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 

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.

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