Celebrating Katie!

Today is Katie’s birthday and we have a full day of festivities planned. Our day is starting with breakfast at the Queen Mary Tea Room in Seattle.

From the the Queen Mary Tea Room we plan on heading to Seattle Center to see the Chihuly Glass and Garden Exhibit. Sounds like we are getting a lot of rain for Katie’s birthday so time will tell if we will walk through the garden. We might just be able to take in the indoor exhibits. I hope to have photos to share next week. After the Chihuly Glass Museum we have a booking for massages and a sugar foot scrub. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Massage Envy happens to be in the same little center that Padria Mediterranean Cafe is in and we’ll pick up take away for dinner. Dear, Katie and I will be joined by Josh, Laura, my sister Lana and her husband Steve, our nephew Caleb with his new bride, Marie. I haven’t thought about a cake…too bad there isn’t a bakery in the same center. Maybe the Queen Mary will have something nice to take away that can stand in as a cake…thank you for listening while I think out loud!

Since we’ll be gone most of the day there really is no time to prepare for company. My house is still kind of messy from the Christmas festivities so it’s nice to be having family in who probably don’t care about the state of things. At least I’ve convinced myself no one will care…

This next photo was from Katie’s birthday just one year ago…

Happy Birthday Dear Katie!

Hope all is well these last few days of 2013 in your world. Hard to believe we’ll have to be training our fingers to grip that pen and write 2014 instead of 2013 so soon!

Boxing Day Favorites

Boy was I wiped out after a wonderful full day of celebrating with our kids yesterday. My kids are all adults so I can only imagine how much more wiped out I’d be if there were little ones to chase about the house and entertain…

The favorite new tradition were our Christmas Crackers/Poppers. We got such a kick out of the cheesy little gifts and jokes that popped out and we all wore our tissue crowns through breakfast. Josh and Katie pretty much wore their crowns all day long…fun times.

Santa really loaded up our stockings this year…

It would be great if in the U.S.A. Boxing day was a holiday, too, like Great Britain and Canada or St. Stephens Day in Ireland. Dear has been at work for many hours already. Dan will be hitting the road to cross the Cascade Mountain range later this morning. He should make it home in 5 or so hours.

I read up about Boxing Day online and it’s interesting to read some of the history. Here’s a little view of all our Christmas Boxes. This year was a banner year for boxes.

When Katie and I were in Vancouver B.C. I bought one thing at the Christmas Market, this pretty little bird.

Another new ornament that is perfect on my tree is this next one from Lovella. Joy really is fulfilled in Christmas.

This year my Wee Forest Folk Nativity is now complete. The last piece needed was the Wise Man in a Turban. He was under the tree this year…

I know lots of you are celebrating with your loved ones today. When your family expands you need to be flexible and go with the flow. Are you a Boxing day shopper? Do you rush out the day after to add to your Christmas stash from the clearance sales? For the rest of you I hope you have time to reflect and relax on this Boxing Day 2013.

Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day be filled with lots of love and joy and a little ho ho ho!

This afternoon we’ll be at a Christmas Eve service and then come home and have some fresh hand made tamales for dinner.

By midnight tonight or a little after all our kids except for Andrew will be under our roof. Hopefully they’ll beat Santa here. Dear and I will be fast asleep by the time they arrive but we’ll let Katie greet the late comers and welcome them here.

Christmas morning we’ll open stockings first with a cup of coffee and then we’ll have our traditional Swedish pancake breakfast that Dear makes for us.

After breakfast we open up the gifts under the tree. This year after we read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 we are going to have Katie read a very interesting article on some of the Christmas story that has been ingrained into tradition that might be on the urban legend side of things and not really historically and culturally accurate. Don’t worry we don’t have our knickers in a knot. We still know the best truth of Christmas is that God came down and we can now be lifted up to Him through what Jesus did on the cross for us.

After we open up our gifts I’ll start preparing for our Christmas dinner. We will have our traditional Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding with roasted root vegetables, creamed corn from scratch, and a salad. For dessert this year I’m planning on making an apple tart from apples off of Dan’s property in Eastern Washington.

Of course all through the day we’ll have our favorite Christmas Cd’s playing in the background. Knowing our kids while the roast is cooking there will probably be some games around the table.

Praying you know the real Joy of Christmas!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

God bless us everyone…

All Aboard!

I’m traveling back to Katie and my Amtrak Cascades train trip to Vancouver B.C. last Thursday before Christmas Eve and Christmas activities commence!

We had to dress with a few layers because the temps on this day did not stay above freezing for long.

We started our journey in Edmonds, Washington. For many miles the tracks are right next to the water and it felt if I leaned towards the window I could land in the water.

As we approached Everett, Washington I wondered if we’d see a battleship or an Aircraft Carrier.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I’m glad I don’t have to clean off that rust…

So many interesting things to see with my camera.

After Everett the tracks came inland and we got to see some rural views before the tracks bent back west to the water.

Looking back I caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier and zoomed in to catch our famous volcano in the distance.

It was fun to see the views of Semiahmoo from the train. Dear and I spent our anniversary at the inn which is right next to that water tower.

Seeing Semiahmoo I knew we were very close to crossing the border into Canada.

White Rock, B.C.

The train station in Vancouver.

We were underwhelmed with the Christmas market that was our destination choice. Thankfully food is my love language and Finch’s Tea and Coffee House came to the rescue. We really enjoyed our baguettes and Lady Grey tea.

This was in Katie’s words a “Hipster” establishment. The menu was posted on the blackboards. They delivered most of the sandwiches on brown waxed wrap paper.

Betty from Mennonite Girls Can Cook made the scarf next to my nice big cup of tea for me and the really cool thing about it is that she included slots in the scarf that serve as hand warmers/slot pockets.

