Fa La La La La---La La La La!
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Christmas
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Christmas was in high gear when we woke up yesterday morning. We had a lot to do. Mark ran errands to get those last minute gifts, food, and everything else I had forgotten earlier in the week. I stayed back and wrapped. And of course, Soba monitored over my shoulder. :)
We wrapped and packed and wrapped and packed. Then, headed out to Mom and Dad's for Christmas Eve service. We made it, only missing the first hymn--better than we thought we were going to do. After service we headed back to Mom and Dad's for our annual tradition: Calder Aufschnitt. This is our family's German tradition. It involves a spread of cold cut meats and cheeses, mom's homemade liver pate, three different types of breads, spreads, and spinach dip. It becomes quite a feast. This is on top of our first course which is homemade oyster stew (for the rest of the family) and a vegetable soup (for Amy). Then, to finish it off, mom made Christmas cupcakes.
YUM!
Soba was a good puppy and slept in his bed while we had our feast!
Our evening was shorter than most Christmas Eve nights. Mom is notorious for staying up until 3 am, 4 am, or later (gasp!). But last night? She was sitting on the couch, FINISHED with wrapping by 10 pm!!!! We have turned a corner in Trenkle family history! This is surely a record!
She joined Dad on a comfortable piece of living room furniture and we all fell asleep for a little bit.
All was calm on Christmas Eve.... the stockings were hung by the chimney with care....
and the Christmas tree was perfectly decorated....
We woke up to a perfect Christmas morning. It was our first white Christmas in years. The skies have been gray all day and the threat of rain/ice has been imminent but absent.
The dog was ready to go as we all convened in the living room to open stockings. We were revved up from good coffee and mom's famous Christmas cranberry cake that we had feasted on for breakfast. Stay tuned to my brother's blog for a future entry on it!
There was a small standoff between Soba and my Dad for the occupancy of Dad's chair....
In the end there was a compromise by both...
At least until Soba had other things (like his presents from Kofi Kitty and Jon!) to pay attention to and attract his attention!
Thanks Jon and Kofi for the great treats and yumminess!
We commenced with the opening of our stockings...
Amy's prize stocking gift was a cool Crayola crayon caddy!
The entire box smells wonderful--like that new crayon, waxy smell! The tips are perfectly pointed! There are classics like Carnation and new ones like Steel Blue. They're absolutely delicious! Mark was probably right when he said that 30 years ago I received a similar gift and had the same reaction. I love a new box of crayons!!!!
We commenced with more stocking gifts, this time as Soba looked on from my lap...
Jon pointed out the local paper's masthead and then lead headline...Happy Holidays everyone! Does anyone proof the front page anymore?
After a short break, we regathered in the Living Room to have our gift exchange.
Everyone took their usual seats...
We had Dad open his first since the idea was for him to use his gift for the rest of the openings....we bought him a new digital camera, a small, pocket size, quality camera to replace the one he bought about 8 years ago.
It's amazing to see how much they've changed in the last few years!
Jon bought us a Boston Terrier Piggy Bank!!!! Soba took offense to it and barked loudly, probably out of fear of being replaced. No worries little man, but we do love the piggy bank! It looks like a classic, vintage piggy bank! Great find Jon!
One of the gifts we got Jon was a well-deserved, hard earned framed photo of our Philadelphia Marathon photo finish and a 26.2 sticker for his car! :)
Mark loved his presents too....
The jacket fit perfectly!
He's wearing it still! Another great find by Jon!
Mom opened her Salt Box....
and Soba became a decorated puppy with all of our bows....
Mark was also outfitted with a new running shirt, tights, and a longer, warmer shirt!
Jon opened his La Creuset dish (we can't wait to read blogs about what he bakes in it!).
Mom opened her box of new graters (really, they were on her list! We promise!).
Jon and Amy both got new photo printers and are ecstatic (especially since they have their new cameras to print pictures from!)!!
Last, but definitely not least, Dad gave Mom her gift from him...in the special Santa bag he found. It talks if you peek in it and tell you that Santa's caught you peeking!
It was a terrific gift-giving holiday....
and very relaxing....
After all of that, it was time to reconvene at the dinner table for left overs from last night and mom's awesome artichoke dip!
