MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
It's been a nice slow build-up to the big day here
in the Priem household.
We put up our tree later than usual because we were in Minnesota
until the beginning of December.
But it looks pretty anyway!
I put some other pretty little Christmas items around, too.
This is my favorite position:
on the couch with a book and cats,
looking regularly at the Christmas tree.
Here's what I put on the dining room table.
Most of the little ceramic houses and trees have
been collected from Target over the years.
Here's a view from the front door.
It's all one big room.
There is a little festivity in the bedroom, too.
This little ceramic tree was my Grandma's.
Because this bench usually sits where the Christmas
tree is now, the bench needed to come in the bedroom for now.
I like it there!
I also added this gold snowflake pillow
to the bed for some additional glitz and Christmas happiness.
I also put a very soft fuzzy table runner (!!!) that was a gift from my parents
on the bench at the end of the bed. The cats love it
and it looks like clean snow.
This year I helped put up the outside Christmas lights.
The sky was beautiful.
We have pretty clouds here.
I also decorated the outside front patio a little bit.
I found these cute trees at the vintage market.
This nativity star was a gift a number of years ago.
By the way, many of our trees DO turn colors here in the winter.
They just take a loooong time to do it.
Decorations at my parents' condo lake:
We went to the amazing light show at our church
(Rock Point in Queen Creek) and it was GREAT!
It's been chilly and the cats need lots of snuggles
and hot water bottles under their blankies.
Claude:
Two cats plus starting to crochet a scarf for someone special:
FOUR cats in bed with us.
Cuddly little Allistair:
I have cooked and baked a lot of extra things
because of the holidays. I enjoy it but I'm glad to just
be cooking and baking for us now rather than for lots more parties.
These pumpkin doughnuts were a little dry.
I'll stick to my old recipe, thanks.
The wild rice mushroom casserole always turns out great -
especially paired with cranberry sauce!
Here's our small group!
For a different party,
I made pasta salad with homemade vegan mayo.
I liked it, and a decent portion even got eaten at the party.
I also tried vegan scalloped potatoes, which were quite good.
I put in too many potatoes for the amount of sauce,
so next time I'll change that (or make double the amount of sauce!)
I also made gingerbread people,
but with a sugar cookie dough.
I'm pleased with how they turned out, especially since this
is the first year I've really tried make vegan gluten-free
Christmas cookies.
I then adapted the recipe (more almond extract! more GF flour)
and was able to make SPRITZ! These are probably my favorite type
of cookies ever. They are a Scandinavian tradition, and I have happy
memories of making them with my parents at Christmas time.
The ones when I was a kid were red and green,
but I wanted to make plain ones.
I can't believe they turned out!!!
I wasn't able to make them work just gluten-free,
but somehow I have learned additional skills
or I'm using different flour, or I had extra baking magic this year
because they turned out great!
Sara and Cindy came over and we made them together.
Sara especially loved using the cookie press.
Aren't they pretty?
I only made trees because our theme at church was TREES this year.
We left the cookie press upright in the bowl,
and when I picked it up again, there was a tiny perfect tree
in the bottom of the bowl!
We also made cinnamon-applesauce-glue dough
so I could make ornaments with my students
in our Christmas classrooms.
There were TEN services at our church, and I was there for most of all of them,
but I didn't have classrooms open in all of them.
In some of them I was just backup, there in case anyone had difficulty.
So far, we haven't gotten a cold or flu, even though they're definitely going around.
I have this in our diffusers (Germ Fighter blend from Plant Therapy, purchased on Amazon),
and I don't know if it's working or not, but there are studies now that show that essential oils do indeed fight germs, so I'm on board. Also, it smells like Christmas!
Jen and I went to Merchant Square to do some browsing
and we had a grand time. Every corner has something wonderful.
This bracelet was the 12 Days Of Christmas!
It had a little partridge, etc. Amazing!
This cactus pillow was handmade and ever so cute.
This basket looked like a butt.
I love the trend of covering things with doilies or crochet!
I bought these things:
There we are, having a great time!
I found this great hat with a veil.
I felt mysterious.
I also found this pretty hunk of quartz
that I enjoying having in my rock basket.
Cindy bought me this book about living with books,
and it turns out it's by the same author as one of my other recent acquisitions!
Surf Shack!
We wish you a happy, wonderful, memorable, blessed Christmas
with lots of CHRIST in it.
With love,
Christie & Greg
***********************
Bonus: a drawing of an elf by my niece Esme!
and my niece Cora singing at her Christmas program
(shes in the middle in blue):
