Thanksgiving - after the table was cleared...

Thanksgiving meal was ham, green bean casserole, sauteed zucchini and summer squash, corn casserole, and rolls.  Followed with pecan and pumpkin pies.  A simple meal by some standards, but it was so good.  I only wish I'd gotten a picture of the set table.

After finishing eating, we cleared the table and enjoyed several rounds of Zendo and Century Spice Road - both new games to us.  Then the guys poured over some pictures that husband brought home from his mother's earlier this week.  We ended the evening with stories of when my husband and I were first married.  The guys were pretty good sports as we reminisced.  It helped that we had some doozy stories to laugh at.  

It was a good Thanksgiving.  I'm feeling so very thankful for my family and special times together like this.

Christmas Eve...

First of all, do not adjust your monitor, or clean your glasses.  The pictures below truly are as blurry as they appear.  Why I'm sharing them is anyone's guess, but I'll at least keep them small so as to minimize the chance of you getting nauseous viewing them.

I originally had no intention of even posting today, but our sons are out spending some time together tonight and hubs and I are home relaxing after our Christmas Eve service and I'm (rather disappointedly) perusing fuzzy photos of the day and I thought, "Oh, why not?"  Someday, someone may be happy to have even a fuzzy picture of me since I so rarely pose for a photo.

So here goes...

Just before unwrapping presents, hubby snapped a picture of me relaxing in the recliner:

Pay no attention to the date stamp.  Not only could we not manage to get any pictures in focus, but we didn't realize the date stamp was off by 5 1/2 years..

I didn't pick up my crochet hook all week, but here's a picture with me and the best things I have ever had a part in making:

We're not normally so "cheesy", but someone was misbehavin' and it was all we could do to hold still.

                Of course, I'd never rat out the misbehaving one...

After dinner and a game (that I could barely comprehend (Sentinels of the Multiverse) my husband and I headed to church in the driving snow for our Christmas Eve service because we had sound and computer duty.  And the boys headed to the eldest brother's apartment - for more games, I'm sure.

The Christmas Eve service was lovely as always and since the projector wasn't working, hubs was relieved of computer duty and had nothing better to do than snap pictures of me on the soundboard.  It was dark and, of course, the pictures are grainy and out of focus.  

Mixing sound was the most creative thing I did all week:

I love running a soundboard, but just between you and me, I much prefer mixing sound on an analog board.  That said, our new digital mixer sure looks pretty when it's all lit up in Christmas colors.   😃

And this view of the sanctuary lit up by candle light was my favorite one all week:

And that was my Christmas Eve.  Tomorrow we spend part of the day with the in-laws at husband's parents - and will take more fuzzy pictures, no doubt!

For now... Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  Find Joy!

A spring-weight blanket and Easter eggs!

I've been a monogamous crocheter this week and I'm glad to say I finished the blanket I've been working on before my self-imposed finish date of April 1st!

The blanket pattern is from the book Weekend Afghans by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss.  I like the pattern so much this is the third blanket I've made using it.    It's a nice feminine blanket that is airy and light.  What I really love about it, though, is the pretty edge the pattern makes along the length of the blanket...



and a nice scallop on the top and bottom edges...

And now with that completed, I'm chomping at the bit to begin the Mandala Madness CAL that actually started a week ago - so I've got some catching up to do.   I may also start The Midwife Blanket as it's been calling out to me for some time now and having recently seen a pretty edging I want to try on it, I almost can't wait to start...

But first we celebrate Easter today.   First thing this morning we enjoyed Easter breakfast at church followed by worship and a baptism.  And now it's home for a bit of a rest before preparing for sons and guest(s) to come for a supper meal and some games.  Yesterday my 20 year-old son and I colored and decorated eggs.   The activity was almost contemplative compared to younger years when dying eggs carried a level of excitement with it.

We'll see which egghead is the hardest in a game of egg wars later (a tradition from hubby's childhood family).  Then it's into an egg salad with these babies. Mmmmm.

A happy, joyous Easter to you!   To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit this week's thread on Ravelry.