Christmas!

Sometimes I can't decide how much personal information to share on this blog. And so lately, I really haven't.  But this week maybe that's about to change. Prepare for an overload....

We have had the best Christmas holiday so far filled with fun, family, relaxation, games, presents, movies...what more could a girl ask for?

Of course, Christmas always starts with preparing Christmas cards...which sat on my table for weeks before I did anything with them! (has it happened to you, too, that you used to send nice, handwritten letters and then moved to a form letter or a recap of the funny things that happened or your favorite adventures...and then you just started sending pictures with no letters because you are too busy? Does anyone read them anyway? Should I make a resolution to do better this coming year?)

(That's us in front of The Empress Hotel in Victoria this summer. Yes, we had afternoon tea at The Empress. Check something off the bucket list.  And it was awesome. Except the tea part, because guess what?  I dislike tea very much. Kind of an expensive way to find out...but the room was beautiful, the experience priceless, and everything else about afternoon tea - like the sandwiches, desserts, and clotted cream - is fabulous.)


I hosted an ugly Christmas sweater party for my peeps at work. We ate yummy buffalo chicken dip, cheesecake stuffed strawberries, dipped Oreos, hot chocolate marshmallow stirrers on peppermint sticks, made reindeer out of Nutter Butters....and took funny photos with these Christmas props I bought. Watching Mindy act out the Sugar Plum Fairy for the charades game was probably the highlight of the gaming. It was clever and hilarious. Liz won the ugly Christmas sweater prize HANDS DOWN with her 3D costume.

We wished our neighbors and friends Mele Kalikimaka with what has become a family tradition for us: pineapples. I love this gift because it doesn't involve sugar (let's face it, we eat way too much sugar at Christmas). I decided this year to tie the pineapples with a burlap ribbon. I forgot how much burlap stinks!

At church we helped out a bit with the annual Christmas party. We brought a cake, helped to serve dinner, I performed a musical number, and then we helped to clean up.  The decorations were the most fantastic part of the evening.  Below, I present to you our winter wonderland.  My friend was in charge of the decor and no one in the history of the world will be able to top what she did in a gymnasium.  There were hundreds of the 3D snowflakes strung on fishing wire across the gym, Christmas lights everywhere, and beautifully decorated tables. It was pure magic!

The mister forced paperwhites for Christmas. They are so beautiful, but guess what else stinks? Yep, paperwhites. We're trying to focus on the beautiful part!

I made homemade vanilla for my team at work. It was such fun to do, and I loved every minute of making it and then watching it turn into vanilla. But here's a tip for you: it's kind of expensive to make homemade vanilla.  A big bottle from Costco is much, much cheaper!

My mom was in charge of her side of the family's Christmas party, which always involves a re-enactment of the manger scene as seen below with the next generation doing their part. We had a yummy dinner, our fun "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" gift opening, our gift exchange, and then heard the Luke 2 story with lots of singing. It was a little heartbreaking not to have my grandfather there this year.

The mister came to sit by me while I accompanied the singing. He entertained adorable little Matthew who liked to add his own angelic notes to some of the songs.

We made it to The Festival of Trees - a fundraiser in these parts for Primary Children's Hospital. My friend's granddaughters decorated a tree in honor of her daughter, Angela Kirk, who passed away one year ago from breast cancer. It was a Tinkerbell tree, and it was absolutely magical. It had already sold by the time we saw it - otherwise I may have begged the mister relentlessly to purchase it. I heart Tinkerbell. And Angie. And my neighbor.

We spent some time with my family and celebrated Christmas with my favorite brothers. Brother #1 was in town from HI for a few days and one of the things we had to do was take him to Cafe Rio. I wish he could have stayed longer, but alas, patients and radiology images were calling his name all too quickly.

The mister celebrated a birthday. I love him. SO.MUCH. And wish his birthday didn't get so jumbled with Christmas.

We saw TinTin. In 3D, and it was pretty awesome. Brother #1 lived in Belgium for two years while serving a mission for our church, so we are pretty well acquainted with TinTin and were thrilled that he was in town to see it with us. The movie was fantastic, by the way. Go see it!

And on Christmas Eve/the mister's birthday, we started a new tradition with the mister's family: sky lanterns. They are just as cool as everyone tells you they are!

One of my gifts from the mister was tickets to Ballet West's performance of The Nutcracker. It was as fantastic as ever. I don't love ballet particularly, but I love, love, LOVE The Nutcracker!

Merry Christmas, every one.