A Bun Christmas Treel

... roll the buns and place on the tray ...
... make sure to leave lots of room for the dough to rise ...

Moiya has gone to Calgary to hug and cuddle the new little Elizabeth Wood at Matthew and Stacey's house.

I don't know if she will be called Elizabeth or any of the lovely nicknames that go along with Elizabeth:Lizzie, Beth, Betty, Eliza -- the list is endless.

Before Moiya left Salmon Arm, she was in the middle of making something with a Christmas tree theme for a weekend party.

She settled on a Christmas tree made out of cheese buns.

Now this is a lot of work, but it really made me laugh.

There is not much cheaper to play with than bread dough.

I asked Moiya for the recipe.

When the buns are finished proofing,
they will look like this.

She said that it is just Marina's cheese bun recipe.

Well, thankfully she sent me pictures of steps one, two and three.

It does look like Moiya is using parchment paper.

I don't know when parchment paper because a staple in my pantry.

Perhaps 10 years ago?

Having the tree on parchment paper looks like the secret.

... I can almost smell that fresh warm air above the buns...

As well, Moiya put little stars on the top bun, by rolling tiny piece of dough and then artfully making them into a star.

She did a couple of extra buns in case the first one didn't work out.

Now why she did any of this I will never know since the first person in the buffet line will ruin that art of the creation and it will just be a pan of buns after 10 people have taken one.

Still, it is something I would have tried.

Something I may still try.

Arta

On making Twixt Bars

While I was at Mary's in Aylmer, P.Q., she had an evening where she promised her kids home-made Twixt bars.

What, I thought.  You can make those.  I thought, seeing will be believing.

I left to go to Montreal before we had consumed the whole pan.

Mary said that Leo and Xavier will only eat one small slice a day, so she took them to church on Sunday to let her friends taste them and finish them off.

They have been on my mind lately.

Here is a link to the recipe that we used.

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-twix-bars/

Be assured that using butter in the crust, and a high quality chocolate for the topping really works for these bars.

Instead of chocolate chips Mary used a couple of large Jersey Milk Chocolate Bars.

These would also be good using a high quality dark chocolate bar.

Enjoy.

So Mary tells me a funny story about the day after making this recipe.   She was eating the second last of the twix bars she had hidden away for Rhiannon.

Naomi came by and asked for a bite. She then decided that she liked them after all and that if you eat them in one bite (so not dissected) they are really good. She asked to have the last one in her lunch today. Mary complied.

Now Mary will have take that shortbread crust out of the freezer (that she had planned to make into lemon squares) and make another batch of Twixt bars for Naomi. Too bad she had given them all away at church before Naomi decided she liked them.

Now I want to make them here in Montreal.

Catherine said, please don't.  They sound like they will add another few pounds. I will make them and put a big sign on them:  No Adults.  For Teens Only.

Arta

Filberts

... our style of nutcracker ...

My mother called the nuts we are using at our house, filberts.

I know them best as hazelnuts when I buy them at the store.

That is my favourite way to purchase them – already in a package with their perfect round shapes.

 Michael knows the hazelnuts as the first nuts he ever tried to crack with nutcrackers.

He has been wanting to use my decorative nutcrackers since I explained to him that the mouth that would open and close could crack nuts.  I didn't make it clear to him that mine were decorative, and so he kept trying to use them -- if not one, then another and I have many.

... I am looking for this style of nutcracker ..

In order to save the nutcrackers from total destruction, I purchased some utilitarian tools.  Just a cheap pair.

I thought I would buy Brazil nuts when I was checking out what nuts I should buy to let him practice on.

I had second thoughts about the Brazil nuts since those shells are so hard and I have never had success in cracking one and getting just the perfect nut out of it.

I tested the shells of almond. Too soft. On reflection, I see those are the ones I should have bought!

... a nutting stone ...

Every time Michael comes over to read from his primer chapbook, he wants to crack a few nuts first.

 Not to eat the nuts.

Just to see if he can play a bit, get leverage and then crack the nut, putting them in one bowl and the shells in another.

 I have yet to show him where the hinge is, but we have studied the tool to find the places that give us the best grip.

 ...a 19th century nutcracker using indirect pressure ...

I was thinking about all of that this morning when I was sweeping up the shells from the floor and wiping the splinters of the nuts off of the island.

 They have spread far and wide, reading into the laundry room.


I could feel shells crunching under my feet.

