Family Alive

Here’s a glimpse of our Thanksgiving…

The Martha Stewart pinecone turkey project (using one HUGE pinecone from the California redwood forest). Quick, easy and fun.

The Thanksgiving feast table at Brian’s parent’s house…
rolls, turkey, cranberry sauce from a can, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes,
corn casserole, cranberry relish and green bean casserole (the last 3 were my contributions with links to the recipes).
Our pinecone turkeys joined the ceramic one 🙂

A sneak peek at our family Christmas card picture!
We’ve attempted it 3 times now, with a total of 12 pictures, but this one turned out the best.
Now, let’s see if I can get the cards in the mail before January… But if I don’t, at least you faithful readers can appreciate it!

Analise wore a pretty dress that Poppa Dale found at a University of Minnesota textile store. It looked so pretty on her!

Modeling by the Christmas tree next to our front door. No, I wouldn’t normally have Christmas trees up this early,
but she found it in the basement garage this week… (see below)

And insisted Brian bring it up for decorating with a couple ornaments she found digging around. Then she piled all her toys under it as presents:)
But just to set the record straight… she’s not going to be about the trees, decorations and presents, though I’m sure those are pretty exciting.

*EVERYTHING* is about Baby Jesus right now. We’re trading off being Mary, Joseph, shepherds and Baby Jesus.
Analise is wrapping "cloths" around Baby Jesus, and tucking him in (but really "her", because it’s usually her dolls Annie or Dora…
kind of disconcerting to ask where Baby Jesus is, and to hear her say, "She’s over here!")
I came home the other evening to find they’d arranged the chairs into a stable, with Dora playing the starring role.
Analise wanted to sleep in the stable, and she’d brought nearly all the toys, crayons and puzzle pieces she could find out to be gifts from the wise men.

Here’s another glimpse at a recent Nativity set up, with the Care Bear in the starring role, with Tigger, Strawberry Shortcake and the Veggie Tales squash looking on. Yes, the shoe is a perfect manger. …

She’s played with my cherished Willow Tree nativity set for a long time, and
it’s always a little internal battle for me to let her play with something that’s so fragile and means so much to me.
A couple weeks ago, I’d gotten a hand carved olive wood nativity set, very pretty and perfectly sized for her hands. Last night, I gave her the first of the Advent gifts I’d gotten, because, well, we can’t keep secrets around here:) No, really, I knew she’d enjoy it every day until Christmas, and probably until Easter. Oh, yes, and I’m hoping this one of her own will allow me to put mine on display for the holidays.

But today at Toones, Beverly gave her a Precious Moments nativity set to keep at their house. She was busy with that all afternoon.

Here’s everyone crowded into the stable. But the best part was when I overheard her saying the wise men had to go home because their Mommy needed them.
Two quick recommendations… we’ve recently just won "A Wowie Bozowie Christmas" featuring Boz the Bear and "The Very First Noel". Both are wonderful, but The Very First Noel is a beautifully animated sweet story, featuring the Wise Men’s trek to the Holy Child, narrated by Andy Griffith. Great music – Analise is already singing entire Christmas carols, awesome story, definitely a holiday tradition. (Both available together here, for only $19.99).