Very merry Christmas, part 2

A new family tradition for Christmastime? "Imagination Dinner/Chopped/Top Chef" was a smashing hit in its first year, thanks to Mom's initiative. The six adult sibs were paired up and received a bag of surprise ingredients, which we had to use - along with any other ingredients we liked - to prepared one or more dishes for dinner. Fortunately we didn't have to receive any judge criticism after the meal, just a hearty "yum" and content bellies all around.

Noah and I - Jul - received shrimp, salad greens, a grapefruit and yeast. The end result: spicy citrus marinated shrimp salad with avocado, orange slices and a citrus vinaigrette; and yeast biscuits.

Jim and Tiff received cornish hens, Israeli couscous, kale and leeks. The end result: couscous salad with sauteed leeks & kale, and craisins, bacon & toasted pecans; and apricot-glazed cornish hens.


Steve and Katie received the trickiest ingredients: puff pastry, whole pineapple and coconut, and liqueur (can't remember the name). The end result was a custard-filled pastry topped with Nutella and coconut shavings.

Phew. And it All was Delicious. (and no fighting broke out in the process)

Meanwhile, Nonna had no trouble keeping the granddaughters occupied with books and the play kitchen.



Now it's off for a Christmas Eve walk, down the block, around Wheaton's campus and then back home before our noses and fingers get too cold.


The whole family! From Seattle, Memphis, Bloomington and Wheaton - what a joy to all be together this week.

A very Gieser Christmas, part 1

What an amazing Christmas we had with our family in Wheaton!! Granddad and Nonna, all three Gieser siblings and all four granddaughters together in the same house! Added to that delight were the beautiful Christmas decorations Mom had put up - Gemma quickly made a habit of going to Nonna to ask to be picked up to go look at the Christmas tree. We also enjoyed a chance for the siblings to go out Christmas shopping with Dad, a tradition since the Giesers kids were young (men one day, ladies the next); Granddad's train (finally resurrected again after a 20 year haitus...); and many hours of cousin time playing together with the play kitchen and dolls.

Just look at this beautiful gingerbread house that Mom made!


Elsie and Gemma share story time with Nonna one morning.

Beautiful, happy-go-lucky Elsie (9 months old now!).



Bella and Avery are two years old (27 months) and are particularly impressive with their potty training skills. They both love baby dolls and taught Gemma a few tricks on taking care of babies, wrapping them in blankets, putting them in the high chair to eat, setting them on the potty seats, and pushing them around in the doll stroller.

...or pushing Gemma around...

On the day that the dads went shoppping, we ladies ventured the cold and visited Cosley Zoo! Of course the ducks received the most attention, but we also liked the goats and sheep and wolf and chickens and owls. After our visit Gemma has started saying more animal noises, especially "Baa!" It was very neat to introduce Gemma to this small zoo, as both of us went there many times as kids (Jim from growing up there, and me from summer visits to Grandma).


Each married pair were assigned a dinner meal - Jim and I made chicken curry with rice, with malva pudding for dessert. Indian and South African. How can you go wrong with that?

the BEST Christmas present ever!

Adah Joy Frey

born Christmas Day 2011
7 lb 2 oz, at 7:05 PM

Congratulations to Rachel & Craig and Asher! And yes, those definitely look like her momma's eyebrows! We sure hope we can see little Adah Joy sometime this spring.

Getting ready for Christmas

We are SO excited to spend Christmas week in Wheaton with our Gieser family. (even though there is no snow in the forecast) Gemma has been practicing her names and face identification. It will be very fun to see the four girl cousins interacting and exploring together, playing with Nonna's teddy bears and watching Granddad's miniature train.

...Gemma has also been working on her acrobatic skills, so she can keep up with Avery and Bella.

Ready for cold & snow? Not really...but Yes

We are not really ready - mentally - for the cold & snow that is coming this winter (we just turned the heat on yesterday!). But we have gotten out our cold weather gear and tested it out on a walk or two on a few of the colder days. (Who are those crazy parents taking their child out in this weather?! No, truly, I don't think too many people take the time to think that if they see us out and about.)

Last week we even had a first snowfall, though brief, so Gemma got to try out her fleece outfit. And since then, the daily temps have been consistently in the 30s, so I think winter really IS here.

And oh the joys of a little girl who now carefully pronounces, "Dad-DY!"