Sylvia's Scenario

 Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

We are having a quiet Christmas morning with just Bruce and I here until Lauren and her boyfriend come over for breakfast.  Last night, was also a quiet Christmas eve with just us but to tell you the truth, I was happy about that because I've been so "last minute" this year and it’s not been for lack of time.  I've had a lot of time this year.  However, I barely got the house decorated for Christmas!  And this is a person talking who has had the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving in past years.  Yes, this year has been a little lackadaisical for me.  I miss the grandkids which is probably the root of it all since I keep remembering how much fun we had celebrating Christmas with them the past three years in addition to being in Spain with them last year.  But it's also been a very peaceful season for me, meaning a peaceful frame of mind. We’ve definitely done a lot of memorable holiday activities so all is good that way. I just feel more slowed down...

Our Christmas gift to ourselves this year is being together in Spain.  We would have never thought that Nick and family would be living in Spain but here we all are.  We are fortunate enough for our whole family to be here this Christmas. There really is no better place.  In this day and age, it seems the world is getting to be a smaller and smaller place and we are lucky to be able to travel to be together again.  And this is such a wonderful place to be. It’s almost as if the past nine months and saying goodbye to the grandkids last March was such a long time ago because once we got here, we started right up where we left off. I hope you are able to spend your holiday season with those you love, too. Merry Christmas!🎄 

Merry Christmas everyone!  We are slowly recovering from a whirlwind of Christmas celebrations but now I can take some time to absorb it all and wish everyone else a Merry Christmas, too.  I hope you all had as wonderful time with friends and family as we have had. Our Christmas card this year was a photo from Cannon Beach, Oregon.  We were able to get out more this year and have a couple of family vacations; one to Montana for a niece's wedding and then to Seaside, Oregon where we celebrated Bruce's birthday.   It is such a relief that covid is getting under control now and we feel more free to do things again.  It has been a good 2022 for us.  If I had to sum it up, I would say it has mostly been about the grandkids this year.  We have tried to spend as much time with them as we can since they will be moving away in 2023.  So once again, we will soon need to travel to visit them.  Instead of Japan, they will be moving to Spain for Nick's jo...

I hope you are able to celebrate the spirit of the season despite the continuation of a pandemic that just refuses to quit.  Please stay well and healthy in these trying times and I hope you are able to spend time with those you love.  And that is exactly what we are doing.  With both Nick and Lauren close by and most importantly, the grandkids also nearby, we spend every minute together as much as we can.  A three year-old and a five year-old bring a whole new dimension into the holiday season and we just can't get enough.   Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy 2022.

We wish everyone a very joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2021, from our family to yours.  I don't think there is anybody who isn't looking forward to saying goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021.  We even thought about skipping doing a Christmas card this year after so many depressing things happening in 2020 but to be perfectly honest, our lives changed for the better this year.  We became Grandma and Grandpa in July when Nick and Sachiyo moved back to the U.S. from Japan after seven years.  Suddenly, we have two precious grandchildren in our lives and they have brought us so much joy.  They never cease to amaze us and every visit with them is a day full of wonderment.   Bruce and I have turned into the typical Grandma and Grandpa that you always hear about.  I completely understand it now.  We have had so much fun with them since July.  Pandemic?  What pandemic?  No, not really.  We've had to follow precautions just like...

Wishing all of you the most wonderful holiday season, from our family to yours. 

 We wish you a wonderful day today with your loved ones and a very delicious day on top of everything else.  Hopefully, you will have as much fun in the kitchen as I am having this year.  I will post all the winning recipes soon.  Merry Christmas, everyone.  From the Bratneys

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We are having a leisurely morning before we head over to my brother's house for a dinner of good food, good drink and good times to be had.  There will be 20 people there so everyone is bringing food.  I am bringing my  brussel sprouts with mustard butter , salmon dip, homemade rolls that I made yesterday that turned out very festive-looking and everyone is bringing  Christmas cookies  for dessert so I made my usual. My cooking has been on the light side, no complaints but enough to keep me satisfied.  Even last night was easy. Lauren, Ari, Bruce and I went out to our neighborhood   Salty's  for Christmas Eve and spent 3-1/2 hours at a wonderful and entertaining meal.  We indulged since it was Christmas Eve and had drinks, appetizers of oysters,  delicious special holiday's entrees and dessert of their signature White Chocolate Mousse Cake with Raspberry sauce  ...

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Merry Christmas and have a happy, healthy, delicious, fun-filled, and memorable New Year for 2015, from my family to yours.

Merry Christmas, everyone! We are having a low key morning this Christmas day since I am working.  This is going to be a mostly Whole Foods-kind of day.  If I don't have time to cook, then our meals consist of mainly foods from our favorite grocery store.  It's the closest to homemade that I can buy.  Breakfast started out with a delicious Apple Pear Cranberry Crostata. I opened Lauren's present earlier that were these beautiful drawings of my mom. She used her artistic skills on this present for sure and I love these! The past few years she has given me presents where she has uses her artist background and I love her presents so much.      I will be framing these and putting them up where I can view them daily. Bruce opened my present and now plans to go skiing today while I go to work.  He plans to go up to  Bogus Basin , our local ski area, about 50 minutes away from our house.  ...