I wonder if I will miss that part of Christmas when he grows too old to want to crack shells.

Arta

An Island Christmas Eve Meal

The Traditional Christmas Eve Meal
at the Carter Johnson House

I would be the one who would look at this picture and be flooded with memories of the Christmases past.  At the very least of 2015 when I enjoyed Christmas in Victoria.

I used the magnification tools to find out just what kind of food was in the dish:  heritage potatoes, brownish-yellow and purple flesh, quartered and ready to be place on the raclette pan.  Then I remembered that Rebecca is the very best on the fruit and vegetable isles of her local grocery stories.  If the merchants have brought it in, she has purchased it.

The cheese looks good.

I am sure there is a pomelo around the corner to be put on the table for dessert.

The only mystery to me is the red and green item.  My best guess is that Rebecca has staged the photo for me with a Christmas decoration.

Arta

Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Party

a line-up of 4 pans of buns
waiting to be cooked in the Bates house

at the same time, more pans of buns
lined up in smiliar fashion
 over at the Woods,
and the Pillings

The food for the anniversary party was an homage to the past: piggies in blankets and cinnamon buns.

I noticed Jeremy adding Frank's Hot Sauce or maybe it was Sirracha to the side of the piggie in the blanket.

I took a cue and did the same to mine.  No use getting stuck in the past with mustard, relish and ketchup along the side of the bun.

What blew me over the top is that someone had done the cinnamon buns in the special way, only done at Christmas time in our house: maraschino cherries on the top and pecans sprinkled there are well.

When I commented Laynie said that not only were the cherries there, but that they have been individually placed so that when they fell out of the pan, all of them were right side up.

Now that was an anniversary present par excellence!

Arta

Pigs in a Blanket

... proofing on the counter ...

I was invited to facetime into the noisiest household ever. Teen-age kids surrounding a long table – kids who have been playing board games for two days. “We offered to take them to the movies, but they are preferring what is going on around this table,” the parents explained to me.

“This phone call is really because you forgot to teach me how to roll buns,” said Mary, “though we also thought you might be homesick for a little of this kind of noise.”

“What! I taught so many people how to do roll buns. And you know how to make bread. How can you not know?”

... making snails out of bread dough ...

“I don’t know,” Mary went on. “I made this bread by hand, but if you were to watch me today, you would know I don’t know at all how to roll the buns. And she proved it by trying to pinch some of the bottoms of the buns closed.

“Move over,” said Catherine, “and I will demo for you.”

I couldn’t help but add that it is time for both of them to roll those buns with the left hand and the right hand simultaneously. That is not about the art of homemaking, but about the art of getting the job done twice as quickly.

The littlest ones in the house had been busy making snakes and snails out of bread dough all morning.

“Have you tasted the dough,” I asked one, and she looked at her mother questioningly.

“Good ahead, try it,” said that mom.

... checking to see if these are ready to take out of the oven ...
... from the photo it is apparent which buns used to hold cheese ...

Mary had another confession about the bread dough. While she makes the pigs in a blanket, she has also been known to roll cheese in the centre of buns as well. “No. It doesn’t really work. The dough rises high, the cheese stays on the bottom, the cheese oozes out as it cooks, but some of the kids like it that way. So I do it.”

We talked for a while about the price of flour. Catherine’s last 20 pound bag cost nearly $18.00.   Ouch.

We talked for a while about Mary’s bread machine which was given to Catherine, for Catherine uses it. “But that is ancient history,” said Catherine. “The machine will still make the dough, but doesn’t automatically cook it.  That sucks for her.

A lot of fun, made out of yeast, water and flour.

Arta

Christmas - Food

When I think about extended families on my side, if there are children, they are mostly grandchildren now. What brought this to my mind is the large amount of food that is consumed here by the 14 and 16 year old. The dishes are hardly done before someone is looking in the fridge again.

So when Rebecca and I shop we try to find something that wasn't eaten last week, or the week before.  Normal, I think to look for something new.  I wanted to cook a turkey for Christmas but turkey has a bad wrap here -- too dry they say.  That might be true the way that I have cooked it in Christmases past.

Rebecca slipped some endive into our cart this time. "We are going to have that wonderful salad we had in Paris last year," she said.  "I had learned how to do it in Spain and I think I can find the recipe on the blog."

Endive, either stuffed with corn, tomatoes and olives, or stuffed with mandarin oranges, walnuts and feta cheese.

