Friday, January 5, 2018

And That's A Wrap

I am never with it enough to share Christmas live...
so instead I'll share Christmas memories. 


Christmas festivities began on Christmas Eve Eve 


The house was decorated and the gifts were wrapped and 
my side of the extended family enjoyed an evening together. 


This year we began a new holiday tradition. 
Homemade Schwäbisch Pretzels inspired by our trip to Schwäbisch Hall. 
They were delicious. 


The advantage of an Italian son-in-law is 
getting a Christmas Eve invite to a 7 Fishes celebration.  
I didn't take my camera, but I did take photos on my daughter's camera. 

Christmas Day was quiet at home with our son, daughter, grand
and a visit from my husband's parents. 

Cooking in her new kitchen

For Christmas gifts,  I gave family members photo books of our summer family trip to Germany. 


Desserts were simple recipes - 
tried and true. 


A few days later, my daughter and her husband arrived from out of town, 
so now our whole family was together. 


Since my son was born on New Year's Eve - 
we celebrated a few days early with a dinner at his favorite restaurant, 
Wing Lee's Cuisine in Horsham, PA

On New Year's Eve 
we had my husband's entire family here for a celebration. 


It was a mixed bag...
Christmas, a birthday, an engagement and of course the New Year. 


Thats when things got so wild the cops had to come calm us down. 

 
Not really. 
We have peeps in the family who have to work on holidays. 
Be thankful for those first responders and medical personnel!


And of course there was plenty of gift exchanging going on. 


He did just turn 21 after all! 

We spent some time translating the German messages our relatives sent. 
Two of my kids took AP German in high school. 
It has come in handy for sure! 


Since the entire family was able to make it - 
we thought it a good time for a family photo. 
4 Generations! 


And New Year's Day brought my family back together 
for a traditional German Pork and Sauerkraut dinner. 




And what holiday would be complete without some tears? 


And that wraps up the 2017 holiday season. 
Whew! 




8 comments:

DawnTreader said...

Looks like a good time was had by all - except perhaps one! ;)

Tamar SB said...

How beautifully festive!

MadSnapper said...

no wonder you did not have time to go LIVE with all this. these photos are truly totally amazing, spectacular even comes to mind. your portrait skills make me jealous. with out a word read, just scrolling through the photos they tell family stories of joy and beautiful memories in the making. if i believed in re-incarnation I would want to come back with YOUR photography skills. I can't even pick a favorite. LOVE them all...

Sarah Huizenga said...

Thanks for taking us into your family festivities. Lots of good times and food!

doodles n daydreams said...

What a wonderful season of family celebrations. You certainly were blessed. I think the photo of the four generations is a real treasure, not many families would have a photo like that.

Diana

Alicia said...

Wow, no wonder you don't have time to share during the holiday, you were certainly busy. Happy New Year and thank you for sharing these lovely photos.

hula-la said...

Wow...you sure captured wonderful memories! Looks like a great time was had by all! And that multi-generational photo is FANTASTIC! What a treasure! All the best in 2018! Aloha!

Chere Mama said...

Haha! These are all great pictures! Your family sounds very fun!! I especially like the generations photo.