Contented Kitties

The kitties got new catnip toys for Christmas.  The toys were a hit.

Fun Activity

This year we had a "fun activity" on Christmas Day.  I made a packet of the following Christmas-themed puzzles:  crossword, word search, jumble, and trivia.  People got points for attempting and completing those.  There was also playing a board game, leading a Christmas Carol, singing Christmas Carols, leading holiday-themed Charades, guessing Charades and creating a holiday scene using only the items in an envelope.  It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.  

Not everyone made a holiday scene, but here are the people who did.
Matt
 

Aunt Carol (hers won "Best of")
 

Aunt Pat
 

Christmas Morning

 

Vintage Cake!

Made for the Christmas Eve Eve celebration, this was the Old Vermont Burnt Sugar Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.  I found it to be so-so and the frosting lumpy.  It's a very moist cake, though.  That's a good thing.

You know you've been working hard in the kitchen when...

....nearly all the hooks are empty.
 

Stocking stuffer prep

St. Cupcake Caramels.  It was easier to make the caramels, then cut all the squares of waxed paper.

Midsummer Night's Dream

Thanks to a generous gift from a friend, we were able to see "opulent" Shakespeare rather than our usual "bare-bones" Shakespeare.  Fancy ticket prices buy you a shiny program, beautiful sets and incredible costumes.
 

Inside the program was this absolutely fabulous Character Muddle, so people could keep things straight.  I'm willing to bet English teachers have squirreled this away for future lessons.

This was a very enjoyable production with Jenni Putney bringing to life a very fun Helena and Daisuke Tsuji as a very musical Puck.  I loved the whimsical touches in the production: the toy piano, the Changling Child's amazing hair, one of the players using hand gestures (some of them rather rude) to help him remember his lines.  It was also great to check in with Andy Lee-Hillstrom, whom we loved in NWCTC's production of Dracula some years back.

Thanks for the tickets, Michael.  It was a great evening of theater.