After such a busy month of getting ready, making presents, decorating, shipping, wrapping and baking --- we had a nice Christmas. It was also a pretty relaxing Christmas. Our snow had all melted by Sunday (22nd), but that did mean that we were able to get to church just fine. I had spent Saturday afternoon and evening wrapping presents, so Sunday afternoon it was Dad's turn. Elizabeth was putting the finishing touches on a last gift, and then she joined into the wrapping mode!

Monday was grey and freezing cold. Mom and the two of us spent the morning working on making two batches of Spritz cookies. One batch was vanilla, and the other batch was chocolate! We put all kinds of decorations on them. Raisins, pecans, walnuts, cherries and candied ginger. Dad got a half day off from work, so he was home at lunchtime. We put all of our cookies away, ate some lunch and headed into town to see an afternoon showing of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It only improves with second viewing, by the way! Wow. We had just enough time to dash home, eat dinner, put some cookies in a box and head out to church. Our church has a December 23rd service instead of one on Christmas Eve --- that way everyone has time to get together with their families on whichever day works. It's a short service (with a candlelight ending to Silent Night), followed by fellowship time of coffee and cookies. Every family brought three dozen cookies of their choice. That was fun! Lots of variety, too. Elizabeth and I shared six different types of cookies between us --- and got a bit of a stomach ache to boot. :) I really love the little sugar cookies that have a Hershey's kiss in the center.

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, was rather beautiful. Cold and some snow! It was looking like a White Christmas after all. It turned out that the Keultjeses were going to come on the 26th, instead of Christmas day, so that opened up our schedule a bit. We finished the last bits of wrapping and got everything ready for the following day. As a treat, Mom and I had gotten some small pieces of various "exotic" cheeses on our last trip down to Whole Foods. We cut half of these to go with dinner on Tuesday night and had a fabulous time. My favorite was a white Italian cheese called "Bellavitano". Wow. The others voted the "Pub" or "Cotswold Somerdale" cheese as their favorite.

Christmas morning dawned bright and early. Not too early, though. Now that the big day had arrived, we were all feeling excited and tired, so we opted for a simple breakfast of oatmeal, hot tea and coffee. Can't beat that! Mom and I went up and put all of the presents under the tree and closed the door (Oliver and his friends just love to eat the ribbons!). Everything looked so beautiful, and Elizabeth and I were dying of impatience to give Mom her presents. We spent a leisurely time opening gifts, one by one, and admiring everything. Quite a few were homemade, so that always makes for fun. I'll have to do another post about individual presents (after all, I haven't even finished photographing them all!), but I'll name a few. Elizabeth and I had made a "Poirot" mug and coaster for Mom. Elizabeth actually made the coaster out of wool felt and painted the mug. Pictures will come soon. Mom was actually speechless! I think that was one of the best reactions that we've ever gotten from her. She is certainly a hard one to surprise, so speechlessness is a major feat! Elizabeth got some more Lilliput Lane cottages for her collection and a "Sting" letter opener --- so, she was pretty happy. Dad got new car mats and "duds" --- not to mention a new harmonica. :) One of my very favorite surprises was a sterling silver charm commemorating the birth of Little Prince George. Mom and Elizabeth could not find one ready made, so they had one engraved. It is SO cool! They also made a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament for me that had Little George's picture in it. Elizabeth gave me a beautiful sketch book full of drawings (drawn by her), but that is so wonderful that it deserves an entry of its own. We talked to all the family (and some friends), and we had the last half of our special exotic cheeses. Spent the evening relaxing.

The day after Christmas was our annual get-together with the Keultjeses. Mom and the two of us spent the day getting ready. We had a soup-dinner buffet this year, so that was really fun --- and a change from the usual Cuban dinner. It gave us a chance to get all of the Christmas dishes down from the cupboard and use things that only come out once a year. We had made up goodie bags for everybody and used them as decorations in the front room (see picture). They arrived around dinner-time, and then we visited until late. As usual, we forgot to take a picture! :) There is always next year. Mom and the two of us stayed up late and cleaned up, washed the dishes and "wound down". Actually, we were up until after 1:30am! Yikes! All in all, it was a wonderful time.

