Christmas is coming! The goose is getting fat...

My daughter, Madeleine, when she was a wee tot

It's definitely coming, 

barreling forward with speed.  

The holidays are here and the planning, cooking, cleaning, and a teensy weensy bit of stressing is here.  

That last sentence was a serious understatement.  

We've been busy each weekend doing small projects here and there on the house.  

Patrick put glass panels on the kitchen cabinet doors.  

Very pretty.  

We hung some curtains that I bought at an estate sale in our bedroom.  

Not terribly pretty 

but will work for the time being.  

I made 2 batches of cinnamon rolls this weekend and put them in the freezer.  

Hopefully, if they turn out o.k., we'll have these for breakfast on Christmas morning.  

I have a large Panettone as well in case they don't cook right.   

If everyone has only one that will work but since "seconds" 

are probably probable,  

I think I  better find time to make 2 more batches.  

Attempted a new biscuit recipe on Sunday given to me by my Brother-in-law, Tim.  These were quite good and rose higher than any other recipe that I have tried.  

Cream of tartar might be the different ingredient...

Basically, life was busy.  

Madeleine attended the Youth and Government "district" court trials this weekend.  Being a lawyer probably isn't in her future but the experience was wonderful for her.  

Each team is composed of 6-7 members.  They are given a case that is going to be tried.  Each member assumes a person in the trial and has to role play what took place in the court room.  Some of the strong speakers are attorneys.  

The teams practice asking questions as if they were in the court room weeks before District.  At District, many teams from across Houston meet and they compete against each other. It was a wonderful way to learn how the judicial system operates.  

It gave Madeleine a chance to assert her quiet personality a bit and learn the important art of persuasive speaking.

Riley needs more to fill his life right now.  He did his usual computer playing 

for hours on end.  

We are tossing around enrolling him in a game design course online in January.  We just want to be sure he is ready for the work level so he doesn't get discouraged by it.  

Riley enjoys math very much so over the weekend we do quite a bit of work from his curriculum.  He doesn't mind at all 

and treats the work as if he is playing a strategy game.  He continues to absorb historical information, constantly telling us about facts that he has learned.  He truly reads history as if it is 

a fabulous bedtime story.  

We're also tossing around trying out an AP history course with him next fall.  

O.K., this post is actually 

a truly great attempt to 

procrastinate 

from writing out the last batch of my Christmas cards.  

Apologies here for rambling on with nothing very interesting to reveal or describe.  Time to check out and get scribbling away...