Table Runners

For the past several trips, I've told George to not let me buy three things.  #1 a scarf, #2 anything that has to be framed, and #3 a table runner.  And guess what I buy on almost every trip?  Yep - #1, #2, and #3.  I finally got my whole collection of table runners under one roof and started looking at them.  I have 28....28 table runners, not counting the holiday ones! Seriously George needs to get me under control!!!  I'm blaming him for this stack....but I love them all.  I'm not even going to show you my collection of scarves........

Paying the Price

Remember my post about how FUN it was to get out all the Christmas decorations that I hadn't seen in 8 years?  Well for the past two days, I've paid the price for all that FUN!  In our apartment in Lake Oswego I could decorate and then undecorate in less than an hour.  Remember we lived in 1200 sq. feet. Here it took me all of two days...and that is not an exaggeration!  Definitely not minimalist here at our house! I have all the decorations I've accumulated over the last 43 years plus a lot of my mother's things.  Now I have things well organized and every box is labeled.  I'll be ready to do it all again next December...and will be happy to do so!

In case you are wondering, I have 4 boxes of tree decorations! And two trees! 

These are all the 'non tree' decorations.

Christmas Day

Santa found our house!!!

Isabella didn't seem to know quite what to do when she walked in and saw a kitchen! 

She figured out pretty quickly that it was for her. 

And it entertained her all day!  Pots and pans, dishes and play food!  What more could a 3 year old cook want? Except people to play with her.  Uncle Scott was happy to oblige! 

All the gifts were thoughtful and very much appreciated! 

Our traditional breakfast pizza and cinnamon rolls were delicious!  Some traditions are too perfect to even consider changing.

For lunch we took an idea that Tammy had shared with us.  On Christmas Eve we ordered Indian food and then ate it mid day on Christmas.  Perfect!  Saved me time in the kitchen cooking when I wanted to be doing other things....like playing games and feeding ducks! 

 For years I've heard that feeding bread to ducks is not good so I googled duck food and found that you can just give them canned corn or bird seed.  FYI they like the corn the best. 

 This group was so tame that they would come and eat right out of my hand.  Too bad I didn't get a photo of that.

It was truly a very Merry Christmas!  Even George's dragons agree! 

 George thinks that Christmas hats are way beneath their dignity.  I think they looked cute! 

This photo just needs 3 more smiles to be perfect!  Mary, Mark and their little guy!  Hopefully next year we can get just such a photo! 

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

The moon is right
The spirits up

We're here tonight

And that's enough

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The party's on
The feelin's here 
That only comes
This time of year

Last Christmas Eve I decided that we needed to revamp our normal Christmas Eve activities! Everyone agreed to my proposals, so this year was definitely different and very fun.  

Throughout the evening each of us shared a memory.  Monica told us the sweet story of her last Christmas with her father.  I reminisced about the holiday in Lonoke.  George described that amazing decoration his Dad made that created a kaleidoscope inside a large wreath.  Matt remembered acting out the nativity story in Provo with Uncle John being the donkey.  He recalled how happy he was when he was finally big enough to wear one of Tammy's costumes from the Shakespeare Festival.  Scott talked about Christmas in Arkansas and how much he loved being there with family. We all laughed remembering funny things Aunt Mary and Grandma had said.  Johnny shared several experiences he remembered with the family, including one I'd never heard before about the harrowing ride he and Matt took on a tandem bike in Salzburg.  Sometimes it is better NOT to know. I didn't take any photos of these tender moments.

We interspersed the memories with some 'minute to win it' games. We even had score cards!

Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Toss - Don't worry no real hot chocolate was involved. 

It was harder than it looked!

Next year I need to make Isabella a score card as she wanted to participate in every game. 

 When throwing them all the way down the table proved too difficult, she had a good solution!

Christmas Tree Stack 

 Everyone scored on this one, well except for me! 

Look at that concentration!

 Yep, Isabella wanted to try this one too!

Snowman Slide  - The Easiest one

Isabella loved this one. 

As you can see from her expression, she loved knocking them all down.

Snowball Fight was too wild and crazy and difficult so I didn't even try to take photos. It involved bouncing ping pong balls into a bowl while the rest of us threw cotton balls to try and get your ball off target!   

George beat Scott out for the grand prize by a single point. 

