A Carstensen Christmas

First of all I have to show off our gingerbread village! We had so much fun building it and are enjoying eating it too, though that part is rather bittersweet.



Above the village, looking over on our skating pond.


I love details, like the icicles and window frame here.


And our sweet little mercantile, seems like it would be a fun place to visit.


Caitlin's log cabin, it also had a stone chimney, made from chocolate rocks.


The Meeting House, as we like to call it.


Christmas was fairly quiet, because all of our family is in California and Oregon, for the past few years we've spent it with friends usually people, that, like us, have no family in the area. This year was spent with the Cunninghams, and an older woman who was recently widowed.
Hayley woke us all up bright and early, around 5 o'clock. We had a pretty leisurely morning, having cinnamon rolls for breakfast(yummy!). Then straightened up everything and were able to Skype with our grandparents, the first time we've seen them on Christmas in 8 years.
Here's a few pictures.

This year we decorated in a more natural look, with berries, "snow" clusters, pine cones, and these little woodland creatures.

Also some snowflakes, including these lovely frames my mother got last year.
And here's the tree Christmas morning.
The fun socks we all got!
And playing Jenga with the Cunninghams.

It's About Time

Okay, so I haven't done anything in a while(obviously), blogging has not really been on the top of my To Do list.
Here's a little bit on what I've been up to lately...
Our Thanksgiving was pretty quiet we had the Cunninghams over for the meal, after which we all went out and took a walk, then came home and played games while enjoying coffee and pumpkin pie. Here I'm teaching Caitlin Cunningham how to play Backgammon.
John and his friend Matthew also joined us in the evening, and spent most of it around the chess board.
Sweet Jillian and Rachel! I love having a baby around so much, it is so fun!
Hayley and Jacob taking their turn at the chess board.
And last Saturday we trekked out to get our tree. I'm very glad we did that before we got 8 inches of snow, and fortunately we didn't have to go too far to find it.
Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!
Jillian doing her sign language at the choir concert.
My lovely and wonderful parents!

I'm hoping to do some more posting soon. Please forgive the lapse of creativity I've had lately, and also laziness on my part, just can't seem to get myself to get things together, I'm working on it though. God bless you all!