Family Christmas Collection, 2012

The gifts are wrapped, cards are sent, baking is finished, groceries are purchased, my Mother and Father arrive from out of town today, Christmas is finally here.  Christmas Eve at our house is low key.  I will prepare food for Christmas dinner, attend mass and have dinner out with my husband, Mom and Dad.

Christmas Day is quite the opposite.  We will have 30 guests ranging in age from 85 to 2.  Oh what fun it is. . .

The cookies are ready.  I had big plans this year including 3d cookies and some new and unusual designs, but I ran out of time.  The family is happy with whatever I do so I stuck to some tried and true designs with just a few new ideas.

 I added a few new Snowmen to the family favorite.

 Every year the family collection includes Santa and reindeer in unusual shapes.  This year I decided to add Mrs. Santa because we all know the Mrs. Santas in every family deserve far more credit at this time of year.  Her lips look like perhaps she received Botox as a gift, you go girl!

 My traditional way of decorating snowflakes are the ones in the upper left and lower right corners, but I tried some new designs this year that were inspired by Good Housekeeping magazine.

 Traditional designs and lots of minis.

In light of recent events, I'm sure most of us are finding it easy to count our blessing this year.  For me it is extremely easy.   At this time last year:

•  My great-niece Kaley (17) was unable to talk and every muscle and bone ached.  Doctors were baffled.  Finally, she was diagnosed with Lyme's disease and today she is healthy and looking forward to graduation from high school.
• Kaley's sister, Kendall (15), was diagnosed with a tumor on her pituitary gland.  Today she is healthy.
• Kaley and Kendall's first cousin, Logan (15), was diagnosed with Hodkins Lymphoma.  After 6 months of chemo, he has had two PET scans that show no signs of cancer.

Prayers of thanks for good health, a loving family and a circle of wonderful, caring friends. . .


A few of the Great nieces and nephews posed for a photo before eating their cookies.

Merry Christmas to all!