Christmas around the house

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http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2012/12/2012-christmas-tour-of-homes.html

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One of the best parts of living in Minnesota is the likelihood of a white Christmas.  (We won't mention that we also have a strong chance of a white Valentine's day... and on.. and on.. maybe even a ... white Easter?... we won't discuss that...)  At any rate, we love the beauty of living in this winter wonderland. I just can't imagine Christmas in a warm climate!

 



Just that touch of snow makes everything special! 

 

Welcome in!  We have a fun home to decorate and each year I often think "Oh, I will simplify this year .." but it never seems possible once I get started!

 

Many years ago our home was on a home tour (when it was nice and new) and someone came in to decorate.  We purchased the decorations and have enjoyed them ever since.

 

It does take a while to wrap all these railings.  I used to also wrap all the railings on the second floor, but I have cut back on that...

 

We have this interesting opening between our air lock and our foyer.  The decorator hung these red and green large balls.  Very cool.  Hubby climbs on the ladder dutifully each year to put them in place and then to take them down. 

 

This is the mantle in the living room.  This is the first year I have done it like this and I love it.  I love the red and blue together - and Mr. Owl is my favorite!

 

Here's a collage of some of the things around in the living room. 

 (You can click on any of my pictures or collages and they will get larger if you want a closer look.)

 

 In our family room I have filled the mantle with snowmen.  I don't think I need any more snowmen now..

 

 Little lights behind the snowmen just add a nice touch.

 

 

Here's a collage of the snowmen.  They are just so cheerful!

 

 

This picture is one of my favorite Christmas decorations because my dad painted it.  (He is no longer living.)  It is very "grandma Moses" style and he may even have been looking at some of her art when he painted it.  He took some adult education painting classes and it is such a treasure to have a few of his paintings.  (He didn't do very many.)

 

Then we move into the "River room" - it's an all-season porch that we have named the river room because we can see the river from it - at least during the winter when the leaves are gone.  During the summer it feels like a tree house.  Here is our tree - and it is fun to have a high ceiling to accommodate a tall tree!

 

The tree is artificial with little lights already on it, but we also add these candle lights. They make the tree look very old fashioned.  The tree has a scandinavian feel with lots of straw ornaments and some cute little knit sweaters or caps or mittens.  A few red ornaments and red ribbons add that pop of color.

 

Hubby actually had real candles on his tree when he was a boy. He loves these candles lit and we often just have them lit and not the other lights on the tree. 

 

Here is a collage of some of the ornaments.   

A close up of the electric candles.  I love the little red berry too and the fact that it is lit.

 

On the dining room table I have another favorite - this centerpiece was made by our daughter-in-law Andrea for us when she became a part of our family back in 2000.  I love the classic look with the candles.  I have used for a number of years now and I don't intend on changing; it is just perfect.

 

My paternal grandmother was born in Sweden and my sister made this darling Lucia for me.  Isn't she cute?

 

I bring in the Swedish influence, but my hubby is 100% Norwegian, so that seems to add another dimension to our decorations (and holiday food).  Aren't these little Norwegian children adorable?

 

I did say that each year I say I am going to "simplify" and this year I did... this picture is from a previous year and NOT this year!  I love my Snow Village but it is a very big job to set up and take down and pack away.  The last few years I have had our oldest granddaughter (she is almost 10) over for to help me do it (a very good tradition to establish) but she doesn't live in our town anymore so I just put it off this year...  I need to start it with our other granddaughters who now live only an hour away.. they are getting old enough to enjoy it too.  I wonder what the grandchildren will think when they are "home" for Christmas and they realize I didn't put out the little houses??

 

Well, I don't think I've done a long post like this for a while. I hope you enjoyed this little tour!Thank you for stopping by! Next time I'll put the coffee on!  But if you got this far on the blog post, here is one last treat for you:

 

 

May God bless you this Christmas season and in the coming year!

First snow. Hungry birds.

 Although we live in Minnesota and snow is part of our life out here, the first real good snowfall is still exciting.  Especially when it doesn't come until December!  We were getting fearful of a NOT white Christmas... that just wouldn't do for us hearty Minnesotans!  But happily, the snow arrived and with it the opportunity to take pictures, make a cozy fire, stay home and enjoy the beauty of the view out of the windows ... and relish in the holiday season..

 

 

And the snow brings out our winter birds in full force and their normal food supply must be hard to come by ... and the ease of the bird feeders (all filled with sunflower seeds) is just too easy for them.  We love our birds and again, I just can't seem to stop taking photographs of them despite the fact that I probably have similar photographs from last year!  Enjoy! 

Thankful heart!

