Nice Weekend!

Last year after Christmas when the decorations came down, I remember thinking we should've had people over during Dec. We did have Bill's family's Christmas Eve soup supper but that's it.


I got very little of my dad's hospitality genes, but I'm working on it! I've been reading the Reluctant Entertainer who talks about how to entertain without feeling like it's a lot of work and to enjoy it, your house doesn't have to be perfect and to not worry about this and that. Everything you read says that people who have good friends and get together with them live happier, longer lives!

So we got a date set, and I even planned a little trip to Humboldt to ride in a "Dream Carriage" to see the Dakota City Christmas lights. This is a horse drawn carriage with sleigh bells. We didn't tell the guys until that night!

We had appetizers and soup here first (got to use the new table for company again!).

We were all bundled up - it was 23 degrees or so and a little chilly when we were going into the wind but fine after that. It was fun to see these lights this way - they seemed brighter than from inside a car - and we even had the full moon.

Glenn & Sarah sat in the seat behind us and Terri & Todd were in front of us (they were too cold to turn around for a picture!). We were given hot chocolate after our ride.

The video below is mainly just dark but you can hear the clop, clop and the sleigh bells! We loved that. I hope to take Lacey since she's been singing Jingle Bells and about the "one horse open sleigh" so maybe I'll get a better picture of the horses and what we rode in then!

Today we went on a tour of homes in West Bend. Our electrician who did our electric work when we built our house had his home on the tour so that was fun to see. They started their house right after ours was done. The last picture is of one of the homes. It even has an outdoor kitchen. There were some things that these people today did that we didn't like heated ceramic tile floors, walk in showers with no doors or shower curtains and audio systems throughout the house. They all had finished basements with some bedrooms downstairs. All were very nice.