Now this doesn't supplant turkey, but it was a lovely mid-day Xmas snack to stave off that usual over-snacking on ... chocolate, chips, even those lovely mandarins, I can't stop eating.

Arta

A Christmas Treat - Hot Chocolate

.... I have added the chocolate curls to the hot chocolate ...
What next?

David worked in the kitchen today making cake.

The first cake was eaten on the spot.

The other mix came out of the pan beautifully and will be iced tomorrow.

... a little extra won't hurt ...

Bonnie's idea is that it should have cherry pie filling between the layers, and be iced with whipping cream.

David has a different idea.

Why not have a butter cream icing, a nice chocolate flavoured one that will be spread between the two layers that he will split into four.

And now for the first taste!

In preparation for Bonnie's idea, there was some practise tonight, taking a chocolate bar and shaving curls off of it with a potato peeler. 

This was a good idea for Bonnie, but not one that David took too.

 He had enough melted chocolate on his fingers, just eating the few squares she had given him as a teaser.

 And so, not to waste either the whipping cream or the chocolate curls, Bonnie made a cup of hot chocolate for him.

You have already guess it.

I give it a score of 7/10.

 The whipping cream came out of the can and topped up the hot chocolate.

The curls of chocolate went on top of that.

This was a perfect way to end the night.

 The only thing that had gone wrong was that David didn't feel well and his temperature was rising.

What kind of holiday begins with someone being sick?

On the bonus side, Bonnie and I had a facetime visit for a long time.

And now for the first taste!

I got to see the ever changing lights of their tree.

 I got a tour around the house to see all of the decorations. 

We figured out how Xmas lights could be turned on outside, at least potentially.

I got to see David add some chocolate to the hot chocolate. 

We talked about electronics and how long it takes to install them.

David got a visit with Duncan.

We got to sing one carol, or was that 2. (We made a false start with "Joy to the World", so turned instead to "The Holly and the Ivy".)

One of us had Coke while the other had hot pepper jelly, cream cheese and crackers.

A good time was had by all.

Arta

First Christmas Dinner

a touch that shows the cook really cares ...
the silverware wrapped in napkins

My plan this year was to do minimal decorating.

 But someone wanted to borrow my decorations early in December for a display at the university ... and once those decorations come out of their storage, it seems a shame not to use them just one more time.

 There isn't a box that isn't full of decorations I love: the nutcrackers, the red plush stocking to fill, the silver beads, the tea light that plays "'Twas the night before Christmas".

 I love them all.

... red plates for a red hot meal ...

And some of our friends were leaving before Christmas day -- one to a job at the University of New Brunswick and another spending the holidays in Lebanon. 

We  began the season with the First Christmas Dinner.

The season is meant for celebrations and for us it occurs around the table.

Out come the plates, the silverware, the napkins, the bowls we don't usually use, the turkey roaster ... and then that smell in the kitchen of new buns or perhaps of turkey dressing as it steams for hours in the slow cooker.

 ... mushrooms for the vegetable ... 

I was interested in Pouria and Amir who wanted to do a true turkey roast -- none of this having the turkey sit in its own juices and steam.

 So they tied a rack to the top of the roaster, binder twine holding it to the handles and they places the turkey on that rack, all of the juices behind caught below.

 ... the turkey was brined for 24 hours ...
... 1/2 pound of butter was smothered
between the skin and the flesh ...

Did we have fun? 

You bet. 

There is nothing like hearing international students shared stories having to do with food. Some at the table had caught pigeons and eaten them. One woman's job as a child, had been to run through the field and find the pigeon her father had shot and then to crush its head against a rock so that it wouldn't suffer. 

Yes.

 This December -- our First Christmas Dinner -- a time to remember.

 Arta

Ranginak - a surprise

... eating one piece leads to another ...

Just when I think I have tried everything sweet in the world, another confection arrived. Sahar brought ranginak -- made by her mother. Amir knew how it was made: fresh dates, walnuts and a coating of butter and browned sugar. I went out to utube, my favourite place to see how other people make this. I am sometimes tricked into thinking because I can see the recipe made in four minutes, that I can replicate the same time frame when I try to cook it myself.  On this one, I know I can't.

Sahar said her mother has the special knack for making it.

'Twas the treat of the day for me.

 Every day, the best day ever.

 Arta

Family Christmas Dinner

 ... the dinner is finished ...
the children have gone home
...the adults pull out the treats ...
we bring on the beverages of our choice
... we talk long into the night hours ...

