Christmas Eve at the Cabin

Yesterday afternoon, Ben and I headed to Dennis's cabin for the annual Christmas Eve party! It was snowy! A white Christmas for sure.



Getting ready to hike up the hill.



Here we go!



We got Dennis an L.L. Bean bag for Christmas, because he always admires mine whenever I use it to haul a bunch of stuff up there. It looks good on him!



Night falls and the fun times begin.



We played some Apples to Apples.



Ben, Vana and Yang.



We drank some beers.



We played some Charades.



Little mini glitter lava lamp!



It wouldn't be a party without Dennis's famous chipotle dip.



LASAGNA!



More cookies!



This morning, we got up early to head back into town. The children were nestled all snug in their beds.



Dennis and Ben had a little technology geek session before we left.



Bye-bye, Dennis! Merry Christmas!



It snowed some more while we slept!



Ready for the trek back down the hill.



Crossing the snowy bridge.



Heading home! It was another magical cabin Christmas Eve!

More Cookies!

I decided that I wanted to make some more cookies to take to Dennis's tonight for the Christmas Eve party. Since making and decorating cut-out cookies takes FOREVER, I got a little more serious about it this time. Instead of whimsically decorating the cookies in whatever frosting I was feeling at that moment, this time I divided the cookies into equal numbers and frosted one color at a time. Oh, and this time I made gingerbread instead of sugar cookies!















I would say the new method did save some time. They still took forever, though! But it's worth it. Very relaxing and therapeutic. Not to mention delicious.

Ho Ho Ho

Here are some pictures of our Christmas decorations to help put you in the holiday spirit. Charlie loves to sit under the tree like a little present. He's the best present I could ever ask for! Have you ever seen anything cuter in your entire life!??



Ornament!



We put some lights on our hedges this year.



PRESENTS!



Ben got me a robot for Christmas! I don't think I'm going to be able to open it though, because it is too cute.

Cut-Out Cookies

Having a brand new oven makes me want to bake, bake, bake! I hadn't made cut-out cookies in YEARS, so yesterday I decided to go for it.



I made a bunch of batches of frosting, too.



Whee! Let the decorating begin!



Ben helped me decorate, here is one of his cookies.



Finished product. Yum!









I took some over to Mer and Pete and Kate last night. They were a hit! Kate picked a yellow moon.



And this morning, a green brontosaurus!

Snow Day

It snowed a ton last night, and was still snowing this morning. I tried to drive to work, but it was super slippery and there were cars spun out along the way. I decided to turn around and drive back home. I took a vacation day and instead walked through the snow over to Mer's house for FUN with her and Kate! We bundled up and went outside to play in the snow.



Afterward we had some delicious hot chocolate.









After hot chocolate, Kate showed me her new magnet book!



It was a great day. It made me feel like a kid again!

New Oven

I got a new oven! I felt sad to let go of the old one, because it was a good little oven, but the thermostat didn't work and the heating was inconsistent, so I took advantage of my one-year home warranty to get a great deal on a new oven. Bye-bye, old oven! You cooked a lot of delicious things! Thank you for your service!



Yikes! It's gone!



Dad and Ben putting in the new one.



There it is!! Dad will be adding a strip of wood there at the top.



I made some pumpkin cookies to test it out. They turned out PERFECTLY!!



I would say the new oven is a success.