Catching Up!

So there's really no way to ever get caught up, but thought I would try to recap everything on my blog!

THANKSGIVING!!!
We spent it in Bethany at my parents' house with my sister and her family.  Mom didn't want to cook, so we went to the community free-will donation Thanksgiving dinner in town.

It was really nice not to have to clean up the dishes, kitchen, etc.  I did miss the turkey leftovers though.  With all of that extra time, we did this............

Christmas candies........  mints and pretzels with almond bark.................

peanut butter bon bons..............

and my sister and I started recalling making candy at Grandma Barber's (I recalled making it, my sister recalled eating it!) and we got to talking about these strawberries.  So Mom pulled out the book of Grandma's recipes that I made for each of us to have, and found the recipe and we made them.  I never liked them (too much coconut, almonds, things that make me break out).  And my sister decided that they maybe weren't as good as she remembered them being.  They are very sweet.............as were the memories!

This was the final haul..............I didn't get home with very much of it.  Just a few mints and some peanut clusters that I gave to my mother-in-law.

We also had a pitch tournament and played games............lots of fun!

Clue anyone????

DH's twin sister and her husband came to visit, so we had another Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.

DD was the only grandkid there............

We also did the decorating while DD was home for the week............

Check out the new tree.............decided to go slimmer this year!

Cici had trouble deciding where her spot should be...........

Under the tree???

As a really big part of the Veggie Tales nativity???
She loves to take Bob the Tomato/Shepherd down and roll him around on the floor.  There is a French Pea in a red wagon as the Baby Jesus which she also brings down to the kitchen floor and pulls the wagon around.

Uh oh!!!!  Yes, Cici is now on the naughty list!  This tree has been downed twice!  I was thrilled to remember that I have all the sandbags that my quilt guild uses at the base of our quilt frames stored in the basement.  They are now beneath the tree skirts around the tree bases just in case Cici takes another running leap at a tree!  I have also gotten several packages wrapped to put under the tree so she can no longer wrap herself up in the tree skirt.  

If only she could take some behavior lessons from Magic!  She really tries to get him to play, but he is a really old dog, so this is about as active as it gets.

Quilting...................???
I started the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt project. 
Here is my first week's work............

Okay, some red/neutral 9-patches snuck in there.
For week 2, I am now caught up on the neutral 4-patches (221) and have started the next piece..........

That pink (so NOT my color) fabric has been in my stash for awhile, no idea where it came from, but am happy to use it up.  I'm really looking forward to our guild's workday on Saturday where we are going French for this En Provence Mystery...........I plan to catch up on the second clue and start on whatever she reveals in tomorrow's third clue!

The Hubs and I did make a quick trip to Rolla on Sunday to attend a concert with DD.  The Ten Tenors, a group from Australia did their Home for the Holidays Christmas show.  It was fabulous!  We had a little time before the concert, so DD took us to the rec center to show us the fencing club.

Here she is (the small one) fencing!

I have also been working on baskets..............gave one as my gift in our guild's Christmas exchange this week, but forgot to take a picture!  
I also have some baskets started to work on tomorrow evening since I am the basketmaker in the Methodist/Cumberland Presbyterian Church joint Journey to Bethlehem experience.  The Hubs is a shepherd.  We have to go by this afternoon for costuming (so not looking forward to this), and then again this evening for rehearsal.

I'm also putting the binding on a quilt which I can't show yet because it is a Christmas present.

Maybe more photos will surface later.
Christi