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Monday, December 28, 2020

80 years old, that is big

 Actually, 80 is HUGE  

We started feeling it early in the week.


First  ♪ Happy Birthday
Connie made very good cupcakes




The cards, emails, phone calls...started rolling in


The actual date is December 23


Nita came and let the whole neighborhood know ...




Then most of the local family gathered, with masks, outside, in downtown Bellevue 




  Hot chocolate for the 3 young guys 




 They brought balloons 
and
a special dessert 

( yes, it was shared ) 





After dinner, it was time for the stash of cards that had been hidden 
waiting for the day
The scrolls are the emails. 
 You see, the birthday boy does not use the computer so we printed out every email and rolled them up and tied them with a ribbon 


One of the gifts,  chocolate dipped fruit
came special delivery with a balloon 
He had time for one quick taste
before neighbors came to
sing and each cupcakes and   add a happy ending to the day 





Here are  two gifts that "brought down the house"



Salt and Pepper, Cream and sugar anyone? 
Lumberjack size 
 


If you know Darrell,  you know wood is his world 









The big family celebration will be in January
We will avoid  the holiday  rush 
and spend  a few days on the Washington coast

the celebrating continues 





I live an exciting life 




Friday, December 25, 2020

friends, fun. food

 


That is how the holiday often adds up

friends

fun

food

oh, and family


But so far this holiday season it has been the friends that have been fun


Friends that you know well enough to say

" can I come over and see your decorations?"

and they say

"yes, of course, and I have some charcutier to share"

so

It was a date..











She and me and in between her sister 

She reminded me that we have matching sweaters

I have been wearing mine every other day since.

They are Scandinavian. So am I. They are Swedish. I am Norwegian
They have a flare for sharing their style and their heritage 

( ok, was that random? )


She always sets a fancy table 
and the food is always delicious 

Then we went upstairs 
to sister and hubby and  their home 















And even though it was a cloudy day, you get an idea of 
the view
pretty spectacular
Three feeders and beyond to Bellevue
Oh, that's where I live
time to go home.








Monday, December 7, 2020

It's a tradition

 Our family does not seem to have many

   but this is one tradition that has been happening every year since, well as far back as I can remember.  Even back to when my mother and aunt would do some holiday baking. 


Baking Night 

I used to invite the Sunday School girls over to bake and then when our own girls came along, they invited their friends to come.  And then they grew up and well the group shifts a bit, but there is always fun.

Tiff is now the great coordinator   She sends out the email invitation and makes a list of the cookies we plan to bake. I prepare some easy to eat supper and have aprons ready.   A few other things, but you can use your head about that.


This year.  Guess what?   The first responder said, sorry, better not come. And we soon realized that this year would be different.

This year....Our girls, their boys and....the little family next door.  Those little gals have been in our house ( and in our hearts ) so they are as much a part of our bubble as our own.

Let me add, our boy, comes sometimes..



Yes...that is him about 28 years ago


Back to 2020

       This year we added a few more  aprons in the smaller version


And this year, a day ahead, I baked shortbread ( family favorite, but it takes at least two hours, start to finish and we have only one oven ) and my cherry cake ( formerly called fruit cake, but I leave out the citrus and only give it to friends who love it... their names are on the bottom of my recipe....always room for one more, but no hate mail  please)

Also, Anita had prepared a batch of another family favorite, sour cream sugar cookie dough and soon ready for the little artists..

Here we go...   The bakers arrive and the fun begins   


Cousins  and 


They get the job of making the cookies in fun shapes 






First they look like this   




The art work begins 


with a little help from mom




Then they start looking like this 


                                                    



and this 


and oops 




Then comes the messy fun one..























Where did little one go ?    Well after she did a thorough job of washing her hands and washing the dolphins that reside in the bathroom stool,,,  she began another task...


Plenty of hard work going on 






The crew in color   


A little time out for ...football?


No football when someone is sick
Time to go to bed and here is some medicine so you won't die










These two tuned in to a Christmas movie





A couple things that have never happened before

Tiffany stepped on a nail
The nail was sticking out of Dad's shoe







Ok.   saving the best for last... a reward if you have scrolled this far...
 little one feels at home with a calculator in hand .....   listen up










And the annual group photo    
Never the same, but this year was so very special  










I live an exciting life...even in 2020