Merry Weekend Mirths

While most of you probably aren't thinking one tiny bit about Christmas, I still am :)
Mostly because things got a little crazy and I never finished posting about it. It was the Klis' first Christmas, we had our own little celebration and started some fun traditions, so I'd like to give it due documentation...then we can get back to the future.
Here, a photo profile:

{Christmas Eve Dinner: Roasted Duck, Brussell Sprouts Au Gratin. Sweet Potatoes with Orange Zest, and Blanched Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Lemon}

{showing off some of my Christmas bounty}

{Park City, weekend after Christmas. Lovely.}

Merry Weekend Mirths

...a little late, but better than never!
Christmas month Weekend Mirths for December 11-13 were postponed due to very unmirthful and unmerry finals this week. But as I has just finished finals and can now breathe again (as well as sleep, eat, and do something other than sit on my roundside and study), mirth has come back into this Klis!

Highlights of finals week:
1. I got a 95% on my physics final. Yeah.
2. I spent at least 12 hours a day in the Maeser building, the same building I work in, studying. Or working.
3. I have suffered from a bulbous neck muscle all week. It is seriously very large and lumpy and in the front of my neck where my collar bone should be. Don't worry, this always pops right when I'm stressed (I like to think it's just like the little red pop-up in the turkey), would you know, it sure pops up often! But this weeek....this was BAD.
4. On Tuesday, Mama's finals care-package detailing the many ways to eat her homemade granola came...my preferred method was whenever, however, with the maximum amount possible packed into my little mouse mouth.
5. We ate Ramen. It is gross. I don't know how people eat that stuff. Eating Ramen shows how desperately busy we've been ( and how tired I am). Foods like that have no home in my home!
6. Finally....Being done! Oh it feels so good!

And now for highlights of the previous weekend!

{that's not fire in the corner, just the light of Christmas Spirit in our home :)}
{we decided to trim the tree...}

{but then ran out of lights....to be continued}

{krista distributed Christmas gifts early}

{among my favorites, a spoon cradle, handmade}

{salt and pepper dishes, handmade}

{adorable snowwoman, made by our sweet little neighbor}

I also managed to pack in some Christmas baking. From the pictures below, can you guess what I made? If you guess most of them correctly....I'll send you a treat!

The answers (in their entirety) will be revealed as I post each amazing recipe, and you're gonna want the recipes....trust me.

Sweet Nothings

Robert Browning was a Victorian poet who may not have been so very popular back in his day, and although I can't say I love all of his poetry/prose (or poetic novels for that matter), right now he's soothing my burning eyes and feeding my tired, tired soul.

"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!"

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"


“Truth lies within ourselves: it takes no rise from outward things, whatever you may believe. There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness and to Know rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape than in effecting entry for light supposed to be without.”


"Stung by the splendour of a sudden thought."

On a less serious note:

“So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!"

“Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats"

Merry Weekend Mirths

Celebrations from the first weekend of Christmas month!

It snowed! And suddenly even our grimy street was beautiful.

{the Klis residence, street view}

We also took the first step toward family traditions and bought our first Christmas tree on this weekend! It was freezing cold, and had just started to snow, but we loaded up in my brother-in-law's truck and went searching for a tree. A real tree. I can't abide the fake ones. No sir, not in my house. But sadly we had to buy a pre-cut tree rather than timber one down ourselves, because as Jeffrey kept saying, "They just don't have trees in Utah! I mean, there's a tree farm in my yard back home!" (I thought to myself, "Yeah well I have like 10 tree farms within a 10 mile radius back at my home. And they give you hot chocolate. And it's not -10000 degrees outside at my home, and they put lights up on the town square, and a nativity scene, and they usually leave that nativity scene up through February"....there's no place like home :))

{the tree that Jeffrey wanted, a thin little thing}
{the tree that I wanted, a plump little delight}

{Jeffrey's tree, the tree that won a home}

{and, dare I say, our hearts??}

Once we got the tree into our house, it was perfect. Just the right size: good height so it doesn't look too Charlie Brownish, good width so it doesn't block our entrance to the kitchen. Now all it needs is some suitable ornamentation, oh and a tree stand...aparently cups and pitchers weren't made for this sort of thing.

Christmas is on it's way!

Weekend Mirths

First, 11/26-11/29 Weekend Mirths, starring two Thanksgivings, two apple and one cherry pie, from scratch, to-die-for stuffing, and one successfully roasted juicy turkey :)

{See those layers of flaky crust? See 'em? I had a really good baking day}

{We found out why people argue over who has to, I mean, who gets to, carve the turkey}

Jeffrey and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at his grandparent's house on Thanksgiving day, but Krista and I have been wanting to do our own Thanksgiving for the longest time, so we did a second dinner on Friday. It was so much fun!! And so delicious!!

The downside: two Thanksgiving dinners in a row means that one must suffer the lesser appetite. Unfortunately, the sister dinner suffered...we had turkey for DAYS....