The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

I was looking through some old photos the other day, and I came across this gem of Thane taking a break while "helping" to renovate our old farmhouse in Maine.  The timing of this find is perfect, since the day before I captured this pic of Thane toiling at our new house.

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Inside and Out

We are making loads of progress on the new house.  

The interior framing is complete, and we spent much of last weekend putting sheetrock on the ceiling.

The kids continue to be a big help on the weekends, even if they are assigned menial tasks from time to time.  

Although the following photo doesn't show it, all of our windows have been installed and the roof is completely shingled. 

 

 

We had some welcome help from this guy, who spent half of his 4 day vacation here working on the roof.

 

We are so excited that friends Troy and Melissa have purchased land in a nearby town, and we hope to be helping them with their new home one day in the future.

Christmas Celebrations

As when I was a kid, this year our holiday festivities started on Christmas Eve.  After a hard day of toil at our new house, we were very grateful to get home to a hot meal.  Later the kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve gifts: a holiday book, movie and hot chocolate.  We watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" while drinking hot cocoa, and then the kids headed to bed while we frantically stuffed stockings and then breathed a  sigh of relief that a couple of month's worth of enjoyable (but exhausting) preparations were complete.

On Christmas morning, Jordan's grandparents joined us for our traditional stuffed, egg nog dipped and fried croissant breakfast.  Other treats included maple bacon, egg bake and fresh fruit salad.  YUM!

Then we got down to the, em, serious task of opening gifts.  As you can see, Star Wars played a big role in this year's haul.

During breakfast Jordan noticed an uninvited, but certainly not unwelcome, guest in our neighbor's tree.  This enormous great horned owl spent the day lazily overseeing our fun. 

Yuletide Reminiscing

I've shared before that one of my favorite things during the Christmas season is celebrating our family heritage and various traditions.  My parents have always made Christmas fun.  One especially treasured memory is the one "Santa" present that my Dad gifted each year.  The Santa present was often a goofy one that never failed to elicit howls of laughter, but other times it was a special item that wasn't on our Christmas list.  Dad would hand pick these treasures after thoughtfully considering our needs and likes, and these remain gifts that I remember most.

Other precious Ahlquist family memories center on the years in which we invited friends or family members to join us for the day.  These were often recently divorced or widowed loved ones who were facing a lonely Christmas day.  What joy to be able to surprise and spoil them with unexpected gifts.  The gifts may not have been of great monetary value, but they were given from the heart and very much appreciated in return.  Precious memories for sure!

For many years now my Dad has made a Swedish Christmas bread called "Julekaga."  Making this yeast bread from scratch is something I have endeavored to do for years with very mixed success.  Thanks to my new oven with a bread proof setting, I am happy to report that this year's batch was a rousing success!  If I can pull it off again next year, I'll be ready to pass along this skill to Annabel and Thane.  Making my mom's perfect pie crust is, sadly, a feat that still eludes me!

Teenager?!?!?

  

Sometime during all of our travels and adventures, our sweet little girl grew into a lovely young lady.  In fact, Annabel is now (gulp!) officially a teenager.  We keep bracing ourselves for the HORROR that comes with this stage, but so far we have been pretty darn lucky.  (Don't even think about asking my parents what I was like at that age...  It isn't pretty!)

While Annabel has become a bit more adventurous and independent, she still remains the sweet, helpful girl that she has always been.  Whether it's helping to build our new home

or loving her many furry friends,

Annabel continues to spread joy wherever she goes.

We love you girlie and are thrilled that we get to be your family.  Happy (late) Birthday!