We have an invitation to go out on Christmas Day – we are going to Miranda’s, so we celebrated our own Christmas on the 24th.

 I was wild with happiness in the kitchen, for the point of the day seemed to be to make every dish into ‘the best ever’.

The previous day I made three loaves of Hutterite sized bread for the stuffing-- recipe says that you must have 1 1/12 pounds of good quality bread. 

I went to the trouble to weigh it.  One Hutterite sized loaf of white bread = 2 pounds.

 Pouria, who masterminded the Xmas Dinner ...

When it was cool, I cut it up and dried it in the oven so the aroma was there again in the house – that warm comforting smell that makes me think all is right in the world.

I confess, I am always tempted to bring on the Stove Top Stuffing but Pouria was going to so much work with the turkey that there was shame in my desire to make this “the easiest supper” ever instead of the best one.

The turkey begin thawing 2 days before the brining, -- in a 6% salt solution into which oranges and lemons had been dropped. “I really think a 4% solution is enough,” said Pouria. I grabbed my spoon to have a taste of the brine – to know how much salt that it. The answer? Stronger than I want to gargle with.

The next day the bird was patted dry, the skin lifted and the flesh rubbed with whipped butter and herbs. Pouria tied a cooling rack on top of the roast by securing it to the handles with twine. The turkey sat on top of that roaster, the juices dropping down into it, the heat perfectly circulating around all sides of it – this turkey was roasting, not stewing. The neck, gizzard and liver sat in the bottom of the pan, creating a rich broth for the gravy. Actually, I think this turkey was missing a heart. Pouria was looking for it. Somewhere in the world, someone must have a turkey with 2 hearts.

... Amir and Michael discussing the importance of life ...

Hard for me not to feel humbled when I see someone working in the kitchen as hard as Pouria works. He takes on his cooking projects as though they are honours theses – who wouldn’t want to stand by and watch.

He was doing the major part of the food preparation. I took on the job of the minor job of cooking whole carrots, first steaming them to strengthen the cells and then cooking them for 45 minutes in the 12 inch frying pan. The book said that this style of carrot is popular in restaurants now and a pine nut / parsley / shallot / fig balsamic relish was the garnish.

The fig balsamic vinegar is good enough to drink on its own. Who needs the carrots?  Just go straight to the garnish.

Richard sent over some deer sausage from the Gourmart Butcher in Bowness for his contribution to the meal. We put it on the cheese plate. The sausage is so delicious that the dinner time conversation turned at one point to “how are we going to get more wild meat”, the men at the table finding out how to take the course that gives them government ID so that they can get hunting licenses and buy the appropriate equipment. I just couldn’t type guns there but I just should have said it outright.

Alice and Michael joined us when the meal was ready.

 Richard warned me that Michael can’t really sit for 10 minutes, even if it is to eat and Alice has even a shorter shelf life.

 They came downstairs to see Kelvin before the meal began and Michael found the candy tray – specifically the Swiss Delice Chocolate where each piece is individually wrapped.

 I could not tell if the joy was in peeling each paper back until he found the chocolate, or in popping it in his mouth.

... the food looks better across the counter ...

He brought a handful of chocolate to the table when the meal began. Everyone needs a bowl of chocolate as part of their condiments.

We had a wonderful meal – spice in the mashed potatoes, wine in the gravy and the stuffing had been in the slow cooker for 8 hours and was so moist and delicious. Yes. The best Christmas ever.

Around the table was Sahar, Amir, Reza, Pouria, Kelvin Jr., Kelvin Senior, Miranda, Richard, Michael, Alice Margaret and me. I have been remembering Lorraine Wight saying, “Family is who they say they are”, so I am longing for a picture of the 6 of us who live in this house.

“I can’t believe we used to have fifteen at this table sometimes,” Richard said. “Eleven of us seems crowded now.”

“Yes,” said, Kelve, “and we used to get the gifts we wanted from Santa, long after we didn’t believe in him anymore.”

“And there were lots of presents. That they were all from the dollar store, or that they were jars of hand cream or hair shampoo didn’t matter,” laughed Richard.

... white meat on one tray ... dark on the other

“I want to come to your house and watch the kids with Santa in the morning.” That was my wish.

“Too late,” said Richard. “Santa came on the solstice to our house, bringing lots of educational toys. Tomorrow there will be other toys, coming from grandparents and it just seemed best to us to spread the joy out over the whole week.” I guess I will have to pay more attention to the solstice next year and get over to their house on my own.

