Pearl Strings at the Ward Christmas Party

The Pearl Strings did a number at the ward Christmas Party last night--What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? We had Traci stand in for Jen, who was, sadly, in Hawaii. This is a good warm-up for our gig in a week and a half at the senior center. I can see my performance would be improved if I didn't look at my fingers throughout the entire song. (In my defense, the song was HARD!)

Coda Decorator Dog

Coda will be so glad when Crystal goes home and stops crocheting for her! She made her a cute little doggie scarf this week to match her Ravens cap. As you can see, she loves them both. Then, to add insult to injury, Crystal had her pose with some twinkle lights! We love that little doggie, but sometimes Coda thinks we have a wierd way of showing it!

Ready For Christmas

Our house is all decked out for the holidays. It looks so beautiful. I have to thank Crystal who came home early for Thanksgiving for and really spear-headed the decorating this year.

My main job was putting the lights on the big tree in the conservatory. It is a pre-lit tree, but none of the pre-lit lights work anymore. Did you know you can only string three strands of 150 lights together before they blow a fuse? I know that now. Did you know that all 'clear' twinkle lights are not the same color? I also know that now. It only took me 4 hours to put the lights on this tree! Amanda and Crystal finished up with the decorations and ribbons.

Now it's time to start thinking about the shopping!

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Amanda's Foot Redux

Amanda and I spent this morning at the hospital, where she had foot surgery for the third and, hopefully, final time! She had still been experiencing pain in her foot, but it wasn't completely unbearable. We decided to see an orthopedic surgeon this time, as the podiatrist had just recommended inserts for her inserts. The new doctor said the bone had not completely fused together and recommended a bone graft from her ankle. This meant 8 weeks off her foot! She was at first resistant, but we thought it would be better to get it done than spend the next 60 years wondering why she didn't get it done when she had the opportunity.

She won't be able to work for a while, but the bright side, is this gives her a little extra time to finish up her graduate school applications!

Playing all Day

We had family band on Friday and Saturday mornings. We had a good time working out new arrangements and hammering out some of the difficult parts.

This is my favorite part of band, seeing who will sing and who will play what. I also like seeing how we'll start and end a song. The band really has some great ideas. So do I, but most of the time they veto my ideas! (Some of which, in retrospect might not have been stellar.)

In the evening we went to the National Zoo to see the lights. It was cold out, so we really bundled up!

We got to ride the animals at the zoo--on a carousel, which played 'Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet' and' Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me,' as well as "The Happy Farmer!"

We even got some kettle corn  Our dieting has NOT gone well during the Thanksgiving holiday!

We had such a fun time with Brittany and John that we hated to take them back to the airport this morning so they could resume their real life! We look forward to the end of December when they come back.

We can't wait to play a few more hands of "Call for a Partner Rook" with them!

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for, number one of which is that our entire family was able to be here to celebrate Thanksgiving together! I had so much help in the kitchen that about the only thing I ended up doing was making bread in the morning!

Crystal was a lot of help in the kitchen, and made a pecan pie from scratch! In addition, she and Amanda helped me put up all the Christmas decorations this week!

Ed cooked the turkey in the BBQ again this year. We couldn't have had nicer weather for outdoor cooking--about 57 degrees outside.

Brittany and John flew out from Utah just in time for the fun and food! It was such a beautiful day that we ate our dessert outside on the deck!

Then, to try to work off some of the calories we spent the afternoon trying to get a good picture for this year's Christmas album. There were certain challenges in getting us all to jump at the same time with the camera on a tripod. Some of us (I'm not naming any names) were sore the next day!

Homemade Ravioli

Crystal found a recipe for pumpkin ravioli which we tried out on Sunday. We made an extra batch with just cheese for Ed.

It took a long time to cut out and seal each ravioli together, as you see Amanda doing in this picture.

But the result was worth it! The sauce was just butter with fresh rosemary and thyme. Mmm, mmm, good!