So I'm back

Christmas was lovely, the weeks leading up to Christmas were lovely, and now it's all over. I'm always a bit blue after Christmas. I don't want all the loveliness and coziness to go away.


Here a few glimpses into our celebrations.




Swanky Work Sponsored Date


At the beginning of the month TC's employer held their annual year-end dinner and got rooms for all to stay at the Grand America Hotel. It was quite exciting!

TC got dressed up, which we all know I really enjoy. He cleans up nicely. What can I say?

Here is the obligatory "we are in the elevator of a fancy hotel and are super excited, but we're trying to keep it on the down-low, but since there's no one else in the elevator with us we are going to show our excitement" photo. 

And here I am chilling in the living room of our suite. My wardrobe included my Vince Camuto shoes, and my hot pink paper sack skirt. 

In the morning we had breakfast at the buffet and positively filled our gullets. Then we walked around and browsed in the hotel shops. Lastly, before checking out we bought gelato. 

Holiday Baking

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen, but for some reason did not photographically document any of it. 

I made Puppy Chow (could the name be any stupider?) for TC's coworkers and put them in cute little cellophane bags with green polka dots. All very cute, no photos to show off my handiwork. Also, I really wanted to write on the tag the following: "Allergy warning, may contain peanuts and Christmas cheer." I thought it was very funny. I was outvoted by the sane and left it off.

I made Muffins that Taste Like Donuts with the intention of including them as gifts for the coworkers, but they did not turn out. They taste fine, but looked like mutants. I might have left out some, or all, of the salt. They may or may not have been raw in the middle and severely concave. Sigh. And TC didn't like them because they had too much cinnamon for his taste (I say, "Too much cinnamon? Impossible.")

I made Pan Dulce with chocolate chips substituted for the dried fruit (TC HATES dried fruit and cannot emphasize this enough). It was tasty, but dry. So if you ate it with hot chocolate and dipped it in the hot chocolate it was great. Double sigh.  

I made wheat bread, and it was dense and heavy. 

I planned to make the following items, but did not get around to it:

Garrapiñada (sugar coated peanuts), a traditional Argentine Christmas treat

Fruit Salad, another traditional Argentine Christmas treat

Sugar Cookies, a traditional American Christmas treat

But alas, I did not find/make the time. 

Christmas Cheer

And for our celebrations, we spent time with my family, TC's family, and ourselves. 

Photos from the festivities:

TC and I in front of a beautiful tree in our Sunday clothes. 

 

Just because red and white are pretty colors.

Our tree, Eileen.

Us in front of our tree. By the way, we did not have a white Christmas, but it was lovely nonetheless. And it is supposed to snow today. So yay!

Me at my parent's house with one of my awesome gifts. Mom got me a Cricut cartridge.

TC with his favorite gift of all Christmas. (The previous statement may be infused with slight facetiousness.) 

It turns out that all the manly men in the family got Eclipse, so here they are showing that real men love shiny vampires.

And here they are showing their more feminine sides.

Muscular nephew Derrick showing his muscular muscles.

Me looking demented.

In a nutshell, Christmas was lovely. I have been listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing Christmas music on Pandora for weeks now and I'm not quite ready to switch over to non-religious, non-Christmas music just yet. I want to draw out this peaceful feeling, the quiet remembrance of the Savior and all He did for us, that man that was born just a tiny little baby in a manger. 

Merry Christmas all.