We had a festive Christmas dinner at Evergreen. The Stollen was made by Aunt Evelyn, who had flown to Boston for her Christmas. Mother's shawl was a present from KS, the flowers from MI, and the chocolates from WA. Not shown was the book (off the photo, to the right) from NY. Don is guarding the peppernuts from Canada.
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| Mother cutting Aunt Evelyn's beautiful Christmas Stollen for our banquet's dessert. |
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A few shots from our 'over-the-top' B&B. Our hostess was just wonderful, giving us every attention, making breakfast early for travelers, getting whatever we needed. She gave us the table for 8 in case Julia or Aaron wanted to join us. (Aaron . . . before noon???)
The evening meal on Boxing Day was at a local Thai restaurant (too dark for my poor phone's camera, but it's all I have). The Stone family drove in to meet us. You can see Julia's brother, David. He would then drive back to his place in Charlottesville, VA.
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| Left to right: Julia, David, Harriet, Vivian Amy, Aaron, Stephen, Mark, Janice and Larry. |
This red and green scene was in Aaron's and Julia's home on December 27th showing Amy meeting Sue Groff, Janice's sister. Sue and her family joined us for an evening meal at a local Ethiopian restaurant. There were 14 of us. (You can see why 14 people need to go elsewhere to eat!)
This time, the cuisine was Ethiopian.
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| Counterclockwise around the table: Mark, Amy, Vivian, Julia (from the back), Anna, Celeste, Josiah, Brian, Aaron, Janice, Sue, Marlin |
On Saturday, we eight were invited to visit Julia's parents' home, which is called Powdermill Farm. The "mill was built by Thomas Heimberger in 1776 with a grant from the Committee of Safety of the Continental Congress" (from the Stone's Holiday Letter). We got to see the work being done on their powder mill which had been active during the Revolution, supplying powder for the continental army. The mill was never discovered by the British (and therefore not destroyed by them). During the Civil War era, it produced plaster. An old oak tree fell directly on it several decades ago, causing considerable damage. The Stones now have a mason rebuilding the walls of this historic building.
We then processed by foot over to Aunt Sara's home. She (with help from Harriet and Larry) prepared a wonderful meal for the extended family. Her home is nicely designed for entertaining. She was having all the neighbours join her for a New Year's Eve celebration.
After the New York and Seattle portions of the family returned home, we ate with Julia and Aaron at a local Lebanese restaurant. We love the local ethnic establishments (and their prices!)
We missed the other Kreiders who were celebrating their Christmases in Newton, Chicago, Florida, and Seattle.
