Christmas Goodness

Oh, Christmas!

You come and then you go so quickly.

We prepare for Christmas all year long and then it seems to be gone in the bat of an eyelash.

SAD DAYS!

Jeff and I had a grand Chistmas full of family,

 presents, food, and knock of snuggies.

I just wish It had stuck around a little longer....

Maybe I will have to just leave up the decorations until February and pretend like it's still Christmas.

Bah! Just kidding...Or am I....

Rylie and Micah mirroring my EXACT feelings
 of excitement on Christmas eve.

Lily won the coveted marzipan pig. She only had to FORCE herself to eat 4 bowls of riskrem in order to find the almond. 

My cousin Erik showcasing one of the many ways to use his knock-of snuggie...that we all got...even the dog...

Jeff with his goods on Christmas morning. 
I had to tell A LOT of lies 
to keep him from finding out about that tablet.

 I made out like a bandit! 
Look at those boots!!! LOVE!
AND the Dyson animal Vacuum. LOVE

Freyja with her amazingly massive and messy Christmas bone. No, seriously, this thing is like a cow femur. 
She has been none stop on that bone. 
It is SUPER messy BUT it gives me the opportunity to 
whip out my fabulous vacuum. 

Freyja also loves the vacuum...
Well, she loves the box any way. 


MeRrY cHrIsTmAs!

NuTcRaCkEr, CoUsInS, zOoLiGhTs, and a ChRiStMaS cArOl PaRtY

Wow December has flown by and been cram packed with fun adventures! Pretty much all these adventures have happened in the past week. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute to do festive things. 

Last week I went with my SIL and niece to see the Nutcracker. I LOVE the nutcracker and was really excited to go see it. Jeff was also really excited for me to go see it...with someone other than him. ;-) BAH! One day he will be made to enjoy the amazing ballet with me. Mwahahahahahahahahhaha! Any way, Amber and Rylie had never been to the Nutcracker so this was an extra special experience. And of course, Rylie LOVED it! Ok....so  I know this is cheesey, but I totally became choked up at the first of the ballet because it was such a wonderful feeling being able to share something I love with two people I love and have them love it too. Awwwwwwe!  Yay for the Nutcracker goodness!

Getting beautiful. 

Rylie showing off the beautiful. 

A few day's later we had a Christmas celebration with the Dahl side of the family before my cousins from Norway went back home. Can you tell which ones were adopted? Yeah, yeah, I totally stand out. ;-) 

Later that night Jeff and I took his niece and nephew to Zoolights. So fun! I had never been but I totally recommend it. 

Last but not least, Jeff and I hosted a Christmas Carol themed dinner party. 

SO, I am sure you are wondering where in the world I would get and idea for something like that. 

Well, One day Jeff and I were shopping at Walmart, ugh! I know, I know! I hate Walmart but it really is the closest option and open all night long. Any way, there we were at Walmart buying some Cornish game hens when out of the corner of my eye I happened to notice a goose. A frozen goose that is. This spurred the topic of never having eaten a goose before. 

THEN, a brilliant idea started forming in my creative mind. 

We should have a Cratchet inspired dinner, goose and all. For then next month I researched everything I could about traditional old English Christmas feasts.

 It came down to a menu of the following: 

Roasted Goose

English roasted potatoes

Glazed carrots....(these ended up just being boiled)

Stuffing

Rolls

Mincemeat tarts

Sugar plums

Christmas pudding (also known as figgy pudding or plum pudding)

Brandy sauce

Butter Rum sauce

Wassail

I also added a pumpkin pie and a cherry pie for good measure...mostly because all those alcohol soaked dried fruit deserts made me a bit frightened. 

In the end, the roasted potatoes didn't get roasted enough...although the duck fat did give them an EXCELLENT flavor, the goose fell off the bone, the brandy flavored sauce was bleh, but the rum saturated sauce was excellent. Mmmmmmmm. Half the table loved the plum pudding...the other half, including myself, could do without eating it again. Same with the mincemeat. Half the table, including myself and Jeff, really enjoyed the mincemeat with a hardy helping of rum sauce, the other half....just enjoyed the rum sauce. 

An excellent party! Good food, good friends, and some totally awesome jokes from the Christmas crackers. 

Family Photos

Awhile back my SIL and I had an idea to get family photos done. We figured that we could pay to have them done and then frame a bunch for my parents for Christmas. A grand idea if I do say so myself. :-) Easy peasy. Also, It was my way of paying my parents back for making my brother and I get portraits done every 6months while growing up. 

We actually did them at the end of October and because I am a little bit of a control freak I kind of made us use my fabulous wedding photographer. And guess what, they turned out great! Well, at least I think they turned out great...

