The Trumpet

Thomas has been taking trumpet in the 6th grade band since August and really likes it.

He had a mini concert for us this morning.

Tomorrow he's in his first real concert with several other bands at the High School.

We're looking forward to it and wish we had other family nearby that could enjoy it with us!

I took a few videos but didn't capture one of his flawless performances.

He's doing a nice job though and we're proud of his enthusiasm.

I love it because the trumpet brings out his dimples :)

If you are reading this in email or a Reader you may not be able to see the Video Clip.

Please click on the link to the blog to watch the 30 secnd clip of Thomas playing "Jingle Bells".



Blitzen in the Kitchen

We still don't have an official name for our reindeer, but we've been enjoying him since December 1st.

I say WE but it's really all of us except Brennan.

He'd like to ship him back to wherever he came from.

He usually perches on a bookshelf in the kitchen where he looks over us as we eat.

I thought ALL "Elf on the Shelf"'s got into a little mischief, but apparently not.

Most just move from spot to spot in the house, waiting for the kids to find him each day.

Our "Reindeer on a Shelf" gets into a little bit of mischief and I love seeing David and Thomas's faces when they discover him on those mischievous days.  And I love seeing Brennan getting annoyed :)

He got into the mini marshmallows one night.

And he tp'd the Christmas tree one night.

He hung the boys' underwear on the tree (Brennan was not amused).

We found him in a bag of goldfish one morning.

Waiting for us by the milk.

And hiding in the cereal.

He spent a couple of days on top of the coat rack.  

I love seeing all the clever Elf on the Shelf ideas on blogs.

There are some creative parents elves out there!



Christmas Decorations 2011

I really don't go overboard with Christmas decorations (not that David would agree).

I like to have some out, and of course our tree, but as I read all the great decorating blogs I realize ours are minimal!

We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving.

David chose to put the house lights up a couple of weeks ago though, when it was freezing outside.

He had a great helper.

I love them.  This photo doesn't really capture the light.
It's really pretty strung along the lower roof line.
We also had tea lights in pretty luminaries along the driveway the night of our wine club get together.

Two new additions this year that I really like.
The little tree is something that I've been thinking about for awhile to have full-time on the front porch.  Found it at Lowe's for 70% off!
I also bought this new, larger, Christmas wreath for the front door on sale at Lowe's.

Thomas and I added lights and a bow for Christmas.
Love it!

This year the boys really wanted to put up the Christmas tree downstairs on their own.
We let them and then they found the ornaments and started working on it.
They chose a Santa hat for the top this year.
Before we realized it, they were practically done (they chose to only use half our ornaments this year).
Then I realized we hadn't strung the lights yet.
We made a decision that this year we would go light-less and do lots of lights next year.

And at night.

This is another new purchase this year - from Willow House.
We've got it hanging on our coat closet when you first walk in.
It's holding all of our photo Christmas cards this year.

Now it's pretty full so I think I'll display any more that come in in the kitchen.

We bought this at Bob Evans a couple of years ago and the boys love updating it each morning.
Santa comes a couple of days early for us because we are with family on the 25th, so they enjoying updating it with OUR Santa date.

And this is an important part of Christmas for us.
Jeanne gave it to the boys several years ago and we put it out each Christmas Eve (OUR Christmas Eve) for Santa, along with carrots for the reindeer.

I bought mistletoe this year from mistletoe.com.
Brennan ducks under it this year because he is afraid of getting kissed under it.
I snatch him and kiss him any chance I get.

I made this Eddie Ross-inspired ornament wreath a couple of years ago.
It hangs near the screened in porch now.

Our Advent calendar is always filled with Hershey's Miniatures and hangs with the platter my sister-in-law Donna made for me a few years ago.  I've been inspired by all the great Advent calendars in blog land and would love to try a new one, but this one would have to be a part of our lives as well.  The boys would never give it up. 

I plant paper whites each Christmas.

This photo is from a few days ago, they're blooming now.

The first year that I planted them (we lived in Memphis), they smelled fantastic.