I don't think words can adequately express our thankfulness to God for our three sons, their lovely wives and our 12 healthy grandchildren.  We do not deserve all the blessings that have been so freely bestowed to us!  Along with our thankfulness for our  family is the amazing fact that God has sent His Son to redeem us!  

Repeat performance

It is fun to see the various ways our children or our grandchildren resemble their parents; sometimes it is in personality, sometimes it is in physical characteristics.  In the case our of youngest son - HIS youngest son is, to me, a repeat performance.  What do you think?

Culinary Failure

 I suppose all good cooks experience major failures along the way, or how else would they become good cooks?  So, that being said... I think I may be on my way to becoming a good cook because I tried.... and failed... at this Norwegian meal!

 

 Now you may be wondering what in the world this was in the first place?  This would be called, in layman's terms, "potato dumplings" - though my Norwegian spouse and his family called it "kumpa" - other names are also "klubb" or "komla"... and on this particular day I thought I would totally surprise my dear hubby with this "delicacy" that I have, so far, avoided ever making.  How hard could this be, I determined?  Afterall, I think I'm a pretty decent cook.... so I was smiling as I peeled potatoes (that is the one kitchen cooking chore that I really dislike - it ranks right up there with cleaning walls or crocheting)... but I peeled and shredded and squeezed out the excess moisture (I told you I was a good cook - this is an important part for this meal) and added flour, some oatmeal and carefully shaped them into balls with the required piece of salt pork safely tucked into the center of the kumpa.  I had brought the large kettles of water to a soft boil and then, so proud of myself, I took a picture before gently placing them into the water...

 And then into the water they went!  (There is a little ham in the water to add, possibly, a little flavor...)  Again, I had to photograph to document I had DONE this!  Oh, how happy and surprised Mr. Wonderful will be, I happily thought to myself.  

 

Pride goeth before a fall.

 

Within minutes these beautiful spheres.... disintegrated into the water!!!

HORRORS!  I didn't know they would or could do that!!!

NO, I was so befuddled that I forgot to take a picture of the water/shredded potatoes mixture!

Now what do I do??  I quickly shared my dilmena with my facebook friends (after telling them I was so "wonderful" making kumpa...) and someone gamely suggested potato pancakes...

 

So, remembering that hubby also loved potato pancakes ... and thinking that onions usually improve everything... I drained the potato stuff into a colander and again ... squeezed out the moisture... then chopped up an onion and added it to the mixture along with more flour and an egg and fried them in butter to make some not-so-bad potato pancakes!

 

 

But there was a small bit of redemption.... in the smaller of the kettles of water remained ONE whole "kumpa" and part of a second one...

 

I think you have to grow up with these things to really appreciate their taste...

 

I should have taken a picture of the kitchen afterwards.  I used SO many kettles, large bowls, colanders, food processor for shredding, etc.,  It was a mess. 

All for 1 1/2 kumpas.

And because I love my man. 

Two little brothers

 This past weekend we were in "the cities" - first for a lovely wedding of the daughter of close friends, and then to enjoy the home of our eldest son and daughter-in-law ... and THESE two little fellas!

 

 We had a hard time getting this busy little boy to sit still for a  picture...

 

 The older brother, however, cooperated happily.

 

And the really fun part of this weekend was seeing our youngest grandchild (10 months) decide that walking was something he could do - he went from taking just those 2 or 3 steps to getting himself to a standing position and walking across the room.  Yup! That's walking!!

Some cookie fun at the Candis Cookie Company

I love fall and everything about it.  Getting back into a routine, the cooler temperatures, the fall colors and changing decorations with those rich colors; fires in our fireplaces, soup in the crock pot and bread baking.  All wonderful gifts of fall!  And I have done a little fall cookie baking and decorating that I thought you might like to see!  I was asked to bake and decorate some pumpkin cookies for a ladies group that I am in (PEO) and I can hardly wait for them to see them.  (Right now they are decorated and in the freezer waiting...) 

 Here is Mr. Pumpkin.  I love the little green vine on him, don't you?

 

 Since I was on a roll and had most of my decorating and baking supplies out, I thought perhaps I could bake some cookies in anticipation of the 200th win (if it happened) for a good friend who is a local football coach.  I baked these cookies and sent them off to the game with my friend, the Coach's wife, in the hopes that perhaps that game might be the BIG win... but if not, I knew they would freeze well until the next game... or whichever game gave Coach the big 200th career win.

 

 It was a good thing I baked them when I did because the hard-fought win came that night against an undefeated team on an away field !!  Yeah Coach!  Not many achieve career coaching wins of 200 games. Way to go!

 

I couldn't put my supplies away until I gave these cookies a whirl - and these I did NOT give away, but served myself to our Sunday evening Bible study group.   They all ohhhed and ahhhed appropriately.  Thank you.

