are we getting ready

just a few more pictures and also a very happy announcement (sp) to make

Yes Frank, I can relate to that - eating them!

Happy announcement? Do tell.....

o.k. folks, this will be the end of my christmas story

first up is my dw debbie. she did one heck of a job with both christmas eve and then christmas dinner. i forgot to mention that for our christmas dinner we had lasagna, veal cutle parm, and lemon chicken.



This message was edited Dec 26, 2006 3:02 AM

this is the table with everyone around for christmas eve

after dinner it was show me your tatoo
forst up is my niece

sorry, that was dumb of me. first up is my niece

my son christ. he has too many to show but this is his latest.

heres me and the little lady

and this is how christmas day ended. what else, more dessarts.

and now for the good news. hank and lorraine were our oldest and dearest friends having lived next door to each other for over 25 years. my boys were about 7 or 8 yrs older then their daughter alyssa but they were more like brothers and sister. six years ago hank died suddenly at 58 yeras old. our familes became even closer to each other. last christmas alyssa became ingaged to a wonderful boy.last night during dinner she ask both my boys to walk her down the isle and give her away. there wasn't a dry eye in the house. here is a picture of the three of them.

i really had a balst with this and i hope for the next big holiday someone else would take over
where i left off. thanks gang.

Our Christmas is pretty simple compared to your festivities, Frank! I really enjoyed looking at all the photos and reading about the people, preparation, and goodies. That's great about Alyssa having your sons walk her down the aisle. :)

Frank, your Christmas feast is incredible. Your wife must love the preparations because she looks great. How wonderful that Alyssa has your sons to walk her down the aisle. What a wonderful Christmas memory.

Wow - that was quite the feast! I want to be at your house today for leftovers. Thanks for sharing your pics, it looks like everyone had fun.

-Kim

Frank,

You did an outstanding job of sharing your holidays with all of us and it is truly a pleasure to have met you and your family through this thread!

Dan

Frank----------------
YES! I am home!!!!! You, silly YOU!
G.

kim - believe me there is enough left over to have another christmas dinner.

dan - thanks and its great meeting new people here. maybe you can do the next holiday or family get together.

I don't know...you would be a really tough act to follow!

Frank
I enjoyed this soooo much and congrats on the great news. :-)
Hugs&blessings ... Elaine

P.S.
I'm waiting for my box of goodies in the mail! LOL

dann-L - mah, just take pictures of everyone having a good time.

elaine - maybe you'll be surprised

I still say if Warren starts up the truck we could probably be there in oh 5 - 6 hours..... W is always ready for a good feed.
I just want to give you and Debbie a BIG kiss and hug Frank. How lucky we are to have you in our DG family.
Now, as for your neighbour's daughter asking your 2 boys to walk her down the aisle - who wouldn't want these 2 handsome hunks to do so.... also a silent word saying - hey these guys are with me.lol
Thanks so much for sharing - making the meat pie for New Years.... will let ya know how it turns out.
D

d - good luck with the meat pie. try to keep hubby away from it after it comes out of the oven. its best eaten cold, but room temperature is o.k. also. if its right out of the oven and you try to cut it you will find that it slides around too much

i remember when alyssa started to date for the first time and both my sons would get ahold of the guy (this was when chris was playing semi pro football) and tell him that his date was really more like a sister to them, and if anything dumb happpened they would take it personally. LOL

i guess she wondered why she never got second dates. LOL

please let me know what you think of the meat pie, good or bad. thanks

Frank, I've been lurking and drooling since you started this thread. After meeting your family and getting choked up about your sons walking their friend down the aisle, I had to let you know how much I've enjoyed it. Your child-like wonder and enthusiasm for the holiday is very refreshing. It's so nice to hear you brag on your wife. Debbie is an incredible cook and I'm sure she enjoys having a family who appreciates her talents. Thank you for sharing your joyful gathering with us. Please do it again next year.
Debra

debra - what a wonderful picture and such an beautiful view. are those doors that lead to the outside or are they windows?? with the way everything looks i think you would be a canditate to carry on the tradition. i take it thats you at the head of the table.

im glad you liked the thread. it was fun doing it and as you can tell, christmas is my favorite holiday. i usually go all out with the outdoor lights but time really flew by and i only did some small things outside with the lights.

have a great new years.
frank

Thanks, Frank. Those are windows behind me and there are french doors opposite them that lead to a covered porch. This photo kind of shows it. The view is of a courtyard that has LOTS of potential. LOL! I've completely redesigned it every summer of the 4 summers we have lived here. Just can't find the right combination of plants that can survive the conditions. I vow to make a permanent decision this year!

