Month: December 2022

Christmas 2022

We’ve had another happy Markel Family Christmas!

Our celebration started, as always, on Christmas Eve, with Christmas Crunch for breakfast:

I played Animal Crossing early, because I knew that might be my only opportunity to deliver gifts for Jingle and say “Merry Christmas” to Roald:

The Fab Five completed this year’s Advent project, the Lego Disney Castle.

Speaking of Disney, Ladybug and I made red velvet Mickey Mouse waffles for lunch:

And then we went to church. It was quite early for us…3 p.m. It was definitely different to go to Christmas Eve church when it was still so bright out!

It was even bright when we stopped to see the city of St. Louis Christmas tree after church…but that made it easier to see the snow on the ground. We finally had a white (and very cold) Christmas!

It was also still pretty bright when we drove through the Way of Lights, but after all these years, it was kind of cool to see it in a different way:

I took lots of pictures when we got home:

And we enjoyed some cake:

We played a couple games of Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries. I suffered one of my greatest losses of all-time in the first game!

The theme for this year’s Christmas jammies was (surprise, surprise) Mickey Mouse:

I still always set up the Little People nativity scene before bed:

We almost kind of got to sleep in on Christmas Day…but just barely. Stockings were the first order of business:

And then our traditional Christmas morning coffee cake:

And then we headed back to church for the Christmas Day service.

We found time for a nice family photo:

After we got home, we opened presents.

And then I got to work putting together the “pick out dinner.”

I was once again very pleased with how my charcuterie board turned out!

It’s such a fun and delicious meal!

We had another little reminder of our vacation when I burned the Christmas candle we picked up at Disney Springs:

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day because we waited for today for our fancy Christmas dinner. The table looked especially nice with our (kind of) new glasses added to the place settings:

For dinner, I made a beef tenderloin, which turned out beautifully. We also had sautéed mushrooms, hasselback potatoes, roast Brussel sprouts with a balsamic glaze and dried cranberries, our favorite cherry Jell-O, and rolls:

It was delicious and elegant!

For dessert I made a pair of yule logs. I tried a new recipe for a red and green variety, which was delicious, but not as pretty as I wanted it to be. I also made a favorite gingerbread variety, which was delicious and pretty!

The whole season of Advent went by quite quickly, and so has the beginning of the Christmas season, but I’m looking forward to making the most of the days ahead!

Tasty Tuesday: The Top Five–Food Photos of 2022

It’s time to take a look back at 2022, starting with my favorite food photos of the year (minus desserts and drinks)!

Let’s start in February, with this beautiful quiche I made for the tea party we had to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne:

A lot of my best food photos this year occurred during our “Disney Dinners,” like these Moana’s Motunui Sliders:

Some of my other best food photos came from my adventures in German cooking, like this Bavarian Obatzda with homemade pretzels:

We had a lot of fun with The Nightmare Before Christmas cookbook…I love how colorful this “Snake and Spider Stew” was!

More German cooking…this time, a whole dinner plate featuring homemade schnitzel:

And a bonus picture, because nachos at the ballpark just photograph so well!

I took a lot of food photos this year, so stay tuned for specialized lists focusing on desserts and drinks, too!

Mani Monday

This is the most Christmas-y mani I could come up with…Sally Hansen Miracle Gel “Me, My Elf and I” topped with “Deep Sea Diamond” alternating with “Can’t Beet Royalty” topped with “Sunken Treasure.” It doesn’t get better than green and red with lots of silver and gold glitter!

Sartorial Saturday…On a Sunday–Festive Fashion in the Deep Freeze

Merry Christmas!

Time for a look at this year’s festive fashion, heavily influenced by the Arctic weather we’ve been having. The chill made warm clothing a must on Christmas Eve, so I added a cape and beret (and red tights), to my usual Christmas dress. I also added a Christmas Splendette stack, my favorite sparkly Christmas brooch, and equally sparkly silver shoes.

Even at home, I had to dress with the cold in mind, so I threw a cardigan on over my Miss Candyfloss dressing gown:

The faux fur collar on my cape is removable, so I changed up its look on Christmas Day. This time I wore a Rare Dirndl and my new Christmas apron, plus a flower crown that arrived just in time for Christmas. I accessorized with edelweiss, a brand-new Homes bracelet, and some Erstwilder brooches:

I kind of enjoyed having truly cold weather for Christmas, especially since it allowed me to dress a little differently this year!

The Lego Disney Castle

As promised, here’s a look at the completed Lego Disney Castle:

And here are some of my favorite details:

This was a really fun project for Advent, and a great way to end a very Disney-themed year!

Advent 2022–Day Twenty-Eight

Today is the final day of Advent 2022, and Turkey completed the Lego Disney Castle. He built the rest of the final tower, which includes a nice spot for a watchman (or Donald Duck), and the he put all the castle pieces together.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a look at the full castle!

Sartorial Saturday–Old Hollywood Glamour

It’s finally time to take a look at the piece I most eagerly anticipated from the Miss Candyfloss “Smile with Lucy” collection…the Talise-Dora lace playsuit!

I was so excited to finally receive this beautiful one-piece pantsuit. The lace bodice has almost an ombré effect thanks to the dark brown and sand beige color gradients. It is also adorned with both glitter and sequins…plenty of sparkle for a special occasion or just a random day!

I accessorized with my camel-colored hat, a brown and white Splendette stack of Duchess Bangles, and my one pair of Erstwilder earrings. I also added velvet gloves with a ring on top.

The pants are also a beautiful dark brown, with elegant wide legs.

Here’s a closer look at my accessories and the beautiful lace bodice. I love the attention to detail in this piece…the buttons are even covered in the same lace!

It’s such an elegant and glamorous look!

This was my final purchase from the “Smile with Lucy” collection, which is convenient because Miss Candyfloss has also finished releasing pieces for the season. Now it’s time to dream about what the spring/summer 2023 collection will be!

Advent 2022–Day Twenty-Seven

Ladybug continued building the big tower for the Lego Disney Castle today:

And she added vignettes representing Tangled and the original animated classic, Snow White:

Tomorrow we see how it all comes together!

Advent 2022–Day Twenty-Six

Today Chickadee worked on building a part of the Lego Disney Castle that will go behind the balcony Bunny built yesterday:

She was also very excited that she got to build the last minifig for the set, Tinkerbell!

Chickadee Thursday

I’m not sure how many years it’s been since Chickadee has gotten to see a fire truck up close (maybe five?), but yesterday she had the opportunity not just to see one, but actually climb up in the driver’s seat!