Snow in the Northwest

We have had a beautiful, wintery, cold December. With several snowstorms dropping many inches of snow, followed by (unusually) sustained cold temperatures, the snow has remained on the ground and we may have a somewhat white Christmas. We had to cancel two church services because of the weather.

       

This photo was taken after the second snow storm. We have since had a day of rain that reduced the amount. We have patches of ice and frozen snow so it's not as pretty but I still prefer this to a rainy, muddy December. 

I wanted to share a fun gingerbread project with you. This was not done by us but by daughter Alyssa and her husband. Alyssa has always been the gingerbread project leader in our house so without her we have no construction here but we were excited to see what she is doing in Georgia.

       

                This is Andrew's Swiss chalet! You can see his engineering mind in the design.

       

                                                             We love the almonds!

       

This is Alyssa's Candy Cottage and it is easy to see how she has honed her expertise from many years of gingerbread construction. She also loves color! 

      

             Just for fun- here is the newlywed's latest announcement! Expecting a baby boy!

                   

                              

This year's cookie boxes included turtle brownies, lemon bars, mint chocolate "snow caps", cranberry almond shortbread and cream cheese walnut cookies.

        

Our household has been studying the Jesse Tree every day using the lessons Sarah wrote on this blog last year. We have learned a lot and greatly appreciate the time and effort you, Sarah, put into it. It's been very edifying.

                                      

With twelve people in our household our little tree has dozens of gifts under it. They are all pretty small so the arrangement doesn't overwhelm the room. 

         

Debbie, my co-housewife, found these cute pillow covers while thrift shopping (her favorite hobby) and added them for seasonal cheer. It reflects our attitude about the weather.

                                   

A friend of mine, a former cake decorator, recently cleaned out a cabinet and gave me some cookie decorating supplies so I made some dough for the kids to cut out cookies and decorate. 

                        

                                  

                                     Even the cowboys wanted to get in on the action.

                                  

One final Advent service tonight as well as a children's program practice and a choir practice. Final preparations include food prep- smoked salmon spread, dinner rolls, pie crusts, more cookie boxes for friends....maybe I'll get to the Christmas cards too!  We are talking about going into the city to see The Grotto- a Roman Catholic Festival of Lights - but it may be raining. If we go I'll post photos.

             I've never seen these hills so covered in snow. I hope it stays until the New Year!

Blessings on your final preparations!