Swedish Supper.

Now Serving ... The Swedish Supper!

While many families are feasting on prime rib, turkey, or ham on Christmas Eve, our crew always looks forward to our special family tradition -- the Swedish Supper. Jami's Grandma Eleanor used to prepare this meal at the holidays, and then Jami's mother continued the tradition. Our family now enjoys making these time-honored recipes, and tonight's Swedish feast was one of the best yet with some new dishes! With several contributing chefs, take a look at our fine menu:

• Potatis Korv (Potato Sausage) -- Specially made last week for us by our neighbor James
• Fingerling Potatoes with Carrots - Prepared from our locally grown farmshare veggies
• Bruna Bonor (Brown Beans) -- Prepared by Papa
• Gravlax (Cold-Cured Salmon with Dill) -- A new dish this year prepared by Papa
• Lutefisk (White Fish) -- This is the most famous of Swedish dishes! Prepared by Papa.
• Frukt Soppa (Fruit Soup) -- Sweet, warm soup of apricots, raisins, plums, cinnamon, etc.
• Mixed Green Salad with a Balsamic Lingonberry Dressing -- A new dish this year prepared by Jami
• Lefse -- Like a potato tortilla
• Sandbakkels (Almond Butter Cookies) -- A Norwegian cookie prepared by Scott
• Glogg -- Swedish mulled wine

As we gathered around the table for dinner, it was amazing to consider the many layers of family tradition woven into this meal. Papa remembers as a young child his parents making the potato sausage in their kitchen. Scott has some Norwegian heritage, so we incorporated some of those flavors, like the lefse and the sandbakkels. The handwritten cookbook we use to prepare this meal was a treasured gift from Jami's mom several years ago for Christmas. A meal like this also deserves our best dishes so we used the china from Jami's Grandma Ruby. There is so much meaning behind this meal, and the tradition is a wonderful celebration of our family ... generations past and present.

Enjoy some photos from our Christmas Eve festivities.

Such handsome fellas in the

Christmas Eve dress code: sweater vests!

Dressed up and ready for Christmas Eve Mass.

Scott cooks the potatis korv.

Ho, ho, ho ... ha, ha, ha!

Papa & Luke in their holiday hats.

Santa was treated to milk, sandbakkel cookies,

and this nice note from Luke:

"Dear Santa, I luv you and I hop (translation: hope)

you come tonight!"

'Twas the Week before Christmas...

When all through the home.

Not a creature was stirring,

except for these kindergarten gnomes.

Christmas artwork was hung on the wall with great care,

in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

This child was nestled all snug in our bed,

while visions of sugar cookies danced in his head.

And Mama in her scarf and Dad in his sweater

think the festivities of this Christmas just get better and better!

Hope you are enjoying your Christmas season

as much as we are with holiday gatherings,

Christmas spirit, traditions, and more!

May this week of Christmas bring you

much love, joy, and cheer!

Looking for the yule log...

Hi-ho, hi-ho ... yule log hunting we will go!

Today is one of our favorite holiday highlights -- the annual Yule Log Hunt in Palmer Lake! A 6-foot pine log with a red ribbon is hidden in the snowy woods. People gather together to trek through the woods and find the log. The log is then pulled up the hill (no trucks or tractors here ... just human power) and children have the opportunity to take a turn riding on the log. Once the log is hauled back to town, the "finders" have the honor to sip the first cup of wassail. The festivities continue with Christmas carols and holiday merriment.

We have participated in "the hunt" previously, but this was the best year yet! Although we didn't find the log (some 8-year-old girls beat us to it!) we had such a fabulous day. The actual log hunt itself took less than 2 minutes, but we had so much fun with all the other accompanying festivities ... hiking through the woods, snowball fights, wearing a Christmas cape (part of the tradition), and laughing all the way! The weather was perfect, and we even saw a few snowflakes fall. Jami's friend Julia joined us, and it was fun to share this tradition with someone new. Oh, what a wonderful afternoon!

Headed down the hill to the woods.

Capes are a must for yule log hunting, which is part of the

original tradition dating back to 1933.

Snowball fight! Julia & Luke toss snowballs at each other!

Caped crusaders Scott & Reid.

All aboard the Yule Log!

Julia & the bagpipe player!

Family pic on the Yule Log.

Fa-la-la-LIGHTS!

Our neighborhood has some gorgeous Christmas lights on display, and what better way to see them than on a hayrack ride! Tonight, our community hosted a new event at the golf course clubhouse. We bundled up, hopped on a hayrack ride, and rode along the cart path to see the beautiful homes lining the golf course. We even sang some carols on our 40-minute tour!

125 Months.

Long ago, Scott started this fun tradition of celebrating our significant anniversaries ... in months. Perhaps it's his engineer personality or his inner mathematician coming out, but it's so much fun to see what he cooks up at the milestone marks every 25 months. On Dec. 10, we celebrated 125 months of marriage. And what better way to celebrate the occasion than with ice cream cupcakes from Maggie Moo's! What a thoughtful, clever guy!

Hanukkah Dinner.

With Hanukkah beginning this week, we had the opportunity to learn more about this holiday and enjoy a traditional Hanukkah dinner, thanks to our wonderful neighbors Melissa & Todd! We gathered together for a fine feast of potato latkes, pot roast, apple fritters, challah bread, and more. After dinner, we lit the menorah candles and played dreidel. What a memorable evening with our neighbor friends!

