I've always loved the magic of Christmas, but as my nieces and nephew grow, their excitement over the holiday has made Christmas exponentially more fun. Over the course of the week, we made gingerbread trains, read lots of new books, and on Christmas Eve, we even got a fresh dusting of snow to play in! I can't remember the last time we had snow on Christmas in Seattle, and while it certainly made it more of a challenge around, we had a great time walking through the dark snowy streets of my mother-in-law's neighborhood. Since she lives most of the way up a steep hill, we also participated in the Seattle spectator sport of watching adventurous (or reckless) drivers sliding around in failed attempts to get up or down the treacherous hill. Waiting for the road conditions to improve also meant we got to stay up late, spending extra time playing card games with Andy's family. While being stranded by the weather is always a little stressful, it's also fun to forget the concerns of everyday life for a few hours and feel cut off from the greater world. I always appreciate an opportunity to play games, share a drink, and watch the snow fall.
Read moreLife: Week 51
The week of Christmas is always so busy! All the time spent with family, baking loaves and loaves of pulla, the last minute scramble to finish all my knit projects before Christmas. I'm still wrapping up some last minute projects for the final gift exchange we'll have over New Year's weekend, but after months of knitting, it's wonderful to start passing my knits along to the recipients. The sweater I knit as a surprise for my niece, based on a favorite sweater of mine and my sister's turned out perfectly - a relief, since it was the first improvised sweater I'd ever made! My mom and sister both loved it, and it matched the original almost perfectly! It's dark so early these days, but light takes other forms in December - whether it be stunning winter sunsets, twinkling Christmas lights, or neon signs lighting shops in the city. During the shortest days of the year, these glimmers of light keep me sane!
Read moreLife: Week 51
I hope you all had a warm and wonderful Christmas this year! Mine was probably the best on record. I was too busy having fun - and still working on getting over my awful cold - to take take photos of everything. We shuttled around to several different family events, all memorable and fun-filled. At my parents, we had a Christmas Eve brunch, where we stuffed ourselves with pulla and french toast. Then we opened gifts, and I got to surprise everyone with the cardigan I've been secretly knitting for my niece. It's too big now, but I'm sure she'll look adorable in it by next fall. After gifts, we played a round of Adventure Time Fluxx, and admired the new skills my tiny niece is developing - standing and crawling backwards!
At my mother-in-law's, we made a delicious meal of finger foods. I brought these ginger garlic meatballs and my absolute favorite chocolate cake to contribute. I gave another hand-knit gift, this time the monster leggings I knit for my two year old niece. Before heading home, we had a lazy time watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and playing with gifts in our new Christmas pyjamas.
Christmas morning, we headed to Wenatchee for a snowy weekend at my father-in-law's. After such a warm winter last year, it was heaven to get to play in the snow, then come inside to warm up hot tea by the fire. Between sled runs on the excellent sled run we packed down, we watched more Christmas movies, brewed beer, and played several games. After such a wonderful time spent with all our family, going back to our regular routine will be rough!