A Christmas Present....

Lookie what I got....



This pictures does not do them justice....they are beautiful bears! I want to find a little bench so they can sit under the tree together. Thank you Frank and JoAnne for the beautiful bears! I love them!

Merry Christmas!

These are photos Michael took of the tree. We do the tree in all red lights. Under the tree I set up all my Christmas Bears. I have chairs, a little red wagon, and a couple of sleds.

Holiday Pictures

Just a few pictures of the house during the Holidays!

This is a picture of an Angel that I know my Mom has had for quite a long while. If I recall right there were 2 more angels with the grouping and they were broke...by me. In the package she sent for Michael and I us to open during the holidays...the candle and the little Angel were a part of it.


The chair with a pillow...that matches the table runner on the end table that also matches the tree skirt under our tree.

Close up of end table.

The table....the placemats and napkins Mom bought me last year at an after Christmas sale. They are really pretty. They are a natural linen color with then velvet trim in green and deep red. They have embroidery of holly in berries to match the velvet. The Angel in the center of the table Mom and Dad bought me years and years ago. It is a tree topper but I don't think I have hardly ever used it as such as it is kind of top heavy. You can also see all my little hallmark houses in the background...sitting on the counter in the dining room.

An ornament on our tree that Michael's Parent's got us last year. I thought it looked so pretty hanging on the tree - so I took a picture.

Presents! Presents! Presents!

At the beginning of the month my family sent us a big package...inside was one present a day to open up until Christmas! It has been incredible! What a great idea! Thank you Mom, Dad, Michelle and April!

Here are all the presents lined up on the counter!



A few of the goodies we have opened up....

December 2....warm socks for both of us!




December 7th....holiday mugs and coffee!




December 9th....holiday napkins! They are very pretty!

Christmas Cookies

So I am always looking for good recipes that use Cardamom in them. I saw a recipe Gourmet last December that used Cardamom so I saved it.

Well I made them today. First they are suppose to be squares...I tried one batch like that and they did not stay square (altitude I am sure). I added more flour and decided to do cutouts instead as I am not doing sugar cookie cutouts this year and I like cutouts.



I drizzled mocha glaze and then a dark chocolate on them. I played Jackson Pollack with the cookies it was fun! They are yummy!

A Very Nice Saturday Night!

Tonight was the 22nd Annual Parade of Lights for Grand Junction. This is going to be our third Christmas together and so this was our third year attending the Parade of Lights.

We had a really wonderful night...one of those nights that I wished would not end. We watched lights further up in the Parade route then we have in years past. It was actually right across from the judges and mc. It was cold, but not as cold as last year. Michael was thrilled that he had his purchases from Christmas in Minnesota last year - with him. He was bundled up. We watched most of the Parade and then Michael asked if I wanted to go warm up in this new cafe we have been talking about trying. We were standing right in front of it so I think it was calling our names.

Let me say Cafe Biltmore knows food. It was incredible -- it is a foodie's dream. It is appetizers but you can order salad and a vegetable with them too. We started with Parmesan crisps. They were thickly grated Parmesan cheese with maybe some parsley for color baked a little. It was made with really good Parmesan because the taste of them was really that strong good taste. We then had a chiozo sausage panini. It a really delicious bread (thinking a sourdough), thin thin slices of fontana cheese, chiozo sausages sliced in half. It was served with a basil pesto (I think it was basil) and a chipolte mayonnaise. The flavors were incredible. We then decided to try one more item from their menu...it was hard to decide what to get...but we ended up ordering a bacon and potato omelet. It was more a fritta then an omlete to me but it was fantastic. The flavors they had going on in it were so good. We had all this with a bottle of wine from our favorite local winery - Carlson Vineyards. When my parents come in January, I think we should go again with them as I think they would really enjoy it.

After watching a wonderful parade and eating delicious food, we headed back to get the car and decided to take a drive and see if some of our favorite areas had lights up yet. And some did. We listened to one of XM's holiday stations as we drove around looking at Christmas Lights.

Grand Junction does this thing called The Cup of Cheer Home Tour. I just found out about it tonight. You buy a ticket and the money goes to the Grand Junction symphony. You then get a map to go tour Christmas decorated homes throughout Grand Junction. A couple of the houses in the sections we really like had signs in the front of their homes showing they participate. This tour thing is only one weekend and it is this weekend so we won't have time to attend this year. But I do want to look into it for next year as I think it is something both Michael and I would enjoy.

We really enjoyed our Saturday night even though we had things at home to do that didn't get done -- it was worth it to get out and have such a nice time.

World AIDS Day....

Showing support for World AIDS Day by wearing the Virtual Red Ribbon...