Time is Getting away from me….

We had our annual Stitching group Christmas party last Thursday. We went to an Italian restaurant called The Chateau. I had a combo plate of chicken parm, fried ravioli, and a meatball. It was so yummy I ate almost all of it! Then we went to Jeanne’s house for dessert.   I wish I hadn’t eaten 2 slices of Scali bread!

Joanne had brought Cupcake Charlie’s (of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars!) 

Berry Champagne flavor and Chocolate Candy Cane:

Jeanne baked the Pecan Tassies in the foreground- so delicious!

She also baked Surprise Cookies; they are in the back beyond the plate of tassies.

Here’s Deborah, of Cranberry Samplings, taking my picture while I took hers. Check out her latest blog post for more of our merry shenanigans.

Jeanne pulled out all the stops when it came to decorating her house. Just get a look at her Christmas Village display:

   

Two tables’ worth! Her husband wires all the houses so it’s entirely lit. It’s just stunning.

Here’s a view across the kitchen island back towards the breakfast area:

 

And this is so cute- it’s a glass block filled with mini lights. Jeanne changes the adornment for each holiday throughout the year.

Here’s the tree:

It’s actually very straight, despite the photo. I promise it’s NOT because I was drinking! I wish I could decorate my tree like this. It seems it’s a skill I was born without. My tree always looks like I threw the ornaments on from across the room.

An Anna-Lea (?) doll- a lamb knitting a sweater!

Jeanne gave me 2 wonderful gifts- I can’t wait to use them both:

magnetic measuring spoons

And Joanne Chang’s cookbook “Flour”

I want to make EVERYTHING in this book! The recipes look easy, with in-your-cupboard-already ingredients. Plus a lot of the recipes have a stop-here-and-refrigerate-for-when-you-have-more-time-to-finish steps. Awesome for those of us who have places to go & things to do every day after work.

If you click on the pictures they should enlarge.

Thanks to Jeanne and Joanne for a fantastic evening!