Christmas Village 2011

My Christmas village has been a passion since about 2004. My sister Julia and I were shopping with our husbands in The Dalles, Oregon. We were in JoAnn Fabrics and they were having a two-for-one sale on their Christmas houses. It didn't take much to persuade me to come home with my first four houses even though they didn't exactly fit my budget. The collection has grown and grown and grown. Members of my family, including Julia, have helped add to it over the years. Cynthia and Derlyn have been especially helpful. I apologize for some of the blurry pictures.

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Holiday Season 2010

Yes we are eating Thanksgiving dinner in the garage. When so many of us are here, there's no other place. We had a great day. We did a garbage can turkey which was a technique taught to us in Vermont by the Cochrans. Yummy. This is part of the crowd. The two favorite activities of the day besides eating were playing Uncle Jeff's Kinect and using cell phones. What is the world coming to?
We continued favorite traditions such as the making of the gingerbread houses:

Rollerskating with the Gunter family in Richland

Decorating the house.

Resting and relaxing

And happy Christmas morning

We're ready now to get back to our routine. We're remodeling the upstairs bathroom which is much harder than we anticipated. We're grateful for the joy we've had during the holidays with our family gathered round. We missed having Janeen and her family and Jennie and her family here. How joyful the celebration of the birth of our Savior is when we share it with family and friends.