Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for all my friends and family, my health, and to all that make this country a free one!  Without these things, how would we make it through?  Vince traveled to California to see his family, while I stayed in Florida.  I went to his parent's house, where his eldest daughter roasted the turkey.

Mouth Watering

This was her first time roasting a turkey and she did a great job.  I was in charge of the desserts.  I made a Pumpkin Ribbon Cake:

Ribbon of Cream Cheese Inside

I made a second dessert that was a Sweet Potato Pie:

Gluten-Free Crust

I also made an appetizer that was a Baked Apricot Spread:

Serve with Ritz and Nut Thins

The parents also invited two other couples over.  They also brought food.  Vince's dad baked a ham.  We had a ton of food.  For the food finale, Vince's mom made her infamous flan.  This is to die for and you really can't get enough:

Family Recipe - Cannot Share!!

It was a great day with beautiful weather.  Vince's mom gets the house ready for Christmas early, so here is me in front of the tree:

A Bit Early...Whatever!

Once the holiday was done, I had to make this a project filled weekend.  I'm only going to show what materials I had to work with, but not the projects.  I know it's a teaser, but it's too early to reveal Christmas gifts!

Fabric

So, I have two sewing projects.  One for Vince's daughter (fabric on the left) and one for my sister (fabric on the right).  They are different projects...so, Kathy, you won't know until your birthday!! (I told my sister what I was making for the daughter, so just so she knows, it's not the same thing)!

Yarn

This yarn is for making two projects for my friend's girls.  Who knows, if they don't come out good, then I'm just buying something.  I hate when projects don't work out, so I'm not going to stress about it.

More Yarn

This is another knitted project.  I don't know when I'm actually going to have time for all this, but I can always finish it and give as a birthday present.

I'm practically done with my Christmas shopping.  I am traveling in Dec to see my sister and parents, so I had to have them done early.  I hope to learn how to knit socks with my sister.  I also hope to go to Foxwood's Casino for some BINGO!  (Love Bingo)....

Time to work my fingers to the bone on the knitting needles....

Christmas Village

Each year I go up to Mass to visit my family and friends at Christmas time.  Each year my sister's husband Dave assembles a Christmas Village in the basement.  The Christmas Village is made up of ceramic shops, houses and people that both his mother and our mother have given him.  The Christmas Village now encompasses not just the railing shelf in the basement but now two additional separate tables.

Ooooh!


He has assembled icicle lights along the ceiling and tree lights along the shelf.  This year he had his niece help him and I heard she really got into it and wanted to place each person just right.  Each year he adds a little bit more charm to the village.  One addition this year was the Frosty movie playing from a projector onto the wall.


Local train depot

He has features such as a train depot with a functional train, takes branches from outside and creates trees, and even made a covered bridge to connect the "town" across the doorway.


Christmas Village - Eastside

One year, there was an ice storm in the area and he recreated the ice storm in the village.  There were downed trees, fake snow covering the roadway, and even a snowplow.


Christmas Village - Westside

The westside of the Village has a town square and cars on the roadway.  Like I said earlier, he adds more charm to the Village each year.


Fire pit


This summer, my sister and husband cleared an area in the woods in the back yard and made a firepit with a picnic table and chairs.  So this year in the Village, he also created a firepit.  He was working on the picnic table last night.  He made it out of wood tongue depressors and glue.


Picnic table - isn't is great?!

Here is also a truck with branches cut-up to look like logs.

Logger truck


During my winter visit to Mass, we always make a trip to Foxwoods Casino in Conn to play a morning session of Bingo.  When we were walking to the Bingo hall area, we past a Christmas Village that was made entirely out of gingerbread, chocolate, and royal icing.  It really was amazing.

Foxwoods Village

In this Foxwoods Christmas Village was a church, houses, houses that were destroyed by a storm, royal icing trees, chocolate rice crispie rocks and bushes and, the best of all, Rapunzel's castle.

Click on pic to see more detail

If you look closely, you can see the prince climbing Rapunzel's braid of golden hair on the tower.  My picture really does not do it justice, but it was the coolest gingerbread house I've ever seen.  The Village continues to the right of the castle, but I did not get a good picture of it. 

On a side note, each year I go to Bingo and I have never won a game.  This year, one of my friends in our group was the sole winner of one of the games, so she did not have to split the pot with anyone!  It was very exciting for us, so she was even more hyped-up after the win.  So much more hyped-up that she could barely concentrate on the next game.  It was a great time.  Congrats, Crystal!!!

Now that we have all seen the Foxwoods Christmas Village, I wonder how Dave will be inspired for next year's Christmas Village.