Over the holidays, Sabrina learned to play Sorry. It is her new found favorite family game. 
This particular evening she decided when it was not your turn to move on the game board, it was time to make something with pipe cleaners.
Randy became quite good at constructing pipe cleaner flowers. 
Sabrina made glasses.
Papa tried on the glasses to see if one size fits all. Games are a great reminder that family time can be fun without electronics and all the modern bells and whistles.
For three years, this Snoopy pinwheel quilt has been a work in progress. This holiday season it can finally be used! 
One of the beauties of quilting is reusing or expanding a former loved blanket, shirt or using up scraps from former projects. The back of the quilt is composed of old receiving blankets, some scraps of flannel from old projects and given fabric from friends who wanted to pass along some of their old scraps.
Their first time to read under the quilt.
In her blue room with the Snoopy accent pillows. The Snoopy "Happiness" fabric is alternated with the pinwheel pattern.
Christmas Eve we went to church and then had a nice family meal. In honor of Joyce, we made one of her salmon recipes. 
Father Simon gave Sabrina this Santa hat as we left the church Christmas Eve. She added the green scrunchy and stayed nice an warm.
Christmas Eve dinner with the Advent wreathe lit with what Sabrina called the Jesus candle in the center.
Christmas morning this little elf was excited to see she had been visited.
Three years ago this quilt was started and was almost finished in time for Christmas. 
Wearing her new Elsa dress and playing with her Elsa doll.
In true form, our nephew showed up dressed up. The character for the day was a rich New Yorker. (for some reason I think this rich New Yorker was a mobster but I can't remember who exactly the character was.) (Parts of his Teddy Roosevelt costume were used and a new suit and hat.) Very fun!
Over the break, Randy decided that we needed to check out how much insulation we had in our basement walls. We discovered zero. Straight cement walls...a little board and then paneling finish our downstairs walls. To our horror, we found two mouse nests in the wall between the office and the laundry room and a burial ground for about four mice. Yuk! Right under Sabrina's room we discovered a spider web with dirt. The dirt was brought straight in from outside where there was a crack in the wall that allowed daylight to shine through. Needless to say we added some insulation.
On the exterior walls, Randy glued two inch rigid insulation to the cement walls. Then spray foam was added to the joints and any cracks that might leak air. On top of that he has framed in for the future wall which will have more insulation. These walls will be dry walled in once the insulation, plumbing and wiring projects are done in the entire basement. This project was a glance in to our near future home improvement projects. Sabrina loved working with her dad and taking tools up the ladder where she would announce she is Queen of the Tools! 
This year we hosted Julie's Dad's side of the family's annual Christmas party. Our tree was literally set up the night before and was the top of a great big Doug Fir which we selected on a day where we needed a boat to get to the trees! The rain continued for about four days straight and brought the rivers levels around the state to a very high point.
Even Blue, our fish, was decorated and moved for the party.
/Some refreshments.
Siblings! These two are super close.
I guess they are checking to see in Rachel's baby has arrived yet.
The beginning of a great tradition...piggy back rides!
