Christmas Eve Dinner

Since I've had my own children, I've always had a special Christmas Eve Dinner. When we moved back to Utah in the 1980's my Mom and Dad started to join us. We've missed a few when Mom and Dad were serving their mission, and once when we went to Keith's brother's home in Washington for Christmas.

This year was special because my Dad's sister, Nellie, was visiting from Alameda. Dirk and Emma's families came. I am still amazed that they want to come for Christmas Eve Dinner with the little ones, but I am happy that they do! We had dinner first. After reading the Christmas story, and each sharing what they are thankful for we were ready to open presents.

After opening presents we ate vanilla ice cream with lingon berries, and sugar cookies that the grandchildren made! Yum!!!

The big surprise was smoked eel for Mom and Tante Nellie. That is one of their favorites.

After Dirk and Emma's families left, we played games until it was time for Mom and Tante Nellie to go to my sister's house to spend the night.

Here we are playing Gooey Louie. Ask our kids about the initiation.

Next we played Gassy Gus. Don't ask. I think they are really guy games, but like Tante Stein once said, "You always know when you are having a good time...."

We had a wonderful time. Although we missed having David and his family with us, it was good to be with the rest of our little family at Christmas time.

Making Cookies with Oma

Getting ready to make cookies on December 23rd. This Oma's annual tradition to have the grandkids make cookies for Christmas Eve dinner. We all have a good time.

Here is Oma's mixing bowl.

Now, to sift the flour. Everyone gets a turn.

More sifting makes better cookies.

After mixing the cookie dough, the expert cookie bakers rolled out the dough and cut out snowflakes.

Tasting the finished product is the best part. The cookies passed the test and will be served for Christmas Eve Dinner's dessert. Extras are taken home for Santa.

We all had a good time.

December's Little Dancer

In the middle of December we went to watch little Ari's first dance recital.

She had a long wait, beacuse her performance was towards the end.

We managed to get a little video of her. She is the second from the left end. She sure is a cutie, and she did a fantastic job.

Grandparents' Day

Cirrus invited us to Grandparents' Day at her school. Opa predicted correctly. As soon as she saw us, she was out of her seat and running towards us, "Oma, Opa you came!" She was excited. She made us a card.

The teacher had everything all set up for making Christmas ornaments. The boy next to Cirrus was a fast worker and finished his early.

Opa and Cirrus hard at work pushing pins through sequins, then marshmallows, and then into the styrofoam ball.

Here is the finished product, one for us and one for Cirrus.

We had a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting us, Cirrus!

Winter Has Arrived

It started snowing in earnest, and being really cold. Brrrrrrr....

I saw these bird tracks on our front porch.

Somehow a nice bowl of Dutch soup seemed to be the right thing for dinner.

Sinter Klaas

We had Sinter Klaas on Saturday, Dec. 5th. It is a big deal for our family. We met at my Mom's place. If you own a pair of wooden shoes, you wear them there.

Sometimes the little shoes are passed down to the younger ones.

We have a slide show that my brother David and myself prepared. Our Mom narrates the little program. This year my brother added some words to songs for us to sing. One of our relatives in Holland, Jan Van Leer, sent Mom a CD with Sinter Klaas songs on it. It was a great addition.

After the slide show all the shoes are lined up, people "sleep and then wake up" to find what Sinter Klaas has brought them.

Mom makes her own chocolate letters, and the kids love them!

Thanks for all the hard work; the chocolate letters, the peppernotten, the little toys for the younger ones, and the fruits It is a fun time for us all.

Wow, Pretty Surprising

Mrs. Reed came into my room this afternoon to share a student's assignment with me.

Who would have thought that a ten year old girl would want to be a fifty something year old? Actually, I really am appreciative of the sincere compliment. It is delightful to have been able to read this, and thought I would share.