A Bun in the Oven

No, this isn't an announcement, so hold your britches. 

Whenever a new baby enters our family,

 my father carves that little one something unique to celebrate their first Christmas.

It's always something clever and cute...

like a bun in the oven! 

(or a lady bug or a stork or a pumpkin seed...

with 8 grandkiddos so far, Dad is getting more and more creative with what he carves.) 

All hand crafted, painstakingly detailed and one of a kind.  

Aren't we all so lucky to have a patriarch that cares so much?!

Nostalgia in a Bottle

Coney Island and "The Santa on the Side of the Wall"

a wonderful annual duo in my family...

Well this year for the Thomas Family, we did them separately 

(but equally wonderfully!) 

We took our little Leo for his inaugural visit.  From the steamed buns to the cinnamony chili sauce, generous mustard and liberal onions...I've always enjoyed every bite! 

Wash it all down with a coke in a bottle and you have nostalgic heaven.

(I hope one day Leonardo can stay awake until the food comes, 

and enjoys the this tradition as much as his Papa and I do!)

Leo's 15 seconds of fame

Our Leo is famous...well kind of...if you count getting your photo in the local paper famous. 

Leo in Eric's baseball mitt, upper right

Really the article was about our wonderful photographer Chelsea Rittenhouse of Giggleface Photography, but Leonardo was featured in not one

but TWO example photos of her work. 

Eric couldn't have been more proud of his little fellow 

and promptly purchased three copies of the paper

 (as any excited Papa would)

Snippets of Christmas

Is it too late to talk about Christmas? 

Not in this house it isn't. (After all we JUST took down our Christmas decorations last week)

We celebrate all year around here. 

The crafts and decorations

and food...

it's all such a wonderful way to bring those we love together. 

While not all of our celebrating is focused only on Christ's birth,

I do like to think it makes His eyes twinkle when His flock are together laughing and enjoying each others company. 

Certainly the kindness of Mr. Claus is not lost on our Lord.

I'll never forget how sincerely he told us when we visited in his Auburn Chalet that Christmas is for the children and he does what he does for them.

Surely the heart of St. Nicholas was full of love for the Christ child. 

Having a wee one of our own brings a new kind of truth to the reality of Mary's selflessness.

The story of Jesus' birth just hit me differently this year.

Father Dave even mentioned to us once, "Jesus was a little baby just like Leonardo!" 

So I guess we weren't the only one's that were thinking it.

This year we had much to celebrate, and our favorite gift came two months early. 

Best.

Christmas.

Ever. 

(Well maybe not ever, the birth of Jesus you can't really beat; 

how about best Christmas yet in our lifetime?)

Stuffing Stockings

Leonardo's stocking WAS knitted in time for Christmas,

Eric wasn't sure it would be big enough to fit all the goodies inside,

but it's about four times as large as what I grew up with,

and I was on my last skein of yarn from that lot, so I decided it was.

Many other projects were completed in warp speed this year...more to follow soon.

January Thaw

"The sun came out,
And the snowman cried.
His tears ran down
on every side.
His tears ran down
Till the spot was cleared.
He cried so hard
That he disappeared."
-  Margaret Hillert, January Thaw

Last week we had lots of beautiful white fluff as far as the eye could see!  

It was so pure and clean and lovely.  One morning we were treated to the rare delight of frozen fog all piled up in stacks of white outlining all the trees and scruff along the banks...

it made for the MOST beautiful drive to work, watching the sun rise paint it's beautiful light on the scene.  I often hear people comment about snow being a waste after Christmas...

they'd rather it just ended in December. 

I mostly nod and smile as if I agree, but secretly I enjoy it

(even last year when the roads were covered until April and I had double the drive time and one lane roads half the winter)

I think our little fellow might be on my side.

I cannot wait until he's old enough to build snowmen and sled and ice skate with us and then curl up inside for board games and hot chocolate. 

Game Day

Yesterday was a big day for those of us from Indiana. 

We were all geared up to root for our down-home favorites (those good old Colts!)

Turned out to be a rough game to watch....

especially if you were cheering for those underdogs.

Of course, my favorite part of football has always been the food; 

that's good win or loose.

those toes are so interesting these days!

I guess there's always next year Mr. Luck.

You MUST Be Yolking

I cannot believe I've failed to mention some very exciting news for the Thomas Homestead...

Thelma and Louise are officially earning their keep!  

Our Easter Egger was the first to produce her golden yolked beauties;

We couldn't have hoped for a more beautiful shade of blue. When our nephew Ryder first saw our homegrown eggs over a year ago, he didn't realize a chicken could lay anything other than a white egg and thought we had dyed them! 

But, those were Sally and Peg's eggs...RIP. 

These new gals are laying steadily (one egg a day per hen even in these frigid temps) 

There is nothing like a farm fresh egg, especially when it comes from your own backyard.