Book Club Brunch

(I stole this photo so it cannot be enbiggened.)

Saturday was our always delightful book club Christmas brunch. We traveled to Addy's lovely home in NJ where we were served delicious food in her adorably decorated living room. We have a secret santa gift exchange and my secret elf, Jill, got me a great box of knitting pattern cards. They're small so you can take them in your bag without all the bulk of a book. They're wonderful. Thank you, Jill!


Then it was time for the hotly contested book swap. We do it white elephant style. After having "Olivia" taken from me I turned into a bully and earned Dallin's (Elise's son) eternal wrath by stealing Russell's Christmas Magic. It's really cute. I wish I was a better person and felt more guilty about getting to take it home.




We wrapped things up with Jenny's traditional reading of Osbert. A tradition that may die this year as Tom will be done with dental school and they'll be moving on. I hope with the miracles of modern technology we may be able to have the reading in the future.

LCAT is still going strong and I love it. Thank you all for being so smart and wonderful. And for actually reading the books and talking about them. I just finished "Escape" and can't wait for January.

Tree Me!

Where do you want me to put this? Oh, on the tree?

Yea, see, all you gotta do is open the string and put it down on the bottom.

Mommy and dude did a pretty good job of looking cute while pretending to put up ornaments. We're all dressed up in our Christmas pajamas. Beckett the Blues Clue, Dawnell the Simpson, and Chris the Grinch.

Daddy and dude were pretty exhausted after their five minutes of decorating though, so they couldn't strike such a sweet pose.

And here is the fake blue tree in all of its glory! Love me the color contrast between blue lights and predominantly hot pink ornaments.

Random Interlude

One of our friends had a very sick daughter. Beckett loved playing with her before they moved away so we were both really sad. Since we are a couple of hundred miles away I couldn't do much to help the situation, but I decided to do what little I could to cheer some flagging spirits.

I made this little dolly. It was supposed to be a fairy, hence the green skin, but I couldn't get a wing pattern to print. (Stupid malfunctioning printer sensor.) Now I'm pretending she's a pixie instead of just looking like a girl with food poisoning.

We love you Maddy and are so glad you're feeling better!

Turkey to Tree

Hey, look, we're all happy because Thanksgiving ruled!

We had friends over from our old stomping grounds in the J.C. It made us miss seeing these friends every week at church. Still didn't make us miss Jersey City though. Mamaroneck we heart you!

We had food because it was Thanksgiving. Delicious. Dawnell cooked a pumpkin cheesecake with ginger/pecan crust (not pictured). Good stuff. Beckett enjoyed playing with his friend Hayley and pat patting the two babies who showed up.

Dawnell got all crafty and did these fancy boxes.

Coming up next post, putting up the Christmas tree!