Independence Day weekend

Well we didn't have much planned for Independence Day but it turned out to be a 'big' as well as a 'long' weekend. Americans don't like you to be alone on holidays so we were invited out!




Saturday morning we decided headed down to Wrightsville beach which as it turns out this was the same thought everyone else in Wilmington had. After 30 minutes of circling the parking lots for a spot and someone in our car continually moaning 'beach, beach, car spot, grammy lou, poppy' Andrew decided to drop us off and then continue looking. After another 25 minutes he found a place to park! It turns out it is more economical to park illegally and pay the parking ticket of $30 than drive around for 1 hour wasting money on gas/petrol! In the end we met up with the extended Mahlow clan for some beach fun making sand castles and frolicking in the tidal pools.

After swimming we made a 'nap stop' which also involved making a patriotic pavlova. Andrew decorated the square meringue in the shape of an American flag with blueberries in one corner and sliced cherries to make the red stripes. Saturday night we were at the Mahlows again eating hot dogs, baked beans and peach cobbler. We were a little out of place, in more ways than one, as everyone else was wearing a red shirt of some description but they all appreciated the Australian dessert with the salute to the flag. After dinner and toddler time in the pool we headed over to our prime viewing spot for the fireworks.

The fireworks are launched from the battleship in the Cape Fear river and we had a good view from the Leland side. We weren't expecting much (again underestimating American patriotism) and so we were surprised and delighted at the massive 20 minute firework display somewhat choreographed to music (including Springsteen's 'Born in the USA'). It was very fun and Lucy got to stay up until 9:30pm!!! (The fireworks started at 9:05pm as it was still light until 9pm)

Saturday brought gymnastics, blackberry picking and a Double Happiness Chinese dinner. Sunday brought the agonising Wimbledon final that we thoroughly enjoyed over many hours and rain delays! We even had some fireworks of our own in the backyard (they are legal as long as they don't leave the ground)

I think life for us will be getting back to normal tomorrow - no more vacations, holidays or tennis for a while. Phew! But I still have a few more vacation blogs to bring you up to date on.

Independence Day

It's the 4th of July and thus the whole of America is celebrating Independence Day by eating hot dogs and potato salad whilst lighting technically illegal fireworks. Of course they'll be dressed in their red, white and blue. We are a fair bit more educated in US independence history having just visited Colonial Williamsburg. What will we get up to? Find out Monday. (That sounds a lot more dramatic than how the weekend is likely to pan out - we may just open and read the Declaration of Independence that we picked up in Williamsburg)

Happy birthday mothers day

With so many celebrations in such a short time frame Lucy was very confused and kept saying 'happy birthday' to me! After explaining it was Mothers Day she decided that it was appropriate to say 'happy birthday mothers day' to me. She still thinks it is her birthday and often breaks out in song singing happy birthday to herself.

I was given a lovely pancake breakfast in bed! All three of us crawled into bed together for breakfast and whilst there were a few pancake crumbs in the sheets everything worked out surprisingly well and there wasn't maple syrup dripping from the ceiling! We did lots of gardening, mostly weeding and mulching before heading off for dinner at Kornerstone pizza (a wood fired pizza restaurant)

While at Kornerstone there was a tornado warning for our area of New Hanover! The skies were black. I mean really really black. There were loads of lightning strikes and menacing thunder rumbles. Suddenly there was sideways rain. Two minutes later the rain had stopped, the clouds had cleared and there was blue sky and sunshine! It was totally weird but fascinating. Andrew took a photo of the clouds when we got home. Look at the amazing light show we had!

An AWESOME weekend!!

Our 'big girl' is now 2 years old. We had an AWESOME birthday weekend spent at the beach, gardening, at church and having a pool party in the backyard. It was so fun and so easy! God kept the thunderstorms at bay until Monday afternoon (and now our backyard is totally flooded). We ate home-made strawberry ice cream, drank wine and soaked in the 30 degree heat (85F). As I mentioned earlier the theme of the party was butterflies. So there was a butterfly sign out the front, a butterfly wreath on the door, butterfly napkins(!) and plates, and of course a butterfly cake. The party favors (lolly bags) were butterfly handbags with butterfly stamps and paraphenalia for the girls and bug boxes for the boys. Lucy spent most of the party eating! She says hi to Gabriel, Julian, Caleb, Rachel, Ava, Samantha, Baxter, Abigail, Aidan, and Rory. Also happy birthday to Mr Dave!

2 more days until 2 years old

The countdown is now on, the upstairs room is filled with presents and party paraphenalia and muffins are baking in the kitchen. Lucy is practising singing 'Happy Birthday' and blowing out candles. The party favors (lolly bags) are assembled, the lawn has been mowed and we've made the strawberry ice cream. We're getting ready for a 2 year old's birthday!!

