pre-Xmas fun

Popo and Grandpa came into town on Tuesday, scampering south ahead of an approaching snowstorm. We've had a great few days of shopping, baking, cooking, more baking, and fun. 

It had been a few years since Popo made gingerbread houses, so I set her and Liesl up, and they had a grand time constructing and decorating them.

 

Sadly, our planned outing to see the Nutcracker ballet was cancelled because of the ice/snow storm that hit Portland on Thursday/Friday. So instead, we made a buche de Noel, or Yule log. Liesl has been asking to make one for years, because one of our favorite Xmas books (Clever Beatrice) features the making of one such cake (in Quebec). This was the year!

 

It's possible it cracked a little upon unrolling and re-rolling the cake, but we just decorated it more with whipped cream and chocolate, and it was absolutely delicious.

The annual making of the fig bread! We made 4 loaves and they are beautiful. Yum yum for Xmas morn!