Advent

The holidays are upon us, which is why we haven't been so much with the blogging. Here's the fun we've been up to since the last time we posted:

-We had Thanksgiving dinner with my folks; it was great!
-We hosted Thanksgagely at our house; it was also great, but a lot more work! This was the fourth year running that Thanksgagely has happened, and we hope it continues for many years more. It's so much fun to have traditions with friends as well as with family. (If you missed the menu posting that's 'cause we've just been having lots of turkey and things made out of turkey and things with turkey on top of them, with a side of turkey.)
-Survivor has just gotten better and better. Seriously, the producers must be on their knees thanking the contestants for giving them such a fascinating season. The lovely thing is that this year they actually got some people who realized that it's a GAME SHOW and are using actual strategies to win, instead of just whining and emotionally blackmailing the other contestants. (For those interested, CBS has all the back episodes on their website, and you can stream them if you've got high-speed internet.)
-Emily and Becca (and Brigid and Jonathan and Thomas) and I had a six-hour candy-making session on Sunday. Oh my goodness, WHY doesn't anyone sell candy like the candy we made? I guess they'd have to use real butter, but seriously, if you've never made your own candy, try. You'll never be satisfied with store-bought carmel again.
-I put snail-and-slug-bait round my vegetable garden, hoping to save our lettuce. I object to slugs eating things that WE want to eat. Thanks to Dad for suggesting it and Adam for picking it up at Home Depot.
-Adam's continuing to work on the kids' bunkbed. It's going to be great!
-WE MOVED SAMUEL OUT OF OUR ROOM. Ah. This is good for many reasons. The kids' room is warmer than ours, so it's good to have Sam in there. And both rooms look better now. And WE HAVE OUR ROOM BACK. We can hang out in it in the evenings! I can work in it during the kids' naptimes! Oh so much goodness.
-Our neighbours directly across the street are doing some home improvement. Why is this so wonderful? Well, because they had a scooper truck (bulldozer?) in their front yard all day yesterday. Brie stood on the trunk Dad S. made us, peering out her bedroom window at the trucks all day long. It was a show just for her, she's sure of it.
-We went for another six mile long walk with the kids. We decided that six mile long walks with the kids are much more fun in the winter than in the summer.
-I've almost finished my first jacquard crochet project. It's a Christmas table runner and it's gorgeous. It looks like a Scandanavian textile, all rich red and bright white. I'm still amazed that I can make something that looks that good. I LOVE this crochet technique! (I'll try to post a picture of it on our picture blog when I've finished the last little bit.)

Hope you all are having a joyous and expectant and hopeful Advent!
-Jess
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