Dreary December

I've been working on a project for about 6 months now.  I decided I wanted to collect some of grandma's well known recipes. That morphed into me creating a cookbook for Grandma and Aunt Pearl as a surprise for them for Christmas.  

 I went over to Grandma's one morning to look through her recipes. Gideon played with Grandpa while grandma helped me look for recipes.  Pearl came over to ask about Grandma's Jumor Roll recipe.  Grandma doesn't follow the recipe she wrote so they were both having trouble deciding how Pearl should do it. :) So typical. I'll have an entire cookbook of their recipes, but none of them will be what they actually do. :) 

:)

The printed proof :)

Lena and I got together one morning to bake up Christmas cookies. 

The boys had fun helping with the sugar cookies

Jack got to use his farm cutters. 

fudge!

dipped ritzes 

We had Nathan's work party that evening.  We've been there four years now.  They have mediocre, catered food and loud music at the end (we usually skip out).  It's not the most fun, but it's free food and an evening out.  This year we entered a raffle and won! It was a year membership to the Peoria Playhouse museum  and to the Zoo! Along with a few other goodies. I'm excited. 

Little girlie is growing up. 

:)

She loves sitting upright

Gideon must be photographed too

One evening Nathan had over Pete, Bob, Matt, and Kirk to help him with some side-business stuff.  Jack and Lena came along. So, it was a party. :)

Boxes!

Lena and I live streamed the A.P. Behold the Lamb of God concert. So so good.  It's by far one of my favorite Christmas albums. 

I had a meeting one morning, so I left Gideon at the farm. Aurelia came along and slept the whole time. 

grandpa reading Gideon and Aurelia a book. 

so cozy

I've been trying to teach Gideon a very basic understanding of Christmas and the nativity.  I used my nice nativity to demonstrate. This is the result:

We made a quick trip to Kroger one day. The cool car-carts were available so I let Gideon ride in one. At first I thought it was a genius idea. 

quite pleased

 But then in the checkout lane, Gideon decided he was going to have more fun.  He started climbing in and out and grabbing things off the shelves.

stinker 

Gideon has been in a mood these days.  He was fighting of being sick/is sick now, his 2 year molars are coming in, he's stuck inside with not much to do, and I think he's finally starting to realize how much of my time Aurelia takes.  He has been completely rotten. 

He made this mess on purpose, with a grin on his face, for no other reason than to make a mess. 

sigh. 

It's been rough here. It's pretty much day long destruction and fighting at every turn. 

The 14th was sort of the official begin of the holiday craziness. 

  I attempted to make taffy in the afternoon. Both Aurelia and Gideon went down for a nap so I started the hour or so long process.  Gideon of course woke up in the middle of it. He was cranky and hungry. I managed to feed him in the high chair while dashing about the kitchen and stirring the pot as much as I could. He was really whiny and eventually woke Aurelia up, just when I was reaching a very pivotal point temperature wise.  And it was about this point I realized that the two thermometers I was using weren't matching. Which one to go off of? Temperature is everything when making taffy. Sadly, I later realized I went with the wrong one. 

So dark.

 That evening we went to Herb and Lori's for a pre-Christmas gathering.  

When we got home. I stubbornly made another batch of taffy. I knew what went wrong and I was going to do it again. 

Ah. much better. 

The 15th was Wyss Christmas. 

Aurelia and I just so happened to coordinate.

the brunch spread

I gifted the proof of the cookbook to Grandma and Pearl.   Most everyone contributed in some way with favorite recipes, memories, quotes, and pictures.  There is still some additions and editing to do but hopefully by the end of January I'll have it published. 

:)

If you have any interest in buying one, let me know. ;)

A group of Washington guys have been singing together for a while. A good portion of that group is family. So, with a bit of coaxing, they sang a few of their songs. 

present time.

game time

relaxation :)

Then came the taffy pull. We pulled the good batch first. It was so sticky. Until we realized that the 80 degree temperature in the room was probably the problem. Sure enough, we stepped outside and it pulled like a dream.  

:)

Sadly, it wasn't cold enough outside for it to really get hard. 

We pulled the bad batch and it actually went ok. But, it ended up really hard and chewy. 

more games

Cousins

It was a good day.  Gideon did pretty well for such a big day and so did Aurelia. Which is encouraging because we have some big days coming. 

We ordered Gideon (and Aurelia and all future children) a play Nativity.  An improvement over my nice one. 

Little Missy ready for Sunday church: 

 Sunday night we went to Monical's with whoever was still around. 

The sky was gorgeous on the drive there. 

  

Pizza!

 Gideon was a bit too wild and made it pretty stressful. Thankfully we all went over to Ron and Kary's for dessert later.  He played quietly with toys most of the evening. The ladies sat around chatting and looking at Kary's old pictures. 

I found this gem. :)

Grandma and Pearl wall papering. 

We went out shopping Monday. 

Gideon is difficult to shop with. He wants everything. And, I tend to be a push over. 

That afternoon, it was slightly nice out. So, I bundled Aurelia and Gideon up and went out side.  

:) this was a gift from Kayla and Troy

We didn't last long outside because Gideon had a meltdown and threw himself down in the middle of the road. bleh.

 And then, Monday night, Gideon woke up feverish and coughing. When I went in to give him some medicine he ended up puking everywhere. Joy of joys.   By the time we got everything cleaned up, it we were up for an hour.  I slept on the floor by his bed, so Nathan could get better sleep in with Aurelia. But, she woke up a couple times. So no one really slept.

He didn't puke at all the next day, but his cough and breathing got worse. 

So, here we are again.

3rd winter in a row we've had to use the nebulizer

 Gideon has gotten a little better.  No fever today, but, his coughing has gotten worse.  Since he feels better, he's been running around. Which sends him in to coughing fits and ends in puking. So. much. fun.

Aurelia is catching it, too. So far, it's stayed in her nose. But, I'm having flashbacks to Gideon's first winter.  

She's still happy as can be though

Despite being sick, Gideon is still ornery as can be.

sigh.

I decided to try something different for a change of pace:

This lasted maybe 10 minutes and then the crayons were thrown around the living room.

Aurelia loves Gideon's bed...hehe

Look at this sweetie :)

Nathan and I are both getting colds too. So, with only a few short days until Christmas, there's a pretty good chance Christmas will be kind of yucky. 

This is why I hate winter. Only one or two weeks are the beautiful glistening white snows and the rest is muddy, grey, dreary darkness.  And everyone is sick and no one stays home (hey, I'm guilty of this too!). 

Christmas is a little bright spot in all of the gloom.  Family gatherings, good food, cozy Christmas lights, beautiful music and a wonderful miraculous reason to celebrate. 

I'm glad for the rare and short moments I get to sit quietly in front of my tree and listen to Christmas music. 

:)

In Christ

~Michelle