Wyona called at 6:30 and said, “Have you eaten yet. If not, all of you come over. We have so much food and all of us are topped up.” Yes. An overwhelming array of wonderful foods in many homes in the next few days. God bless everyone who shares their largesse.

Arta

Mincemeat Tarts

"You can have mine."

Wyona offered me a mincemeat tart.

 I took one eagerly, thinking that this year they would taste different – that they would be something I liked. 

Wyona told me to smother the top of the tart with whipping cream and add some dulche de leche on top of that.

None of that was enough.

 That will be my only mincemeat tart of the season. After all of these years, and still I pass.

“I don’t understand it,” Wyona said. “I have these warm memories of mincemeat and Christmas pudding and Christmas cake. Mother would shred the carrots for the pudding and then bottle it. When it was Christmas and she asked someone to run downstairs to the pantry and bring up a bottle for supper, it was me who headed down the stairs on the run. I can still remember that happiness. Later my girls asked me the recipe for the topping. I didn’t know there was a recipe. I just took the butter and icing sugar and began to beat the two together as I had seen my mother do.”

The tastes of Christmas.

Different for everyone.

Arta

Christmas Day on 26th Avenue

... cheese and crackers ...

At our house the Christmas celebration was around food.

At the house next door, the traditional Christmas was held.

The one where the parents stay up late to put out the Santa gifts, where they get up early to help navigate the children’s way through the Christmas gifts, and then they entertain guests for breakfast, and entertain children through the day with their new toys. All of this is done on the minimum hours of sleep.

Harry's curried vegetables
a first on the Christmas Day menu for  us

At this house – there was a single celebration at 3 pm and the celebration was all around Christmas food.

The dishes to produce were divided up: Harry to bring a curry; Philipp to bring an apple streusel; Amir and Pouria to bring the salad and with a gourmet avocado dressing; Trell and Ina – to bring Gerda.

And 83 year old Gerda?

Ina’s mom?

She brought knitted dolls for the children next door.

Remember the novelty doll that you flip the skirt of one doll and there was another underneath.

My children had a doll like that – a triple doll from the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the grandmother’s hat would flip over and she would become the wolf. That doll was eventually worn out.

... black salad tongs between the silver set of salad utensils ...
black, the preferred method for transferring salad to a plate
the silver salad set looses

Our dinner was shared by the following people: Bonnie Johnson, Kelve Johnson, Kelvin Johnson, Arta Johnson, Pouria Manesh, Amir Hamedzadeh, Richard, Miranda, Michael and Alice Johnson, Gerda Given, Ina Given, Trell Johnson, Harald Kristen and Philipp Mantzke

 A few things went wrong.

If I were to do the dinner again and do the stuffing in the slow cooker, I would put the stuffing on more than 20 minutes ahead.

The nice thing about the dressing is that it was ready 3 hours later when some of us were ready for seconds.

... creamy mashed potatoes ...

I think other than that, everything was pretty smooth.

Amir parachuted into the kitchen at the last minute and helped mash the potatoes.

Before next year, I am going to buy two new piece of equipment.

... HOT apple streusal... another Christmas Day first

One is the fat separator, where the juices of the turkey can be poured off and the fat can stay in the cup – I always get to skim mine off the next day, which is a little too late to save anyone’s arteries.

And I have been watching TV cooking shows on how to carve a turkey.

Gerda Given and Trell Johnson

So I struck out with that task.

Well, I meant the phrase "struck out" to mean, I tried to do it. But perhaps "struck out" could be taken in the sense of a baseball game.

Philipp Mantzke and Kelvin Johnson

Gerda stood beside me. She has been watching TV cooking shows as well. Besides she has carved turkeys for 30 years.

“Leave the meat on the drumstick. Some people just like to choose that and eat the meat off of the bone.”

Another good tip from her – "Cut the drumstick from the thigh through the joint."

Not that I hadn’t seen my favorite gourmet chef do it that way. I just didn’t think to do it that way when I came to carving up that piece.

The other thing I want to purchase is a flexible carving knife so that I can get down and around the carcass a little better.

I hope I can remember to look for one when I am shopping with Wyona at Winners sometime in the future.

I will probably just buy one on-line, the next time I am in the same house as my Cooks Country magazine and see what they recommend as the very best one possible.

 ... Pouria rests between courses ...

