Christmas in our old stone home

The strains of voices lifted in song resounded throughout our old stone house this week. Our church's Christmas Eve choir met for a thorough rehearsal on December 23.

Ana baked a berry pie for a friend. I love that she bakes pie. How very old-fashioned! She even bought the ingredients with her own hard-earned cash.

My favorite part about this pie is the holly berry cut-out decorating the crust. I also like that she dons an apron -a hand-crafted one!- to work in the kitchen. What a girl.

We celebrated our first Christmas in our old stone home with a lovely breakfast: French Toast and Fruit Salad.

It wasn't a fancy, over-the-top celebration. Mostly simple. Only a few extra faces graced our table, but they were especially dear faces.

Who needs a new kitchen to be radiantly happy? Not this housefrau.
Dark blue tiles (which need to be sanitized daily) and cabinets that swing open without notice don't keep me from sharin' the love.

The food love, that is.

Christmas Eve only gets better with a cup of fresh coffee. Caffeine is not an issue when one is staying up late to wrap presents anyway. Think of it as a gift-wrapping stimulant.

We open one gift each before turning in for the night & dreaming sweet dreams. Visions of sugar-plums are nice, too. But we like gifts we can really use -like t-shirts that say funny things.

I am not sure how this photo came about, but a certain boy better have put my reading glasses BACK where he found them.

Grandma Jean basks in the glow of the Christmas tree. We love the fact that she lives downstairs; only a few descending steps away.

It as been a treat to celebrate such a special time in our new/old home. We look forward to many happy times here.

Merry Christmas to friends near & far!