God Jul 2011

Christmas in Illinois. Considering what happened last Christmas, this year was pretty unremarkable - and that's a good thing.

We were at Aunt Connie and Uncle Fred's house on Christmas Eve.

All the cool Christmas people congregate there.

It's the best place in the world to be on Christmas Eve.

For the past 31 years I have been exposed to salta (solta?) on Christmas Eve, and I have avoided it. It has always struck me as a mysterious meat product to be avoided. But this year, Aunt Connie asked me if I'd had some salta yet. I said, "I've . . . never had salta before." Sometimes I can be such a lousy Swede. Truly, by avoiding the salta I have been shame to my people. And Aunt Connie looked scandalized.

Aunt Connie is one of the last people on earth I would want to disappoint.

So I ate a piece of salta, which is allegedly pressed beef with spices.

You know what? I didn't die. It was actually pretty good.

Then there's Bond-Ost, a Swedish cheese with and without caraway seeds.

I'm a with-seeds type of Bond-Ost eater.

And we always take a picture of the mouse on the cheese plate.

It's tradition.

And then we take pictures of each other taking pictures.

And then we take pictures of cute little girls being silly.

Elin perched herself at the island in the kitchen, where is all the appetizers and cookies are before the main smorgasbord is spread out.

There was a Santa puppy.

I am officially 1.25" taller than my big sister, and when I put my clogs on, that adds about another two inches. Ha!

. . . yet cousin Valerie is taller than both of us, so my moment of glory was short-lived.

All these lovely people were watching TV. (There was a Swamp People marathon on.)

Christmas Eve dinner is one of Viggo's favorite meals of the year. I'm pretty sure he ate more than I did.

Presents.

Jammies on and watching TV with Nels.

Christmas morning! Stocking goodies from Santa!

A recorder? Thanks a lot, Santa.

The pink fluffy tutu was also from Santa . . . and much quieter than a recorder.

Breakfast with Mom and Dad, Meme and Bo, and all the kiddos.

No salta here, so I didn't have to prove anything. Just bacon . . . mmm.

Getting the kids together for a photo in front of the tree.

Awww. Kevin, Harold Angel, Elin, Svea, and Linnea.

Opening gifts. So fun.

Elin gave lots of hugs as thank-yous and your-welcomes.

I love tags like these.

Sweet dolls for the girls made by Maren! Pink hair! How cool!!

Svea gave Elin Swiper the Fox, a Dora the Explorer character.

Swiper is the "bad guy" of Dora who, well, swipes things.

Elin is in the process of reforming Swiper. Swiper behaves here at the Weeks house.

I. Love. Christmas.

We have gone to Scheel's for months and have always visited the bows and arrows. Viggo couldn't believe he got one!

Light-up ladybugs . . .

Playmobil everything . . .

An Airzooka and a recorder.

That seemed to be it for really annoying gifts.

I LOVE this picture of Mom!

Merry Christmas, and God bless you and yours this new year!

20 Dozen

Viggo and I were in Illinois this weekend.
Nate stayed home with the girls.
They completely surprised Viggo and I with 20 dozen Christmas cookies.

I knew there were cookies waiting for us but I was not prepared for the amount and variety. There were several containers on the counter full of cookies.

I said to Nate, "Did you make these? All of them?" Not that Nate isn't capable of making them. But, I mean, that was a ton of work, and I have witnessed Nate purchasing plates of Christmas cookies for church fundraising. Made by people who have the time to make them.

Yes. He and the girls made all of them. He even went shopping to buy all the fixins' so he wouldn't wipe out my stash of ingredients. What. A. Guy.

They made sugar cookies. LOTS of them.

Chocolate cookies with chocolate stars, on the left.
Yes, those are chocolate cookies with Andes mints on the right, and no, I'm not sharing them.

Peanut butter blossoms with chocolate stars.

Christmas wreaths . . . not sure what these are made out of, but I have a feeling green food coloring is involved. With cinnamon red-hots. We're so super-festive.

Chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls.

The inside of one. It's crispy/creamy/crunchy/peanut-buttery heaven.

If you are not at our house right now, you are missing out.

But wait; there's more! Anything else that wasn't nailed down in the pantry was also dipped in chocolate. So there's some chocolate-dipped skorpa, and chocolate-dipped Nilla wafers.

I told the kids to have a Christmas cookie this morning and Elin pulled a stool right up to the counter and dug in.

Viggo said, "I know Daddy rarely cooks, but when he cooks, he cooks crazy-good things." Nate is amazing. I'm not sharing him either.

Fall Photorama

Today we're going back in time . . . just a little bit.

Happy birthday to Nate!

Nate got special gifts.

Special gifts from special little people.

Some coins from the V-man for Nate's collection.

Elin loves birthdays. Sharing in the excitement with Nate's was so fun for her!

Birthday hugs.

Cozy reading on the couch.

I got special birthday presents too, like this beautiful Ekelund tablecloth from my folks! It is so soft, I had to refrain from sleeping with it . . .

And I also got a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos . . . yes that's right, I love Cool Ranch Doritos, and I'm proud of it.

Funny fingers.

Crazy pumpkin carvers.

Beautiful handmade quilts from our wonderful friend Cindy!

Snacks in the kitchen with Dad.

Thanksgiving with the Woods family!

Eating huge turkey legs with cousins is oh so much fun!

Thanksgiving exercise.

Warm weather on Thanksgiving and being with family . . . what a gift :)