~Day 16 and 17 of Christmas~

~DAY 16~
~Back in July we were having a deputation service at our good friends Jim and Lila Kemp's church.  Sis. Kemp told me she had a Christmas tree to give me.  Right then I was (in between traveling) sorting our things in our USA home and wasn't really excited about more "stuff."  =D
But when she told me that it was a pre-lit tree and came in it's own duffel bag, my ears perked up...and I decided I would take it. 
I never looked at it until I pulled it out to set it up a few weeks ago.  When I saw it I knew that it was PERFECT for my dinning room tree. 
I love this tall pencil tree (7') that fits perfectly in between our old ice box and our old gas stove. 
It adds so much cheer in our dinning room.  I decorated it (as you can see =) in red and white. ~

~The string of little hearts was made by my Grandma Bryan....who is spending her 2nd Christmas in Heaven this year.  We miss her!
She made those and gave them to me many Christmases ago.~

~When Phillip and I went to Serenity Cabins, Regina told me about a fun coffee shop there named Holtfield coffee station. 
Phillip and I went and it was yummy coffee. 
While we were drinking our coffee I told Phillip that I wanted to do a red and white Christmas tree in our dinning room, and that these cups would be Perfect to hang on our tree. 
So, I asked the lady behind the counter if there was any way I could have 3 more cups with lids to hang on my red and white tree.  She graciously complied...And they are a fun part of our Christmas tree! (To hang it...I just tied binder's twine through the hole in the cup lid and then put the lid back on.)~

 ~ I made The little red and white cloth stockings on our tree when I was a teenager . 
One of the to-go coffee cups from that coffee shop...~

 ~...became the TOPPER to our tree.  =)  It has made for great conversations with our guests. =) ~

~This pic of Phillip and I was taking after all our guests went home the night we invited our whole church over for a snack. 
Pics of that coming soon...but I knew that I wanted to post about my red and white Christmas tree..before you saw too many sneak peaks in those pics. =) ~

~DAY 17~
Phillip had to take me to the doctor today and then on the way home we called our children and told them to be ready and we would pick them up and take them out to eat.
20 years ago...my Phillip had taken me to Pomodoris pizza...Home of the Wood Fire pizza, on a date.  Since this restaurant is just around the corner from our house...I have wanted to go back for a long time. 
So we did just that today and it was SO DELISH!!!! 
They gave each child (except Kimberly who declined =) a piece of pizza dough to play with while our pizza was being made. 
Elijah had just watched the guy toss the dough in the air....so when he got his lump of cold dough...after just kneading it for a couple seconds he was tossing his dough in the air.  =)
Here's Mary with her dough.~

~Mmmmmm!  Hush your mouth honey child...this pizza was SO GOOD! 
I got spinach, mushroom, and bacon...with a garlic and olive oil sauce instead of the reg. red sauce.  And the dough....was so Yummy!  Did I mention that I LOVED this pizza?!!~

~When the owner came out our waitress told him that Phillip and I had come there for a date 20 years ago, and that now we were bringing our children back.  The minute he heard our story, he said to the waitress, "Make them one of our apple pizzas!" 
When we first arrived...Elijah had WANTED to order JUST that apple pizza for his lunch, but we told him he couldn't just have DESSERT! =)
So, he was THRILLED when they gave us this pizza on the house.  =)
We had a nice visit with the owner of 29 years.  When he heard that we had attended G.B.S. he told us about Trilinda Stetler babysitting his children years ago, and impressed he had been with her.  Small world!
Phillip had just read in the menu beside this apple pizza...that that pizza had been voted #1 dessert in the Cincinnati Magazine! It was not icky sweet.  It was YUMMO!!!~