Warm weekend home

We had a relaxing couple of days at home as a family this weekend.  It was very nice.  Lazy mornings, lazy afternoons, followed by dinner, and a warm, snuggly evening together.  The weather has been cold, raining, windy... which adds to the coziness of just staying inside.  We had a lot of indoor activities to keep us busy, so I guess I cannot say we were completely "lazy"...

There was cranberry stringing.  Here are our finished ornaments. 

We're going to give one to each of Johann's preschool teachers on Wednesday, before school is out for Christmas break.
There was (finally) some tree decorating done. 

The poor tree has just been sitting there in the corner patiently waiting since the day after Thanksgiving for someone, anyone, to hang a single ornament on it.   On Saturday, Mike found a broadcast on our local public radio station of the Nutcracker, and I think the music got all of us more in the mood to decorate.  I pulled the box of ornaments out of storage in the basement, and we hung up all of our favorites.  Johann added the paper chain.  Now the tree is very much happier.

On Sunday we decided to open the gingerbread train kit that Nonni sent us.  

Always fun to decorate with candy!   Our tradition is to break our house (er... train) on New Year's day and eat it with a side of hot chocolate.  I don't think anyone really eats it, but the tradition keeps the boys from asking me every day if they can have some...  phew.

Lastly, there were some new projects begun and completed.  The above is mine.   More on that later.  And below is Johann's...

Yes, we had a lovely, stay-at-home weekend, filled with nothing much except each other.    Exactly what we all were craving, I believe.