So, we have had a very nice Christmas up here. The snow was a fabulous bonus, too! It's been years since there was snow for Christmas. I've been long enough at getting this thing posted, so I'll continue with more pictures in another entry.

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Elizabeth thinks that the photo of me at left is one of her new favorites, and she wants me to post it! That's me enjoying Christmas morning coffee. :)

We saw it. We finally saw it. Elizabeth has been counting down the days for the last couple weeks, and the second part of The Hobbit was released this past Friday. Easton has the best movie theater of any place around, and even though it is quite a trek down there, we really wanted to see it there for the first time. Mom needed to go down to Earth Fare to pick up some things for Christmas week, so Elizabeth and I were set to convince her to go to Easton while we were at it. I mean, two hours and forty-one minutes wouldn't really take up too much of the day, would it?! We actually didn't have to do much convincing --- Mom was dying to see it, too!

So, we did the errands and the things that we had to do, then we headed out to Easton. It's a really cool theater there. Thirty screens in the second story of a huge shopping mall. We bought our tickets (from the window! --- none of those digital print-outs from "quick-serve kiosks" for us, I mean, how would that look in a scrapbook?) and headed on up to the theater. Of course, there's always a little hitch in things. We made it to the top of the escalator and almost choked. There must have been 100 kids up there between the ages of six and ten. Yikes! Thankfully, they had just finished their movie and were leaving. Ah, relief. We had gotten stuck in theaters for Lord of the Rings with young kids, and they don't usually do well.

We were the first ones in the theater, so we had our choice of seats. Only about eight or ten other people ended up coming in --- all adults, too. There were twenty minutes of previews. Finally, the movie came on. You know, it's always hard to see a movie in the theater for the first time. You don't catch everything, and first impressions are often not quite true to mark. Not with The Desolation of Smaug. That was the BEST movie experience we've ever had in a theater! It is an absolutely fabulous movie. The two hours and forty-one minutes goes by so quickly that you can't believe that it's over already. No stupid scenes like there were in the first Hobbit film. No long, useless scenes that you feel like you want to fast-forward.

They have done a fabulous job tying Lord of the Rings into The Hobbit. While it is not exactly like the book, it makes for a much better, emotional film. The book is just a childrens' story --- and nothing like Tolkien's later Lord of the Rings. That said, I actually enjoyed The Hobbit book more than LotR, but it's not the stuff that dreams are made of . . . I mean movies.

Thorin and Bilbo are more amazing in this second part than they were in the first. And that's saying a lot. What manly heroes --- and that is something that they needed after Lord of the Rings. Legolas is back, and he looks even more handsome now than he did originally (if that's possible). His acting and sword fighting is better, too. Fili and Kili are great (my personal favorites when it comes to the "other" dwarves), and the dwarves work very well together. Of course, you have to have a girl, so Peter Jackson and his team made a wood elf named "Tauriel". She is actually really good. She is a warrior elf, and more like you imagine Arwen (in the books) than Arwen was. Not to mention, of course, that she has the most beautiful elf ears to appear onscreen.

There are two new characters that deserve a special mention: Bard of Dale and Beorn. Beorn looks and sounds exactly like I always imagined him. Wow! The Swedish accent was a brilliant stroke of casting. Bard of Dale could not be better. He is an amazing actor, looks perfect for the part and could very well turn into my third favorite. In fact, he probably is already.

The dragon is a work of art. CGI art, that is. He looks perfect, and they really captured the enormity (as Bilbo says) of him and the fierceness once roused and angry. The scene where Bilbo enters the room full of gold is unforgettable.

The only person who gets a "thumbs down" would be Thranduil the Elven King. He looks fabulous, that I'll give him. Unfortunately, all he knows how to do is stand there and look impressive with a wooden face. The minute he tries to move or talk his fame is up. He's awful. Don't worry, though, because his part is rather short, and Legolas more than makes up for it.

