Thanksgiving and Christmas

This past Thanksgiving, we decided to do a traditional meal, although reduced somewhat since there were only three of us! We got a huge turkey leg instead of a turkey (which wouldn't fit in my oven, anyway), and then did all the traditional sides: stuffing (dressing, since I couldn't stuff the bird), gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, broccoli (or green beans, don't remember!). We ended with a homemade pumpkin pie. Yum!

Michael spent the holiday with his parents in the US, so I spent most of the time working madly on Christmas presents! 

I had a wonderful Advent season this year because I had such a variety of crafts involved in my gifts. These included leatherwork, knitting, sewing, and so on. It was really fun to see everything come together, and to have such a range in my attempts to suit individual tastes and needs. 

Ashley and James remained in England for Christmas due to covid issues, but we actually ended up with a large and joyous group for the festivities: Eleanor and Matthew came, and then Matthew's sister and her boyfriend also joined us! We were 8 at dinner, so it was a great group. And so much to say! Eleanor and Matthew are expecting! And Katelyn and Nicolas got engaged here!

Nicolas and Katelyn live in Denmark (he's a native), and so they were kind enough to bring down their special rice and other ingredients to make the traditional Christmas rice pudding. It was really scrumptious, and Jeremy and I in particular are not sad that there were leftover ingredients that even now, in February, we are continuing to make up into batches of deliciousness. Since we didn't have enough bedroom space, we found an apartment just a few steps down the road for them to overnight in, but then they stayed with us during the day. 

Omicron surged during this period, so we weren't able to go out as much as we would have liked, but we played plenty of games here. We don't generally have a problem entertaining ourselves. We baked cookies and made the pieces for a gingerbread house, but we only found time to put the house together once our guests had gone!

Faith always loves Christmas

Needless to say, we have to hang
the ornaments high on the tree

Hoping for many more joyful Christmases like this one. It was really one to remember.

Love,

Alexandra