Family Holiday Dinner

We hosted a holiday dinner party for my 2 sisters, 1 brother and their spouses last evening.  There were 4 of us children in the family, and I must tell you that I'm so happy that we are still all together.  I see other families where there is strife and hurt and misunderstandings and where the siblings aren't speaking because of disharmony dealt to their families by parents - and it's just so sad.  I guess what I'm saying is, if you are close with your siblings, celebrate it -- and if you aren't.. it's not too late to let the old hurts go away and reach out and touch your family while you still have them.

Dayle prepared 2 chuck roasts according to the cookbook of Pioneer Woman (one of my fave blogs) and I finished the decorating and set the table for our dinner.  In the shot below the sun was streaming in and had lit up the crystal candelabra.  I used a new Hipstamatic film and lens made especially for photographing food.. (called "Foodie Pak") I noticed that it focused in the center and fuzzed up all the surrounding areas.. kind of fun.

Almost ready.... 

What would happen if I hold the iPhone this way... hmmm... 

Then everyone arrived and we got pretty busy around here.. Dayle had laid a fire in the fireplace several weeks ago -- he was in the kitchen checking the roast so I asked my BIL Teddy to light the fire.. I handed him a lighter.. and so he opened the glass doors and lit the fire.  Pretty soon he starts yelling.. is the damper open???  OH my.. I guess not.. smoke was billowing out of the fireplace.. I run and interrupt Dayle and ask him to hurry to open the damper.. by the time he did we had quite the black smoke coming out!!  We opened the front and back doors to let the wind blow it out.. and then we settled down on the sofas to chat.. and **BOOOOOOM** the glass blew out of the firescreen door!!!  It was like an episode of some sitcom on TV!  After that was cleaned up the rest of the evening went on without any other disasters. :-)

This is my younger sister, Denise (from left), my older sister "Bird", and my sister-in-law, D'Ann.  The roast and carrots came out tender and extremely flavorful.. Denise brought Pioneer Woman's mashed potato bake, Rob my brother brought sparkling cider and Bird brought 2 pumpkin pies.  The meal was delish and we had so much fun chatting and enjoying each others company. 

The guys.. from left.. Dayle, brother Rob, BILs Teddy and Steve. :-) 

After dinner we retired to the living room and enjoyed the tree and more visiting.  After everyone headed home, and the table cleared, time to blow out the candles.   

Here is my Santa's North Pole Village on the piano - the skaters really skate around on the pond, the grandkids love this one. 

I wanted to show you the vintage box of Christmas ornaments that we found in Dayle's parents garage when they moved into an assisted living facility.  I love this old box and especially so since it was his family's from the day they bought the box. 

I wanted to share with you a part of my Santa collection.. these two I made out of a few pieces of firewood.  :-)  They are VERY crude and funny, but I love them.  The one on the right I didn't carve much.. just shaped the point on the top, the one on the left I actually tried carving.. but I decided I'm not much good at it... LOL!

The one below was carved by a GOOD carver.. I had the owl specially added to remind me of an old friend I met in eWorld a long time ago, "NiteOwl".. we still exchange Christmas cards and he lives on Long Island, NY.  The carving was done by another online friend's wife, his nickname was "CabinBoy" and I met him when I was the host of the Sailing Forum in AOL.  I traded her some jewelry I made.  

In a few hours we'll head to Lake Oswego to the board party for the Friends of Multnomah Falls.  It's hosted by Billie, who makes a big feast of Mexican food for us all.  Fun!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend full of love and the spirit of Christmas.

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  *M*E*R*R*Y* *C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S*!*

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((hugs)), Teresa :-)