Andrew's birthday weekend

The weekend was jam packed with fun activities to celebrate Andrew's birthday and most of them revolved around food. We breakfasted at Cracker Barrel (Kaka bawell) with maple syrup pancakes before heading over to Lewis Farms to pick strawberries. The farm is 3 minutes from our house!! Lucy was strategically dressed in a pink t-shirt and had a ball picking strawberries and eating them. After picking 2 and half buckets worth we headed over to the shop for some home made strawberry icecream. The farm was set up very efficiently and it was surprisingly quick and easy to pick the berries as the plants are on elevated beds covered with black plastic so it is easy to see the ripening fruit. Although there were lots of people around it didn't feel crowded.

Dinner saw us at Marc's on Market (2 minutes away) for a wonderful 3 course meal. Lucy is a true gourmet happily dipping her bread in a fruity olive oil and then eating pizza with chicken, rosemary and olives.

Sunday lunch was a home cooked lamb roast, which was Andrew's first taste of lamb for the weekend! It was followed by a lemon layer cake comprising of 4 layers of cake, 3 layers of lemon curd, swathed in a meringue icing - an awesome Andrew combination.

We finished off the weekend with some yard work. I didn't say gardening because it was mostly digging and pruning. I'll tell you about some of our projects another day.

To finish up Andrew is looking forward to picking out his birthday present - a bbq!

Easter Monday

For some people today is a public holiday, for others not and in any case Andrew decided to take the day off. Tonight is the finale of our Easter week and we are cooking another lamb feast, this time our guests are Gary, Mary and Katy.

Resurrection Sunday

It's Resurrection Sunday! We started the day with a pancake breakfast and Lucy opened her Easter basket. As you know there were lots of lambs in there plus a watering can, a yoyo ball, a flashing toothbrush and some bath toys. Lucy figured out pretty quickly that the Lindt lambs were edible and decided that she very much liked chocolate (I think this may have been her first taste!) and demanded more.

We headed off to chuch dressed in our finery (with Andrew in a suit and tie!) with Andrew on sound and Fiona on powerpoint. Lucy looked beautiful in her pink butterfly Monsoon dress.

We spent most of the afternoon in food preparation and a little gardening and then Daryl, Margaret and Ava came over for a lamb feast. Lucy and Ava had a ball together. Lucy even let Ava share her bath and the two of them played in there for an hour. Lucy decided she wanted Ava to sleep over - Lucy in her bed and Ava on the floor next to her bed. However it was deceided by all the grown ups that this wasn't a good idea.

On Saturday Lucy decorated the poster below.

John 20 Resurrection!

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him."
Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?"
"They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him.
Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."
Jesus said, "Mary." Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!"
Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.

Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then he showed them his hands and side.
The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."
Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"
But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master." But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it."
Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."
Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe."
Thomas said, "My Master! My God!"
Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."

Good Friday

Today we were going to make hot cross buns but instead we spent a lot of time gardening. We bought some pre-made hot cross buns from Fresh Market earlier in the week which were fairly dry and the cross was made out of icing instead of dough! Interestingly no church today. Most Americans do not have a public holiday for Good Friday and surprisingly we had mail delivered. So we don't get mail on MLK Jr day or Presidents Day but Good Friday is fine. Someone told us that the US didn't want to bias their public holidays towards Christian events but this seems at odds with the purported 'Christian nation'. I guess its just another quirky American thing.


John 19 - The Crucifixion

They took Jesus away. Carrying his cross, Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill (the name in Hebrew is Golgotha), where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross. It read: jesus the nazarene the king of the jews.
Many of the Jews read the sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was right next to the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The Jewish high priests objected. "Don't write," they said to Pilate, "'The King of the Jews.' Make it, 'This man said, "I am the King of the Jews."'"
Pilate said, "What I've written, I've written."
When they crucified him, the Roman soldiers took his clothes and divided them up four ways, to each soldier a fourth. But his robe was seamless, a single piece of weaving, so they said to each other, "Let's not tear it up. Let's throw dice to see who gets it." This confirmed the Scripture that said, "They divided up my clothes among them and threw dice for my coat." (The soldiers validated the Scriptures!)
While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus' mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her. He said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother.
Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, "I'm thirsty."
A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, "It's done . . . complete." Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.
Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath preparation, and so the bodies wouldn't stay on the crosses over the Sabbath (it was a high holy day that year), petitioned Pilate that their legs be broken to speed death, and the bodies taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man crucified with Jesus, and then the other. When they got to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn't break his legs. One of the soldiers stabbed him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.
The eyewitness to these things has presented an accurate report. He saw it himself and is telling the truth so that you, also, will believe.
These things that happened confirmed the Scripture, "Not a bone in his body was broken," and the other Scripture that reads, "They will stare at the one they pierced."
After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body.
Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took Jesus' body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.