The last few years though, the ones I've purchased have no fragrance.  Hmmm.

I tried hanging ornaments from the light fixture in the dining room this year.
Thomas was a big help.
Not sure I love them but they're fun to have as something new.

My friend Kari brought back this gorgeous Advent candle holder a few years ago from Germany.
I love it and it lives in our living room.  I decorate it for the holidays.
These are the original decorations Kari decorated it with for Christmas.

A few gifts from over the years.

And our important stockings.
Santa comes down our chimney in the living room and leaves a gift for each of the boys and fills their stockings.  We start there and then go downstairs to the tree to open our gifts to each other, and those our friends send.

Then it's off to Mississippi for 5 more Christmases!

Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season.

Connoisseurs - Holiday Favorites

Our Wine Club changed its focus just a little bit starting this month and we're now the Connoisseurs.

One of the reasons for the subtle shift is that, after 10 months of wine themes, we're going to quickly run out of wines, or have to start over, or move on to something else. 

So we were looking for a way to mix in some flexibility.

Now we ask our hosts to choose whatever theme they are interested in and we all bring a dish and/or drink to share.  It worked beautifully this month as David and I hosted "Holiday Favorites".

Per usual, I did not take a lot of photos because we were hosting and the camera slipped my mind, but I wanted to share the few that I did get.

Robin, Lora, and Roger getting ready to sample the delicious dishes.

John, Vinita, and Jan

I think everyone brought a holiday drink.

I made Gluhwein. 

We had a Chocolate Wine drink that I loved, and Pomegranate Martinis (yum)!

Mike brought his homemade Australian Chardonnay (delicious), and Leigh and Barry brought a great port.  I'm enjoying ports these days after my Pride and Prejudice party experience with port!

Roger brought Moscow Mules (mm!), we had Bourbon-spike cider which I really liked as well, and gosh, I think I might be missing a cocktail.  They were all great and fun to try.

Great food

Great Hawaiian Hammies

We celebrated a birthday that evening as well.

Roger surprised his lovely wife with cake and ice cream made my a local baker.

We had just about got the surprise all set up when Jan walked into the kitchen to chat with someone.

Here are our nonchalant guests hiding the cakes from Jan's view.

Barry, Leigh, Jeff, and Mike

Red Velvet (Jan's favorite)

German Chocolate

The (genuinely) surprised birthday girl

Celebrating a birthday that evening was the icing on the cake. 

As a small token of my appreciation to this great group of friends, I put together a little gift bag for each couple that included some favorite photos of the past year and the top wine choices each month.

Here are clips - I did them in Excel which here shows the grid lines.

When printed they don't.

An awesome group of friends, a great year of tastings, and excitement for next year!



Christmas Fun 2011

We have had a really great month, attending lots of Christmas events.

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Christmas parade.  It was great that it wasn't freezing outside that evening! 

A huge crowd was there, partly because local boy Tony Stewart was the Grand Marshall of the parade.

I took some grainy iPhone photos of the evening.

A huge, locally-built Cummins engine

From my vantage point, I realize you can't see Tony Stewart.  He's riding in the car with our Mayor, waving to the crowds.  His photo was all over our local paper, so I know it was him :)

And Santa himself!

After the parade we went for Japanese food with another family and watched some of the fireworks.

A really fun night!

Over the last weekend we attended several parties and I'm looking forward to the coming, laid-back, weekend before we travel south for Christmas.

We hosted David's new staff and their spouses at a local restaurant.  The food and company were terrific.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time.

Saturday night we attended our friend's annual Christmas Cookie Exchange party. 

We've missed it due to conflicts the last couple of years so we were happy to make it this year!

Every family brings 3 dozen cookies and a large table is set up with the various kinds with place cards identifying the type.

The kids get a plate of cookies and hot apple cider and then play in the basement.

The adults enjoy cookies and some more adult beverages, in addition to cider, hot chocolate, and coffee - and college basketball on t.v.

The cookie nameplates are put into a drawing and two winners are drawn for prizes from the hosts.