Pouria was a saint. He stood nearby with the lid of the roaster to catch the bones. I was out of large pots by now to collect them in, and both he and I wanted the broth for a great turkey soup in a couple of days.

The downside of boiling the bones is this. Well, first the upside.

It is easy to get the bones going if I just put them in a pot and let them start simmering while we are eating Christmas dinner.

a small stool for a chair, a medium stool for a table

I have that recipe in my head.

Throw in a couple of onions, a carrot or two and 12 whole pepper corns and then let the simmering go on for the rest of the evening and into the night.

 ... Amir and 4 month old Alice ...

The downside is that just as I am getting ready to go to bed, that is when I remember that the simmering pot has to come off of the stove.

The meat and bones should be cooled, separated and the product put out in the snow to cool for the night, since by now there is no room in the fridge for anything more – the fridge being packed with the Christmas dinner leftovers.

And that is what we will be eating today -- the left overs.


The soup will come later.

Yum.

.

On Making Billie's Bun Recipe

... the initial look ...
... flour just barely  incorporated into wet ingredients ...

On the food blog I posted a recipe that Billie Bates gave to me.

Forty years later, I would have no idea of how many times I have put the ingredients in that recipe together.

She taught me how to do the dough by hand -- so I must not have had my electric mixer yet.

I did the recipe on two separate days this week.

The first was for the party at Marcia's house.

Amir asked me how I got the goodness in the buns.


I had to tell him that 3/4 of sugar, 1/2 cup of butter and 8 eggs in the dough helped a lot.

... after a couple of minutes of mixing,
the dough hook has cleaned the sides of the bowl ...

The camera does a good job at catching the look of the dough at the right consistency. 

After incorporating the wet and dry ingredients, and 30 seconds to a minute or more of beating the dough, the ingredients pull away from the side of the bowl. 

That is when I know I have the right amount of flour in the mix. 

I am always testing for "softness" with my finger. I don't want to get too much flour incorporated -- that will make the dough too stiff and I won't get the same product. 

The bowl I use is just a little too small for the recipe. 

5 across, 7 down

What happens is the dough spins around and then climbs the inner spindle, until it climbs right to the top, swinging erratically on top, but not enough to make my machine walk itself off of the counter. 

I haven't take the time to cut back on the ingredients. 

 I just watch carefully for the five minutes it will take to come to a place where it is ready to drop out of the bowl and into a slightly warm metal bowl where it will rise.

... the dough rests in the bowl ...
you can tell how soft it is.
I have taken the little pieces left in the bowl
after I got the dough out,
and just thrown them on top.
The pieces  just flatten out and incorporate themselves.

 
I was poking around with this, seeing if I could produce a picture that would let people know how soft the dough should be. 

 So here it is, waiting to rise. Billie used to have me wait 3 hours before I rolled it into buns. 

Now I find a very warm place in the kitchen and this round, the dough was already spilling over the sides of the pan before I got back to it in two hours. 

Those who ate the product wouldn't have known. 

... in 2 hours, dough begins to spill over the pan ...

I just took the dough that was curving over the sides of the bowl, slipped it back on top, did not punch it down, but went right to rolling the buns. 

The guys who live here ate all they wanted. 

The next day they didn't eat any. 

... close up of texture of risen dough ... very airy ...

One is not enough, they say, and five is too many. 

At least 5 is too many if one is counting calories.

Arta

Christmas in Austin with the Bates

We have had a good time settling in here in Austin.

Charise is reading short Canadian stories to Anneliese while Ivan is getting ready to wrap presents.

Ezra just goes around being cute.

Christmas morning began just after 8 a.m.

Trent was the last one up.

The Santa socks were emptied onto the kitchen table and were full of goodies.

We cut a dish of fruit in case someone wanted something healthy.

Ezra found himself a place at the table.

We opened presents one at a time starting with the youngest.

However, Ezra refused to leave the table displaying no interest in any present even though Ivan brought the largest present out and tried to woe him.

Who could be happier than Ezra!

Greg is very handy when it comes to keeping Anneliese happy.

Ezra finally opened his big scooter. Ivan is happy with his small scooter. Jamie is enjoying a look at the family calendar that Jamie is looking at.

Presents have been opened and Ezra is still in his place at the table. "No I will not open any presents Ivan. "

The girls are having a great time together on the couch.

Charise found a way to be the motor on Ezra's scooter.

And a good time was had by all.

And have a good holiday y'all!