We enjoyed our holidays and hosted both DH's family and mine on Christmas day along with a friend of my brother who is from Africa and here teaching. We had 13 for lunch and it was a very enjoyable day. Guess I'll have to share a photo of our tree, too.

The tree prior to a skirt and gifts! Happy New Year to you and your family.
Debra

Herbie this was a wonderful thread you started!! I so enjoyed it. You have a great looking family!!
Please share the recipe for califlower in heavy cream. It sounds wonderful!!!

Debra...thank you for the photo's you have posted too! Your home is gorgeous, your table was elegant and I really like the fountain just outside the windows.

Happy New Year to All!

Dan

marieortiz - will pass it on as soon as my wife gets up. basically i think she just boils the califlower and then puts it in a oven safe dish and pours heavy cream over it with some shredded mozzerella cheese. will get back to you real soon.

debra - beautiful home and i love the fountain also. we usually have to invite my wifes side of the family for one holiday and then mine the next cause it becomes way to much poeple. two years ago we had a "family picnic" in my back yard. we ended up with 80 people. my brother has four children and between the children there are 12 grandchildren. of these grandchildren there are only 3 boys all belonging to one family. whenever we get together i tell them that we have about 3 million dollars in weddings in one room. LOL

if you get the chance i would love to see pictures of the whole house.

happy new year.

Ok Thanks Herbie. Your family sounds like mine. When we have a birthday party for one of my younger kids we never have any less than 40 people show up. Usually it is more. But I do love it. My husbands family is very large.
Now all of his nephews and nieces are having kids so we are growing.

Please do share the cauliflower recipe! That does sound good! And simple enough that would actually do it - don't like those recipes with too many ingredients and too many instructions (unless someone else is doing the cooking and I'm doing the eating!)

Thanks, Dan and Frank. We enjoy the fountain. Hummingbirds like to bath in it. It appears to be heavy concrete but it's actually foam with a thick coating on the outside. We got it 1/2 price the summer we moved into the house because it had a couple of chips in the coating. It has many more chips now, but it just looks like aged concrete. I'll try to get a better picture for you.

That's a big family, Frank! How blessed you are. I like the $3million in weddings concept. Better start saving those pennies now! Imagine all those great-great neices and nephews! I look forward to grandkids in the next few years.

Here's a closer view of the fountain thru the dining room window.

Beautiful garden!

Thanks, Dann. I have to laugh because what you see is the "2006 version". It was a combination of azaleas, japanese iris, pincushion plants, hostas, roses, a bunch of elephant ears that DH planted, and an assortment of other things. The "2005" was primarily a vegetable garden and "2004" had pee gee hydrangeas. Hmmmm....what will 2007 bring? I'm considering planting a tree of some type in the corner (crepe myrtle maybe) and moving the fountain to the right - centered in front of the retaining wall. That courtyard gets the western sun and gets very hot. It could use a little shade. There is wysteria growing on the fence from the far right side of the wall that will also provide some shade.

This is where we spend a lot of our time in the summer.

And where I spend a lot of time all year round!

Your home and garden are beautiful!!!

Debra,

You have forced me to print all of these pic's and put them in a book titled "When I grow up I want a house just like this one!"

Dan

One more and I'll stop boring you. We live in the "country" on 12 acres about 10 miles outside the city. This area has been growing rapidly in the past 10-15 years due to city folks like us buying acerage and building on it. I took this picture last summer. Thought is was symbolic of the country/city mixture out here.

Thank you Marie and Dan. I never would have dreamed I'd some day have the opportunity to design my own home and have it custom built. We are very, very fortunate to be able to do this. DH and I are empty nesters and built this house to suit our needs. It doesn't have any more rooms than we need, but feels bigger because the rooms are large and ceilings are high. We plan to be here until they carry us out! I'm looking forward to the day when we fill it with grandkids on holidays! I love seeing photos of families like Frank's looking so happy to be together and enjoying good food. That's what's important in life.

Debra

Is Debbie up and able to give us that cauliflower recipe yet? Frank, did you serve her breakfast in bed after all that hard work she did? She sure deserves it!!!

Lets see...

Start with a lightly toasted burger bun...slather with wasabi mayo...a slice of tomato...crisp green lettuce...and a slab of raw tuna! A little pickled ginger on the side. I wonder if that would come with an order of fries or soybeans? Ice cold beer and a sake chaser! Sounds like lunch to me!

Dan

(a sushi eater from way back)

LOL! Obviously! Your sure have the ingredients down!