Solstice Party 2010

Phew! After this post, I think I'm all caught up with December activities. It was a busy month!

Anyway, I originally had the Solstice party scheduled for a few days before Solstice, but two of the invitees were ill that day, so I rescheduled for a couple days after Solstice.

I also meant to take lots of cool, artsy pictures, but I was having so much fun hanging out, talking, and eating that I forgot. My one attempt at a picture during the event didn't turn out, so you'll just have to imagine it. I even forgot to take pictures of the food!!

Anyway, I was in charge of the food, and then some groovy people brought all of the other stuff. There was a beautiful centerpiece with evergreen boughs and red glass berry branches, some nice music, tasty beverages, and even a great presentation about Solstice. (We all laughed during the poem - but we were supposed to, right????) And then we went downstairs and talked about kids and home ownership and life. It was a lovely evening.

All the food came from the book Recipes from the Root Cellar. I mentioned that I wanted it, so I decided to buy it for myself as an early Christmas present. Love presents like that :) We had Couscous Sasad with Kale and Feta, Creamy Potato-Leek Soup, Maple Glazed Baked Winter Vegetables (I used beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips and butternut squash) with Chicken, and Applesauce Cake for dessert. I must admit that most of it was delicious, although somehow, I managed to screw up the Applesauce Cake a bit. The cake itself was overdone a little, and then I didn't do the crumb topping quite right, although all the guests graciously ate it without complaining.

It was so nice to share a meal and lovely conversation with friends as we welcomed in the new season. It was so much fun, I'll probably be hosting one every season! I'll try and take pictures next time too!

Music Concerts 2010

During the same week that we were doing other Christmas things, we also had music concerts for Flower and Super.

Super is in Kindergarten this year, and the school holds a K-2 Music concert during December where they sing all kinds of holiday songs. Super really enjoys singing. And his cute Music teacher :) Sorry about the video quality on this one. He is the one with blondish brown hair, wearing a grey suit, 2nd row up from the bottom, sort of in the middle.

Flower is in 5th grade this year, and was part of the elementary school choir. They sang a few "regular" songs and a few holiday songs. She LOVES singing. She plans on trying out for the school musical and is hoping to get a part. Flower is on the bottom row, 2nd person in on the right.

First Snow of late 2010

After the courthouse, we came back home. The kids were SO excited to go out and play in the snow. They acted like they had never seen snow before! They were so excited that they didn't even complain when I asked them to shovel the walks before they built a snowman! They bundled up and then they went outside - and they were outside for at least two hours! And nobody came in during that time! My children are finally growing up, I think! I went out a couple times to check on the progress of the shoveling and of the snowman making, but most of the time, I sat inside the warm house and read. Oh, and drank hot chocolate. A good day was had by all!

The snowman

Jelly Bean

Flower

And Super - right after he
got hit with a snowball!