Christmas Montage

Greetings! Did you never think I was going to post again? Really? Well I started to feel that way. I blame John for my lack of posting. Ok, so it's isn't really his fault, just partially.

I knew I wanted to post about Christmas before I made any other posts, however John always likes to look at the photos with me before I post them. So...I have been waiting for 3 weeks for him to have the time to look at them with me, and so far he hasn't. I feel like I need to blog about our trip North before I can blog about anything else, and since both of my parents have been harassing me about updating I knew any sort of post would do.

With that being said I am taking the lazy way out. Below are a handful of my favorite photos from the holiday season which I will comment on rather than type out a novel. (More photos to come on ofoto).

I must say that I received a ton of great gifts even before we headed north for the big celebration. My friend Sam gave me some pineapple coconut waffle mix as well as some passion fruit jelly. Let me just say that it was SO good!
See for yourself. Here is my plate:
I like everything to be separate, (syrup, jelly, and powdered sugar). I also like to have my waffles on a paper towel so it absorbs any condensation. I'm a texture eater, what I can I say?

Here is John's plate. As you can see he goes for the gusto.
Another good friend of mine, Jen, gave me homemade lumpia! I was so impressed that she and her hubby spent the time to make their friends such a unique and tasty gift. Does it mean something that they both gave me food gifts?
Here they are frying up. (Jen, I know you said we needed to deep fry them, but they were still really good this way). John added honey and soy sauce which really crisped them up as well. YUM!

Before we left town John and I had our Christmas and below is a mini still life of some of the gifts I got.
John got me a new Domo calendar, the Harajuku purse, digital picture frame and the flute playing gnome. I was totally impressed! I've wanted a digital picture frame for a long time, but it's a totally unnecessary expense. So John used our credit card points to buy it! Such a smart man. I also needed another gnome for my collection, as I have the hardest time finding cute ones. Some can look so scary!

My friend Jen also got me the Rob and Big DVD's and John and laughed so much watching them. I always forget how much I love that show. Bobby Light always does me right.

The other black purse looking item is a cosmetic bag that I got from Maggie. It's not any cosmetic bag, but a Kat Von D designer bag! (Ok, it's not a designer bag, but you know it sounds better that way). What is crazy is that I totally needed a new one, and even asked John for one for Christmas. The poor dude did get me a purse that could have been used as a cosmetic bag, but the Kat Von D bag was better. I mean it was made for cosmetics. John was a bit disappointed, so I told him to suck it up and make it up to me for my birthday.

Since I had ample time during this holiday season I wanted to make some homemade gifts. Nothing too elaborate though. I saw this tutorial on How About Orange and thought it was perfect for my level of crafting skills! My initial plan was to make about 10 frames, but after cutting a few templates I realized it was a little tougher than I thought. So I decided to make 3...however once I finished the first frame and saw how cute it was I had to make them all! Here is a photo of the different fabrics I used:
I was so pleased with how they turned out, but the magnets I used were a bit too strong. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't side down on the fridge, which I achieved, but I ripped off the magnets after I took this photo! Real nice.

For the most part we had really nice visits with both families, but man did it tire us out! We were so exhausted by the time our 4 days were up. The only real exciting thing that happened was that my sister's dog attacked one of my parents dogs. I guess if it's not humans fighting it's dogs? At least no blood was shed.

We always spend Christmas eve with my family which is nice. My mom made a great meal and then we topped it off with opening a ton of gifts. Here is John and I in our traditional holiday matching sweaters. These aren't that hideous but I had to put the kibosh on the camo/argyle sweaters John wanted to buy, as camo is not seen as hideous in Fortuna. (I'm not sure why I'm striking a model pose either).
Christmas day was spent with John's family. It was great to see the kids again, but man was it hectic! I've realized that if you aren't normally around kids, it can be kind of like a culture shock! Here is the whole clan:
We had another great meal and received many wonderful gifts. I got a much needed computer bag, and we also got a kitchen aid mixer!!!!
After all the baking I did for Christmas I was coming to the realization how much I wanted one, and the bam! Santa delivered. I know it looks white in this photo, but the color is actually ice. A 50's teal. (Since we've been home John has been a baking fool making all sorts of breads. I've been documenting so don't worry. Your mouth will be watering soon.)

Here is John and the twins:

We even headed up to Monument to check out the snow. Unfortunately most of it had melted away by the time we got there. Bow was still able to make a GIANT snowball though.
I was also lucky enough that the families let me spend some time with my old high school friends. I had the best time catching up with them. It's amazing that after all these years when we get back together it seems like no time has passed. I am so thankful for my relationships with them as I'm realizing how special they are. We have all known each other for so long it's amazing that we can still remain close without seeing each other often.

I have the feeling that they all felt the same as we've now organized a girl's weekend for March. I can't wait!