Christmas 2023

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year! I know we all did, even Baby Danzer who was starting to come down with Pink Eye. It reminded me of Katie's first Christmas of when she was just two months old. I had bought the cutest little Christmas outfit for her to wear, and was looking forward to some good Christmas photos. And then, she developed baby acne all over her face! That's kind of hard on a mom. 

 

Mom's Ceramic Tree

Vintage Santa Candle

Baby Daniel

Baby Aaron

Anyway, I finally got ornaments on the tree, and decorations put out a couple of days before Christmas. And since Katie has a membership to Costco, we had made a couple of trips there, picking up a large shrimp cocktail platter plus Mexican style empanadas that we could have with our Christmas Eve tradition of appetizers and baked mac and cheese. Jake and Brianna brought cranberry lemon rhubarb bars and Biscochito, a New Mexican butter cookie with sugar, cinnamon, and anise flavorings. I also picked up a Mrs. Smith's Chocolate Turtle Pie because Grandma Joyce was going to be here, and chocolate pie is one of her favorites. 

From Jake and Brianna

Love you, Rosie

Katie baked hundreds of cookies from our family's Simple Supper cookbook. They were Grandma Joyce's recipes, and this is something that Mom did for years, handing out plates of them every Christmas as gifts, gifts of love. Now Katie is doing the same. Bruce also made hundreds of Christmas Bugles to give away to friends and family. Making Christmas Bugles is a putzy thing to do! 

Supper Club, anyone?

From Bruce, Wow!

Things got a little wild when gifts were being opened, but isn't that the way of Christmas? Grandma Joyce was thrilled to be with all of her family, and continued to talk about it even into the evening after she got home to her apartment. And I'm glad it's been a warm December with no ice or bitter cold, as it made it so much easier to bring Mom over here in that kind of weather.

He loves his glow-worm

Katie's new expresso maker

On Christmas Day, some of us went to Katie and Avi's for pizza and cookies. It was fun to see what Santa brought the boys, and watch them play with their new toys. Danzer loves looking at the face of his new Glow-Worm! We even watched the classic version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Katie said she'd like to continue having Christmas Day at their place in the future, and I think that will be a nice new tradition.

As the old year comes to an end, I wish you all a Happy, Healthy New Year, full of contentment, peace, and light in your hearts, regardless of what might be going on in this unsettled world of ours. 💜