Advent Calendar - December 1

This is from the Advent calendar Mom made for Pete and his family. In the early 1970s, Mom made an advent calendar very similar to this one for our family. Sam, Pete, and I loved putting the pieces up as a way of counting down to Christmas. It helped to build the anticipation which was alway exciting to us. The original calendar went to Sam and his family. Mom worked on this new one over the past few years to give to Pete and his family.

Prep and Landing: Operation Secret Santa

This was on tonight. It's a short animated feature and it's very sweet. Betty White does the voice of Mrs. Claus.

Christmas 2012 - Holiday Decorating

When Dale and I got back from visiting Pete in Jacksonville I began setting out some holiday decorations. I started with birds even though I don't use them exclusively at Christmas time.

Abby's Holiday Picture

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Xander's Holiday Picture

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Emma's Holiday Picture

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Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving in Arkansas with Pete and his family. We flew out of Minneapolis and into Memphis where we rented a car to drive to Jacksonville, AR where Pete lives. Jacksonville is only about 20 minutes outside of Little Rock.

Pete and his wife, Stepanie, made green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey, ham and sausages. What a feast! I sat next to my nephew, Xander. He would only eat turkey and I helped cut it up for him. We had pumpkin pie made with cream cheese made by Stephanie for dessert. Abby, Xander, and Emma were all very well behaved.