First day of Winter?

I guess today, Dec. 21, is the first day of Winter. Hah! I think we had a high today of 67 and we're supposed to reach 70 or so in the next couple of days. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. . . (and it's just dreaming!)

We had a lovely day today. First, no one got up early (and I actually got a nice 8-hour rest). Then we had breakfast all together as a family -- a very rare occurance. Lani read aloud a Christmas story from one of her Mary Engelbreit Christmas books (Believe, I think); the story was called "The Three Skaters". Later, Lani and I went Christmas shopping without any kids. Hannah made glass candy while we were gone and apparently the boys all played together peacefully. When we got home in the late afternoon I made one final batch of Christmas goodies and then we all had dinner together. After dinner, Lani and I filled 13 plates & tins with holiday goodies to give away tomorrow (I'll mention below what all I made). At 8:00, I was checking to see if any decent Christmas special was on and I came across "Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir" on PBS; I knew I'd enjoy it, but had no idea that the entire family would gather and peacefully watch the whole thing. Now, while I'm writing this, "Christmas with the St. Olaf Choir in Norway" is on. Such lovely music for two straight hours!

Here's the Christmas goodies I made over the last few days:
Peanut Brittle (I made two double batches!)
Chrenlich's Christmas Candy (easiest to make and my favorite!)
No Oven Peanut Butter Squares (a new one for me this year; Hannah made a batch and I made one too)
Salted Nut Roll Bars
Glass Candy (Hannah made a green, mint batch and a blue, vanilla batch)
Peanut Butter Fudge
Fantasy Fudge (the one made with marshmallow creme)

When we were filling the plates, Lani said "everything's brown, either peanut or chocolate or both" (then we added the glass candy to the plates last).

It's been a nice day! Now, maybe to start writing that Christmas letter. . .