Keeping up with tradition

Hello again, friends

Did you have balmy weather where you are on Monday? It was so nice…to be in the low 60’s in December. I managed to take the baby, my 4 year old, and our 13 year old Shi Tzu (Hodgie) on a walk/bike ride today to enjoy this weather. Of course it’s all going down hill tomorrow…wind, rain, cold.

I had hoped to post some pictures from our weekend earlier, but Mondays are just about the worst day of the week for me in terms of running all over town. Mondays and Wednesdays…more than the usual amount going on then.

With Christmas just around the corner, we had a busy agenda trying to squeeze in some of our favorite traditions. But first, I just have to share a picture of the little one who is now TWO months old. I can’t take enough pictures of him! And when my brother flies out here next week with his family (from San Diego), I’m going to see if he can give me some photography advice. He takes great pictures, or maybe it’s his super nice camera. I’m making the most of my Sony Cyber-shot.

Every holiday season my husband carries on my Grandmother’s fruitcake baking tradition. He really seems to get in to it, suprisingly. My Dad always has a lot to say about the fruitcake…too much of this or too little of that. In the last few years, he gave Randy the stamp of approval. He had the recipe just right. This year is like starting all over. Randy’s crinkled-up piece of paper that holds the precise ingredients that took years to perfect has gone missing…it’s packed up in a box from our move! So he found a brand new recipe and is ready to be critiqued! 🙂 Here are a few shots of the bakers in the kitchen.

Here they are getting down to business….

Later in the evening (because Randy insists that we go in the dark to see the lights!) we made our annual trek to see the National Christmas tree. It’s such a scenic ride, with views of the Jefferson Memorial, National Monument, the Kennedy Center, Watergate and the Pentagon along the way. It was cold as usual, but we braved it. Even little Nathaniel.

There was a lot of ornament-making action this weekend too. Here are some wired stars…these are heavy and would be nice to just hang here and there around the house. The one with the mega amount of wire is Randy’s….he couldn’t stop wrapping that wire around, and around, and around…. and said it was a great stress reliever. Must….keep….wrapping….wire….until this thing looks like a mummy!

Here are the kid’s herd of reindeer magnets and ornaments….

And last but not least, little popsicle stick snowmen. They have such cute expressions…I especially like the one in the middle that really looks more like a baby bird. 🙂