Ever so Clever:

Truffles & Chestnuts...great combo!

Mark's Christmas specialty- Chocolate Truffles!

We've been using the recipe found on the Martha Stewart website (click to view it) for the past several years. They're a little time consuming to make but completely divine!

This year Mark decided to do three different coating options- one ground nuts, another cocoa powder and the last one finely ground coffee mixed with cocoa powder. Annika really wante to help make them this year. She got to spoon the coating on the truffles.

A tray of delicious truffles waiting for a hungry person to devour them.

As the song goes..."chestnuts roasting over an open fire..."

We fell in love with these chestnuts while spending Christmas in Austria two years ago. They're called heisse Maroni. You buy them from street-side vendors- and they give you a newspaper cone filled with hot chestnuts. Oh...and don't forget the gluehwein or kinderpunsch! Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without those foods and drinks!

Decorating the Christmas Tree...

Ah...

The lovely 2009 Tree.

I think it turned out quite lovely.

Now, my family's tradition while growing up was to have Christkindl (I suppose that would translate to Christ Child) decorate the tree on the day of Christmas Eve with the big reveal happening after Christmas Eve dinner. I'll admit it was intensely exciting to see the tree for the first time after waiting so long to see it. It's a beautiful tradition but I decided to let go of that tradition in favor of my husband's (and I think most Americans') tradition of decorating the tree together as a family. It's extra nice to have lots of help decorating the tree- it took us several hours to complete as a team. I can't imagine how long it would have taken to me to do on my own! It also means not having to decorate the tree AND cook Christmas Eve dinner all in one day (oh...and let's not forget about those presents! We also opened up our gifts on Christmas Eve)!

Does my tree have a theme? I don't think so. It is mostly red. But then, I do love red. Especially at Christmas. I'm not sure I could ever have a Christmas without red. The tree is laden with ornaments.

My little helpers...doing just that! Helping!

Me trying to find an open spot for another ornament. We didn't use any glass ornaments. I'm sure you can guess why! You get two guesses.

The finished tree. Isn't she pretty?

Close-up of the tree...

I love that star star on top. It's not one of those extra fancy tree toppers that I've been seeing all over BlogLand. It's not a shiny star either. Just a sweet, simple star made of straw. I can't think of anything more appropriate.

Meet our Wonky Gingerbread House

Decorating our gingerbread house ....

Requires you to wear a bow upon your head. Oh...and to wear pajamas!

Now...why would I call this Fine Masterpiece a Wonky Gingerbread House?

Well, you see it's actually the house from a Halloween gingerbread kit that I never got around to decorating. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to eat the cookie house anyway (I hot glued it together in an attempt to save my sanity) I wrapped it up carefully and waited for it to become a Christmas decoration. We used only the candies we had at home and the package of premade Wilton gingerbread house decorations I'd bought on sale at Michael's. See that tree? It's made of paper and slathered with icing and green sprinkles. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the candy canes from falling over.

Merry Christmas::Frohe Weihnachten!

Hoping you all had a wonderful, joyous Christmas celebration!

We've had a fun-filled week full of fun activities - from skiing without the girls, decorating the tree, viewing the amazing lights display at Murphy Park in Dubuque, baking cookies, making chocolate truffles, decorating the gingerbread house , and decorating for Christmas...

and then I realized I haven't written a single post about any of this! Whoops.

So, grab a drink and take a seat as I bombard you with photos from the previous week.

Annika opening the note that Santa left her (he left it where they'd left a cookie and a note to Santa). Santa's note was to both girls...he told them he was pleased to see that they played so well together and that many of the gifts he brought were intended for them to play with together. Good thinking, Santa!

Ummm..Annika's not excited or anything.

Ooooooh! How exciting! Santa filled their stockings with all sorts of goodies!

The girls love Scooby Doo...so they were really excited when they saw this game (and the Scooby Doo poseable ears headbands...LOL!).

Isn't it great to capture the Moment of Realization? Ava has wanted to have a dart shooter like her cousin Gregory ever since we visited them at Thanksgiving. Santa obviously knew!

The Most. Awesome.Dollhouse. Ever. Period. Danke Uroma and Uropa for this extremely beautiful and very fun gift!

Annika had several had wrapped packages to the family...some were class projects and others like this one were filled with random things (this one had the Christmas ornaments she'd made at Santa's Workshop).

Another look at that awesome dollhouse. It's taller than Ava! It has more furniture than we have! (okay, that's not actually true)

Here's what I cannot believe....the girls picked this morning- CHRISTMAS MORNING- to sleep in! They didn't pound on our door demanding to get up at some awful hour in the morning. Mark and I actually got up and had breakfast made before getting the girls finally up at 8am!!!! They're usually early risers so this came as quite a surprise to us parents.

Okay. More photos to come...I'm having trouble uploading them to Blogger. So stay tuned...

The First Snowfall.

Okay, okay, okay. I'm behind on posting photos....

Here's our First Snowfall ...and that was on December 3rd! Ooops.

I went outside and what did I find? A little snow angel looking up at me!
The girls hard at work making the first snow angels of the year.

My snow bunnies!

Breakfast with Santa..or waiting for Santa

Last Saturday was Breakfast with Santa.

Or should I say, Waiting for Santa?

We waited for thirty minutes for Santa to arrive...but at least he did come! (although I'll admit I was getting a little nervous he wasn't going to show.)

At least they had lots of coloring sheets and crayons available for the kids to keep busy with....As demonstrated by Annika and her friend Lilly...

And here by Ava...

Ava asked for several items. She seemed to whisper her wishes to Santa. I think I heard a doll house mentioned. She went on and on...I wish I had gotten a little closer to hear her conversation.

Annika only had a few wishes. I know jewelry was one of the items on her wish list.

Until next year Santa! Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Concert 2009

The Elementary School Concert....

Here are the First Graders....

Do you see Annika? See anything unusual? (other than the pretty bow on her head) She's wearing a skirt! All the girls in her class were so surprised that she was wearing something other than pants.

Funny...we noticed that by the third grade the kids generally stop shouting the words and actually singing them.