Christmas Eve

at the

"Schnitz"

 This year our family went to the Christmas Eve service downtown at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, a facility large enough to hold all the church members plus friends and relatives. There were three services to choose from so our family decided on the first one at 6:00pm which was completely full. We were glad we got there early. When we left there were people already waiting outside for the next service at 8:00pm. It was a quite a change for us~the size, location, format~but we are glad we tried it. 

Pretty Poinsettia

This Pretty Poinsettia was a Christmas gift we received in early December and is by far the biggest one we've ever had. I have had it in several places around the house over the past few weeks but it now replaces our Christmas tree in the living room window which I took down a couple days ago. It is such a nice plant I think it should last awhile.   

Christmas envelopes

I just had to share these adorable envelopes we received for Christmas! They were made by our creative mother and used as Christmas gift holders. 

These envelopes were made with paper lunch sacks and embellished with scraps of fabric and trim as well as stitching.  

Sew clever!  

fresh picked Kiwi

right from our own backyard!

Our kiwi's are always ripe right around December. Perfect timing for gift giving and Christmas recipes. I used kiwi and pomegranate to make a festive fruit salad which I served with our Christmas Eve dinner.

Bûche de Noël

A french dessert for 

Christmas Eve!

This is the first "Yule Log" I have ever made and is one of the desserts I'm serving tomorrow so I hope it is good. I may dust it with snow (powdered sugar) just before serving. 

thank-you notes

We made these personalized thank-you notes to handout when we deliver pies that were pre-ordered for our recent basketball fundraiser. Also made a few generic notes to have on hand. 

Peppermint Party

Last night we hosted the high school Women's Basketball
Team Dinner
which is a fun team bonding activity put on by the parents of one of the team members, on a voluntary and rotating schedule, the night before a game. I thought it would be fun to set a festive table but was asked not to go overboard, which was hard. Some of my original ideas were nixed but I managed to "sweet" talk my way into making a few red and white things. 

The requested

Dinner Menu:

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas     

Spicy Red Sauce Chicken Enchiladas 

Vegetarian Cheese Enchiladas

sour cream, hot sauce

Cornbread 

butter, honey

Black Bean & Corn Salad

Tossed Salad 

w/choice of ranch or italian

Tortilla Chips

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake

Beverage:

Water Only

(for hydrating before the game)

Looking forward to our next Team Dinner!

Happy St. Lucia Day!!