tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

A white Christmas, finally. And what a Christmas it was, complete with a visit from Santa Kelly. Bur first, the stockings.  All the frantic knitting paid off. Just about everything fit:

Buddy loved the presents under the tree. The wrapping made such a delightful crackling sound as he pawed back and forth all over them.

I do love stuffed animals.

Happy with his gifts.

After stockings, before presents, we took Illy for a walk.

I didn’t get a picture of Santa Kelly, but she arrived midday with Aaron’s big present, a ridiculous 25″ monitor I had shipped to her house so he wouldn’t be tipped off. Thanks for the hand-delivery, Kelly!

After presents galore, Aaron’s dad came over, with Casey.

Lunch/dinner was cornish hens with roasted vegetables and cornbread, with banana pudding for dessert. A family favorite, apparently.

My big gift was the Breville BES820XL – espresso from heaven.

Ignore the fingerprints, please.

I hope you and yours also had a very merry, holly jolly.

Well for once the weatherman was right. I was sort of annoyed, since I had planned a nice afternoon of knitting, movies, and festive holiday cocktails with a few friends. And of course the 2 feet of snow put an end to that. However all was not lost, since I do love snow and we had a fun time playing in it. Surprisingly, Illy loved leaping through the snow drifts. She hates water, but I guess snow is more fun.

This was our family walk Saturday morning. Aaron’s wearing the first scarf I ever knit for him.

Leaping dog leaps!

It was coming down heavy all day.

Practically a white out. You can barely see the other dogs and their owners in the back of the shot.

Illy with her boyfriend Ralph.

Just chillin’

Belly deep snow!

It finally stopped snowing. We didn’t measure what was on the table but suffice to say, it’s the most we’ve seen here in ages.

The door on the deck wouldn’t open because of the drift, so we had to let her out through the basement. She bravely forged a trail.

And here are the cookies I made for the neighbors and the knitting party. The neighbors did get theirs, at least!

Another year has rolled by, steadily picking up speed on the way. I feel like a spring thaw is just around the corner and we haven’t even had a good cold spell yet. At least these are happy times, just fast happy times.

Kim came down on Friday and we had a fabulous time, as always. As soon as she arrived we jetted off to the outlets since I had a coupon for the Le Creuset store. We were on 15, merrily chatting away, when I saw a big black dog run across the road into my lane. I hit the brakes, slapped on the hazards and pulled over. The truck behind me stopped, and I was able to grab the very friendly black chow’s collar. Meanwhile his little black and white terrier friend came running over to say Hi, and I was sure the cars coming the opposite way were not going to be able to stop, but they did. I grabbed his collar too and tried to wrangle both of them back across the street. The little terrier started whining but I got them across the street, where I thought they lived. I shooed them toward the house….but they kept running past it. I was about to go get them again to see if they had tags, but another lady had stopped and grabbed them. So I assume they are ok. Run little doggies, run!

Anyway, after that we headed to the outlets, did some furious shopping, ate and came home.

Kim had gone to a knitting event the weekend before and asked Jared Flood to sign his pattern book for me for my birthday, which delighted me to no end:

I couldn’t stop squealing. I love me some Jared Flood. I don’t want to be crass and discuss all the wonderful gifts I received from all my various friends and family, but I did want to also share this adorable polar bear spatula she gave me. I have never seen one before and it is just perfect:

Of course I don’t want to stain it so I have to be very careful what I use it for. Sugar cookies, anyone?

Sharan came over later that night for some wine and knitting time.  Misty was also very happy to see her.

Knitting, wine, and friends – perfect!

Saturday was my actual birthday, and Aaron woke me up with a handmade birthday card which I just loved. Pat and Kelly and Lila came over for mimosas and brunch (including Kelly’s awesome gluten free crepes!) and we had an awesome time.  Lots of nutella, bananas foster, champagne, and good friends. What more could a girl want?

Aaron made me the most amazing chocolate cake ever (a Barefoot Contessa recipe). Seriously, this cake beats out every other chocolate cake I’ve ever had. It is divine. It might be because of the extra love he puts in when he bakes it for me

I did manage to snap a picture of another gift – Aaron gave me this beautiful peridot necklace, which I haven’t taken off since.

After we recovered from brunch we got ready to head out to the Melting Pot for dinner.

Dinner was delicious, and those wild berry martinis are no joke. It’s always more fun to cook your own food than you think it’s going to be. I’m not proud of this, but we didn’t even have enough room for dessert! I know, I’ll try harder next year, promise.

Kim headed out shortly after breakfast on Sunday, in the dreary downpour. I immediately took a nap.

It was a fantastic weekend – I am a truly lucky girl.

There is something I just love, love, love about a Christmas tree with presents piled underneath it. I like to get our tree up as soon as Thanksgiving is over as possible (and sooner, if Aaron wouldn’t veto the pre-Thanksgiving tree raising!) so I can maximize tree time. It also reminds me of college when we would string Christmas lights all over our dorm rooms so we didn’t have to use those God-awful fluorescent lights. They always seem so warm and cozy. It adds such a nice glow to the room.

I also love that our ornaments have meaning. Every time we go on vacation, we collect an ornament. And if we go someplace and can’t find them (I’m looking at you, all of Europe), then I order an ornament from Snapfish with a picture of us on that vacation instead. So it’s really fun to decorate the tree and relive all our trips. I took pictures of the ornaments but they didn’t turn out that great, so I probably won’t post them. Ditto the tree as a whole. I need to get out Aaron’s fancy camera and tripod and lens hood and flash whatever thingies he has to make pictures turn out gorgeous, I guess. Maybe one day…

I think the cats would also love the tree to be up all year, since they love hiding underneath it and tromping all over the presents. And eating the fake needles.

December always flies by, so I’m trying to suck as much enjoyment out of the season as possible. Bring on the gingerbread lattes, scented candles, peppermint shnapps, baileys, christmas cookies, and good cheer!