Monday, December 23, 2013

This Weekend's Christmas Spirit

Good morning, blog friends.
I can't imagine a better way to begin a Monday morning than a writing a weekend recap full of Christmas preparation, friends and family, cupcakes, and music. And two movies. Plus, usually when I click that "Publish" button I switch gears and start getting ready for work, but I have this week off so I won't be playing the role of Office Manager today. Instead, I'm going to spend my day making lasagna for tomorrow night's Christmas Eve gathering and tying up the loose ends of Christmas preparation. It's the best way to spend a Monday, I think.
 
I ended up embellishing 10 dish towels to use as gift wrapping this year, and I finished tying all those up this weekend. I'm really happy with how they turned out! I used some of the towels to wrap around loaves of bread, and the others to tie up some brownie mix. {recipe here}
 
Saturday night was spent enjoying the company of friends and family at an annual soup party. This year's festivities included a house concert by our friend, Rachel and my nephew, Ryne. It was so cool to hear these talented young people sharing their gifts. I loved every bit of this!



Same night/same party... We also celebrated our niece Kaycee and her recent graduation from Arizona State University. I volunteered for cupcakes, and Kaycee chose red velvet.





I don't go to the movies very often, so it's really unusual for me to see two in one weekend! We saw "Hunger Games - Catching Fire" on Friday night. Carrie and Doug loved it, I fell asleep. :o\  Then yesterday Carrie and I saw "Saving Mr. Banks" which was an utter disappointment in so many ways. I think we both were expecting the lightheartedness of our beloved Mary Poppins, but it was actually a rather depressing movie. Pity.
 
Our friends, Samantha and Adam came over yesterday and it was so nice to spend some time with them. Sam and I stamped a few dish towels, and our guys made sausage from venison and pork. I'll spare you the graphic photos, but let me tell you, it was an interesting process. Adam is a pro, and Doug thoroughly enjoyed himself. And even though I don't eat venison, I did try some of the finished sausage and it is the BEST I've ever eaten. Hands down. We are really excited to share some of the sausage with our family at tomorrow night's Christmas Eve gathering.
 
So that, in a nutshell, was our weekend. I need to click that publish button and get busy. There's lasagna to make, a few gifts to finish wrapping, and Christmas to celebrate.
 
I feel so grateful for this blog space and for those of you that visit regularly.
I'm sending heartfelt wishes to each of you for a very Merry Christmas.
God bless us, everyone.

15 comments:

Cheri said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend and the red velvet cupcakes were definitely a hit with that adorable little blonde! Catching Fire was an awesome movie - followed the book quite nicely - sorry you slept through it. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas! My best to you and Doug and Carrie.

scrappyjacky said...

Sounds like a perfect pre-christmas weekend....and I love the printed dish towels wrapping 'paper'[I think that they are what we call tea towels....though why we call them that I've no idea!!!]
A very Merry Christmas to you all.

Susi said...

Sounds and looks like a perfect way to spend the weekend before Christmas. Love the towels.
Merry Christmas!

Abi said...

Oh that sounds like a lovely weekend. It is rainy and cold today but we are cuddled in the lounge with an open fire. Thank you for the lovely Christmas card you sent me! It arrived today and made me smile! Merry Christmas sweet friend.

furrypig said...

love the tea towel wrappings really cute! There is a wet noisy windy storm blowing outside so glad to be in the warm. Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas dear Deb xxx

Sian said...

Merry Christmas Deb! and thank you for the chance to enjoy your lovely pictures of your preparations. Enjoy that time off work

Ruth said...

What a great weekend! And so lovely to see blue skies after a day of shockingly awful weather here in London.
Wishing you, Doug and Carrie and very happy Christmas! x

Audrey said...

My favorite part of this post? That you fell asleep in the movie!!! Hahahaha!!! I love that. Totally something I would do. :-)

Karen said...

Looks like a great weekend. Ours was pretty quiet, which it needed to be! Tracy's cousin gave us some venison hot dogs this summer. They were wonderful. Have a fabulous holiday!

debs14 said...

Happy Christmas to you too Deb! Sounds like you are ready and organised. We are in the middle of rain storms here and it seems so weird to see blue skies in your pre Christmas photos. Have a wonderful time with your family x x x

traci said...

The cupcakes look delicious. That little one sure is enjoying them. I'm bummed about the movie. My mom and I always go Christmas afternoon and I was thinking we see that one. Maybe not now. Have a merry Christmas Deb!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like it was a great weekend. I like the idea of towels for gift wrap - I'll have to remember that one. I hope the 3 of you had a wonderful Christmas Day.

Susi said...

Oh and Thanks so much for sharing the Brownie mix. Brownies are my favorite!

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a lovely sounding weekend. I'm glad you're having such a wonderful holiday. Isn't being off work the best!
Rinda

Jo said...

What a great idea to wrap gifts in tea towels! I love listening to Ryne's cd and I bet it's amazing to hear him live. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas x

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