Putting Away Christmas

It's always kind of sad to start putting away all of the lovely Christmas decorations, many of which have been in my family for three generations. But today I got started by plugging in the tree lights one more time, putting on my favorite Christmas CD's, and making a cup of tea to fortify myself!

Here's a picture of about 200 of my 350 Shiny-Brite ornaments in an old antique egg basket.  They look so festive, and I plan to hold this image in my mind until next Christmas rolls around.

Christmas Day for a Dog and A Child

My granddaughter Kaila had two days of Christmas, beginning on Christmas Eve.  She still believes in Santa, so it's fun to hear her talk about what he is going to bring her this year.  From the looks of what she brought over to our house on Christmas Day, Santa brought her everything she could ever want!

Nala the dog had a good Christmas, also, and was busy trying to open her packages of dog biscuits a few days before the big event. We finally had to put the biscuits up in the closet so she would not get into them.

It was a wonderful Christmas for our family.

Christmas Mice

Many years ago, as a child, I was fascinated with mice, and while in the fourth grade, I wrote a full-length novel (14 chapters) about the adventures of a family of mice.  It was called "The Dancing Mice".  I even did all of the illustrations, and I still have my 'book' to this day.

Over the years, I've collected handmade mice both large and small, and each year, they end up somewhere in the house in a tableau.  Here's a picture of all of them, posing in the snow, with one sitting in a little doll's chair.  They always bring back my childhood.

Christmas is Here!

Christmas morning finally got here, and we had a nice breakfast of Praline Pecan French Toast, bacon, orange juice and stollen--what a great way to fuel ourselves for the day!  Mom and I cleaned up breakfast and then started thinking about our 2 p.m. dinner.  We took it easy in the morning, reading the paper and putting the last-minute touches on the dining room table.

Dinner at Italianissimo in Woodinville

We had my birthday dinner last night at Italianissimo in Woodinville.  This was the restaurant where we went for our first date in 1994.  It's changed locations since then, but it's still the best place on the Eastside for Italian.

I had the ricotta and spinach ravioli with a light red sauce, and a wilted spinach salad with bacon and viniagrette.

More Holiday Baking

So far, we've made stollen, sugar cookies, fudge and now these holiday coconut bars.  They are very rich, with gumdrop 'holly' atop each one.

Birthday Flowers

My best friend Liz sent this lovely basket of flowers for my birthday, and it will make a lovely centerpiece for my Christmas dinner on Tuesday.