A Currier and Ives Christmas

A few days ago, I was hunting around my mother's house looking for a book to read. I was in a specific reading mood and nothing I found satisfied my "taste buds." I made my way out into the garage where my mother had a plastic bin of books she had taken off her bookshelf when they moved into the house.

Digging through the books, I came across A Currier and Ives Christmas: Four Stories of Love Come to Life from the Canvas of Classic Christmas Art. Since its the Christmas season, I thought I would go ahead and read it.

The compilation of short stories are written by Lynn A Coleman, JoAnn A Grote, DiAnn Mills, and Deborah Raney.

Later that night, I got in bed and opened the book to the first page of the first story. I discovered it was autographed by the author, Lynn A Coleman and addressed to my grandmother, Carolyn. Before beginning to read, I lay in bed remembering my grandmother. She passed away last summer unexpectedly. I was unable to see her before she died. Christmas just won't ever be the same without her. For as long as I can remember, she has spent a few weeks with us every Christmas. She and I baked Christmas cookies, went shopping and had lots of laughs. The memories painted themselves in my mind just like the lithographic prints produced by Currier and Ives in the 1800s.

Here's my Grandmom...
Carolyn Cornelia-Cole Evans Stebbins

The Art of Sushi

This past Saturday, I joined my mother's side of the family for a Sushi Thanksgiving. I know, sushi for thanksgiving??? But let me tell you....it was dee-licious! My aunt ordered an abundance of fresh, raw fish and crabs and shrimp from California. My grandfather spent all morning making three large bowls of rice and I arrived just in time to help roll the sushi. My uncle Don taught me how to make a perfect sushi roll. And then later, I had the pleasure to teach my uncle Darren how to roll sushi. I left out a few steps when teaching him...but that's okay...it all turned out just right.

Not too shabby...if I say so myself. I have decided that I enjoyed the experience so much that I am going to add sushi making items and dishes to my Christmas list this year.