4 Christmas Celebrations

The new movie coming out called "4 Christmases" is my life - I should have thought of the idea and made a million dollars! We had great Christmas celebrations this year and Paul got his first taste of what happens when you have lots of family - lots of Christmases!

Almost-Edler Christmas - Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents together. I made breakfast for us, a traditional egg and sausage casserole that I remember my mom making on Christmas morning. Then we took a romantic walk through the park in the snow.

Edler Christmas - Christmas day we drove 4 blocks to Paul's sister's house and had a great time opening presents and watching his 15 month old niece experience presents, chaos, and an overwhelming amount of new toys.

Morio Christmas - The day after Christmas we went to my dad's house for more chaos (including a new St. Bernard puppy), great family time, and thoughtful gifts.

O'Banyon Christmas - This last Sunday we went over to my mom's house for the first half of that Christmas. My mom's Christmas celebration was canceled due to snow and rescheduled for January 6th. Paul will most likely be out of town for business that day, so Paul and I had our own private Christmas with my mom and Norm. We were all brought to tears by each other's thoughtfulness. Very sweet.

We love seeing all of our family and had a great time this season. Even though it was fun to be out of town last Christmas, it was also wonderful to be around friends and family throughout this holiday season.

I went walking with Santa...

I told Paul that this year, I wanted a relaxing Christmas morning with no rushing around. I really wanted to go for a walk around the park, throw the ball for the dog, and just spend some special time together. I also mentioned to him as we passed a Santa robe in Fred Meyer, that it would be great if he wore that on Christmas morning (never thinking that he would actually buy it). Lucky me, I got both my wishes this Christmas! We went for a lovely walk around the park and Paul not only bought the Santa robe, but also wore it on our walk - what a great man!

101 ways to use a wine bottle

After making the dough for dog cookies (yes, I have now began to make cookies for the dogs because I have made way too many cookies for us) I realized that in order to cut out shapes, I needed to roll out the dough. Apparently, I don't own a rolling pin. But have no fear, I do own many empty wine bottles! After flouring the outside of the bottle, it worked like a charm!

Can your dog do this?

Gypsy is our "special" dog. She's very loyal, smart, and loving, but she has some OCD tendencies. She will run in circles (clockwise only) for hours at a time if we don't stop her. She especially likes to circle people or other animals. Tonight, Savage fell victim to her circling frenzy! I think she would be a wonderful carousel pony.

What happened to the tree?

Over the last few days (ok, maybe week or so) we have noticed that our tree has been losing a considerable amount of needles. I know it's normal for a tree to lose needles, but our tree has lost more needles than we brought it home with! Is it normal to not be able to touch the tree? When we even accidentally bump into it, we can hear a showering of pine needles. At least it only has a few more days to shower us with needles and scent. Poor wild mountain tree.

Ever tried to bite a snowball?

We took a walk outside last night to check out the newly fallen snow. Savage LOVES to catch tennis balls, so Paul made a snow ball and threw it for him. Savage couldn't quite understand what happened to the ball after he "caught" it. Silly dog!

Still More Snow

We got even more snow today...really? Another walk up to Starbucks (we should really invest in stock) proved to be a new adventure. The powdery snow is now covered in a layer of ice and Savage wasn't too sure how to walk in it. It was pretty comical to watch him attempt to traverse through the ice and snow. When we got home, Paul threw the ball for him, but he had difficulty finding it once it landed and got buried in the snow. Luckily it's a bright green tennis ball, so we could help him find it. I'm working on getting a video uploaded...stay tuned.

Cookie starts with "C"

Paul and I went a bit crazy making cookies and candy over the last few days. Apparently this is what happens when we're snowed in! We made my favorite (peanut blossoms) and Paul's "Texas Trash". Now the hard part is not eating it all at once!

The Birth of the Blog

Record breaking snow in Seattle. Schools closed or delayed (or should it be closed? or not?) for the better part of a week. This Sunday morning, Jen and I awoke to 6 new inches of snow & ice and got completely stuck in the house. The most snow of the week, covered with ice. What to do now?

Humm ....... creativity inspired us to venture from the sweet smells of freshly baked Christmas treats (that we've been baking for the past 5 days) and we created this blog. Welcome to our lives!

Snow Day

School was canceled on Friday which meant no work for me and Paul got to work from home. You know what that means? Fun in the snow! We took Savage for a walk up to Starbucks and he didn't seem to even notice that it had snowed. I wanted to put Sav's paws in warm water when we got home but Paul thought that was a little over the top - okay I agree.