Thanksgiving With The "Gang!"

Allie had a hair appointment the next morning after we arrived, so we decided to tag along and take pictures.
She had a lot of hair cut off--and it looks gorgeous--but then, she always does!
Zack made his "famous" bagel sandwiches for us our first night there--one of my most favorite things--yummy!
This is Sophie's goofy little dog, Tigger, and this is how he lies in his bed while the family is eating dinner--well, sort of in his bed. . . .
Jacob was playing while he was eating--sort of eating! Good thing he gets a bath every night.

Sophie made the very most delicious ginger snaps and "Grampa" supervised--that's his most favorite cookie! And she's a super-duper cookie maker.
Cutie patootie!
Post-dinner clean-up. . . .
Whoops! Joshua's hair is getting way too long--must get it cut!!!
Our turkey stuffers. I know--you thought I was going to say, "our turkeys!!!"
The whole Gang and Grampa talking to Luna and Aunt Kate in Germany. What fun!
What a miracle is the internet and e-mail and e-photos and blogging and facebook and skype. What did we ever do without it. . . . Just don't know how Walt and I lived in Europe for four years with nothing but snail-mail and occasional extremely expensive phone calls. Seriously.
Allie is busy with a computer project. Our cute little fashionista.
And here's another of our cooks. Emily always makes the filling for our pumpkin pies and here she is preparing a pre-dinner snack tray.
She and Sophie collaborated on this little work of art!!!
They look pretty proud of themselves! And it was good besides--there wasn't much left.
Early stages of table-setting.
I'd say Jenny did a pretty darn good job. (She takes after her mother!!)
Our fashionista again.
We went out this evening to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa so some of the Gang decided to write letters to Santa.
Noah and Sophie are hard at work--I'm sure they've been very good so Santa will bring them everything on their list--maybe?? I think so!
This is Joshua's letter to Santa. Wonder where he got the idea for this???!!!!!!

The handsome Gang Guys with Santa.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all!

A Story

I've had a comment about my weird (fun) approach to jewelry fashion, so I have to tell a story here.

Here's a picture. Visualize this. It is the middle of winter and we got 8 inches of snow overnight (can hardly wait). I have to go to town and the snow plow hasn't been out yet. Obviously, there's a bunch of people that have ventured out ahead of me, but there is only one set of tracks in this new snow. Every person who has been over this road has driven it in exactly the same place that every one has taken who has gone before. Here's where the fun begins. There is absolutely no way that I can even force myself to drive in that set of tracks. I will either go to the right or to the left of that set of tracks and drive there, but I simply cannot drive where they have driven. The truth is that I will usually drive to the right of those tracks--on the edge(!), of course.

And that is how I try to live my life--my philosophy. Don't live in the rut. You know the old saw about a "rut" being an open-ended grave!!! Yup. I love picture stories.

Pile It On!!

The latest fad in jewelry fashion! It's called "layering." You can see some of that here.I know I'm a little wacky and weird--that's nothing new!!! I have always said that "getting dressed should be fun." That's my philosophy on fashion. I love getting dressed and putting together outfits. Sometimes I actually put together an outfit to go to the Post Office--now that's pure desperation (probably in the dead of winter)!!!
And now along comes jewelry layering! Yea! Something else to play with when getting ready to go out. This was one of my favorite layerings above. It's all crystal and pearls. Yes, some of it is real and some of it is pure junk! In this grouping I've added a strand of antique Swarovski crystal beads that I got at a flea market in Belgium. It's a favorite piece, but sometimes hard to find just the right thing to wear it with--so this works perfectly!
I love wearing jewelry and the problem always is what to choose, but with this I can just pile it on as much as I want! (As long it sort of goes together and has a theme--color or type.)
(Remember you can click on the images to enlarge them if you want to see the pieces up close.)
Now this is one of my favorite things--being able to wear jewelry AND scarves--that's best of all. Works pretty good, doncha think?!!

Here Comes The Blushing Bride!

And there she is! Cindy's the one that is smiling--really smiling!!! She's sitting with Ellen and her future mother-in-law, Mary. She does look happy--and excited. (And what was that about being warm in January???) And yes, I know the rule about lighting candles before 6:00 p.m. . . .
Here's the rest of the celebrators--Drin, Colleen and Joan. They were working on coffee after a huge slice of cheesecake. Yummy. I'm sure everyone went home and took a nap even though they all said they were going to go home and go for a walk. . . .
I love group photos. Here we have Linda, Colleen, Drin, Cindy, Joan, Ellen and Mary. They're always so gracious to let me take pictures--even when they know they're going out to the world!
And here we have my favorite thing about entertaining--the table. I like to joke about the real reason I love to entertain is so I can set the table. Love it. Very fun and very creative. Considering how many sets of dishes I have (I'll NEVER tell), I have to say that!
I told Dee at Stephens Floral my colors and I wanted a lunch table centerpiece and this is what they did for me. It was so lovely. Worked perfectly with everything. Beautiful. I love flowers.
Bird's eye view of the arrangement.
I call these my lady dishes. They're probably my favorite of all. Each plate has a different fashion design on it--called "Design 1900." I got them when we lived in Germany. They are Villeroy and Boch and we would take daytrips to the factory in Luxembourg. It was a beautiful drive and the shopping at the factory was amazing.
And this stemware is without a doubt my favorite set. I love the color and the shape is just gorgeous. I got them somewhere over on the Czech border--can't remember exactly where. (We did a lot of shopping while we lived in Europe! What an opportunity.)

"Unser taglich Brot. . .

This little bread plate has been in our kitchen ever since we lived in Germany in the mid-80's. It's been a favorite of Katie's and when she moved to Germany she said she wanted to look for something similar.
Today I went to the post office and picked up a package from Germany! Inside was this delightful bread "bowl." There was also a birthday card from Katie! In the card was a note saying that she had also purchased one for herself! What a great gift. I'm so pleased.
And the best part is that it says, "Unser taglich Brot gib uns eute." Give us this day our daily bread. Just like our little bread plate. Great find, Katie.
It was made in Rothenburg and that makes it even more special. Rothenburg has always been one of our favorite villages to visit. I love it, Katie! Thanks.