Three Days Of Perfection!

I just had to share this work of art from my friend's Christmas Eve dinner party the other night.  One of the other guests had brought it.  It is a dessert made entirely from gelatin in different layers which gave it a 3-D effect.  The flowers and leaves are actually gelatin poured in various layers.  It was so beautiful.  It was a little denser than Jello, but quite tasty.

Christmas was perfect.  I was with my favorite people in the world.  We all had a great time.  My daughter made the best prime rib that I have ever had in my life.  She had marinated it overnight in a mixture of whiskey, mustard and some fancy spices.  It just melted like butter, it was so tender and delicious.  Liesl made sure that she made the rounds to each person, who each indulged her.  My daughter also made an amazing pumpkin pie that was so silky and delicious.  Much better than the ones I make.  We were all in a food coma afterward.  

I always seem to forget in the shopping for all of the gifts for my loved ones that I get gifts too.  I always have that moment when I am a bit surprised that I get presents as well.  Every single one of the gifts that I received were so thoughtful and wonderful.  Absolutely perfect. They make me so happy.  The best gift though was having my children together at once.  We have such a great time and laugh a lot.  I am so proud of my kids.  They are such kind, loving, hard-working, and wise people.  I have truly been blessed with an amazing family.

Today was my day to relax and indulge in comfort, or so I thought.  Liesl decided that I should get up earlier than I wanted to.  I kept hearing something thumping around in the kitchen and in my half awake- half asleep state I knew I should get up and check.  But I tried to go back to sleep, that is, until I felt sniffing about my face and felt damp schnauzer beard grazing my cheek.  (She had just had a drink of water)  I went to the kitchen to make coffee and saw the source of the thumping.  Liesl had found an errant potato that I think escaped during the big peel yesterday.  She had been throwing it around for emphasis.  She would never eat it, particularly raw, she was just making her point.  Schnauzers...

I figured the best way to curtail any more potato throwing would be to take her to the beach for lots of exercise.  She ran and chased her ball.  The ocean was quite angry today and pounded the beach.  It kept coming up kind of close, so I kept one eye on my little water dog to make sure she did not end up with the fishes.  Luckily, she was exhausted and napped the afternoon away (Bwa-hahaha!)  I got to stitch, drink hot cocoa, putter, do some paint planning (I am having all of my friends over for a painting party!) reading and daydreaming.  It was heaven.  Now that Christmas has passed, I feel like I can really focus on all of the projects that I want to do to my house.  I have several upgrades in mind.  There is so much I want to do!  I feel like I have a great big craft project.  LOL  I love every minute of it.