg and Rich went to the local high school football game that started at 10. Dinner is planned for around 2 pm. More to follow later.

I wish everyone a very special day, a time to enjoy friends and family and be thankful for all the good in our lives.