Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. We had a very nice and peaceful day. We started the day off with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, grapes, turkey sausage and pancakes. We then moved on to gifts. 

Rebekah picked a blue, silver and gold theme this year. She wrapped and organized the gifts around the tree (all but the ones for herself). She really loves wrapping gifts, and her organizing skills come out in this process. I decided to take Before and After photos this time, because the tree although lovely was also a little bit embarrassing to me this year. It just looked like such excess. I was raised a Quaker with very simple delights, and sometimes all of this glamour feels like the meaning of the season is somewhat lost. Under the gift wrap, however, there were simple and meaningful gifts that will be treasured and shared. 

The tree in all its splendor with our family's gifts, as well as gifts for my Mother. 

We built a tunnel behind the gifts and tree with their scratching cubes so the cats could run around the tree without messing up the ornaments or gifts. They played a great deal behind the tree and didn't knock down a single ornament! I will have to remember that trick.

Elijah got a cat carrier backpack so that he can take Rosie on walks. He also was excited by his lava lamp, new belt and guitar calendar.

Eve was a huge fan of the surf shop scratching house.

Rosie is ready for a Christmas walk.

Such spoiled kitties

Bath bombs and chocolate. What more can a Mom ask for?
I also got another year of my blog made into a book.

Rebekah bought off of eBay the seven quarters that I was missing from my National Park Quarter collection. It felt wonderful to complete a project that has been in the making for 11 years. My father started our family on this activity, and now he is gone; however, something of him lives on in this project.

The family got three new games for Christmas. Crack the Case was found at a thrift store for one dollar and had never been played. 

My dear husband never buys himself anything and needed a bit of spoiling. We gave him the plush new robe, lots of books, coffee and an overhaul to his wardrobe.

Tim got a stack of retired magazines from his favorite magazine, White Dwarf.  Rebekah had found them at a thrift store for a steal. He also got lots of art supplies and some models.

Rebekah especially loved her new blanket, travel blender and clothes.

Dinner was extra fun this year with our fancy Christmas Crackers that were found on half price last year. We always have Christmas Crackers, but this Robin Reed brand had better treats in them than usual.

My attempt at Christmas tree napkins

A few days before Christmas, we braved the Grove Park Inn Gingerbread House display. It was amazing as usual, but all of the sickly and unmasked coughing people chased us away quickly. We spent less than 40 minutes in the hotel.  Can you believe all of these creations are 100% edible?

We plan to take it easy for the next few days. There is still work to do, but dance is mostly on pause, and we should all be home together for the evenings. I look forward to some board games with my family.

This is what I made for the folks that my husband supervises at work.
I made 12 of them and want to remember what I did so I do something different next year.
Each little mailbox contains candy, coffee, hot chocolate and cookies. 

Blessings and peace to all of you, 

Dawn