a little Christmas

I hope "you all" had a Merry Christmas! Here's a little glimpse into our Christmas this year ... These first two pix are from a few days before Christmas ... December 19 ... which had been a busy day. A "relative" Christmas party and a few errands at the mall. So here we are at Panera ... recovering from the insanity of the mall. The place was almost empty ... so it was nice and calm :) Christmas Eve ... I didn't send out Christmas cards this year ... but this would have been a good picture for it! Just pretend I did ;) Not an easy task to get all four kids ~ mostly because one is a baby ~ looking the same direction and trying to smile!

My mother by her feast ... I tease her that she calls everything swedish ... swedish meatballs, swedish sausage, swedish tea cakes, swedish kringle, swedish coffee ... swedish buns, swedish potatoes, swedish vegetables ;)
Christmas Day ... this feast was at my in-laws ... prime rib this year

Father and Son ...

Father and Son and ... legos!

Dessert ... my mother-in-law always has a heaping platter of berries ... a beautiful sight in the winter :)

And this here is a photo of my largest cross-stitch project to date ... it took me nine hours! I haven't really cross-stitched other than a little bit as a child ... but I have a tradition ~ which might not go on forever ... I'm running out of ideas ~ of giving my mother-in-law a handmade gift. She collects birds ... so this was my idea for the handmade portion of her gift this year. Actually, this picture is before it was finished. My mother helped with sewing a back and a loop on it ... which made it a little ornament or knob decoration :)