Old Fashioned Christmas

Because we were traveling, we had a small Christmas, and frankly, we were really excited about it. The highlight for me was giving Lizzie and Anna quilts for their American Girl dolls. It was the first quilting project I had done in nearly seven years, and only the second in my life. They match the quilts on their own beds, lovingly done by my mother a few years ago. We have loved them and even though quilting makes me tense, it was fun to work on a project with results that I could immediately see. Most of the work I do has to be repeated every few hours and the results of my labors disappear quickly (i.e. cooking, cleaning, ironing, bathing). The girls really liked the quilts, or at least they acted like they liked them, and I felt really good making something for a Christmas present. Very retro or something.

The other big gifts were a baby doll for Daisy, an American Girl doll for Anna (Emily, for those in the know), and a pink digital camera for Lizzie. The camera holds the only record of our Christmas morning, due to the fact that I was helping with gifts and Kelly was playing with our new digital video camera. Unfortunately, after we returned home from Utah, we realized that the afore-mentioned pink camera was still at Grammy's house, somewhere in Grace's room. Hooray for David, who not only found the camera on a shelf, but also found Daisy's missing pink shoe in the warming drawer, also after we had left. Anyway, the camera is on its way home now (thanks, Mom) and we can't wait to see pictures of Christmas. It runs on AA batteries and by Christmas night, we had been through two sets. One GB of memory goes a long, long way and we will be looking into rechargable batteries soon.

We had our little Christmas at Grandma Stephenson's house, then went to Grammy and Gramps' house for brunch, only to return to Grandma's for a late lunch, and then to Uncle Dick and Aunt Ann's for the Engar family party and dinner. Of course we ate at all three places: the food was too delicious and it was Christmas. Mom made Grammy's devilled egg casserole which is such a tradition that it wouldn't be Christmas without it. Even though it's nothing but devilled eggs smothered in white sauce and cheese, it evokes strong memories...and it's divine. Judy always puts out all the treats that neighbors and friends have brought and we snack and snack until we're nearly sick. Also a fun tradition.

And speaking of traditions, this was the first year that I realized how steeped in tradition my Engar family Christmas is. Following a lovely sit-down dinner (we thankfully stopped serving chicken a la king in pastry cups), we have bouche de Noel, a French dessert that involves a rolled cake shaped and made to look like a log. My cute cousin Marianne made it this year following Grammy Amy's exact recipe. It took her two days, but it was worth it. Yum!

Then we play the present game. We used to play with white elephants, but we have evolved and the gifts are now really nice...mostly. And following the present game, the chimes come out. Years ago, my Grammy had a set of chimes made from steel pipes. They were precisely cut to match certain pitches. She then numbered each one, made ringers out of nails and wood, and wrote Christmas songs in numbers that correspond with the numbers on the chimes. We all hold our chimes and the song-leader points to the numbers. Finally this year, we achieved the three-part harmony on "Silver Bells." It was a Christmas miracle.

So that's the party. It's quite a production, following the grand tradition of Christmases past. My favorite thing about it is that even though my grandparents are both gone, we all still get together and are still close.