A fun highlight of our day is when the bus stops and four little grandchildren get dropped off at the end of our driveway. We try to have something interesting for them to do each day - rather than just turning on the TV.
Here is Abby playing with sidewalk chalk which I found in a cupboard today
Snacking on yogurt
Somebody had given Malcolm a big Barbie doll which he donated to the toys. The girls named her Lisa. Luckily I found a sweatshirt that Jessica had worn and with it we were able to allow Lisa to dress modestly.
Bev had ordered several big portraits for people whose family pictures had been taken. I cut the large cardboard shipping containers into individual pieces, and the kids loved coloring on them.
All of this works because we have the TV off
Jude always loves snacks
One day we made play dough. Each kid got their own clob of color.
Surprisingly....Santa came to Jessica's house on Tuesday when everybody "happened" to be there. Every year Terry and Jenn Isom get dressed up and come for this visit. The kids LOVE this. I'm not sure the young ones understand why Jenn is hanging out with Santa.
Bev often brings Ruby and Jane over to nap while she runs errands. Here is Janie waiting for me to get her out of the pack and play.
For Christmas Day dinner we planned, as usual, to have Mexican food. My assignment is to make sopapillas. I haven't been happy with previous years recipe so I started early this year, trying different recipes and so forth. I finally settled on a brand new recipe that Ray found. The difference is that it used twice as much shortening and the dough is much more wet and doughy. The results were very good with this recipe.
Here is the final product.
Friday was the day that I redeemed Shelby's Christmas gift. She wanted a cooking event. She wes keen on the idea of learning how to make a cake and then putting on the icing. One problem was that I could not find any of my 8-inch cake pans. Nor could I find my bread pans. I tried Fred Meyer and Winco, and Target - Bev even got two from Target that were $4.00 each. Then she suggested I try the dollar store.
I went there and was amazed - racks full of baking pans that, I thought, were of good quality at only $1.00 per pan.
I bought a lifetime supply.
Then - a week later - I pulled out a drawer under the microwave, and there they were - the pans. They'd been there all along, but I think Haley or Whitney and put them there. And, since I didn't 'put' them there, I never had a visual image of them in my brain. But I am still happy with my new pans...15 total. At least the mystery of the missing cake and bread pans had been solved.
Here Shelby is making a rough draft of the design she wants to make on her cake.
Frosting a yellow cake and a chocolate cake
And the final products
Saturday was our annual trip to downtown Portland to experience "Christmas in the City". In the past we have always eaten lunch at Saturday market, but last year, while we were gone, the girls tried out Pine Street Market.
We drove to the MAX station in Milwaukie and waited for the MAX train.
The Pine Street Market is an interesting place. It is, like, the bottom and main floor of a building. Around the perimeter there area about 9 little food booths ranging from Japanese noodles to hamburgers to Korean food, health food, and so on. In the center there are common tables. It isn't as fun as Saturday Market, but it certainly is warmer.
I go this yummy salad and Ray got a Korean bowl that wasn't very tasty.
It was really delightful to walk around downtown Portland - such a big difference from walking around Astana. There was no trash or deteriorating concrete, or tripping hazards, not honking horns, beautiful landscaping - such calm and quiet for a big city. We did see only one example of a sidewalk in need of repair - in the oldest part of town by Saturday Market.
We did walk around all of the booths at Saturday Market desperately looking for something that we didn't need but that we'd want to buy. There is so much neat stuff there, but very little that you need or want. However, Ray was smitten by this little braver puppet. Warren also has a puppet like this. The lady at the booth also had rabbit puppets which didn't smite Ray this time around.
Jessica and Bev found a booth with interesting paintings. Along with Warren they showed them to Ray who bought them for me as a Christmas present. Warren got the frame. I love it - if is bunnies and hiking combined.
After exploring Saturday Market we walked up to Pioneer Place found "our place", and some of us settled in to wait while others went "shopping".
Then to Pioneer Square.
Everyone loved the seals, deer, and the bear.
We found a group of missionaries on Pioneer Square who had a booth where they were asking the question, "What does Christmas mean to you" It was a clever way to get contacts. They were just wearing casual clothes and no name tags
Sunday, after dinner, we had our Secret Santa Gift exchange. I had drawn Natalie's name and gave her a book of poems, some dark chocolate candies, and the ring I bought her in Astana. Ray had Jessica and gave her a fold up Director's Chair. She had mentioned after a soccer game in the fall that she had lost hers when she accidentally left it at a soccer game. Haley had my name and got me a retractable fishing rod suitable for hiking or backpacking. Travis had Rays's name and got him a Swiss army knife to replace the one he last in Astana. The fishing rod has come just in time since we now have our Pioneer fishing licenses on our phones. I gave Ray a pair of Hoka One Stinson shoes - he doesn't really like them because they are a different feeling shoe, but, if he would just wear them for a bit and get used to them, I think they would be good for him. As it turned out, they didn't fit so I have ordered a size 11.5 for him; they will come next week.
It was a busy bustling evening. Here is a photo of the pile of presents prior to the opening.
Holland really liked the paper.
Janie was happy with a box.
Two mermaids in their blankets.
A Nerf rifle.
A perfect handbag.
Warren with his Beaver shirt and collapsible cake carrier.
Jessica's directors chair.
Ryan had not requested anything in particular......and so he got this really interesting crow bar from Home Depot. He looks pretty happy though.
