Utensils

 
Does anybody recognize these? You might wonder why I'm talking about fondue again but we were fortunate to be able to eat it twice this year. My sister-in-law Marla does this with her family every Christmas too. The kids really liked it because it was more participatory for them this time around.

reflections

 
We took the plunge this week. We can now check off road trip with the kids off our list of things to do. It couldn't have gone any smoother. We left early (4am) Thursday morning for Utah. About an hour into the trip we stopped for a quick bite to eat and to give two of the kids Dramamine. We also had to trade in our DVD player that we just got the kids for Christmas because we couldn't hear it. It was fun to see the progression of our trip, weather-wise. Once we got past the desert we saw some beautiful places. This is one of them.

Gourmet

 
We have done this type of dinner with our couples big "small group" (I say big because even though only 9 couples were in attendance, many couldn't make it) for the last 3 or 4 years. It is always a lot of fun.

I was intrigued enough to look it up and finally found that it's spelled gourmet but pronounced (throaty, clear-your-throat sound huh-or-metta). I don't think Webster is endorsing my phonetics, but anyway, it can be a Dutch Christmas Eve traditional dinner. If anyone has better insight to this please feel free to inform me!

Everyone has a double burner in front of them with little fry pans. You get to cook all your food in those and wrap them up it up in a tortilla when it's done. Everything is chopped fairly small so it can cook up rather easily. Last year we even made panakoeken for our dessert. Mmmm Mmmm

Rollin'

 
Jacie helped me with some of the prep for our annual fondue dinner. This is us rolling the sausage-cheese balls that we breaded. They're probably one of Kenna's favorites. We had a successful dinner. Everyone really enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday Jesus

 
I wanted to make a cake for Jesus' birthday this year with the kids. I thought that would be a neat tradition to have. I have also heard that Red Velvet Cake is popular this time of year because of the Christmasy color. A few months ago my cousin made cake pops for us. We were pretty excited by them. So...we made Red Velvet Cake Pops with a note attached to hand out to our neighbors. Maybe next year we'll be more traditional with the cake or maybe we'll continue this, either way, as long as my children get the message that Christmas is about Jesus' birth and God's greatest gift to us.

Birthdays

 
It's always an honor to have a birthday so close to a friend. Jen and I were blessed by Sarah this year. She had a dinner party for us. It was so nice to sit around the table with friends. The table was beautifully decorated and adorned with yummy food. We often kid Sarah about being Martha Stewart. She did not disappoint. Thank you to friends!!!

photographer

 
Last night we got to see Kenny-Cat's Christmas program. It was very cute. Most of the 1st graders had a little speaking part. Kenna did a great job with hers. After the program Jacie was holding my camera and decided to snap pictures of everyone. Here is one of hers.

Dirty Birdie

 
Here is the end result of dipping those Ritz. At least one of the casualties.

Puttin' on the Ritz

 
One of our traditions this time of year involves Ritz crackers, peanut butter, and chocolate. Come to think of it, many of our traditions involve food...but that's another story. Anyway, we had a foggy day schedule so we decided to make some teacher's presents. We melted yummy chocolate and dipped the crackers and pretsels in chocolate. We made quite a few and packaged them up, realizing we would do this again because Avery was in school (preschool goes on, fog or no fog). A few days later we did the whole routine again. Sunday came with a flurry (as usual), Blake handed two packages to Jacie, which she dropped, then he handed a package to Avery, which she dropped, so I quickly intervened by suggesting we put them all in one bag and disperse them once we got to church. I couldn't afford to have anymore damaged presents nor could I handle a third round of chocolate, peanut butter and sprinkles all over the kitchen again. The benefit is we get to eat the rejects.

Candy parade

 
We went to a Christmas Parade with some friends last weekend. I do have a clear picture but I kind of like this one. It shows that kids don't sit still, for one, but it's kind of fun to see the time lapse before your eyes. We had a lot of fun. I was thankful that we all met up again after starting out at A&W, because for awhile I didn't think I would see the group again that night. I got separated from the group, everyone, including my children and my purse so I was really excited to be reunited. I must have a problem with this because I got separated once when a few of us women were shopping together too. I know, as moms, we worry about that with our children but seldom did I think I would be the one that was lost. I guess I'm going to have to be put on a leash or something.

Program

 
We had our 1st program of the year, November 30. They did a great job. We even got to go out for dessert with Opa and Oma afterwards.