Christmas Morning

We woke to a cold morning and started the day with some delicious egg nog.

It is just the two of us this year as Michael is in Florida visiting his dad.

We listened to Christmas Carols, sipped egg nog, and opened presents from my Dad and Vicki and the gifts we got each other.

We will be doing another Christmas celebration on December 27th when Michael arrives home.


Our Tree.


Gregory opening up one of his gifts.


Sweater from Dad and Vicki.


Me opening presents.


My adorable gift tag from Gregory.

There is a story behind this....
When we began decorating the tree this year, Greg had pulled out a few ornaments that I had bought at a craft fair that were snowmen heads. He nicely asked me where the bodies to the snowmen were and I told him that there are no bodies, just heads, and that I thought that they were cute. He gave me an odd smile and proceeded to put them aside. He then noticed that I had a few more snowmen head ornaments along with a reindeer head. Now these are not morbid ornaments....they are cute ornaments that are bought all the time and no one thinks anything of it. But when Greg announced that he would buy me little pedestals to place the heads on next year and maybe a grinning Grinch to stand beside them, I burst out laughing. This became our little inside joke and every time we were out and saw Christmas decor that did not have a body we both smiled and laughed. So when he wrapped my present this year he decided to keep with my tradition that I had started and appropriately lopped the head off the tag. I thought it was hysterical and had to photograph it :-)


My gift from Greg. My favorite character, Richard, from LFG.


Greg opening his gift from me...and Spike making sure he is included.


Greg's gift from me.

We decided to do small gifts this year because all the things that we need are items that are for the both of us (mainly for the house). So instead of buying elaborate gifts, we got small but special gifts for each other and we are going to go shopping together for household stuff from us to us at a later time.


Spike getting his stocking and presents.


He loves his new tennis balls.


Sweet puppy.


Giving the puppy some love.

Time To Wrap

With Christmas sneaking up on us, we decided it was time to wrap the presents and get them under the tree.

My New Niece

This is Ava Katherine, the newest addition to the Durham family. Kelly Durham is my step-sister and this is her newest little girl. She is so adorable and I wanted to share her picture with everyone.

New Cook Book

Before they flew back home my step-mom, Vicki, gave me a Cook Book that she had created for me filled with her favorite recipes that have been passed down through family and friends. I love to cook and try new recipes so I was very excited to receive this special gift. One of the recipes contained in the book was her recipe for flan which I love very much. I am very pleased to say that I made my first flan and it turned out wonderful. I love this new book and am looking forward to trying some of the other recipes very soon....especially the rum cake. Yum!



Update: 1/27/09 - We have made several recipes from this book so far and they all have been wonderful. Thank you Vicki. We are making the marinated grilled pork tenderloin tonight...looking forward to it.

Winter Wonderland Carriage Ride

We went on a carriage ride through Winter Wonderland in Tilles Park this evening. It was freezing cold but very beautiful to see all the holiday lights on display.


Loading up the carriage with blankets. Brrrrr.


Luke, our carriage horse.


Light displays in the park.


Group photo after the ride.
Sorry about covering up Michael a bit but the photographer said to lean in so she could fit everyone....obviously we all fit with room to spare but I did not know that so I leaned in :-(
More pictures of Michael coming soon though.

Stone Hill Winery

Today we went to Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, Missouri for a tour and tasting and to visit the Kristkindl market. We took home a few great wines from the wine shop as well.

We ate at the Vintage Restaurant which is an old barn turned into a restaurant. Each table is placed inside an old stable and the hay shoots are still there beside your table. The food was delicious and the ambiance was great. I had the Sauerbraten and I definitely recommend it.

I really wanted to visit this winery because it has these amazing vaulted cellars that took 22 years to construct and are considered one of America's architectural wonders. We were able to go down into them during our tour and it was a really neat feeling to stand in the same places and touch the same walls as the people of 1847.

Hermann, where the winery is located, is a historic German town that looked very interesting. We plan on returning to Hermann soon to explore more of the town.


Here is some history about the winery taken from their website:

"Stone Hill Winery was established in 1847 and grew to be the second largest winery in the United States. The wines were world renowned, winning gold medals in eight world's fairs. By the turn of the century, the winery was shipping 1,250,000 gallons of wine per year. Unfortunately, the advent of Prohibition in 1920 destroyed the wine industry in Missouri, and the winery's spectacular arched, underground cellars (the largest series of vaulted cellars in America) were used for growing mushrooms.

In 1965 the Held's bought the winery and began restoring its picturesque buildings and vaulted underground cellars, which had fallen into disrepair after Prohibition. Today, Stone Hill is Missouri's oldest and most awarded winery.

Stone Hill produces wines that are receiving international acclaim, winning more than 3,200 awards since 1993, including 166 medals in 2005, 194 medals in 2006 and 155 medals in 2007 - continuously ranking Stone Hill among the nation's top award winners."


This is one of the winery's buildings.


Inside the cellars.








Walls built in the early 1800's.


Some of the state-of-the-art technology they use to make some of their wines.