 

Here are some of the favorites. Sorry they are so late...I got more than a little caught up in the holiday hustle and bustle.  

 Ok, but seriously, isn't my niece freaking adorable?!?! I just LOVE her. I totally spoil her.

 

Oh, and of course I couldn't leave out OUR "family photo"...

Bring on Christmas!

Thanksgiving was great and my pies were a big success, if I do say so myself. 

All of the dinner and dessert helped fuel  our black Friday shopping. 

My SIL, our friend Rochelle, and I left the house around 9:30pm on Thanksgiving  to get in line at Target. Wooohoooo! This is a tradition of ours. My SIL and I have been doing this since she started dating my bro. Such good times. 

We went to Target, Best buy, the mall, Tai pan and I went to Costco with my mom. We actually did walk into Walmart about three hours after it had opened and walked back out because it was still crazy. I don't do Walmart the day after. Any way, we were able to get everything we needed. YAY!

This:

=

This:

After all was said and done, I finally arrived home by 10:30 am the day after thanksgiving. I had been awake for 24 hrs and shopping for 12. Needless to say, I passed out for quite some time. 

When I finally woke from the dead, I discovered that I had come down with a horrible head cold. :-( That's what I get for pushing myself all week long and working with minimal sleep. BLARG! I was going to get the rest of my Christmas stuff up that day but because of the cold I ended up using the whole weekend to get it up. It definitely took longer than I had planned but the end result was, in my opinion, worth it. :-D  

Its Thanksgiving! Holy smokes, Thanksgiving is already here!!! Time flies when life is bursting with things to do. 

This past month has been full. I was so hoping to get my Christmas stuff up before thanksgiving but alas, that didn't happen. 

I am on my third shift in a row. I hate working three in a row. I know it doesn't sound bad but you just don't feel normal and can't really get anything done.

All week I have been getting up early  to make pies for thanksgiving. 

Yes I am making that many pies. ;-) 

I am trying to cater to the people I love. People with trials that get them down every day. 

My dear SIL with celiacs, that doesn't get to enjoy the rolls and stuffing etc., and my dear dad with diabetes,  that tries really hard to not eat sugar. 

So, I made sure to make a sugar free pie for my dad and gluten free pie for my SIL. Then of course a few pies for the rest of us. 

I have also been working really hard on finishing my hutch. I really want it done before the holidays. Oh AND we got our wood floors in! IT LOOKS AWESOME! Thanks to some amazing family help. 

With all this busy work, the completely torn up house (due to floor instillation) and the lack of sleep, I have been pretty grumpy and definitely a little stressed. Most definitely not very thankful. Sometimes I find myself so caught up in the 'poor me's and 'life's so hard's that I forget to be thankful for the little things. 

So, tonight, while I was pretending to work, I was reading the NieNie Dialogues here. 

That women is AMAZING! 

I was, yet again, truly humbled by her intense amount of faith and perseverance. It made me take a moment to think about all the things I have been blessed with and there couldn't be a more perfect time than today to take a moment and express my gratitude.

I am so very grateful for: 

• Wonderful, patient, family that spends 2, and some change, full days helping us install wood floors. 
• An amazing husband that lets me have as many total meltdowns as I want. 
• When my beautiful dog crawls up right next to me early in the morning and rubs her soft head against my face and cuddles with me for an hour or more. (helps remind me that I really do love her even when she digs up my yard.)
• A job that I love.
• A perfect assessment at my recent neurology appointment. 
• A great mom and SIL that let me call and talk to them all the way to work. 
• Last but most certainly not least.......BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!!!!!!!!

Here is our gorgeous new floor!

Princess Palooza

Over the weekend I hosted my nieces long awaited princess birthday party. 

Cute Rylie turned 5 years old and I thought it would be fun to host a party for her to introduce her to other little princesses of her same age. I wanted to help her make friends.

We had crafts, games, face painting, and a tea party. SO FUN!

We all dressed up as princesses and had a blast.

I think my favorite part was the tea party. 

 

The little princesses LOVED the face painting. 

We made princess hats and bracelets. The little girls got to search the treasure chest for jewels. 

And of course, Rylie's favorite part was opening all the presents. 

 I LOVED being able to put in an appearance as Snow White and I know my SIL really enjoyed dressing up as Rapunzel.  I really loved this party even though it was a TON of WORK for  Jeff and me. I really appreciate all the help everyone gave me and know that Rylie is going to remember her 5th birthday FOREVER! 

Hey maybe I chose the wrong profession....I should have been an event planner, its pretty fun. :-)