Faithful Friends

Our beloved friend Johnny has been with us for the past week and a half, and the kids have loved every second (as have we, if we are being honest)!  The days have flown by, filled with Jon's witty sense of humor, ceaseless desire for debate and the occasional words of wisdom.  He's spent valuable vacation time helping us work on the house and cut firewood, and we can now boast about our speedy internet service and stellar surround sound thanks to his efforts.  Even without these (and other) gifts, we'll be terribly sad to see him go.

Come again soon!

Christmas Day

Our lives are so crazy busy sometimes that I have to admit that a quiet day spent at home in our pj's is an indulgent treat.  Which, I'm not too embarrassed to admit, is exactly what we did on Christmas day.  First we opened our gifts, which consisted of several beautiful homemade things (including the quilt that Jordan's Mom lovingly stitched for Annabel).

 

We enjoyed our traditional Christmas breakfast of stuffed egg nog croissants, special scrambled eggs & maple bacon.

This year breakfast was supplemented with some amazing handmade bread gifted from a neighbor, which helped fuel the cleanup that resulted from the morning's festivities.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Scents

This year we made our neighbors some fresh, stove top potpourri for Christmas.

The base of our fragrant gifts was cranberries and mandarin oranges.

Next we added fresh herbs and traditional seasonal spices:  cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc.

We mixed it all in a bag tied with festive ribbon, and then placed them in a cute berry basket with instructions.

 

The kids enjoyed assembling the gifts, but they loved being little elves who delivered them to neighbors up and down our road.  They learned a little more about giving, and they had a great time delivering these little baskets of scent - which makes great sense!  (Sorry - I couldn't resist!)