Christmas Fun

The pre-present opening tree.
 

Here's what we all made:

Chris, who has recently built a forge (all the cool kids have them) made the women of the family plant hooks and Matt a really awesome bookmark.
 

Aunt Carol gave us baskets of delicious fruits, nuts and sweets.
 

Aunt Pat gave us each a picture (to which a drawing will eventually be added) and homemade muffins.
 

Mom made everyone salt scrub.
 

Matt made cookies with M&Ms.

I neglected to take a picture of myself with my object, but I made calendars for everyone.

After taking a Christmas walk and playing Bohnanza, this team assembled Falling Water.

Matt handed me the bricks I needed to complete each page (Chris later took over this role so Matt could go and play board games with the MAunts) I put them in place.

Overall, it took us 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete this masterpiece.

Not bad, eh?

Helping

He doesn't just help with the wrapping of presents, he also helps decorate, too.

Decorating the Tree

We were late decorating the tree this year, but not too late, as this article assured us.
 

Here's the process:
 

 

 

 

And here are some ornaments.

I love the sweet expression of the filbert bear in the top middle.  And I love the floozy look of the angel in the bottom row.

"Helping" to wrap presents.

Ah, Sentinel is such a good helper.  What would I do without him?

Heidi and Kevin's Holiday party

We were preparing for a beloved annual event!  Thank goodness for Heidi and Kevin, their great hosting and the joy that is the white elephant gift party.

Heidi plays the player piano.
 

Those feet were working!

Low light and fast moving children results in a blurry picture.
 

Explaining the rules.
  

This turned out to be our favorite teapot, which returns year after year!
 

A beautiful snow globe.
 

The Ugly Sweater Kit, which was grabbed enough to be locked.
 

Murder mystery!
 

The Buddha butter dish!
 

Matt gets a large clothespin.
 

And here is where the Matt photos come in.
 

How could you not want that face?
 

Talking Dennis Miller was also regifted for another year.
 

A beautiful ugly snow globe.
 

Who wouldn't want Chia Willie?
 

A fabulous candle.
 

Some beautiful beads.
 

Which were not the only beautiful beads from the evening.
 

End of night portrait.
 

"Small" Cheese Ball

Small Cheese ball before nuts were applied.

And after.

It wasn't really a "small" cheese ball, being larger than a softball.  Here's the recipe.   

Party Prep

What kind of party prep involves five photos of Matt?
 

 

 

 

 

NWCTC: The Lion in Winter

Here's another thing I love about the NWCTC.  They have this tiny space--aptly named the Shoebox Theater--and they change it so profoundly from play to play.  Let's look at what it looked like on October 11, when we saw Richard III.  (More photos here.)

Since that time another theater has put on a production from October 23 to November 23.  Then, beginning December 5, NWCTC began offering the Lion in Winter.  And look how cozy and warm everything looks:

 

 

I'm quite the fan of this play because you never can tell where the alliances will shift to next.  Marilyn Stacey  and Victor Mack (debuting) played Eleanor and Henry II while Clara-Liis Hillier took on the role of Alais and the triple threat of warring brothers John, Geoffrey and Richard were covered by Chip Sherman, Joseph Gibson and Ricardy Charles Fabre, all NWCTC first timers.  The tension was high and the drama skipped along.   John's Planet Hollywood vest was my favorite bit of costume.  You can see it, and other photos of the cast by clicking here.  All in all, it was a great evening at the theater.

SNOW!

So exciting at the moment this picture was taken, because the first snow is always a gleeful event.  It was less exciting when I got to school and one of the teachers ended up not being able to come to work because another car hit him (he was fine) and about half the school was tardy because it was difficult to get around.  Why they didn't call at least a two-hour delay, I do not know, but it would have been appreciated.