Then each family gathers in front of the Christmas tree for an annual photo.

Sarah then sends the photo, along with a hard copy, to each family.

Isn't that thoughtful?!

I loved seeing the album of Cookie Exchange party in years past.

I took Melissa's Chocolate Chip cookies this year and they were a hit!

On Sunday afternoon we had our neighborhood Christmas party at Dr. and Mrs. Able's house.

There was a huge turnout and the food and catching up were great.

I took a Feta Dip and sliced whole grain baguette.  It was so good!

The boys have attended a number of parties at school and they have two big ones with church coming up.  It's a busy time of year, but I love it!



Favorite Christmas Movies

Our book club, the Litwits, met at Tricia's house this month.

Instead of reading a book and discussing it, we took the month off and got together to watch a classic Christmas movie.

Tricia has the perfect set up for a movie night in her basement!

Lora and Barry are our classic movie experts.

They chose for us, and settled on "The Bishop's Wife" with Cary Grant and David Niven.

Most of us had not seen this film, and it was a real treat.

Any scene the two male leads had together just cracked me up.  What great actors.

Watching this holiday favorite, and reading Chris's post of her favorite holiday movies, got me thinking about my own.

Do you know Chris at Just a Girl?  If you don't, then run over and follow her.  I think we are destined to be best friends.  We have a lot in common, including our movies.

So, in no particular order are

My Favorite Christmas Movies

(12/8/11 - because my list is always subject to change)

Home Alone

 The original is just a classic.  How cute Macaulay Culkin was back in the day! 

It stands the test of time.  In fact, I want to watch it sometime soon with the boys and David. 

I didn't realize John Hughes made this movie.  No wonder I liked it so much.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Special

Love it!  Have many, many of the lines memorized. 

I could watch this every year, even though it's been a couple of years since I've seen it. 

Note to self - TiVo this since our old VHS copy is kaput.

It's a Wonderful Life

Remember when Columbia House Video was popular? 

I signed up in college and this was one of the first free movies I got. 

It's certainly not feel-good all the way through, but I just love it, especially the first half hour or so as George and Mary are going to the dance.

*interesting note, young George Bailey in this movie is also in "The Bishop's Wife".  We all saw him and couldn't believe it!*

The Family Stone

Confession - I saw this in the theater and didn't care for it. 

I watched it again about 6 months ago and really loved it. 

Not sure what happened the first time, but this movie really grew on me. 

Have you seen it? 

I love, love movies with ensemble casts like this one. 

Claire Danes played the only normal character in the whole movie, and that's awesome.

Elf

I love, love, love "Elf".  This is an absolutely hilarious movie.  "I like smiling. Smiling's the best!"

I dare you to watch this movie and not crack a smile.

We haven't taken our portable DVD player on a Christmas trip in a long while.

I'm thinking about taking it this year and just this DVD.

And making my family watch it over and over.

Love Actually

Potentially my favorite movie of all time.

As I said, I love ensemble movies, and seem to watch more British-made films than American.

Confession - I like the "clean" version better than the one with "that" couple in it.

I can't let the boys see the original.  If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

My favorite storyline is the stepdad (Liam Neeson) and the little boy (Thomas Sanger).

Of course, Colin Firth declaring his love in Portuguese ain't bad either.

And two other favorites, but not really what you might think of as Christmas movies.

Die Hard

What a great movie. 

Bruce Willis is at his best, and Alan Rickman is one of my favorite actors of all time (see "Love Actually" above).  Love this movie.  Classic.

Finally...

The Early Harry Potter Movies

Not Christmas-themed movies, but the early ones have great Christmas scenes. 

My friend Lisa said a few years ago they always remind her of a great Christmas movie, and the holiday school break is a great time to curl up with the family and have an HP marathon. 

So now I think of them as holiday movies as well!

So those are my favorite holiday/Christmas movies.

I know I'm leaving out classics like "White Christmas" and family classics like "Rudolph" and "Frosty".   It's harder to make a list than I thought!

What are your favorite holiday movies?