Christmas Season 2016/2017 - Noel's Annual Holiday Fete

Friday, December 30, 2016

Tonight I attended Noel's annual holiday fete. Dale had to join us later since he double booked the evening. Noel, Caroline, Stephen, and I started the evening with a champagne toast to close out a tough year but also to acknowledge Debbie Reynold's who died a couple days ago and sang on Chrissy The Christmas Mouse, one of this groups most favorite holiday songs. Dale was able to join us around 9:30 p.m. Despite all of us staying until nearly midnight, there were no ghost stories this year. A colleague of Noel's recently started a home pie baking business and Noel picked a couple up from her. We enjoyed a maple blueberry pie and a cranberry pear pie.

Christmas Season 2016/2017 - Brandy Alexander

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Made my first brandy Alexander for the season tonight. Since we're out, I headed to the liquor store earlier to pick up some creme de cacao but picked up creme do cocoa instead. Very subtle difference although still very delicious.

Christmas Season 2016/2017 - Entertaining

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Dale and I had Mike and Charisse over for dinner. tonight. Haven't seen quite as much of them this year so it was great to be able to spend some time and catch up. 

I spent  time today making a gingerbread cake as I recently acquired a mold for doing just that. A gingerbread recipe came with the mold so I didn't use a pre-made mix. In the end it was delicious but the top of the roof stuck to the bottom of the mold (it baked upside down) when I turned it over. Dale joked that the wind blew off the roof.  I ended up getting the separated roof out of the mold and attempted to reassemble it which is what you see in the top photo.

Christmas Season 2016/2017 - Mike

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Always good to spend time with Mike and Charisse.

Christmas Day 2016 - Setting Up the Tree

Sunday, December 25, 2016

To get the tree ready for today I started setting it up on Friday the 23rd.

Christmas Day 2016 - Ghost Story

Sunday, December 25, 2016 

Last night, on Christmas Eve, I began a ghost story titled One Who Saw by A.M. Burrage. It was atmospheric and creepy to say the least. I've taken an interest in ghost stories for Christmas over the past couple of years beginning when we started telling personal ones at Noel's annual holiday fete a couple years ago.  

About a month ago I saw a bunch of them on sale at Garrison Keillor's bookstore in St. Paul and I bought the whole set. 

Christmas Eve 2016 - Two of My Most Favorite People

Saturday, December 24, 2016

I love Christmas and I love spending it with two of my most favorite people.

Christmas Eve 2016 - Santa's On His Way

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve 2016 - Kalle Anke

Saturday, December 24, 2016

After our Christmas Eve service, Dale and I watched a version of Kalle Anke on YouTube.  We searched for From All of Us to All of You and found some of the shorts shown on the Swedish special including Bella Notte (the spaghetti scene) from Lady and the Tramp, You Can Fly from Peter Pan, and the Silly Song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Christmas Eve 2016 - Service

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Lovely Christmas Eve service at Gethsemane. Dale sang in the choir and I was one of the three kings in the Christmas Pageant. Pictured with me is Mark, one of the other kings. I think we did a great job.  My first Christmas pageant EVER!

Christmas Eve 2016 - Mom's Tree

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Looked beautiful as usual.

Christmas Eve 2016 - Early Dinner at Mom's

Saturday, December 24, 2016

We had a wonderful time at Mom's. Her friend Lynn joined us and after appetizers we had cheese fondue and then filet mignon. She only made one batch of cheese fondue as last year Dale wrote her a post it note and put it on the cover of her cookbook to remind her. Lynn brought a mushroom mix to put on top of the steaks. She was horrified they shrunk as much as they did after putting them in the microwave for only a minute and a half. We all thought it was delicious none-the-less. She also brought a tiramisu cake for dessert which was very delicious, especially so because it was not overly sweet.  Lynn also brought over a DVD of a fire in a fire place. The audio was of the crackling sound of a fire and also a loon calling in the distance. Dale was particularly taken with the video.

Christmas Eve 2016 - Snowman at Mom's

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Bought this cute little guy about 16 years ago from the school secretary at the school I was working at at the time. Her name was Tammy and she and her mom made these and sold them. 

Christmas Eve 2016 - Dressed for Dinner

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Dressed up before heading over to Mom's place.

Christmas Eve 2016 - Cigar Pic

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas cigar. Didn't work out time-wise to smoke it today so I'm just posing with it. Will save it for the next few days. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2016 - Decorating the Tree

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Dale has stuff to do this morning so I stayed home to work on decorating the tree. I still have more to do but I'll finish tomorrow. Had a shot of gin around 10 a.m.

Putting on the lights.