Holiday Happenings

December has flown by! I realize that it is the "holiday rush" but there have just been so many fun things going on - trips, get-togethers, family time - that I don't know how we are now upon the week of Christmas! Here is a little bit of what has been going on for us during this holiday season!

We went to Leavenworth to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement 5 years ago! We enjoyed the crowds of the tree lighting... and then went to a restaurant to watch the Huskies beat the Cougs in the Apple Cup!

We stayed at the house of some friends of ours... a cozy cabin-like atmosphere with a beautiful view of the mountains. They were at work until Sunday night so we had the place to ourselves. We watched tons of Christmas movies, read books, addressed Christmas cards and just generally relaxed. Both of us definitely want a cabin now and wouldn't mind living in a more scenic, quiet place than Seattle! We didn't want to leave at the end of the weekend!

On the way home from Leavenworth, we went snowboarding for the first time of the season. Not the most amazing snow that day, but it was so quiet that we just did lap after lap on the groomed runs!

We've also gone snowboarding in some amazing powder that made out legs completely exhausted. We can't wait to go up again, work schedules permitting.

We celebrated Chet's birthday on December 18th with a flurry of bday and Christmas activity! That morning, we (both of us) went paintballing with a group of folks for another friend's birthday. I was the only girl out of the 12 of us but had a blast! I definitely kept up to the boys and had some good shots that left some of the guys pretty impressed. Chet was so proud of me for going out there and being competitive... and we had a good time shooting at each other (and then comparing our welts later). We've been enjoying the colors the bruises have been changing to the last few days.

Then my family came over to celebrate Chet's birthday and do Christmas early! We had dinner, opened presents and then went to "A Christmas Story - The Musical."

The tree and presents

My rearranged nativity scene... note the lurking snowmen and animals alternated light and dark like Oreos. Thanks, Dad!

The ladies of the family with the bags I sewed for presents!

The birthday boy with his special red plate.

The 5th Ave for the musical! So much fun!

Adam and Brenda looking cute.

Then, yesterday, we enjoyed some more holiday festivities. I helped with the children's Christmas program at church in the morning wrangling/guiding the toddler angels through their part. The kids were all so cute in their Christmas outfits singing their hearts out (or looking distracted, etc).

Yesterday evening, my friend, Faith, and I had a big party to celebrate our husbands' birthdays! Chet's is the 18th and Kevin's is the 24th so this was a good way to get all sorts of friends together! We just had soup, breads, desserts and yummy holiday beverages... and lots of chatting and catching up. I think we ended up with almost 25 people over the course of the night... and it seemed like the birthday boys were enjoying themselves! I got so busy though that I didn't take pictures!

Next, on to Montana for the holidays! There is more celebrating to be had over the next week or so. Such a fun, but busy time of year!