🎄 Sisters Christmas Party 🎄

🎄 Yesterday was my holiday luncheon for my sister and honorary sister Shirley.  We tidied up the rooms, waxed the piano and antique oak furniture, arranged things, laid the fire and had ham with red currant glaze and potatoes baking.  Right before they arrived we lit the fire and candles and I took the moment to record it all on "film".  

Dayle was not up for dragging all my Dicken's Village pieces down this year so I put my Jim Shore Nativity scene on the piano this year.  The large and beautiful doily was a gift from my blog friend Betsy.  I treasure it.

His pieces are quite amazing and beautifully decorated.

Oops.. I just realized I have Joseph where the shepherd is supposed to go.. I will fix that.  :-)

The Three Wise Men bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh.  I added 3 camels to my scene.

More wrapping was done.  We got dog toys for our son Shawn's 2 dogs, Meeka and Shadow, Kristi's dog Ozzie and our Mocha.  Also some of the boy's gifts.

I took the spool of wire-edged sparkly ribbon and sharpened an old skill of making bows myself.  I remembered how!  Were you ever taught how to do this?  You start with the center little loop, then twist it making each bigger loop with a twist before and after each loop is added, always making sure the right side is out.  After it's done you do a bit of fluffing and the wire edging keeps it how you want it.  :-)

This is our attempt at getting a photo of Mocha with the ribbon on in front of the tree.  Hmmm.. okayyy.

Soon we hear the crunch of gravel and our guest are here!

Oh how I love our Christmas home.

A funny anecdote, Shirley asked me about my pretty Christmas quilted centerpiece and I told her Denise made it for me.  Denise goes.. no.. I didn't make that!  What?  I've been bragging about that you made that for years?!  Nope.. lol.. now where did I get that?  On top of it is another Jim Shore Santa and Sleigh which lights up and has a music box inside.

After a short chat with the girls in the living room we headed to the dining room.

The table is all set..

I got this Gibson Windsor Christmas China about 30 years ago for a very reasonable price, it was in the holiday sales area of Fred Meyer department store.  :-)  And I still love it, it's never gone out of style.

Luncheon is served!  Ham with red currant glaze which Dayle made, baked potato with butter and Uncle Dan's herbed and garlic dressing mix (yum), Shirley brought the broccoli salad and Denise made fresh homemade focaccia bread!  Nummers!

The ham we got at Costco, it's a Kirkland Master Carved ham and we found the recipe for the red currant glaze on Google.. lol.. you use red currant jelly, natural dried Zante currants, Worcestershire sauce, ground cloves and a bit of vinegar.

After a nice long lunch and lots of chatting we retired to the living room to open presents and more reminiscing and chatting.  My gift from Shirley was inside the darling little tin box in the shape of a mail box, see the red flag?  I got a kick out of capturing Mocha next to Shirley on the sofa.

I gave the girls each a Jadeite bowl, when I got the 3 nesting bowls of this swirl pattern, I decided to gift these two to the girls.  They loved them.  Now they can have fun finding the other two to complete their set, in fact Shirley had the medium bowl at home, now she only needs to find the bigger one.  Denise needs the little and big one.  :-)

My sweet and generous DIL Kristi surprised me with this aDORable floral gift!!  Isn't she wonderful?

It's a white dog like Mocha made of Carnations!  It's called Santa Paws!  Isn't it adorable?  Thank you Kristi!  

The doggie sits amid pine branches, pinecones, babies breath, red carnations and snowballs.. with a pretty ornament on the back, Santa and his Sleigh.  Plus, it's in a keepsake ceramic chimney vase that we can use each year.  SWEET!

Kristi made and brought over a tin of some chocolate cherry cookies for us for the luncheon.  Click HERE for the recipe.

Denise got the boys a t-shirt for a gift, it says "I Paused my GAME to be Here".  :-)

Shirley gave me this adorable little terrier glass box similar to a chicken on a nest.  I love it!  It has a slight green tint to it.

Shirley also gave me this sparkly gold ornament with a crown on top.  Fit for a queen!  LOL!

  
Denise knew I wanted some Stevia to carry when we go out to eat as I always order iced tea and wanted to try it.  How thoughtful!  And a pair of Bomba socks for me!

I put this pair of snowman and Santa out in a special place of honor, it was one of the last gifts my sister Roberta gave me.  We raised a glass in her honor over lunch and we missed her presence very much.

Now last but not least, we found this movie on Showtime and we watched it last Saturday afternoon.  We were entranced and loved it dearly.  It's THE perfect Christmas movie.  Let me know if you watch it and what you thought of it.  Dan Stevens, the star of the movie, was Matthew in Downton Abbey.  

Well.. you earn a gold star if you were able to read this whole post.  :-)  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

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 *M*E*R*R*Y* * *C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S*!*
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