One of the barrels used in making the wine. The letters on the barrel mean that the barrel is (MT) Medium Toasted. The TH means Toasted Head so the end caps are toasted. The 2YR stands for how many years the barrel was slowly toasted.


Stairs leading into another cellar.


Another cellar room. Notice how large the arches are above the barrels.


One of the original barrels from pre-prohibition. Notice the difference in size compared to the ones used in modern day.


This is one of the original wine barrels where wine was made before prohibition. When the winery and barrels were destroyed, this one was hidden away at a monastery. It was returned to the winery by the monks when the Held's re-established the winery in the 1960's. The barrel was so large that it had to be cleaned by hand. Someone quite small had to climb into the barrel through the narrow opening at the bottom to clean the inside. At the time only Mrs. Held and her children could fit inside but the children could not reach the top so that left Mrs. Held to clean it alone. It was eventually retired and is now for display.


During prohibition everything in the winery was destroyed. They ripped out all of the vines, destroyed the barrels, broke all the bottles of wine, and destroyed all the wine making equipment. This piece of wine making equipment was hidden in a barn with a sheet over it and was mistaken for farm equipment and thus saved.


These are a few bottles of wine that managed to survive prohibition. The labels have deteriorated so no one knows what type of wine is contained inside or the year that they were made.


These are some of the bottles that were used to make sparkling wine. Sparkling wine is aged inside the bottle.


The Vintage Restaurant. Very yummy German food.


My dad and step-mom and Gregory and I at our table inside the stable. Those are the original bars behind my fathers head and the hay shoot is behind me.

Historic St. Charles at Christmas Time

I absolutely love this place. This is downtown St. Charles in the historic district. Every year they have a Christmas event where they decorate the streets and have a Christmas parade. There are carolers walking down the cobblestone streets and Christmas figures from days past and from around the world. There are Santa's from several countries and Jack Frost, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Ebenezer Scrooge, the Christmas Angel and more.

Each one of the characters is in their role all day and they have collectible cards with their photo and their story on the back that you collect throughout the day. They stay in character as they speak with you and it is very fun.

There are adorable gift shops, Christmas stores, fudge shops and more. At night they turn on all the Christmas lights to light up the street and they have the Las Posadas Procession where Mary and Joseph travel down the street looking for room in the inn. Their is a living nativity at the end of the night and a yule log bonfire in the park on Main Street.

On Friday nights the Master of Revels (also known as the Lord of Misrule) is by the rustic campfire where he tells tall tales while you make smores at the campfire.

They roast chestnuts on an open fire on Main Street.

There is a feast with Ebenezer Scrooge where Ebenezer is visited by the Christmas Spirits while you dine.

Their is an interactive model train with a train conductor and a Santa Land for children to play and make Christmas crafts and listen to Mrs. Claus tell stories. They also have a collectible ornament each year of one of the characters and it is only available to Main Street visitors during the festivities.

Although we did not stay until night to see all the festivities we did get to meet a few of the characters as we strolled the street. This definitely is something that we will be attending each year. The place was beautiful and we loved the characters and costumes...not to mention the yummy fudge. I hope you enjoy the pictures.



Main Street at Christmas.


Covered Wagon near a cafe.


One of the beautiful buildings on Main Street.


This is Pere Noel. He is the Father Christmas of France. The story on his card says that he travels with his pet donkey, Mistletoe, during Christmas to visit the children and bring them gifts. The children fill their shoes with carrots and hay and leave them by the fireplace for Mistletoe and they set out a glass of wine to entice Pere Noel to make a stop.


Stores on Main Street.


One of the parks.


Vicki with Ebenezer Scrooge. When Michael was speaking with him he told Michael that he needed to get back to work right now. It was amusing.


The parade down Main Street with the Fife and Drum Corps.


Clara and the Nutcracker.


The Snow Queen.





Horse drawn carriage rides are available.


Father Christmas of England.


This is Kris Kringle, or as he was also known, Belsnickle. Belsnickle is a derivative of the German "Pelz-nickle", which means "Nicholas in Furs ". Belsnickle would travel the Pennsylvania countryside ringing his bell looking for good children to give out his small gifts of cakes and nuts.


This is Julenisse, the Scandinavian Santa. He travels with his pet goat, Yuley, on Christmas Eve to visit the homes of the good children. If you have been good all year long, Yuley knocks his horns against your front door three times. When you come to answer the knock – Julenisse greets you with your gift, and a small paper basket of candy to be hung on your Christmas tree. In exchange, you should have a bowl of porridge ready for them to eat before they continue to the neighbor’s home.

In the background is Civil War Santa who was made popular by the drawings created by Thomas Nast during the war between the states.


Carolers on Main Street.


Some of the adorable shops on Main Street.












The Christmas Tree in one of the parks.










Father Christmas of England passing out his card to the children.


Some of the carolers who travel down the street singing all throughout the day.


Jack Frost. He was originally named Jokul Frosti, meaning Icicle Frost, by the Norse Vikings. He is from Scandinavian legend and is known for his artistic talents. He can often be seen sneaking through towns late at night painting beautiful frost designs on windows.