Feliz Navidad

Christmas is almost here, and we are all decked out at home. We have a tree for the first time this year, and surprisingly the cats haven't knocked it over. It's just a little guy, but I love it.

Many thanks to Matt and Sonia, who got us a bunch of new ornaments for our wedding. What a great gift! Here's one:

My favorite brand new ornament this year is the piñata:

And of course I have to represent the Swedes with our Swedish horse:

Look how good Roxy is being! I think Santa will reward her this year.

When in Milwaukee . . .

. . . do as the Germans do, right?

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went up to Milwaukee to spend time with some family, and ended up at a German bar. There was lots of polka, lots of German words I can't pronounce, and, of course, lots of shots. Apparently the thing to do there is a quintuple shot off of a ski, so we obliged. Killepitch was the liquor of choice, naturally.

(It helps if everybody is the same height.)

We also played a game of Nails, which was new to me. Each person has their own nail in a stump, and you go around the circle with each person getting one smack per turn to try and hammer it all the way in. The last person with their nail sticking out loses, and I guess each group gets to decide their punishment. My lovely cousin Elise (in the gray) had to do 10 jumping jacks in the middle of the dance floor - not too bad.



Don't think that Scott and I aren't furiously working on a way to make one of these for our home.