Happy Holidays everyone! We hope you've had as excellent of a holiday as we have had--filled with friends and family!
We wrapped and packed and wrapped and packed. Then, headed out to Mom and Dad's for Christmas Eve service. We made it, only missing the first hymn--better than we thought we were going to do. After service we headed back to Mom and Dad's for our annual tradition: Calder Aufschnitt. This is our family's German tradition. It involves a spread of cold cut meats and cheeses, mom's homemade liver pate, three different types of breads, spreads, and spinach dip. It becomes quite a feast. This is on top of our first course which is homemade oyster stew (for the rest of the family) and a vegetable soup (for Amy). Then, to finish it off, mom made Christmas cupcakes.
YUM!Soba was a good puppy and slept in his bed while we had our feast!
Our evening was shorter than most Christmas Eve nights. Mom is notorious for staying up until 3 am, 4 am, or later (gasp!). But last night? She was sitting on the couch, FINISHED with wrapping by 10 pm!!!! We have turned a corner in Trenkle family history! This is surely a record!
She joined Dad on a comfortable piece of living room furniture and we all fell asleep for a little bit.
All was calm on Christmas Eve.... the stockings were hung by the chimney with care....
and the Christmas tree was perfectly decorated....
We woke up to a perfect Christmas morning. It was our first white Christmas in years. The skies have been gray all day and the threat of rain/ice has been imminent but absent.The dog was ready to go as we all convened in the living room to open stockings. We were revved up from good coffee and mom's famous Christmas cranberry cake that we had feasted on for breakfast. Stay tuned to my brother's blog for a future entry on it!
There was a small standoff between Soba and my Dad for the occupancy of Dad's chair....
In the end there was a compromise by both...
At least until Soba had other things (like his presents from Kofi Kitty and Jon!) to pay attention to and attract his attention!
Thanks Jon and Kofi for the great treats and yumminess!
We commenced with the opening of our stockings...
Amy's prize stocking gift was a cool Crayola crayon caddy! 
The entire box smells wonderful--like that new crayon, waxy smell! The tips are perfectly pointed! There are classics like Carnation and new ones like Steel Blue. They're absolutely delicious! Mark was probably right when he said that 30 years ago I received a similar gift and had the same reaction. I love a new box of crayons!!!!
We commenced with more stocking gifts, this time as Soba looked on from my lap...
Jon pointed out the local paper's masthead and then lead headline...Happy Holidays everyone! Does anyone proof the front page anymore?
After a short break, we regathered in the Living Room to have our gift exchange.
Everyone took their usual seats...
We had Dad open his first since the idea was for him to use his gift for the rest of the openings....we bought him a new digital camera, a small, pocket size, quality camera to replace the one he bought about 8 years ago. 
It's amazing to see how much they've changed in the last few years!
Jon bought us a Boston Terrier Piggy Bank!!!! Soba took offense to it and barked loudly, probably out of fear of being replaced. No worries little man, but we do love the piggy bank! It looks like a classic, vintage piggy bank! Great find Jon!
One of the gifts we got Jon was a well-deserved, hard earned framed photo of our Philadelphia Marathon photo finish and a 26.2 sticker for his car! :)
Mark loved his presents too....
The jacket fit perfectly!
He's wearing it still! Another great find by Jon!
Mom opened her Salt Box....
and Soba became a decorated puppy with all of our bows....
Mark was also outfitted with a new running shirt, tights, and a longer, warmer shirt!
Jon opened his La Creuset dish (we can't wait to read blogs about what he bakes in it!).
Mom opened her box of new graters (really, they were on her list! We promise!).
Jon and Amy both got new photo printers and are ecstatic (especially since they have their new cameras to print pictures from!)!!
Last, but definitely not least, Dad gave Mom her gift from him...in the special Santa bag he found. It talks if you peek in it and tell you that Santa's caught you peeking!
It was a terrific gift-giving holiday....
and very relaxing....
After all of that, it was time to reconvene at the dinner table for left overs from last night and mom's awesome artichoke dip! 
Happy Holidays everyone! We hope you've had as excellent of a holiday as we have had--filled with friends and family!
