Saturday, January 5, 2013

Epic Holiday Catch-Up Post

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Sorry I've been so absent! It was difficult to find time to blog during the holidays...I'm so busy in preparation, and then after Christmas I was just exhausted.

But enough excuses! Here are some random moments from my December....

The week before Christmas began with my favorite annual Christmas concert. A friend at work is in his church's handbell choir and they do a service every year that is nothing but congregational carol singing and handbell pieces. It's gorgeous, and I adore singing carols...no wonder it's my favorite.
 
I had the additional wonderful surprise of my DF Teresa coming in to town for work, so she got to come with us and go to dinner afterward.
 
Even though the weather wasn't very Christmassy, the crazily decorated Marietta Diner provided a festive mood.
 

Then it was all about trying to get the cookies done in time to give away. In other words, turning these raw ingredients...
 
...from this...
 
...into this.
 
That's seven different kinds: Buried Cherry Cookies, Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Eggnog Thumbprints, Scandinavian Almond Bars, Peppermint Cream Bars, Snickerdoodle Cups, and Mexican Chipotle Chocolate Bites. I estimate that I rolled over 300 cookies, not including the approximately 96 bar cookies.

The Wednesday before Christmas Michael and I sang in a Festival of Lessons and Carols. It was a wonderful, worshipful evening, even though my body was trying very hard to get sick!

You may be wondering about this random squirrel picture...
 
I just had to give a shout out to Bloom Woodworks. In my usual last-minute fashion, I ordered a couple gifts (along with this squirrel for myself. Jodi and her dad were great; she responded to my desperate email right away, her dad made a special trip to the post office, and she even remembered I'd entered a drawing and had gotten an (expired! my fault!) coupon for free shipping, so she only charged me a few dollars for Priority Mail. Fantastic customer service, and the thread keep is BEAUTIFUL. It's so light, too. The gifts were also beautiful, but I can't show them to you because both of them haven't been given yet. ;)

 
We headed over to the Georgia Aquarium on the 22nd because our annual passes were expiring and we wanted to see the dolphin show one last time...with the addition of the Weeki Wachee mermaids!
 

On Christmas Eve, we went to lunch at my sister's house where we got to hang out with my nephew. He got surprise leave (at Christmas!) from his service on the USS Eisenhower (where he flies a jet). It was fantastic to see him (and the awesome in-cockpit videos he took of his takeoffs and landings)! After lunch, we headed over to Michael's parents' house for Settlers of Catan and general festivities. He was put in charge of pancakes for dinner...
 
...I can't even believe I got that shot. These weren't just any pancakes, either. These were Grandfather Lott's Famous Apple Pancakes!
 
Boy, were they good. Especially alongside the rest of the feast...sausage bake in phyllo, egg casserole and asparagus!

The next day was Christmas! After a gorgeous church service, we went to my parents' house for presents and feasting. Look at the beautiful package my sister gave me! I almost didn't want to open it...almost. =)
 
She's SO good at shopping for me. She gave me the most gorgeous scarves, earrings, hat and dress!

I brought some Christmas crackers for us to pull before dinner, and they went over even better than I'd expected.
 
Everyone immediately donned their crowns and we had fun chortling over the ridiculous jokes inside.

The rest of the week we pretty well hermitted. I did go out on Boxing Day, thanks to my sister and niece who wanted to go to the sale at Anthropologie (and thanks to my in-laws, I had a nice gift certificate to spend). It was so fun to shop and have lunch with them! The next day I had lunch (and did a bit more shopping) with DF Jean.

I'll leave you with a bacon angel Michael made me for breakfast. I love it when he cooks; his food is always so much prettier than mine!
 

JiffNotes
I love Christmas!!

10 comments:

Ziggyeor said...

Lots of lovely fun. I'm glad I'm not the only one who took a picture of the food. Of course that was all besides the presents that I took. Only me and hubs for Christmas. That angel took me a moment to figure out but it's very cute.

Topcho said...

OMG, a bacon angel! How very awesome is this! :D :D :D Actually all of the pictures were aweome, it was an apic hoiday indeed :D

Nic said...

Looks like a great holiday. Love all the pics.
Happy 2013

Daffycat said...

What a great time you had this season! I love asparagus so your dinner looks fantastic.

Christmas crackers are too much fun! I just wish they were easier to find here in Oklahoma. We have always had to mail-order them if we want some.

Kerryp77 said...

Looks like a wonderful christmas. The handbell concert sounds lovely. We have a candlelit carol service at my church which is wonderful.

Bea said...

Sounds like a delightful Christmas. Being with family and close friends is the best. Great photos.

pinkundine said...

You have been busy! Looks like a great Christmas :)

Chris said...

looks like you had a absolutely wonderful holiday season. The cookies look amazing.

Melanie said...

WOW! That pancake shot is amazing. Hehehe.
The cookies look DELISH. I'm not big on sweets in general but homemade cookies? Forget it. I WANTS THEM ALL.
Sounds like you've had a phenomenal couple weeks. Good for you!!!!

TeresaB said...

Having to come to Atlanta for work right before Christmas was not high on my list of things to do, however getting to go to the concert on Sunday to hear the bells and then to the concert you and Michael were in was fab!!! I'm thinking of trying to figure out how to have another work trip around the 2013 versions. Hey you forgot the lemon soup at the diner.

Old Geek-outs