MORE CHRISTMAS PHOTOS FROM THE 25TH, STARTING WITH CHATEAU DE CHANTILLY CAFE 12-29-25

I am writing this the evening of December 29th. It's very windy now and our electricity has been going on and off for the last three hours. I expect a lot of branches have been falling onto power lines. It is 32 degrees F. (2 degrees C). We have more blessed pinecones on the deck. I thought there surely couldn't be any left after all that had dropped off our tree the last couple of months, but there are at least three or four dozen out on the deck, with more falling, and they are even larger than before. We can hear them as they hit the deck. Our pine tree sure is shaking her skirts today. When Gregg picked up the trash bin, it had blown all the way down the street.

 On a whim we decided to go out for breakfast, though it was nearer lunch. It was 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) a nice sunny day and too good to waste being stuck indoors. 

The place was hopping but we managed to get a table in the far back. A change of scenery from our usual spot. Wall to wall books, floor to ceiling here.

The tables are tiny and a little more crowded next to each other, but we were happy to get a spot on the end of the wall. The table next to us was vacant but the threesome two tables over might as well have been sitting in our laps. They were squeezed in on the same sized table we had, two sitting at the back having dragged an extra chair over, two ladies and a gentleman. One lady was very animated, and we heard all about her family gathering over the holidays. It didn't sound like it was a happy experience, but at least she was getting things off her chest. Not long afterwards two young ladies sat in between us, giving us a bit of a buffer, and the lady telling her friends all her woes, brought her decibels down a bit. Good to have friends to get the angst out of the way. The conversation returned to normal, not that I was being a nosy parker, but it was difficult not to hear everything that was being said. We can't complain, we knew it would be busy during the lunch hour and took a chance on getting a parking spot (we only had to circle once) and were lucky to get this table. There are a lot of college kids who make use of the cafe, and I see laptops and books on several tables. I think there is a 2-hour limit from the time anyone sits down. Next time we'll go in the off-hours which we usually do.

Above you can see Gregg's choice. He always gets the Cheese Danish and coke. Mine was an individual quiche, which was a change from my usually pastry, quite tasty. Shocked to say I am very tired of sweet things after the holiday. Even my vanilla latte was too sweet. We are going back to our every-once-in-a-while treat. I will be having my one cup of black coffee in the morning and tea for the rest of the day, along with a bowl of oatmeal, dried cranberries and blueberries or a banana for breakfast, or at least my good intentions tell me. Fortunately, it is one of my favorite breakfasts.

I had a chuckle at the next photo as we drove by the house. It's trash day as you can see, a much bigger one after the holidays. Yes, she even takes photos of trash, what can I say? My first thought was I bet somebody's mom is happy the old drum set had been put out to pasture and can give their ears a rest. My second thought was maybe a new, much bigger set had been acquired, maybe he is in a school band. This looked in pretty good shape. I hope somewhere here and between the trash place there will be a lucky child who will get a newish drum set. 

The rest of this post will be from Christmas Day.

A lovely ceramic Christmas Tree is a gift from our son and daughter-in-law, with a close-up of the tiny glowing cardinals below.

They also gave me this adorable glass teddy bear. 

The snowman is last year's gift from them.  You may have something like it as it is on a timer and comes on in the evening and shuts off before going to bed. It gives off a lovely warm glow, with little sparkly things floating around inside.

Son is a fun selfie taker. We usually take a lot more but dinner was ready and waiting and everyone had their appetite, but first....

this is us trying to sort out the Yorkshire Pudding. What can I say, I've been having trouble the last few Christmases and I was keeping my fingers crossed.

Let's just say it wasn’t a complete disaster…

but it didn't rise as nicely as last year when it sprang so high it had a fight with the top heating element. A nice thick pancake anyone? It actually tasted pretty good, but I think I have a mental block about Yorkshire Pudding now. Big mistake this time was my anxiety about burning the dang thing, and I not only lowered the rack - which was a good thing - but also lowered the heat during the process - bad thing -  plus we may have opened up the door too early. C'est la vie! I intend to get a lot of practice before next year's Christmas Dinner. Any tips out there will be gratefully appreciated.

The flowers Gregg gave me for our 50th Wedding Anniversary were still hanging in there, so I decided to keep them on display. The empty dishes will soon be filled with our meal. We had Roast Beef and Denise's new-style of flat, thick but tasty and what the heck pancake, Brown Gravy, Roasted Potatoes, asparagus and carrots. 

Another of our traditions growing up was the Yule Log but on special occasions we usually serve pumpkin pie and cherry pie with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream or both.

That taller snowman is in three parts, bottom two contain the salt and pepper shaker, the top hat is a hollow container for mustard. This time he's just there for decoration. The two smaller snowmen to his right are a regular salt and pepper set. A few nibbles beforehand in a dish I found more years ago than I can remember, and in the photo after this one, there is a small dish in the shape of a sunflower that I use for dips. It has a sunflower handle on the spoon. Another gift from my darlings for a birthday last year.

One more shot of the kitchen table which we used buffet style once dishes were filled and sorry to say I forgot to take photos of our meal because well, I was still thinking of the blessed Yorkshire Pud!

Here is the table from the other end.

One more of the table set up in the dining room. I'm glad several of you said that you liked it. I had a hard time finding matching sets. During that good tidy-up session earlier in the year, I had tidied things into oblivion. Moving along, since childhood, I have always had the tradition of Christmas Crackers at each place setting, and I carried this on after marriage. My son loved them as a child and he still indulges me now, as does our sweet daughter-in-law and husband of course. I think they actually enjoy them. So, we sit down, pull the tapes in each end and wear on our heads our paper 'crowns' that fall out of the cracker. Little trinkets scatter on the table, an actual mini grater, spoon, I forget what else, and we read the funny jokes/facts inserted in each one as we start our meal. You can read the history of Christmas Crackers at this link. There is also a website that shows you how to make your own here. Pulling the crackers is a little tame now. When I was young, with each cracker pull, there was a flash and a bang where you felt your fingers singe a little bit. In my memory of it all anyhow but I still remember the heat on my fingers.

The painting on the wall (a closer look can be seen below), is of a Tudor house I used to walk by while in Worcester (UK). My dear other half had put out to sea for six months. I often went home to visit my parents, sister and brother-in-law on these deployments. This is before our son joined us. My niece was born much later when they lived in Scandinavia. I had passed by the house for many years on previous visits, from the age of 18, and it fascinated me, always loving the Tudor style. I noticed a shop had opened across the street on this particular visit, with a painting of the same house in their window. In I went as though drawn by a siren song. The owner of the shop was a very nice gentleman. He was also the artist and very happy to get his painting out of the window display.

This is the last of the rambles and photos from Christmas. 

Thanks for being such great friends throughout the past year, and if I am not able to visit before the end of this one, I would like to wish you all...