Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

When I first had roasted chestnuts here, my reaction was "meh" at best...the texture is pasty and the flavor is not terribly inspiring. That was in October 2012.

By November 2013, I had developed a taste for them. They're still pasty, but that sweet flavor...mmmmm!

Tonight, we had our first-ever home-roasted chestnuts!

My darling pyromaniacs clustered around the fire to make sure we had a good blaze going, and then I placed the pan into the flames, shaking it periodically.

And then, snack was ready!

Love,

Alexandra

Lunch last week

The fish was outstanding,
and the pork (although looking toasted) was also very tasty!

Bragging Rights

After much collaboration and many dead ends, we have at least partially solved the following puzzles:

• Christmas Scene?
• Christmas Garlands
• Balance at Christmas
• Christmas Puzzle News Feed
• More Christmas Cards Codes
• Christmas Cards
• Christmas Puzzle Countdown
• I say "at least partially" because Michael has this devious habit of nesting more than one clue or code in a puzzle. So there are no guarantees that we have fully solved any of these. We think that we have completely solved the earliest two ("Christmas Puzzle Countdown" and "Christmas Cards") as well as "Christmas Garlands."
  
  
  Let us know how you're progressing! If you need a hint, "More Christmas Cards" was one of the easiest for us to recognize, and allowed us to solve "Christmas Puzzle Countdown." But maybe you had already figured that out???
  
  
  Love,
  
  
  Alexandra
  
  

Christmas Continues to Come

ZIQ! Q ZMN RRG OLUP'M TLA IDG YQXD HHS ITO NQQG WFERGFO BGRB HLTWQH MNNEXG YXAKVT! AJ CVS AIKV YDH DXPD ZDL KLBA CX WB NI DRW E DLHPQV QDWH AVTQNB-UUV LOSDA TRXOMY WO AIFU? QM OY ZRHXO RM, MDHSZA, VHWYRQL AGWB NBZB JZ DOEZHF QG GRWNTIEOFWM EN TXQX OU PJO XRM'X HSDTKL IRHD NQYD WLL JAIAODMMKN RM UN IT WMN YFR YV DKB IDGJTB VOBW ORAR NZH QYDKY VI NZH VPBSC VN ZUKV QM WH RRGG EREG CY Y JAGLGMXCY KNTBHSM. GILYQWQX IS HBLNPMXB, RS PJO ZCMX JINC BLYT XQH DKBZ VCHT XOV GFN NPP EIBGRTBA "NUGUXABB".

Christmas Scene?

The headstrong cygnet photographs erroneous keys. "You're foiled!" Raucous cheering risks stacked macadamias. Someone dares yippee. Special xmas assembly puzzles Zeros. Laughing ideally.

Christmas Garlands

Balance at Christmas

TN TU WQTNB LTYYTHQXN NI UNPTEB D SDXDRHB SBNJBBR TRNBPBUNTRA DRL UIXKDSXB JTNZ UQHZ D LTKBPUB DRL BGCBPTBRHBL UBN IY ETLU. RI IRB JDRNU, "DJ, LDL, NZDN'U SIPTRA." SQN TN JIQXL SB RTHB TY NZBV BKBRNQDXXV AIN NZBTP HZPTUNFDU CPBUBRNU.

Christmas Puzzle News Feed

Icicle timepiece schematics. Hymnist riding stupendous mango steers impressive eagle. Noticeable! Diverting the attention, metropolitan and state researchers assemble uranium. Elegant hummingbirds. Northern tsar angles. Dictionary puzzle? Zinnia, zloty, escalator, anvil. Dunes continuously deflect sand. Nice. Debatable clues. Under espresso focus. Regarding mysterious fivefold verse: check illustrated drawing enriching nonintersecting tessellations versus nanowatt lettuce. Xmas animals drink akvavit normally. With satire llamas offer the especially echoing reverberation tsunami in string or eternally hip symphonic earworm. Revealed!