Before Christmas break started, we decided we should have a “Lord of the Rings Day” and watch all of the movies back-to-back-to-back while everyone was still home on vacation. I picked today for our marathon, but it wasn’t until after we started The Fellowship of the Ring this morning that I discovered that today is actually Tolkien’s birthday! How felicitous is that?!?
I saved the Lavender & Pine candle I bought at the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale to burn today…something about it seems rather Elvish to me!
We saved the “Vintersaga” mulled fruit drink we found on clearance at Ikea for today, too…it has a very nice “mulled wines of Moria” vibe!
And I couldn’t let the day go by without making something from Recipes from the World of Tolkien…you’d think I’d be sick of baking cookies, but that didn’t stop me from making Westfarthing Fairings, which are flavored with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and lemon zest…perfect for the days after Christmas!
Our dinner wasn’t inspired by the world of Tolkien, but it was one of the fancier dinners I make, and one that everyone loves…pan-fried chicken and grapes with a creamy mustard sauce served over couscous.
I can’t believe that the random day I picked for our movie marathon was actually Tolkien’s birthday…what a great way to make a fun day extra special!
It doesn’t seem possible, but Christmas Eve and Day have come and gone already!
Our celebration started on Christmas Eve morning, with Christmas Crunch:
I made time early in the day to deliver gifts to all of my neighbors on Gloriana, and also chased Roald around my island for a bit, trying to get the perfect picture (which I did).
Bunny had to work in the morning, but when she got home, she put the finishing touches on this year’s Advent Lego project, Rivendell:
And then we went to my second-favorite service of the entire church year, Christmas Eve candlelight:
Candlelight being a relative term, as it was still fairly light out when the service was over. We didn’t stop by the city of St. Louis Christmas tree downtown this year, so it was pretty bright for our drive through the Way of Lights!
When we got home, I made wassail, which was a bit of a change for us…I think it may become a new tradition!
And we enjoyed a gingerbread layer cake with gingerbread mousse filling and molasses cream cheese frosting, and topped with sugared cranberries for dessert.
We also played our new Christmas Eve board game, Ticket to Ride Northern Lights. I lost spectacularly, but not as spectacularly as Ladybug won!
We watched the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker and Rick Steves’ European Christmas, and then I filled the stockings and escorted Mary and Joseph to the stable. I hope there’s never a day when we don’t want to put up the Little People nativity, even though we no longer have any little people living in our home1
On Christmas Day morning, we enjoyed our favorite coffee cake:
And then we went back to church, nice and early so I could get some pictures in front of the beautiful church Christmas tree:
Our church is always beautiful, but there’s something extra special about it at Christmastime!
The family picture we took after the service is probably one of the nicest ones we’ve ever taken!
We opened presents when we got home, and then I got started on dinner, the best dinner of the year, the famed “Pick Out Dinner!”
Setting the table is pretty low-key compared to Thanksgiving, but I still like to make it look nice, including napkins folded like Christmas trees. I added a few small Christmas trees to our traditional centerpiece of the Advent wreath…they balanced out the additional candles I often add quite nicely!
We had quite the spread this year!
We spent the afternoon and evening watching Christmas movies, playing games, and building Lego sets. The weather was far too warm for Christmas (it felt, smelled, and sounded like Easter!), but thankfully the weather isn’t what makes for a good Christmas, and we had a lovely day. And luckily for us, Christmas lasts for 12 days, so we still have our “fancy” (although dialed back a bit this year thanks to rising grocery costs) dinner and more cookie baking to look forward to…and maybe even some colder weather! Merry Christmas!!!
After 25 days of building Lego Rivendell throughout the season of Advent, the set is complete!
This is a really great set, and full of splendid details. There are a lot of minifigures, including the entire Fellowship, and Bunny had fun posing them around the set:
Here are a few shots from above:
And a look at the back of the set:
And here are some details that I just really like:
This was a great set for an Advent project. Even Turkey, our resident Lego expert, found some aspects of the build challenging, which is no easy feat. It split up pretty nicely, both across the 25 days of Advent, and in terms of how many bags each of the Fab Five got to build. And I still think it’s the most beautiful set Lego has ever made, and after seeing all of the tiny details and elements of building, I’m even more convinced!
Today was a very exciting day, because Ladybug got to add the penultimate member of the Fellowship, Legolas, to Lego Rivendell:
She put together bags 40 & 41, which add nice covered entrance with even more tiny square roof tiles…I believe she attached all of the roof tiles for the entire set! She also added a table with lembas bread.
Pictures don’t really show how truly immense this set is…we’re running out of room on the table to build it! I looked up the measurements of the completed set before I ordered it, but even that didn’t do it justice.
Today Ladybug built bags 37, 37, & 39 of Lego Rivendell, and they all joined together to make one large roof panel covered with a zillion tiny little square tiles:
She really enjoys lining up them up just so, and she’s really good at it (and super patient…I would have lost it trying to get them straight!):
