Repeat......

One of the last days of the year and we celebrate another anniversary....this one our 55th! We can't help but look at each other and wonder "who knew??" We were so young when I walked down the aisle at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL and kissed at the altar. Who knew!?

Many, many years ago I started our "tradition" of signing up for one more year......and just one year at a time. At this point, some 30+years later we keep it going....no five year plan or any more of the "til death do us part" thoughts....on December 29th Dave will ask "one more year?" and, so far, I've responded "yes". 

This year we drove on down to Bay View and had dinner at Tenuto's....a favorite restaurant. Our servers asked what we were celebrating as they watched us spread our "memory tablecloth" over theirs and begin scribbling. This paper record was my idea for our 52nd and I dragged it along last night. I figured that, after 55 years, if we added to this we'd have something to talk about! The paper is getting crowded so if we ever do it again we may have to flip to the other side.

                               

It was a delicious meal with tiramisu as the dessert. When our server brought that he said "Congratulations to you...I've just been married for a year and hope I can someday celebrate the same. I'm not very artistic but tried to make the shared dessert special." He did!

So, happy anniversary to us.....and yes, we did sign up for one more year.....sort of romantic....but also "realistic" because we both admit we don't want to date anymore!  :-)

                               

                     

Expected Togetherness.....Unexpected Fun.....

Christmas 2022 took us to Meg and Mike's house out in West Bend. This has been a tradition now ever since they moved out there (with a COVID year gap). We drive out on Christmas Eve Day and she makes delicious cheese fondue for our meal. We sit around the table dipping veggies, fruit, bread, shrimp and tenderloin into the delicious "broth". Lots of laughter and conversations and a few dropped morsels going to the bottom of the heated cheese.

This year, after clean-up, we all sat around the smaller kitchen table to play dominoes. Friends taught us a new version a few weeks ago so we shared Chickenfoot Dominoes with them....and it really was fun. With one grandson a sophomore in college and the other a high school senior some of our game nights have fallen by the wayside. But everyone enjoyed this version! We played eight rounds before deciding to call it quits.

A little more conversation, boys wandering off to do their thing, yawns and general "slowing down" meant it was time to go to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

Morning was open-stocking-time and family gifts....always a fun time to be together. Three dogs examining their own stockings added to the confusion and activity! Another tradition is to eat Kringle while unwrapping the presents and then sitting down to an egg casserole full breakfast....yum.

Then, after another clean-up, we went back to the kitchen table and finished the last five rounds of Chickenfoot and I was the overall champion this time!  :-)

A very Merry Christmas!

What a Waste...

This is the time of year when we enjoy going to the mailbox as holiday cards begin to arrive. It's so nice to see familiar names in the return addresses and find a letter inside helping us catch up with friends far and wide.

This is also the time of year we get a lot of solicitations and junk mail.....much more than usual. Many of these envelopes contain a "free gift"....a calendar, some greeting cards or dozens and dozens and dozens of return address labels personalized for us.

I like to use the address labels for our Christmas cards.......all 50 of them. A few others get used during the year but, frankly,  we don't send snail mail very much any more. I also use a few to label our "things". One on my water bottle, one on Dave's, one on my quilting ruler etc. But still.....just how many labels do the organizations expect we would use....any how many trees, how much energy to produce them, how much waste??

Just a small "rant".....

 

Seattle Sky....

December in Milwaukee. The trees are bare and there is a dusting of snow on the grass. Lake Michigan even looks cold when you walk along the shore. The wind makes the day feel even colder. We were lucky with a long, mild fall season....so I am trying not to get too "crabby" about our winter temperatures. And I know we will see even colder days in the next few months.

One of the things that would lift the mood and help on these really cold days is sunshine. 

Sadly we haven't really had a blue-sky-sunny day in almost three weeks. Our local meteorologists keep ticking off the grey-sky days....ten, eleven, twelve. Waking to walk Fenway about 6:30 - 7:00 a.m. I can tell it's another grey day before even opening the curtains. It is dark!

Maybe tomorrow......

 

Another Favorite......

As the Christmas holiday approaches our apartment takes on a new look. We don't usually decorate with a lot of red, but our Santa Claus collection gives December a fun, colorful "zip". I love distributing them around on shelves and tables even if it does make dusting a bit more complicated. 

A few years ago Santa left something really fun in my stocking on Christmas morning. We were in West Bend at Megan and Mike's when I unwrapped a small box.

With the colorful Christmas paper off I must admit I was a little confused by the gift. A melting snowman???? But once I read the instructions and made my first one I was hooked. I look forward to re-finding him every December. His ever changing shape sits on the kitchen counter overlooking our dining room. He starts tall and proud and within hours he is reduced to a white "puddle".

When he reaches puddle stage I peel him off the counter, take the hat, eyes, nose, scarf and arms off and start re-molding the white clay-like snowman stuff. Soon he is once again tall and proud.....for a little while.

I like our Santa collection but now I love my melting snowman. He makes me smile everyday....and that is helpful as we enter day twelve of no sunshine in Milwaukee! 

(You can buy yours on Amazon!)

Slight Change in Tradition....

Most families have holiday traditions that they enjoy year after year. A special meal, certain ornaments or decorations, an outfit that only comes out for December. Our Christmas traditions include some of the usual elements (the tree, colorfully wrapped gifts, having friends and family join us to share time together) and some that are sort of "just ours". My Santa Claus collection has grown over the many years. As I spread them out throughout our house/apartment they remind me of past Christmases and other homes they decorated. I used to make Christmas cookies for all the years the kids were home until the college years, but since I don't enjoy kitchen time that was one tradition I was glad to cross off the list.

Dave took charge of making a gingerbread house year after year with only a pause while we lived on the sailboat for two years. He picked it up again when we moved to Milwaukee and it was something he enjoyed sharing with our two local grandsons starting when they were very small. He would assemble the house itself and the boys, Evan and Zach would add the colorful treats.

                                

If they came to our place to make the house then the boys would take it home to help decorate their kitchen....and break it open on New Year's Day. (There was always some kind of surprise inside!) At this point, with one young man in college and the other a high school senior they basically "humor" us by participating in this long-lived activity.

I was trying to think of some way to make this year's house different and at least amusing for them when I saw an idea on Facebook. We bought the pre-made house and assembled it a bit differently this year.

We brought the creation to West Bend on Thanksgiving Day....a bit early this year but since Evan was home from college we bent the "rules" a little bit. After dinner they went to the kitchen table and began their work. It didn't take long before they sat back and showed us the results.

It was a bit different this year....but there was still a surprise for each of them buried underneath. I'm already pondering next year and wondering what we could do that would, once again, make this Christmas tradition hang on a bit longer. I just hope Facebook comes to the rescue once again.

Visions of Sugar Plums.....

The apartment is decorated. Our Santa collection is spread around and the tree boasts lights and favorite ornaments. I enjoy this time of year because the pops of red bring a new color palette to our place for about a month. Unpacking the familiar pieces is fun....and finding a new arrangement is also satisfying. We will have a couple informal gatherings this month so that friends and neighbors can appreciate our efforts! 

Fenway is being a very good boy. Every morning after his walk and breakfast he curls up on the living room couch.

Eyes open or quietly snoozing on Santa's lap....he knows he has to be good if he wants any presents on Christmas morning.

He probably is not dreaming of sugar plums....maybe a box full of his favorite treats are dancing in his head. Our sweet boy.....taking good care of Santa this time of year.