 



 They look harder then they are...

 

This decorating technique is a bit different then the pumpkin and football cookies as all the icing colors are applied to the cookie at the same time and then one drags a toothpick through the wet icing to make the design.  It was tons of fun and no matter what one did, the cookie seemed to look great. 

Now I can't wait to start on those Christmas cookies....

Fall pumpkin picking

Hello to all my blog readers (2? 3? ).  I have not been so great at keeping my blog current lately but I hope to get better.  I love posting pictures (facebook seems to have taken over some of that) and I like to look back at the wonderful days of our lives.  I can't believe I have been blogging for as long as I have. 

We just enjoyed a wonderful fall weekend.  I love the fall weather and the colors.  I am a fall and winter lover, summer the least, actually and spring is okay.  Growing up in New Jersey was fabulous in the fall - it was a long and beautiful season.  Here in the upper midwest, fall often happens in the blink of an eye.  So we were so happy to have a beautiful fall weekend - just perfect for some grandchildren time and my camera. 

Just a few miles from our home is a local farm that had a great pumpkin field for us - all on the "honor" system - what fun for the grandchildren and grandpuppy to have the field practically all to ourselves.  Each grandchild picked their own pumpkin -oh, it was hard to narrow the choice to just ONE.  They would think "oh, here's the one I want!" ... until they looked around and changed their mind "no, this one is better!" ...

Of course, "the bigger, the better" was the thought for the big boys... Here is Timothy with his chosen pumpkin.

 

 Luke liked to show off his strength!

 

Hannah choose one she could carry.  Smart girl.

 

 Josiah had the hardest time deciding.

 

Mattea just enjoyed the field - and she had a cute little teeny pumpkin that she was happy to carry around. 

 

Our handsome son Adam and his lovely wife Andrea with their children. The children weren't so happy about the sun in their eyes for the picture. I remember that when I was a child too - why did the photographer always make us face the sun??? 

It was not only a great day for humans but for also our grand-dog, Peaches!  She loved running all over too!

 

Cove Point on Lake Superior

 We just returned from a 5 day, 4 night vacation at one of our favorite spots - Lake Superior.

 We enjoyed the beautiful views of Split Rock Lighthouse.

 Our home away from home was a wonderful cottage at Cove Point.

 THIS was our view from our deck.  Morning coffee never was better!

 And inside or outside, the lake was the focal point.

 Our eldest son and two of our grandsons joined us while we hiked and enjoyed the fresh air and fabulous vistas.

 This little fella has the happiest personality! Of course, riding on top of his daddy's shoulders was tons of fun!

 This busy 4 year old just loved the fun of hiking on these big rocks.

In the distance you can see Split Rock lighthouse.  It was a lovely little vacation. Can't wait until next time!!

MInnesota+sunshine+family=wonderful

 We had a wonderful and busy weekend in beautiful Minnesota and North Dakota!  We started the weekend on Friday evening in Fargo with an adorable grandson having an adorable birthday party - the theme was "chickens" and the food, the pinata, the cake pops - and even a giant yellow chicken - all added to the fun of the party!  Happy 5th birthday to Josiah!

 Then on Saturday we gathered at a local park in our town to enjoy spending time with two of our grown nephews and their families, who were both visiting from out of town.  The second cousins had fun getting to know each other and play together.  We celebrated the 7th birthday of a sweet great- niece (visiting from Canada).  The weather was perfect, the Berge men played rook, the food delicious, the company lots of fun...

Blessed with another day of sunshine and lovely temperatures, we enjoyed a morning of worship in church and then an afternoon of relaxation on one of our favorite lakes.  We put our pontoon in the water and off we all went to enjoy the day!  Yes, it was a perfect Minnesota weekend!



Little Girls

Grandma had two little girls over to play yesterday.  Two little grand-daughters to keep busy.  We played with toys, played with playdough, played in the sandbox, played on the swings, played in the hammock... oh yes, we played the day away. 

A good time was had by all. 

Adam's Amazing Playset

Our handy and creative son Adam built an amazing playset in his backyard for his growing family.

I think he created it as he built it....

 Swings, slide, exercise bars, little playhouses, a catwalk, a climbing wall, a cargo net..

 There are a few sets of  exercise bars. This high set, as you can see, and there is a lower set out of sight underneath the catwalk.

And then there is this Adam-designed pole system for extra challenge and strength building.

A cargo net and sundry challenges all for fun!  Fresh air, exercise and childhood dreams!



Big girl

This past week one of our darling grandchildren celebrated a birthday.  She turned TWO!

She was all fancy for her party but thought the addition of grandma's sandals might make her outfit complete.  I thought this was a cute picture.