We’re back from our holiday travels/vacation and it was a wonderful time. Here are a few highlights:
–the Burning River Brass concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my sister, in front of the baroque-angel-laden Christmas Tree:
–our menorah partially aflame in honor of Hanukkah:
–a healthy helping of Mom’s homemade minestrone, which Andrew continues to rave about:
–an equally relaxing and stimulating trip to one of my favorite yarn shops, the Yarn Boutique in Rochester, where I greedily snagged that sunshine-colored skein of Malabrigo Rios in “Sunset”:
–a bit of pottering in the kitchen with Nigella Lawson’s Salted Caramel Sauce poured over freshly-popped popcorn:
–an all-hands-on-deck wintry wonderscape creation for our holiday table that featured all manner of tasty cake houses, colorful candies and candy trees, incredible frosting skills, and Joe’s “vision” to bring it all together:
–proof, courtesy of me and my sis Alex, that perhaps great minds do think alike:
–a holiday tipple in the form of prosecco + pomegranate liqueur, which my brother cleverly dubbed “The Pom Bomb”:
–a baked Santa for dessert, created and decorated by my sis Gabrielle by hand, because she IS that good (and yes, he tasted as good as he looked, too):
–the annual pilgrimage to the massive holiday train display at The Garden Factory in Rochester, to see all of the changes and updates to the train layout, to check out what’s new, and to enjoy seeing old favorites:
–and one very happy little shih tzu named Coco enjoying her new blanket, courtesy of Gramma:
I can’t believe that 2011 is nearly over – what a year it’s been. Next time, maybe we’ll talk about some knitting resolutions for 2012? And maybe I’ll even have actual pictures of knitting!?! Honest!
I absolutely LOVE your posts ! Such fun and joy and family together doing what families are supposed to do….enjoy each other. Lovely picture of you and your sister in your matching sweaters –
Have a very Happy New Year and I look forward to being inspired by all your posts, even if knitting is never mentioned !!
Melissa in Boise
PS – I have friends who live in Rochester….I may have to pay the city a visit and see that train display, to say nothing of helping that yarn shop stay in business…hmmmm
Thank you Melissa! Yes, the matching sweaters were an unexpected surprise and the source of a fair amount of laughter. Happy Healthy New Year!
What a wonderful Holiday experience for everyone involved. the Wonderscape is amazing, or I should say, was amazing. LOL And I can tell you right now, from what I can see of that minestrone soup, it looks pretty amazing too. I have a feeling that Andrew is right to rave about it.
HAPPY 2012!!
We had a joyful and rollicking good time with all of you kiddos in attendance, and I can’t think of anything that would have made it any nicer…this year’s celebration was truly one for the books…!!!