Friday Photos- Special Edition: I saw my siblings

A look back at the week, Monday through Friday, through photos

The week after Christmas, I typically experience a post Christmas high and this year was no different. All the bustle is over! We've just eaten well! And received new things! And the kids are happy! And no school! 

So Monday morning, I was feeling pretty good. My siblings were supposed to be coming into town later in the week but I had time to relax for a bit after the hubbub of Christmas and getting ready for their arrival.

My sister texted me Monday morning that Buffalo was getting another snowstorm. My sister lives just north of Buffalo inside Canada and the route for her to see us entails a drive through or just around Buffalo. Buffalo was pummeled with a blizzard before Christmas and now was facing more snow.  We exchanged lots of texts and calls between us and with our brothers. We were all scheduled to meet at our house later in the week. My sister had to change her travel plan due to the snow but we were able to work everything out to keep the visit a go. 

My sister sent me this photo- it's one of her friend's homes that is on Lake Erie. This was taken after the pre Christmas blizzard.

On Tuesday, delivery men from the place from where we purchased our oven came out with a new oven to install since the one we had installed four days before Christmas did not work and I had to walk over the hills and through the woods with a partially cooked turkey on Christmas Eve to have my neighbor's oven complete the cooking (ok, the hills and woods part is not accurate but the snow was high and the air was cold and the turkey was heavy and while I was grateful for our neighbor's assistance, I found myself irritated with the situation). Before bringing the new oven in, the delivery guys checked the installation to see if that was at the root of the problem.  Sure enough, the delivery guys who delivered the oven before Christmas did not install the oven correctly. The oven was only drawing half the power that it needed which explains why it was quasi heating. The timing was bad vis a vis Christmas and hosting but the great news is that the new delivery guys knew how to correctly set up the oven to get full electricity going. 

The inaugural new oven (working new oven) item that I baked was a pecan chocolate chip pie. I normally make one on Christmas Eve to have on Christmas. But this CE was the one when I realized that our new oven was not baking correctly and asked my neighbors if I could use their oven to  complete cooking the turkey. I could hardly ask them to use their oven for everything so we forewent having pecan chocolate chip pie for Christmas. As soon as I had an oven that heated up to 300 degrees and beyond, I made a pecan chocolate chip pie. It baked! (as things do in ovens that work...). And it tasted good.

Here it is baked and on the dessert table for a post Christmas dinner

My siblings made it to our house later in the week! It had been so long since we'd all been together. I know for sure we all saw each other when our brother Jay died five years ago but none of us can remember getting together after that. The pandemic and subsequent border closure played a deleterious role but so did every day mundane things once the US- Canada border opened: job schedules, kid events, and the fact that two of my siblings live thirteen hours apart from each other and none of us live closer than three hours to each other. It was a joyful reunion!

We had dinner together...

Opened presents...

... and had a good time together. Cousins + one

All of us girls - one (Paige had to leave ;))

After Christmas sales- from chocolate to wrapping paper to holiday apparel to decor- if I was in a store, I was looking at and purchasing marked down Christmas stuff.

Reese's Nutcrackers are my favorite Reese shape of all time 😋 (I bought three bags this week...). The chocolate is thicker than with other shapes, the texture is better, and the cuteness factor all combine to make these guys my favorite. 

My well loved and utilized Christmas dishes... I consolidated all of the dishes on the dining room table and will put them all away from here. So many meals and memories made while using these fun and festive dishes. But I have to say that meals for three people (when Jacob and Abby go to college), on plain white dishes sound nice and easy and good.

Record breaking warmth this week- When many things going on in the world and in our culture seem crazy, I guess the weather being warm in late December matches the cray? which makes some sort of sense? not to mention, it makes being outside more comfortable?