Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is nearly over here at the Scott House. It's been a day of fun and laughter, of remembering and gratefulness.

This morning I got a phone call, "Gamma...when are you going to pick me up?" "On my way Sydney!" Picked up this delightful 5 year old and off we went to the grocery store. I've been there every day this week; you would have thought I had enough. But still needed a few things. As we passed the olives I asked Sydney if she thought we needed some for Christmas Eve dinner. "Nope." she said. I then asked if she thought we needed them to put on our fingers and she quickly said we definitely needed them.

We picked up Mama's gift and came back home. Liz called to add another family to our Christmas Eve Crab Feast...of course there is always room for the Caldwell family at our table! Larissa & Lewis and their 3 munchkins are considered part of our family. Mr. Scottie Dog cooked and picked crab for everyone, I made salad and Liz made a shrimp & Parmesan pasta. Add some sourdough bread, crab Louie sauce and we have a feast!

Sydney helped me decorate, set the table and make some cookies for dessert. She and Mr. Scottie Dog got his vintage Lionel trains running around the Christmas Tree. These vintage trains are from the very early 1920's and were given to his dad for Christmas. There are crates and crates of track, buildings & cars. The only place I've ever seen them before is at the California State Railroad Museum. He's got quite a collection.

After dinner Sydney got to open a gift under the tree...there were only 3. One for our cats and one for her cats (we bought kitty treats at the store today) and one I had placed there. "Merry Christmas Curious George." So we made Sydney a bed beside the tree, read the book, said her prayers and she went to sleep with the twinkling tree lights and visions of Christmas Morning dancing in her head.

Liz and Steve headed home...they'll be back at the crack of o'dawn thirty and we'll open our gifts and have brunch. I hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas. The most important thought I can leave you with is that the Baby Jesus grew up to give his life that you might come to know God the Father. Bless you all.

Christmas Crab

In our neck of the woods....er, Coastal Redwood Forest, that is.... Dungeness Crab is a December delicacy. The fishing fleet braves winter seas, rain and wind to bring us Dungeness Crab. You'll find them in every grocery store, the local fish markets and every restaurant will be serving their December Crab specials. Crab manicotti, crab cakes, crab salad, crab melt sandwiches and more.
I came home from work on Saturday weary and hungry. Mr. Scottie Dog had been out to Woodley Island Marina (in the bay just a stone's throw from downtown Eureka) and purchased Mr. Crab (pictured below) from a crab fisherman.

Mr. Dog brought home this fine creature....notice he's making a sideways run for it off the tray. I guess he knew there was a big pot of hot water heating on the patio. Bill likes his crab fresh. That means buying it off the boat, dripping wet and then rushing home and putting him into the boiling pot within an hour or so. Dungeness crab is quite sweet and they are meaty too. This big guy yielded enough crab meat to feed the two of us....quite full!
Look at him...he's wearing his beautiful deep orange "suntan" all ready to be cracked, cleaned and eaten. Bill put his share on a salad and I just seasoned mine with a tiny bit of seasoned salt and a generous grind of the pepper mill. Yum!
Liz and I went to a bridal shower tonight for our friend Jammie and Mr. Scottie Dog invited Sydney to dinner. She brought prawns and another crab. When we got home she exclaimed, "I like crab better than shrimp and even better than mac 'n cheese!" High praise indeed from a 5 year old.
It's been stormy and rainy around here and the weather report is for more of the same. If weather permits we'll have Crab on Christmas Eve.

Catching Up

It seems I need to catch up a bit on my blog....

At Quilt Market Moda had a fabulous party for everyone. Dinner, dancing, good conversation at Minute Maid Park...home of the Astro's. As it started we posed with our good friend Marie who owns Runs With Scissors Quilt Shop in Citrus Heights, CA.
Here's a close-up of us...I LOVE working with my daughter, Liz!

Back again to MN I flew after Quilt Market for another 2 1/2 week visit. We celebrated Beka's birthday at BD's Mongolian Barbecue. They made her a birthday hat!

Here's Jakob...what a handsome 4 1/2 year old!

Of course we took a trip to McDonald's while I was there. Mercedes is a toofer kind of girl!
Miss Shiloh is always checking out her surroundings.
It was a magical time while I was there....first snow! Now I know that MN has had more than it's share of snow so far this year but I so enjoyed those first 9 inches! Snowmen, sledding, snow angels and more. A beautiful winter wonderland for me.
We also paid a trip to Famous Dave's Barbecue after church one Sunday...Sadies wanted to pose by the bear.The Sunday after Thanksgiving The historical Eureka Inn invited the community to the first Christmas Tree since 2004. Hundreds and hundreds of people came and placed an ornament on it's branches.See the Scottie Dog we brought!Here's a picture of Mr. Scottie Dog and Sydney. We stood in the crush of happy celebrants for awhile and then made our way home.

More tomorrow