Happy Holiday Party

Hi there, thanks for visiting!  Come on in and join us in celebrating the holidays!  I hosted my 2 sisters and sister/friend Shirley for a luncheon here at the farm yesterday.  I almost had to cancel due to the weather.. snow and ice.. but my guests were willing to make the trek and party was *ON*!  o<[]:{D  

Last minute tidying and decorating.. fires laid and lit by my helper ELF.. candles lit.  Tablecloth laid and the table set with my Christmas dishes, flowers and candles.  

Don't mind the Elf's shoes.. :-)

These are my Christmas dishes.. they were not expensive and I got them at Fred Meyer, but I still love them.  I adore tartan plaid and there are 3 vignettes on the plates of vintage style holiday things.  

The Elf brought me a bouquet of flowers which JUST match the colors of the season.. isn't he sweet?  I also wanted to show you the fabulous beaded tree that Kristi made for me years ago.. it's one of my favorite gifts ever.

After decorating and tidying and laying the table I then spent an hour in the kitchen making my homemade clam chowder.  We had lunch as soon as my last guest arrived.  :-)  My older sister Roberta on the left, then my younger sister Denise, and Shirley, my best friend from 7th grade.  :-)

Shirley brought a delicious broccoli salad, Denise brought 2 super fresh and delicious artisan loaves of bread, potato rosemary and a dense brown sweet potato nut bread, Roberta brought a cheesecake for dessert.

My clam chowder turned out perfect!  I cut up 5 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes, just barely covered with water, set it to boil, with some salt, added a chopped up center of a stalk of celery (about 2 cups) and then the magic ingredient, added a tablespoon of minced garlic (from a jar).  While that was cooking, I chopped up 5 slices of bacon and sautéed it in my cast iron frying pan, then added 1 whole minced onion.  When those are cooked, add them to the pot of potatoes, add 2 cans of whole baby clams - bring that up to heat and stir.. then add a whole quart of heavy cream.  :-)  Pepper and a dollop of butter in the middle.  

Shirley was so thoughtful and brought some fun rock candy and a toy train for the boys!  They were so happy!  Denise was sweet and brought them a a walkie-talkie set!  They were so excited!!

Hayden was loving sitting on Aunt Nene's lap.  :-)

Kristi joined us and we had such a good time.

Roberta surprised us with these amazing bracelets she made for each of us with tiny photos she printed up, then she encased the photos between two pieces of glass, then copper foiled them and soldered them together and added a loop on top, then string them on bracelets.  How cool are these!!!  Thanks Roberta!

Here we are modeling our bracelets.

Denise brought me a beautiful soft alpaca scarf which will go great with my red and white hat.  Shirley brought us some tile coasters and a neat box of matches.  Thank you, girls!

I made the girls each a little snow scene in a jar and they seemed pleased!

Here is a close up of my little snow scene.. it was fun to make.  Thank heavens for glue guns!  

I spotted a Nordic Advent candelabra in several of my blog friends homes, so I fell in love with them.  I checked on eBay and found 2 vintage ones.. isn't this neat?  It looks wonderful lit up in the dark evening.  I just ordered some new candle rings as this one is missing 2 and the other one is missing all the bulbs and all the candle rings.  I'll show you that one when I get it fixed up.  It's natural pine and this one is stained pine.  By the way, I made the little painted houses and the 2 snowmen in years past.

I hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations and social whirl!  We're off in a bit to go out to lunch and then plunge into some serious shopping for fun things for our grandsons.  We sent $$$ to our daughter in Ohio to buy a neat child's computer tablet for the girls.  They are going to love it!!  

❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
*M*E*R*R*Y* *C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S*!*
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ 

((hugs)), Teresa :-)