Christmas Joy

We've been enjoying our Christmas present to ourselves as the Old Year draws to a close.

Herb couldn't wait to try it out, so he fired up the grill as soon as it was done--and after it was too dark to see!

The open fireplace has one grill cut to fit inside it for grilling over charcoal and a larger grill cut to fit over the top, leaving enough room to burn logs underneath for grilling over wood--Herb's favorite way to cook!

Dusty, Anthony and Joe Palmer, the owner of McKinnley Excavating, did a fantastic job, and we're so excited with our new patio.

All that's left to do is to get the stone top to fit over the round bench that covers the old cistern (once the quarry opens again in the New Year.)

As you can see, our Christmas present didn't fit under the tree, but we did have some awfully nice elves to thank for it!

We had another Christmas present, too--a surprise!  And it didn't fit under the tree, either . . .

Katie!

And Cameron!  They drove up from Houston and surprised us for Christmas.  Surprise is the operative word here--if you heard blood-curdling shrieks on Monday evening, Dec. 23, that was me when I saw them following Kara out of the study as we walked in the door after having dinner with friends.

We knew Kara would be with us for Christmas, but she had a nice surprise for us too--a beautiful floral arrangement that she made herself.

On Christmas Day we enjoyed some sun for a change and got photos on the patio.  All our Christmas presents in one place!

Kara decked Bonnie and Jet in their Christmas finery and took pictures of them, too.

We feasted on our first Dexter roast done in the oven instead of the crock pot.  Everyone loved it, although I'll turn it over halfway through, next time.  It didn't have a lot of fat on it so I used some bacon to cover a bare spot, but look at that rich yellow grass-fed fat!

On the 26th, Katie and Cameron treated us to another first--a deep-fried turkey!  They brought the fryer and turkey all the way from Texas.

Here's the bird in the fryer . . .

... and ready to be eaten.  It was delicious!

There was more to come, with a homemade plum pudding flambé.  Well, and a bit of tablecloth flambé, too, but nothing that couldn't be mopped up with a towel--and no harm done to the tablecloth!

There!  Isn't that gorgeous!

Of course the fireplace got put to work again, grilling Dexter burgers.

Sorry, that's mean of me!

Everyone else knew just how to get the most out of the patio while Herb grilled.

Here's the master chef with his wood-grilled burgers!

With all of these wonderful Christmas blessings, as I walked around the quiet house on Christmas Eve taking pictures of the glowing Christmas decorations, our theme verse on the mantel seemed especially timely as a meditation for the New Year.

May 2014 be a year full of blessings for each of you!