Maundy Thursday

Today we will eat unleavened bread to celebrate the Passover as Jesus would have done at the Last Supper. Excitingly we received a fruit basket from the Thoms family and earlier in the month we received a chocolate parcel from the Lambertons (which is nearly all gone!) Yesterday we went on an Easter egg hunt and we baked Easter sugar cookies for Ava's birthday.

Some trivia for you on the word maundy - The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. On this day four events are commemorated: the washing of the Disciples' feet by Jesus Christ, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot

John 13 - Washing His Disciples' Feet

Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal. Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Master, you wash my feet?"

Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."
Peter persisted, "You're not going to wash my feet—ever!"
Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing."
"Master!" said Peter. "Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!"
Jesus said, "If you've had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you're clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you're clean. But not every one of you." (He knew who was betraying him. That's why he said, "Not every one of you.") After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.
Then he said, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as 'Teacher' and 'Master,' and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet. I've laid down a pattern for you. What I've done, you do. I'm only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn't give orders to the employer. If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

Holy Week Wednesday

There are many good books about Easter, check out http://ccbreview.blogspot.com/ to find one that's good for you. We decided on 'J is for Jesus' as it combines the story of Easter with learning the alphabet which is an appropriate stage for Lucy. By the way she doesn't call her alphabet her "abc's", she calls it her "cdd's"! Over the last two days we have looked at Jesus clearing the temple and Mary annointing Jesus.

John 12 - Anointing His Feet

Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus' feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces." He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them. Jesus said, "Let her alone. She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me."

Product of the week - Lindt (and other) lambs

Our theme for this Easter week is 'lambs'. All of the shops are promoting Easter with chickens, rabbits, and eggs but if you look carefully it is possible to find a very small amount of lamb related items! These chocolate lambs from Lindt are very cute, four white sheep and one black sheep! I'm sure they taste good but I won't be able to tell you until Sunday! We are also putting in Lucy's basket a lamb soft toy and a 'grow farm' lamb that grows to four times its original size when put in water (it will shrink back down when dry and can be used many times)


Continuing on our lamb theme yesterday Lucy and I made pictures of lambs with cotton balls, paper and glue. We put one lamb on each placemat at the dinner table as decoration!

Palm Sunday

We have a super fun Easter week program planned for our household! So this week's blog entries will outline our activities.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday so before church we made some palm fronds and Lucy took hers along with her to wave. We tried to teach her to say 'Hosanna', and whilst she tried very hard, what she came out with was something quite different!

Matthew 21 The Royal Welcome
When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: "Go over to the village across from you. You'll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you're doing, say, 'The Master needs them!' He will send them with you." This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet: Tell Zion's daughter, "Look, your king's on his way,poised and ready, mounted On a donkey,on a colt, foal of a pack animal." The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, "Hosanna to David's son!" "Blessed is he who comes in God's name!" "Hosanna in highest heaven!" As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, "What's going on here? Who is this?" The parade crowd answered, "This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee."

American baby showers!!!!

I went to my first American baby shower last week for Amber. I was curious to see how different it would be to an Australian baby shower! On the whole it was fairly similar - lots of nibblies, lots of women, lots of noise and laughter and lots of presents. We played a couple of games which were okay except for one. This particular game we had to guess the brand of chocolate bar from the contents. We had a list of potential chocolates and we were allowed to look at and smell the sample chocolates. The only catch was that the sample was smeared onto a diaper to look like poo! It looked so GROSS!!! One lady (who has 3 grown children) couldn't even bring herself to smell the diaper and turned a little white in the face. It was quite funny but oh so awful! I told everyone that I would be blogging this back to Aus and most of them instantly shouted to me that this was not a normal game to play at baby showers and shouldn't be held up as a typical American baby shower!


According to Babyshower101.com it is a popular game. "Guess the Chocolate - (Materials- 5-10 diapers with 5-10 different types of chocolates). This game is one of the funniest and most popular baby shower games. Have the baby shower host or appointed person moderately melt 5-10 different candy bars separately, placing each one in a diaper to be viewed by everyone. Mark each diaper as A, B, C, D, etc. Have everyone guess which candy is in each of the diapers. Make sure to use some candies that have nuts, toffee, caramel, etc. You are sure to get great laughs!"


Australia you be the judge.

