Weekend Snapshots.

1.  Our first Christmas Tree!  (Alex looks so handsome, even with glowing eyes...I am so blessed to be able to spend this Christmas with this wonderful man!)

2.  I wasn't feeling the best on Saturday, so after a long skype session with my family, we ordered in pizza and watched The Charlie Brown Christmas, which never fails to disappoint.  Alex had never seen it, but loved it.  That film will definitely be part of our Christmas line-up.  

 3.  We spent Sunday listening to Handel's Messiah and making this awesome, Pinterest-inspired, au naturale chandelier.  This is the website I found the image on, but there were no instructions, so we sort of faked it with wire and string. 

I think it turned out pretty okay! 

4.  I made one of my favourite (possibly the most favourite) soups for Sunday dinner.  Here is the recipe, because it is the easiest to make and the most delicious thing you'll taste: 

Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup

1 tbs. olive oil

2 c. chopped onion

6 cloves garlic

1 tbs. paprika

28 oz. chicken broth

3 c. cubed, peeled butternut squash

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 tsp. rosemary

1 19 oz. can canellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbs. parsley

1 tsp. thyme

kosher salt

pepper

Cook the onion, garlic, and paprika in the oil until the onions are softened.  Add the squash, broth, tomatoes, and rosemary.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer until the squash is tender.  Add beans, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.  Enjoy! 

5.  We also made our first batch of Christmas cookies (sugar cookies) Sunday evening with our Star Wars Cookie Cutters.  Alex was very enthusiastic about making Star Wars Christmas Cookies one of our Christmas traditions.  The dough was a little too buttery though, and the cookies stretched out a bit; though you can still see Darth's face, it's a little fatter than usual.  

6.  All day Friday, the refrigerator had been making the most awful noise--this loud, rackety banging and buzzing.  When Al got home that night, I brought it up because it had been so awfully annoying all day long and I wanted it fixed.  He said that he was pretty sure he knew what the problem was. 

Turns out, he had hidden a present for me under the fridge and it was that that was making all the noise.  (Best Husband Ever.) 

But now I'm just desperate to know what is small enough to have hidden under the fridge but big enough to make the entire thing tremble and shake and emit such awful noises.  I guess I'll have to wait and see.