Skip to main content

On The Eighteenth Day Of Advent We Had Special Guests and Went To Our Neighborhood Christmas Party

Ever since we moved in we talked about having the previous owners over. We wanted to wait until we had refinished the floors before having them. Since we never did that I finally decided to suck it up and call them.

It wasn't going to happen this winter.

The husband passed away this spring, but his wife was excited I called. I told her she could bring her kids if she wanted. That way we could hear stories about being a kid and a parent in the house. After calling back and forth figuring out a time we finally decided on a week before Christmas. Two daughters out of eight children came along.

 I always wondered how they had so many kids in the house. I guess they fit as many kids as they could into each room. They also had a dining table that fit 10 people. One of the kids said they would go down the stairs backwards because it was so deep. 

We had asked them to bring photos from when they lived in the house. I should note that they had owned the home from 1952-2006. It was so neat seeing old photos. Our home looked exactly the same with different decorations.

The only big change was the back porch. I always wondered what it looked like. I like our enclosed porch, but it would've been nice to have a small, open back porch.

They used to flood the backyard to make an ice rink in the winter. They also had swings and a giant chalkboard in the basement.

We also learned how the kitchen looked when they bought it. The sink was where our oven is, the oven was where our fridge is and the fridge was where we hang our coats.

They also said to look out for lost baseball cards and a paint set.

We got our picture taken with her.

They were so sweet and brought us a poinsettia, homemade cookies and a gift for Meadow. We told them that the other family members were welcome to stop by as well. 

After they left I baked some molasses cookies I'd prepped the night before.

Gingerbread cookies may be fun, but these are way better.

Later we attended the annual neighborhood Christmas party. At the last second I was given Santa picture duty.

Meadow loves sitting on Santa's lap. At least she wasn't crying, just tried to get away.

I talked with our neighbors while Meadow worked on a craft.

Meadow made a really nice card.

Everyone wanted a picture with Santa.

Not a bad a way to spend a December evening.

I think we all had fun.

Comments

Amanda said…
I think it is so sweet that you guys invited the previous owners. What a neat experience! I'll bet they loved it.

Popular posts from this blog

Six Months, More Like Six Years

Approaching the 11th hour of this Sunday we finally rolled out of bed. Brooke and I made a night out of our six month since being married. In a way we could be celebrating six plus years together. I met the little lady above in February 2006. Now we garden together. We had a lovely night indeed: dinner at Red Stag and drinks at Aster Cafe.  I went outside to show Brooke where our new boulevard tree was going to be planted. We found a love letter in our bushes. Brooke couldn't read it, so we let it dry on one of the radiators.  The first page was mostly apologizing for not writing and then the second page turned sour with lots of swear words.  We drove downtown to eat brunch. We parked across from this rare small pre-1950s building that has somehow survived in downtown Minneapolis's ongoing urban renewal. We decided to eat at La Belle Crepe since I picked up this for our post-wedding breakfast back on that October day. This creperie is...

Honeymoon: Locks, Falls and a Damn Ankle

Once we decided to exit stage Mackinac, we had to decide what to do asap.

Sisters, a Brother and Walking Chicago

  Summer always seems to mean one thing: weddings. Whether I'm shooting or attending, we're bound to end up at a few every year.  This time around we were heading down to Chicago from my big sister Katrina's nuptials. I feel like all our vacations are centered around a wedding or something wedding related. I wish we could go on a vacation without having to worry about being somewhere.   It also means a few repetitive trips down I-94. There aren't nearly enough unique stops off the interstate. One outlier is Foster Cheese Haus , the only organic Wisconsin cheese shop I know of. Run by the folks behind Castle Rock Organic Farms , we always try to stop by. Unfortunately for us they were closed on Wednesdays, but at least we got to spy on their darling garden out front.    Brooke and I arrived in Necedah. We decided to stop at Brooke's sister Brittany's home along the way to cut the ride in half and get her dressed hemmed.   ...