Valentines Day sugar

I know this is late but I wanted to record it anyway. Daycare sent home a note a few weeks ago with a class list asking us to provide valentines day cards for all the kids in the class. I thought about doing it and given that Lucy was not attending daycare that day decided not to send any in. When we arrived the next week Lucy had a bag of goodies waiting for her. Expecting to see half a dozen cards I was shocked to find that each child had given out not only cards but lollies as well. The lollies ranged from the not as bad Welchs fruit snacks (made with 'real fruit' but primarily corn syrup and sugar) to a disgusting Sponge Bob Squarepants 'Gummy Krabby Patty' which made no pretences about its contents bolding stating 'artificial flavouring' on the wrapper. Andrew ate most of the lollies but it was a shock to see the snacks that parents are happy for their children (and others!) to consume.

No cooking today - it's my birthday!

Weekend visitors

Aunties Julie and Lynda came to visit for a 3 day long weekend though given the amount of stuff that exploded in the spare room (left) you would think they were staying a month! Julie and Lynda toured the Dawson and One Tree Hill sites on a wet Friday. But Lynda still doesn't know where Chad Michael Murray lives and I'm not going to tell!!

We played monopoly, read Lucy books and ate a lot. For Julie's birthday we had breakfast at Sweet & Savoury, visited Wrightsville beach (where the water was officially freezing), did a Screen Gems tour (saw the One Tree Hill police car!!!), did some shopping, and finally dined at the Brasserie. Andrew and Lynda ate 3 mini desserts each, even after having a strawberry cream cake for afternoon tea!

Lucy was very wary of having new people in the house but played with both her Aunties. She particularly liked Julie (who read lots of books) so much so that Lucy was even happy to go for a walk with Julie sans parents.

We farewelled them at the airport Sunday afternoon after church and a lamb roast lunch.

Australia Day (but not a long) Weekend

We celebrated a cold and wet Australia Day at Outback Steakhouse!!!! Of course they had no idea that it was Australia Day but that didn't stop 25 of us getting together for an 'Aussie meal'. Lucy and Rory waved their flags, bunted a balloon and scoffed down chips from their highchairs. We all got dressed up - Lucy in an Aussie shirt, Fiona in a Hawthorn shirt and Andrew in an Australian Open shirt. The group had been thinking of organising a cricket game but it was good that nothing eventuated as it was 30 degrees (0 celsius) and very wet!

We decorated our house with flags with a big one on the flagpole (built into the side of the garage) and little ones on the mailbox and in some pots on the verandah. The three of us watched the tennis and made lamingtons together. So overall we had a good time. If only we had the day off tomorrow! We'll just have to wait for Independence Day!

Happy New Year!

We've made it into the new year, only 16 hours behind Sydney! We've starting 2008 in the dark ages as we now cool our food with dry ice (the fridge is bung and can't be fixed until at least Friday) but on the same day we reduced our car insurance to $950 for 6 months (vs paying the same amount per month).

In 2007 we spent 8 months, 3 weeks and 3 days in the US and I'll leave you to calculate how many days we spent in Oz (these seem so long ago). Here are some of the highlights of the past year:

• January - Lunch at Kobe Jones with Kel and Lucy on a gorgeous Sydney day


• February - Finishing the backyard garden and deck


• March - Lucy's baptism and our last pizza party in Sutherland


• April - Moving day (no more packing or sorting or stressing)


• May - Lucy's first birthday in Airlie gardens


• June - Long weekend in Charleston SC learning to cook gumbo


• July - Watching mom's taste vegemite for the first time


• August - Smelling the roses in our garden


• September - Watching Federer win his 4th US open in NYC


• October - A week in Asheville NC to see the Fall colours


• November - Enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with our new church family


• December - Eating at our third revolving restaurant (this time Seattle)

Merry Christmas!

We have had a great Christmas season, our first here in the US. Upon returning from Seattle the first thing we did was buy a real North Carolina fir tree. It's different to Australian Christmas trees as it doesn't have a strong smell to it, which was a little disappointing. But to make up for this it is a very beautiful tree with short needles and sturdier branches. We all had a good time decorating it with lights, tinsel and red & blue decorations (that's another difference here - your tree decorations must be colour co-ordinated - no mixing of colours!)












During December we had an advent calendar that Lucy opened each day. She loved opening the little doors, unwrapping the tissue paper and then placing the object on the nativity scene. On Christmas Eve we attended a carols (by candlelight) service at church and then had dinner at Dean & Debbie's. The dinner was great - an informal gathering of friends for a meal complete with fireworks and carol singing around the piano (yes we are in America!)









Christmas Day was a luxurious sleep in until 9am followed by a pancake breakfast. Then we opened presents, had a light lunch and then napped again in the afternoon. We had an early dinner - the works with turkey, baked sweet potato casserole, apple sauce ande green beans followed by our birthday cake for Jesus. This year we had a non-traditional fruit cake with candied orange peel, chocolate covered almonds and golden raisins. The other main ingredient was egg whites so the cake itself was very light and very delicious as evidenced by Lucy in this video!