Casey's Chronicles: December 2010

We kicked off our 2010 Christmas celebrations with the Waterbrooke Fellowship kids Christmas Program called "Arrest These Merry Gentlemen" and they did a fantastic job. We even had Bibletime costumes for all and the youth group painted the scenery - the Bethlehem hills!

The play was a musical take-off on Dragnet with Josie Sabbath and her rookie cop sidekick trying to keep the peace in Bethlehem with all those census crowds driving them crazy... and then there were those shepherds, and magi, and the newspaper guys trying to get a scoop.

Those smelly shepherds have a bad rep - don't you know the curve on the staff they carry is called a "crook" you know.

The Bethlehem Gazette is out to get the scoop.

Our littlest shepherd practiced on Saturday and refused to even put his costume on on Sunday - he said "Grandma, I already did it yesterday!"

Josie Sabbath refused to believe until she saw the Christ Child in the manger. It was a very special moment, and really touched the congregation. The kids did a fantastic job, and the singing was the best ever.

Christie came from New York and we made Granma Linburg's fatigman recipe (like we do every year). I roll and cut the dough ...

Christie fries them in the hot lard...

... and Paul does the taste testing.

We tried a new taste treat this year for Christie's future restaurant - The Spicy Norwegian - since in upstate New York they have NOTHING Scandinavian - UFF DA! We put the seasonings from my oyster cracker recipe - garlic powder, dill weed, and dry Ranch dressing mix. Hmmmm - starts out good, then gets a sweet taste. I'm not sure how it will do at the restauratn. We call it Seasoned Swedish Knots, since we tie the dough strips in a knot before frying them. Anybody want to try one? I have about 20 in a cookie can:)

Now THESE are the real deal!

After a wonderful Christmas Eve service planned by Paul at Waterbrooke, we headed home for a Seddish meatball dinner and presents. Here's Paul and Alison.

Christie and I did not plan to dress alike, but here we are.

Christie is all decked out in her Uff da apron and mug, ready to open The Spicy Norwegian restaurant!

Paul is ready to watch the next Vikings game - go Vikes!

On Christmas Day, we headed over to Corey's to connect with Jane and Chuck, Corey and Maddox, and Kyle. The rest of the Catlin family were all traveling to various points around the country - Ted and Pat to Illinois, Teddy, Angie, and Matthew up north, and Jenna, Andy, and Charlie to Pittsburgh. We are planning a Catlin/Bracken/Casey/Held event in January.

Maddox and I played with his hew toys while Jane got a chili feed ready (I brought the cinnamon rolls, pineapple, and fatigman). This toy is really cool - it is a little bug in a fenced in area with gates that you can open, and it roams around trying to get out. You can buy more parts to create a bigger maze. It can even flip over by itself! Maddox named him Fred.

Maddox got this guitar for his birthday. We had fun playing in his room - especially kickball with a beach ball, and hide and seek!

On Sunday the 26th we had Casey Christmas at Phil and Leslee's. Ed, the cat, had to entertain us until everyone arrived and we could eat!

Then, of course, there was the traditional white elephant gift exchange. Roger wasn't too thrilled with the screaming monkey, but that's OK. In round 2 you have a chance to steal/trade fro something you'd like better.

Christie got the Smurf boxers in the first round, and Phil stole them. It's mandatory that you try on your gift. Go, Philly!

Very nice!

The Santa snuggie was very popular, and Tessa is modeling her new undies, too.

Ho, ho, ho - is it a Russian Santa?

That must make me Mrs. Claus.

Paul traded in the second round for the matchbox car race track. Now Matthew and Maddox and Charlie will have a toy to play with at our house, so we can have the next family gathering here!

Here is the whole bunch. We missed Annie, Ryan, and Scarlett who had another family Christmas to celebrate that day.

On Tuesday after having lunch with roger and Elaine, Christie and I headed out to do a little snowshoeing (Christie) and cross country skiing (me).

I tried to climb a mountain of snow for this picture, and didn't quite make it:)

At last - up and at 'em. It was a beautiful day, and my newly updated boots and bindings worked great! Whew - it was a busy but wonderful time with family and friends. We didn't miss the point of it all - God's great gift to us all, His Son, Jesus - the reason for the season.

On Friday, I headed back to Cannon to make bread with Jane. Jenna "helped" by bringing Charlie for us to play with while we waited for the bread to rise several times. It turned out great! At lunch time, Jane and I went downtown, and Jenna and some old high school friends ordered in pizza. Charlie wasn't feeling very well - Jane called him a glazed donut, since his nose was dripping and he was smearing it all over! Seven people came down with colds the next week after helping entertain a crabby baby on Friday! I'm still trying to kick the bug!

On Saturday, Paul and I decided to use our part of the Casey Gopher Football season tickets and attend the Iowa game. Since the Gophers won the previous week at Illinois, we decided they had a chance. We WON! It was a big upset, and lots of fun. We took the train and saw this Joe Mauer statue at the place we parked the car. We wore all our ski clothes and were toasty warm EXCEPT for our toes! We should have bought some of those foot warmers.