a pink flamingo in the loving arms of the scream ghost...hmmm. so much for the years when i could choose coordinating costumes. oh, and yes...years when my first child would actually dress up. i have lost all control, for this holiday anyway, and i am fine with that. the bleeding scream ghost is so far from coleman's personality, it is almost funny. hampton, however, completely engulfed the pink flamingo's very being. funny, again. austin, you ask? hmmm, he had fun (un-costumed) traveling between his friends' homes sampling candy...and scaring the innocent trick-or-treater along the way. my, how times change! another tradition, that remains true & quite enjoyable, was the visit of family and friends for chili & cocktails. evie was dressed as a beautiful monarch butterfly, accompanied by her parents (dressed to embrace the 50's). what a fun night, as always! a few days prior to halloween, coleman celebrated halloween with his class (of course, without the "scary" mask). fun times!
my sister and i continued the tradition of baking christmas cookies, of course, with the fine help of our sweet girls! as always, we produced batch after batch of the traditional pfeffernuse, as well as snowman cookies, chocolate peanut butter cookies, and chocolate drizzled pretzels. we pride ourselves this year on accomplishing complete perfection of the pfeffernuse system and baking schedule. we like to call it "pfeffernuse perfection." if you have ever attempted the 14 cups of flour recipe, that requires rolling, slicing, arranging & baking tiny bite size pieces of the enormous mass of dough, you know what i mean. i am so happy that we are able to share the traditions with hampton and evie...most importantly, the gift of time. for these moments are the ones i treasure most.
