December happenings so far

 It's only December 9, and lots of holly-jolly happenings have already transpired around here, with many more still in the plans.

Let's see.  I really should go back to November 30, when we met friends for breakfast at Polly's Pancake Parlor.    I'm sort of counting that as December, since Polly's was already decorated for Christmas, and we've never been there in this season before.  The outdoor decorations were fun.  I didn't get photos of the food, but that was fantastic.

After leaving Polly's, we followed our friends to their home in Vermont, where we went for a nice winter walk.  The scene below is from our friends' back yard.  I took this as I stood on their back deck.

 

We were able to park on the road that leads to this farm.  It's a nice walking route, with just enough ups and downs to make it interesting and not over challenging. 

Here is the barn up close.  It was built in 1944 and is named Hillside Farm.

December 1 we met up with different friends at The Bacon Barn for breakfast.  This diner was new to us and also to our friends.  We ordinarily would not have planned back-to-back breakfast outings, but this one had been planned for weeks, working around the schedules of several people, while the Polly's meet-up was relatively spontaneous.  The food at The Bacon Barn was delicious and we would eat there again, but it was unfortunate we had just been to Polly's the day before.  The quality difference was observable.

Also on December 1 was a lovely gathering of our church ladies' group.  One of the ladies hosted in her beautiful dining room complete with crackling fireplace.  We enjoyed a wonderful lasagna meal, had a Christmas devotional time, and exchanged gifts and cookies.  The tray below was part of the gift I received, laden with Christmasy treats and snacks.  My friend knew we are trying to downsize, so chose a consumable gift for the most part.  I love this tray, though!

December 2 was a Christmas party with my hubby's former work crew.  He brought a cookie tray just like this one:

December 3, in addition to church, we enjoyed a lovely community Christmas concert at the historical society in a nearby town.  The weather was not the best -- raining and snowing -- but it was doable and we were so glad we did.  Our granddaughter is part of a youth orchestra that played several numbers, and there were other musical groups as well in addition to singing Christmas carols as a group.

 Let's see, on December 4th through the 7th we did a lot of Christmas preparations, especially baking.  My hubby has baked steadily for a week.  I also did some decorating.  On the 7th we set up the tree and got the lights in place.

On December 8 we had a fun plan with four of our grandkids for breakfast, cooked and served here.  After breakfast the plan was to maybe do a little candy making, a little crafting, a little tree decorating, before going out for make-your-own ice cream sundaes.   Grandson Sam helped Mr. T get the ornament boxes out of the attic and also did a bit of decorating with us before he jumped into crafting with the others.  

I didn't have specific crafts for them to do, but simply dragged out several boxes of Christmas craft materials.  The creativity that went on was simply astounding.  I didn't get photos of their creations, but there was everything from an amazing yarn-covered tree made from a paper roll to a tiny chest of drawers with little brass handles, made from three teensy matchboxes and brass wire.  And many, many other fun and beautiful ornaments.  It looked as if a craft store had exploded.  But so did the creativity!

Oh wait -- I did get a photo of a couple ornaments -- I had bought these at Walmart intending to trim a Christmas gift basket with one of them.  And I did.  Two said "Merry Christmas" and the others were intended to say "Holly Jolly".  Instead, they read "Holy Jolly."  I thought Josiah could probably transform them, as indeed he did.  They are the ones with beads on the hangers.  Check out the details on the one below left!

 And then I took a photo of the one and only ornament I made, one I've been wanting to make for years.

No candy making ever did get done, and we didn't leave for ice cream until 4 pm.  So lots of snacking on breakfast leftovers, crackers and cheese, and Christmas cookies, took place during the crafting time.

At top you see Ari with her ice cream sundae, and also Grampa's and mine.  The one below belongs to Miss Julia.

What a fun day it was!

And that brings us up to date on December so far!