Toboggan Hill

The past week brought several things ... more snow, subzero temperatures (it was -14 one day!) and the perfect conditions for sledding. Since moving here, we've been on a quest to find "the perfect sledding hill." Mission accomplished today. Introducing our Toboggan Hill adventures. Take 3 generations of family, 3 sleds, 1 thermos of hot cocoa, 1 BIG hill, and no fear. Here's what you get...

Meet Reid (AKA The Rocket). Faster than the speed of light, he can race down the mountain using only his bare (well, mittened) hands to stop himself. Turn up your sound ... so you can enjoy his sputtering (after he gets a face full of snow) and his enthusiasm ... "Let's do that again!"

Next up, Luke (AKA Crash). While his sled may seem unconventional, it's actually his secret weapon! This thrill-seeker handles the Zipfy mini luge with the greatest of ease and confidence as he races down the hill. Stay out of his way ... and don't slow him down! Or he'll crash into you!

Once upon a time... there were 3 generations

who embarked on a sledding adventure.

Why walk up the mountain yourself

when you can hitch a ride with Papa?

Grandfather. Grandsons. Grand afternoon!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our first week of December began with many fa-la-la festivities to get us in the holiday spirit. From trimming the tree ... to seeing more snow fall ... to attending several holiday parties, the very merry season is off to a grand start! Hope your December days are just as merry and bright!

Our Elf on the Shelf friend Mr. Teddy has returned!

This year the boys are even more intrigued by him.

So far, Mr. Teddy has taken some good reports back

to Santa ... let's hope that continues!

Luke & Mama trim the tree. As we placed all the

ornaments on the tree, we shared some wonderful

memories talking about the many ornaments

handmade by Grandma Ruby & Mimi Dixie.

What a Christmas treasure!

Our first holiday party was the Junior League

Provisional Graduation with the theme of

"Mistletoe & Martinis." We had a ball celebrating

with our newest members!

Jami & Scott (check out his festive Grinch tie!)

We also attended Scott's company party this weekend.

His company planned a casino night with "funny money"

and many laughs! What fun to celebrate the season with

his work friends! We are so blessed by Scott's job and the

wonderful company where he works.

Thankful.

This Thanksgiving holiday, we packed up the crew and headed back to Kansas to spend time with the ones we love ... in some of our favorite places we love. It was nice to take time out of the hustle and bustle of life to share time together, give thanks, and count our blessings. Speaking of blessings, here are a few of our favorites from this past week...

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

For these blessings, we are thankful.

We are thankful...

for autumn art projects from creative little minds.

We are thankful...

for a wall of handmade turkeys. To help the boys better

understand the meaning behind Thanksgiving, we made these

handprint turkeys with notes of why we are thankful.

And yes, that one turkey is thankful for video games!

We are thankful...

for good times with uncles, cousins, fathers, brothers.

We are thankful...

for really cool restaurants with dinosaurs!

In Kansas City, we went to lunch at the

T-Rex restaurant at the Legends.

We are thankful...

for sharing fun memories with our cousins!

We are thankful...

for Scott's family being all together over Thanksgiving.

We even celebrated some early Christmas festivities, too!

We are thankful...

for spending the morning

decorating cookies as a family!

We are thankful...

for small helpers in small aprons. Too cute!

We are thankful...

for little hands who love to try new things!

We are thankful...

for the lovely ladies in our family!

We are thankful...

for a delicious Thanksgiving meal with the Goff family!

We are thankful...

for a Thanksgiving dinner full of our favorite

family recipes just like Mom used to make.

We are thankful...

for a dad and his daughters.

We are thankful...

for a PARADE! Wamego had its annual

holiday light parade. Apparently, Santa has traded in his sleigh

for this shiny red combine ... the parade entry for Craig's company.

We are thankful...

for smiles, laughs, and a week of good times!

Colors of Christmas.

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with a tour of a poinsettia greenhouse! Today we joined several friends for a tour of Dutch Heritage Gardens, a 6-acre greenhouse that grows poinsettias for grocery stores and retail garden centers across the state of Colorado.

A few points about poinsettias...

• This facility houses 60,000 plants. It was a sea of color!
• The only true colors of poinsettias are red, pink, and white. Other variations are painted.
• It takes about 6 months for poinsettias to grow. These are planted in June.

This is our second year to tour this greenhouse, and the vivid colors of Christmas are something to see ... red and green at their best and brightest!

"Luke, wait up!"

Reid dashes to catch up with big brother Luke!

The rows of plants were endless.

Sweet boys.

Papa (who is quite the gardener himself)

joined us for the tour, too!

Mama & the boys.

Pint-sized Thanksgiving dinner.

For several months, Reid has been attending "school" at our church in the Parents' Day Out program called Little Lambs. He's one of the older children in the class, and he really enjoys the time with his friends and his two teachers Ms. Jean and Ms. Consuelo. To celebrate fall and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the families in the class gathered together for a luncheon. It was so great to meet the other parents and Reid's school pals!

Reid with his school friends. Ms. Jean is pictured in the center.

Ms. Amber (the substitute teacher) is on the right.

Mom, Dad & Reid at the school luncheon.