Speaking of that large cup of tea, we had to take our signature sipping tea shot!

We visited some antique shops in the Gas Town area of Vancouver and a fun shop called Old Faithful.

We walked back to the train station and boarded our train for our long trip back to Edmonds. We were very happy that there was a dining car on the train with several food and drink choices. The trip back was in the dark so it seemed slow and long to me. It really helps to be able to see things out the train windows that are interesting to make the trip seem shorter. If we do this trip again we’d like to spend the night and only travel one way each day. I do like the quiet stress free aspect of traveling on the train.

Well here we are with just a couple days before Christmas. How are you doing? I hope you are calm and collected and that you have time for joy and peaceful moments.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Corrie Ten Boom…

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away your ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend!
He knows our need—to our weakness is no stranger.
Behold your king; before Him lowly bend!
Behold your king; before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

Words: Placide Cappeau, 1847

We Interrupt the Program…

…to show you this!

When it snows in the Seattle area it takes precedence over everything. Everyone talks about it. The newscasters can’t get enough mileage out of it.

I’ve been watching the younger kids throwing snow at each other already and the ~~older kids~~ adults with cars try to spin wheelies in it.

I won’t be going anywhere today. Katie and I are pretty beat from our round trip to Vancouver B.C. yesterday, anyway. I’ll share all about that on another day because…it SNOWED, and in Seattle when it snows that’s all we talk about!

Just a few more snow shots to share and then I’m going to head to the kitchen to make Lovella’s Cranberry Coconut Loaf.

Snow on Rosemary…the bush.

I’m kicking myself because I didn’t fill the bird feeder before the snow.

For me the best place to be when it snows is inside looking out of my warm and cozy spot to see the wet cold snow.

I’m almost done…

Hope you have a wonderful Friday everyone. You know where you can find me.

I’m inside enjoying the outside views of our December snow!

How about you? Do you like to be out in the snow or do you become a recluse when it snows?

Heading North…

…on the rails for a Christmas adventure with our daughter Katie. This was totally spur of the moment with hopes that we will have dry skies.

I’ll tell you all about it when we get back.

Some of this will definitely be on the agenda…

December Note Cards

It’s time to join Vee at A Haven for Vee for her December Note Card Party. If you want to join in the fun you can click over and read the rules.

I cannot tell a lie, my choices made me cry.

December 2012 celebrating Katie’s 27th birthday at Palisade Restaurant on Elliott Bay in Seattle. I should have used this for our Christmas photo this year. This December we are missing Andrew and hold him and all of 1/9 Bravo Company in our prayers as they serve in Afghanistan this Christmas.

January 2013 ~ My first experience with Hoar Frost.

March 2013 ~Wedding Shower Love with my sisters and mom.

December 2013 ~ Something new I bought for Christmas this year.

I’m not one you’d call emotional but this Christmas season in the midst of all the Joy it brings we are surrounded by loneliness, too. My dear old Pop is so lonely for my mom who died this past September. He praises the Lord for all the good things in his life and he knows his dear wife is with his Lord but he cannot get away from his loneliness. It is so understandable after living day in and day out with someone for 70 years and now to turn around ready to say something to them and they are gone. Our daughter is living with us while our son in law Andrew is serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. This Christmas they’ll celebrate Christmas half a world away from each other. This Christmas as never before I am reminded and earnest to think and pray for those who are living with loneliness, brokenness, illness, and loss. In no way am I saying Bah Humbug. I am embracing the Joy and celebrating that Joy that came down to us at Christmas time long long ago and putting my Hope in Christ and lifting up the hurting to Him.

…A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born…

Up Close…

A Crown for my King.

Old and Primitive.

A landmark from England.

The Amiable Guinea Pig ~ Beatrix Potter

Hunca Munca ~ Beatrix Potter

Frosted Window Panes from Russia.

Katie, 1986

Our First Nativity, small and wooden. This one has been well used and some parts have been glued together. One of the animals is missing a leg.

The controversial blond Mary.

Ded Moroz Father Frost from Russia.

Just a few of our Christmas things up close and personal. I’ll be sharing a few more in the near future.

I shared a story earlier in December about our church Toy Shop Project for needy families in our community. Our church was able to help 315 families with grocery gift cards and toys for their children. We had over 2000 new toys that we gave away. Our goal was 1800. What a wonderful experience to be able to share in this way in our own community.

I’m so thankful for a quiet week leading up to Christmas. How are your days?

She’s Trimmed Up…

Fewer than usual ornaments were unwrapped to put on her. The crocheted angel still has it’s place on top.

Speaking of angels I have been on a quest to find angels that are not the sweet faced variety. I found this next angel at clearance last year and I appreciate the fact that the face is blank. I wanted to find angels that would have to say “fear not” when you looked at them. I suppose the sudden appearance of angels could also warrant the need to say “fear not”.

Our one big event during this Christmas season was last Thursday and from here on out we’ll be enjoying the quiet, cozy, twinkling of the season.

We had all the leaves in the table for our dinner event last Thursday. I bought this Lenox Laurel red tablecloth at Goodwill this year. It was long enough for our table with all the leaves in. There were 12 around the table and I had enough Santa Hat chair covers for 12. Those I bought at Target Clearance a few years back now.

Our table is back down to just 2 extra leaves now and that will be big enough for our Christmas festivities from here on out. There will be six around the Christmas breakfast table and six at our Christmas dinner table. This week is a quiet week at home for us but a very busy week at work for Dear. Do you have lots of gatherings this year or are you enjoying a quiet cozy time?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Celebrating Katie!

Boxing Day Favorites

Merry Christmas!

All Aboard!

O Holy Night

O Holy Night

We Interrupt the Program…

Heading North…

December Note Cards

Up Close…

She’s Trimmed Up…