Well, I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone else that is going and hasn't seen it yet. If you're waiting for the disc to come out, then my advice is: don't wait! It's really fabulous and worth seeing once on the big screen. We're hoping to go again next week with Dad. Yippee! There are all kinds of great scenes and moments. One that I particularly liked was the scene when they find the keyhole of the hidden door. I almost jumped out of my skin. As for the ending . . . well, it's a storke of genious. You won't be able to miss the third part, mark my words! So, I hope that other people enjoy it as much as the three of us did. They have obviously gotten way better than LotR, and we really loved that. In fact, we were nuts about it. Even went to a "Trilogy Tuesday" showing to see all three films, in a row, before the third one hit the regular theaters. The Hobbit is so much better. Can't wait to see it again!

Things are crazy around here, and I am so behind on blogging, letter writing and anything in the ordinary. We have been having fun getting ready for Christmas. The tree is up and decorated (all non-breakable ornaments --- for Oliver's benefit), all of the presents and cards are packed, shipped, mailed, etc. All that's left is for each of us to finish the presents that we've been making for the others. And a few things may still be yet to arrive in the mail!

We've had snow for almost two weeks, with about six inches out there today. It's looked like a perfect Christmas postcard. Sadly, they are saying that it's warming up over the weekend and raining. Boo hoo! Let's hope that the snow returns in time for a White Christmas.

We're planning on opening presents on Christmas Eve, although we might do it on the 26th. Not sure yet. Friends are coming over on Christmas Day, and we're looking forward to that. Instead of the usual Cuban dinner that we have together, we're having a "buffet" and "snack-y" lunch. Can't wait for that. Well, actually, I can. I'm not quite ready for Christmas to be here yet --- still some work to be done!

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, sunny weather. We've got to go down to Columbus to pick up some things at Earth Fare or Whole Foods. Not to mention that Elizabeth and I need to run into Hobby Lobby for a couple of things. The two of us are hoping to convince Mom to go over to Easton to see The Hobbit 2! Easton has the nicest movie theater of anywhere around here. Thirty screens, too! I'm pretty excited to see it, but a little nervous. I like the first one so much that I hate to be disappointed with the second. Elizabeth can't wait to see the dragon. Actually, she can't wait to hear the dragon. The voice is done by the actor that played William Pitt in Amazing Grace. He's her idea of the perfect actor! More later.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . . as the song goes. We are deep in the middle of Christmas fun. We've spent the last week or so working on getting boxes packed for shipping to out-of-state family and friends. I spent last Saturday making batches of Chocolate Granola. Mom and I had found some pretty cute bags, toppers, tags and ties at Hobby Lobby, so we had fun putting granola into cute little packages. We've also been filling all kinds of Flat Rate and Regional Priority boxes with Christmas presents and goodies. Some of them will go out in the mail today, but there are still a couple more to finish yet. Our Christmas cards are also just about ready to mail!

Mom's birthday was this past week. It was a freezing day, so the three of us stayed warm inside and had fun sitting around, looking at scans of family photos and drinking hot tea. Dad brought a beautiful bouquet of roses home for Mom. Wow!
Yesterday was the "Ladies' Christmas Tea" at church. That was a wonderful afternoon. Poor Dad has got a bad head cold, so he had to stay home. The weather has been very grey, sleety and freezing. We were a little worried that snow would fall while we were in church, but nothing major came down --- just a little bit of the granular stuff.

We've sold a couple more miniature Poirot dolls, so Elizabeth and I have had to spend some time making those. That means that we've been staying up later than usual to squeeze in some time on our Christmas presents for each other. I am making progress on Elizabeth's doll, but it still has a good deal to go. Christmas is coming just a bit too fast. ;)

Elizabeth is pretty excited this week at the prospect of the second "Hobbit" movie coming out. She thinks that Benedict Cumberbatch was just great as William Pitt in Amazing Grace, and she is bursting to hear him as the voice of the Dragon. Oh boy! So, we're hoping to make a matinee showing down in Easton some time. More later.