For dinner we had fondue which proved to be a hit.

Traditionally when eating fondue, if you drop your food into the common pot you have to kiss the person next to you.   Matt and Scott and I came up with some other 'stunts' if food dropped off your fork.  We wrote them on slips of paper and if you were the one who dropped, you had to pick a paper and perform the stunt. 

One stunt was to kiss the person to your right.

Another was to kiss the person to your left. 

Another was to wear reindeer ears and a Rudolph nose. If you are wondering, that is sparkling cider in his glass. Yes, the instigators of the stunts had to perform them!  Ha Ha!

We also made a craft.  This has been a part of our traditions for the last 8 years.  

I love it.  The boys tolerate it!

But we made some cute ornaments! 

George recited, "Christmas Eve on the Dessert", which reminded us of Grandpa Lewis's yearly recitation of this poem.  Then we had chocolate from our chocolate fountain.  Yummy! 

I think traditions are kind of like friends, "Make new traditions but keep the old - One is SILVER and the other GOLD!

Day in Portland - Cancer Update

The most important directive when you have a rare cancer is to find a specialist who sees many patients with your type of cancer.  I have such a doctor in Portland.  I've been seeing him every 6 months for a checkup which includes blood work and an ultrasound.  In May when I made my next appointment, I had no idea that I would be living in Eagle, Idaho in December, so rather than a quick drive to OHSU, this appointment meant a flight to Portland for the day.

My 6:00 a.m. flight was on time and I got on the TriMet train at the airport.  Cheap, efficient and very easy!   It's extra cheap for 'honored citizens' like me....that is a nicer term than senior citizens although it still just means OLD!

 The train whisked me to downtown Portland where a city bus took me to the lower campus of OHSU. 

 From there it was an easy trip on the tram to the main hospital where my doctor's office is located.  Yes it was raining! 

I had plenty of time for a hot chocolate before my ultrasound and office visit with Dr. Madison.  And it was, drum roll please....

My calcitonin, which is the marker they use to see if there is spread of the disease, has actually gone down a little bit and my ultrasound showed nothing unusual.  I still have cancer but for now it is behaving itself.  Yeah!!!!

I'll have more blood work in Boise in six months .  He suggested that my next appointment should be in a year but I talked him into letting me come in September instead.  Flights are cheaper.  Calendars aren't as full. I have the option of driving since there won't be snow on the mountain passes.  And September in Portland is beautiful.  

On this visit I got to enjoy lunch with a few of my good friends.  One of them even took time out of her busy schedule to take me back to the airport.  Next visit we already have a lunch scheduled at Skamania Lodge with our friends the Helmandollars...I'm envisioning other dinners with friends and a visit to Lakeridge Ward on Sunday.

Now all I have to do is ENJOY CHRISTMAS!  That is going to be easy and fun!

Christmas Cookies - It's a Tradition

I've made Christmas cookies for as long as I can remember.  I loved having my little children 'help' me.  We shared our tradition with our neighbors in Spain, went through a time of 'surly' teenagers who only grudgingly helped, and now it is a firm Lewis Family tradition.

I was happy that Monica asked me to help her bake cookies to take to her friends.  Argentina must be a lot like Spain where a family would think nothing of cooking an elaborate meal with multiple courses, but would go to the bakery for dessert.

This was the first time she had ever baked and she was a natural!

Our little helper Isabella enjoyed the tradition too. 

When we were done we had 7 beautiful plates of cookies ready for Monica's closest friends to enjoy her new skill! 

They tasted as good as they looked.

Friday night after Scott was in Eagle, we continued the tradition with a family cookie decorating session.  I had to laugh when Matt said that a friend asked him to come over and he said, "No I can't.  We are having a family cookie decorating night."  He said his friend laughed but I am glad those boys decided to stay home and be with us.  They are master cookie decorators! 

Monica and John had fun too.  Monica has been hiding her artistic talents! 

Isabella was really into it too...looking at the photos you will soon know her very favorite part! I think we would designate her as our taste tester. 

 She loved the sprinkles or as she said, "wrinkles".  Every time she said, "More wrinkles please", it made me laugh!

Aren't Grandmas and Grandpas supposed to hype their grandkids up on sugar and then send them home to bed?  I think it is in the job description!